The Bruins Tender Qualifying Offers to 6 RFAs

According to Matt Porter of the Boston Globe, the Bruins have tendered qualifying offers to the following six restricted free agents (RFAs): forwards Jake DeBrusk, Karson Kuhlman, Zach Senyshyn, and Peter Cehlarik, and defensemen Matt Grzelcyk and Jakub Zboril. They chose not to qualify forwards Brett Ritchie and Brendan Gaunce, as well as defenseman Wiley Sherman.

Before I begin, for those of you who don’t know, every team must extend what’s called a qualifying offer to their RFAs after each season in order to retain their negotiation rights. The details of these qualifying offers are determined by a player’s base salary in the previous year as well as how many NHL games they’ve played. There are quite a few rules regarding this, so for the sake of not pulling focus away from the main point of this article, if you want to learn more, you can read about it here. Now, without further ado, here’s what you need to know about all the players the Bruins qualified today.

Forwards

Jake DeBrusk

Starting with Jake DeBrusk, the minimum qualifying offer the Bruins had to tender to him was worth $874,125, on a one-way deal. He appeared in 65 games for the Bruins last season, through which he tallied 19 goals and 16 assists for a total of 35 points. In three seasons with the Bruins, he’s played in 203 games, over which he’s produced 62 goals and 58 assists for a total of 120 points. Before joining the big club, he played one season down in Providence. He played 74 games that season and tallied 19 goals and 30 assists for a total of 49 points.

Karson Kuhlman

Moving on to Karson Kuhlman, the minimum qualifying offer for him was $735,000 on a two-way deal. He appeared in 25 games for the Bruins this season, through which he produced one goal and five assists. He also played in nine games for the Providence Bruins and tallied four goals and one assist. Over his career with the Bruins organization, Kuhlman has played in 36 NHL games. Through those 36 games, he’s put up four goals and seven assists, for a total of 11 points. He’s also appeared in 69 career AHL games, through which he’s produced 16 goals and 20 assists for a total of 36 points.

Zach Senyshyn

As for Zach Senyshyn, his minimum qualifying offer was $874,125 on a two-way deal. Last season, he played in four games for Boston. In those four games, he tallied zero goals and two assists for a total of two points. He also played in 42 games for the Providence Bruins, through which he produced seven goals and nine assists for a total of 16 points. Over his career with the Bruins organization, he’s appeared in six NHL games. Through those six games, he’s scored one goal and two assists for a total of three points.

Peter Cehlarik

Finally, the minimum qualifying offer for Peter Cehlarik was $735,000 on a two-way deal. Last season, he appeared in three games for Boston, over which he put up zero goals and one assist for a total of just one point. He also appeared in 48 games for the Providence Bruins, through which he tallied 16 goals and 21 assists for a total of 37 points. Throughout his career with the Bruins organization, he’s appeared in 40 NHL games. Through those 40 games, he’s produced five goals and six assists for a total of 11 points. He’s also played in 185 career AHL games, over which he’s racked up 59 goals and 77 assists, for a total of 136 points.

Defense

Matt Grzelcyk

Now, moving onto the defensemen, the minimum qualifying offer for Matt Grzelcyk was $1.4 million on a one-way deal. He appeared in 68 games for the Bruins last season, over which he produced four goals and 17 assists for 21 points. Over his career with the Bruins organization, he’s appeared in 197 NHL games. Through those 197 games, he’s tallied ten goals and 44 assists for a total of 54 points. He’s also appeared in 84 career AHL games (although he has not played in the AHL since 2017-18). In those 84 games, he scored six goals and 30 assists for a total of 36 points. 

Jakub Zboril

Finally, the last RFA that the Bruins tendered a qualifying offer to today was Jakub Zboril. His minimum qualifying offer was $874,125 on a two-way deal. Last season, Zboril did not play in any NHL games, but he appeared in 58 games for the Providence Bruins. In those 58 games, he produced three goals and 16 assists for 19 points. Over his career with the Bruins organization, he’s played in just two NHL games, over which he’s tallied zero points. He’s also appeared in 182 career AHL games, through which he’s produced 11 goals and 16 assists for a total of 27 points.

Final Thoughts

So, that’s everything you need to know about the RFA’s the Bruins tendered qualifying offers to today. As I said, they chose not to qualify forwards Brett Ritchie and Brendan Gaunce, as well as defenseman Wiley Sherman. It is unsurprising that they let all three walk. Ritchie never fit in, while Sherman was not developing the way they had hoped. As for Gaunce, he was very good for them, but they rightfully want to let their young guys play. So, it made sense for them to let those three walk. 

Everyone they kept is either currently on the NHL roster or looks to be ready soon. So, of course, they were going to keep them. Hopefully, negotiations work out with all of the players and they can get them all re-signed for this upcoming season. I assume all of them will be re-signed, as there’s no reason for them not to be, particularly given they have very little negotiating power to command too much money. But, we’ll just have to wait and see how it all works out. My guess is they will start working hard on all these players after Friday, which is the opening of free agency. Once they get through that, they’ll know exactly what they have to work with moneywise. So, Sweeney will be able to re-sign all these players to fair deals for both them and the team.

-Lydia Murray (@lydia_murray12)

Featured image courtesy of Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

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