The Bruins, despite another historic start to the season, have started to show signs in the last week or so that they might not be as good as their record says they are.
Credit to Boston, of course, for being able to put last season’s disappointing end and an offseason of franchise-altering change behind them and going 13-1-2 out of the chute. Through those first 16 games, however, Bruins coach Jim Montgomery made it no secret he thought his team could play better, and if they didn’t, it might start catching up to them. It did last week; Boston went 1-2-1 while giving up at least five goals in three of those games.
Former Hart Trophy winner and four-time All-Star winger Patrick Kane wouldn’t necessarily fix Boston’s problems its own end. However, Sportsnet NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reported Monday the Bruins are at least among the teams who might have “poked around” on the free agent sniper.
The Boston Globe reported Kane considers the Bruins a team he’d be interested in joining.
“The Boston thing, we put it out (Monday morning), and somebody called me this morning and he said ‘Look, there’s probably (a limit) to what the Bruins can do contract-wise, and I wouldn’t put them as the favorite in this, but I think they’re at least in it,” Friedman told Jeff Marek on Sportsnet 590 The FAN, as seen in a video shared by the station.
“From a purely roster construction point of view,” Friedman continued, “you can see the fit. There’s room for a Patrick Kane on their roster, and they’re trying to win. When they have a chance to win, look at what they did last year .. they went for it.”
The roster construction piece of it is hard to argue. Boston obviously has David Pastrnak skating on the top-line right wing, but you could easily see Kane taking Trent Frederic’s spot on the Charlie Coyle line, giving Boston an All-American trio on its second line.
The problem, as Friedman himself acknowledged, is the salary cap. According to CapFriendly.com, the Bruins have just $712,500 in cap space right now. Even if Kane is willing to take less to chase the fourth Stanley Cup of his career, Boston still couldn’t even afford the league minimum. There would have to be some sort of move to free up space, and even then, they might not be able to do so in a way that would be able to meet what other clubs might offer.
Look at a team like the Detroit Red Wings. Their rebuild is on schedule, perhaps even early. The Wings already have two regulation wins over the Bruins and are just six points back in the Atlantic Division. They also have nearly $7 million in cap space. The Florida Panthers, another Bruins division rival, would make sense.
Ultimately, the Bruins might also decide it’s just not a great fit. Boston has a borderline top-10 offense by expected goals scored, while the defense is middle of the pack at even strength by the same metric. Kane is not a strong defensive forward, either, and he’s 35 coming off hip surgery. That alone is reason to tread carefully, but he’s certainly not going to be taking the role of Patrice Bergeron in his own zone anytime soon.
Then again, maybe Kane helps Boston win every game 5-4 and it doesn’t matter.
The good news for the Bruins is that is that they’re good enough that they can certainly live with Kane landing elsewhere, even in the division. He’s a luxury for a team like Boston. That they’re even reportedly considering the idea, though, does seem to suggest general manager Don Sweeney believes his team is good enough to tweak for what they hope will be a deep playoff run in the springtime.
