It's officially the offseason, meaning the time is right to look into the future. We begin our division-by-division preview of the potential wheeling and dealing with the Northeast Division. Brian Burke begins his rebuild of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Dany Heatley wants out of Ottawa and just what is Boston going to do with Phil Kessel and a limited amount of salary cap space?
Boston Bruins. The Bruins continued their return to relevance during the 2008-09 season by finishing as the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, registering 116 points, the largest point total for the franchise since the 1970-71 campaign. The postseason run came up short with a somewhat surprising loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in the conference semifinal.
The Bruins took care of their most important free-agent-to-be, Tim Thomas, during the regular season, locking up the Vezina Trophy winner to a four-year contract extension, leaving Mark Recchi, P.J. Axelsson, Shane Hnidy, Manny Fernandez and Steve Montador as the only unrestricted free agents on the roster, while Phil Kessel and Matt Hunwick remain as the only key restricted free agents following the recent extension given to David Krejci. Cap space is at a premium as the Bruins currently have over $50 million commited to 15 players for the 2009-10 season.
The key player to watch this offseason will be Kessel, as the former No. 5 overall pick is expected to miss the first few months of the season due to shoulder surgery. Will Boston find a way to lock him up long-term, or will it attempt to move him in a cap-saving deal? It would be awfully difficult to part with a 21-year-old that's improved each year he's been in the league and already has a 36-goal season under his belt.
Montreal Canadiens. What started as a promising season with Stanley Cup dreams turned into, well, a nightmare for the Canadiens. Everything that could have possibly gone wrong, went wrong, while the season came to an end with a four-game sweep at the hands of long-time rival, Boston. Heading into the offseason Montreal has to deal with a number of key free agents, including Mike Komisarek, Alex Tanguay, Saku Koivu, and Alexei Kovalev ... and that's just a few of the unrestricted free agents. Youngsters Chris Higgins, Tomas Plekanec and Guillaume Latendresse are all eligible for restricted free agency. Needless to say, it's going to be an interesting, and busy, offseason in Montreal with plenty of holes to fill.
On the plus side, the Canadiens have well over $30 million in cap space and are sure to be mentioned in countless Vincent Lecavalier rumors, much like they were heading up to the trade deadline in early March, even if the trade itself never actually happens (and it likely won't).
Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres committed $9 million over the next two seasons to 28-year-old center Tim Connolly, a former top-five pick of the New York Islanders. It's certainly a risky investment. When Connolly is on the ice, he's a gifted playmaker. Trouble is, since the lockout, he's played in only 168 of a possible 410 games. The Sabres already have some of their top forwards locked up long-term, including Thomas Vanek, Derek Roy, and Jason Pominville.
Perhaps the most notable player up for free agency is 29-year-old winger Maxim Afinogenov, and frankly, the Sabres should make no effort to bring him back as he's the poster child for a player that is in need of a fresh start with a new team. Jaroslav Spacek led all Sabres defensemen in scoring with 45 points, while the 35-year-old is also headed for free agency.
Ottawa Senators. The Senators offseason got off to a somewhat surprising start when two-time 50-goal scorer Dany Heatley requested a trade, news that reportedly "devastated" head coach Cory Clouston. Assuming Heatley gets his wish, it's going to further weaken an offense that's already lacking firepower. With Heatley in the lineup Ottawa finished a dismal 23rd in the NHL in goals scored, while only three players on the roster scored more than 17 goals during the season (and one of them, of course, was Heatley).
The only free agents of any consequence on the team are Chris Neil and Mike Comrie. Comrie is finishing his second stint with the Senators after he was acquired, along with defenseman Chris Campoli, in a surprising deal with the New York Islanders prior to the trade deadline.
In Heatley's expected absence, the Senators will need continued develop from 21-year-old Nick Foligno, while Mike Fisher needs to rebound from a down year offensively and regain his 20-goal form. Otherwise, that $4 million per year cap hit is going to be a tough to swallow (as if it already isn't).
Toronto Maple Leafs. Brian Burke begins his first offseason in charge of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the first question I'll ask is: who plays goalie? Vesa Toskala is entering the final year of his contract and is coming off his second straight disappointing season with the club, posting the worst save percentage (.891) of his career. Justin Pogge is the top goaltending prospect in the system, but the 23-year-old struggled mightly in his first brief taste of NHL action. There was a rumor floating around the internet this past week that mentioned the possibility of Toronto acquiring Marek Zidlicky and Josh Harding from Minnesota, only to have Burke quickly dismiss the report.
Goaltender questions aside, the Leafs have some intriguing young players in the system, including Luke Schenn, Nikolai Kulemin, Jiri Tlusty, Mikhail Grabovski, Christian Hanson and whatever young prospect they add at the top of this year's NHL draft.
