Bruins ink Smith to two-year contract

One old hole was patched, but a new one — actually, more like a crater — got the most attention.

That wasn’t the order of events, but it does describe the Bruins’ Friday-Saturday experience in the NHL’s free-agent market. The B’s announced a sound, cost-effective transaction to address a position that has been a trouble spot for years, but the three-year, $9.3-million contract given to former Predators right wing Craig Smith on Saturday was less [...]

One old hole was patched, but a new one — actually, more like a crater — got the most attention.

That wasn’t the order of events, but it does describe the Bruins’ Friday-Saturday experience in the NHL’s free-agent market. The B’s announced a sound, cost-effective transaction to address a position that has been a trouble spot for years, but the three-year, $9.3-million contract given to former Predators right wing Craig Smith on Saturday was less a topic of conversation than the fact that defenseman Torey Krug had left the team a night earlier to join the Blues on a seven-year, $45-million deal — which, as of late Saturday afternoon, was still the longest and richest deal executed since the market opened at noon on Friday.

Speaking late Friday night, Krug said the last offer he’d seen from the Bruins came "about a year ago," and that as the free-agency window approached, "it was pulled from me. I didn’t have an offer." While general manager Don Sweeney wouldn’t go into detail about any offers or a timeline, he did say on Saturday that "the bottom line is, we fell short on term" when it came to Krug, who reportedly had a six-year, $39- or $40-million offer on the table from the B’s at some point.

"But from a competitive standpoint and what offers were made, we were very comfortable in the position we were in and what we tried to accomplish."

Krug’s departure actually leaves the Bruins with two vacancies. They’ll need to find a second-pairing partner to skate with Brandon Carlo, and more importantly, a quarterback for a power play that has carried a team that has been historically short of secondary scoring behind the Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak line.

Sweeney didn’t say the Bruins were finished shopping (other than to say the Bruins hadn’t tried to land Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, who with Coyotes winger Taylor Hall were the two highest-profile unsigned free agents as of late Saturday afternoon), but he did indicate that at least some of Krug’s assignments were likely to be filled from within.

"We’re continuing to explore external options" like a trade or free agency, the GM said, "(but) we feel we have some young players.

"(Urho) Vaakanainen, (Jakob) Zboril (first-round picks in 2017 and 2015, respectively) John Moore, and the collection of the group is what it is at this stage. While I continue to explore external options, it might be by committee in some of those situations."

Zdeno Chara, the Bruins’ 43-year-old captain, is another potential piece in the collection. Still unsigned but willing to play on a third straight one-year contract at a low salary, Chara and the team are believed to be discussing a reduction in his role. As of last season, he was still part of the Bruins’ No. 1 pairing, with Charlie McAvoy.

"Zdeno is part of the equation," Sweeney said. "We’ll continue to have conversations with his group, and allow him the latitude to make those decisions accordingly."

Smith, 31, becomes the latest candidate to try to fill an ever-present and growing hole at right wing between the first (Pastrnak) and fourth (Chris Wagner) lines.

The B’s most recently attempted to give No. 2 center David Krejci, who’s entering the final year of his contract, a viable right wing option by acquiring Ondrej Kase before the trade deadline in February. Kase, however, followed six goal-less regular-season games with only four assists in 11 outings when the NHL resumed a season paused in March by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Smith’s five seasons of 21 to 25 goals (he had 18 through 69 games when the most recent season was paused) indicate he might be able to hold his own with Krejci, but he may be a better fit on the Charlie Coyle-centered third line. Coyle thrived with trade deadline acquisition Marcus Johansson during the 2019 run to the Stanley Cup Final, but Coyle played with an array of right wings in 2019-20, after Johansson left as a free agent.

Smith, who’d spent his entire nine-year NHL career with the Predators, was thrilled to sign with what he perceives as a Cup contender — even if, like most players on the market, he saw a salary reduction, to $3.1 annually from $4.25 million.

"Obviously, that’s a great team that’s going to be in contention," Smith said on Saturday. "They were close (in 2019), and … that seems like a team that’s just chomping at the bit.

"With the guys they have on their team, it just seems like everybody out there has something to prove, which is attractive to me. I’d like to be part of that, and chip in any way I can."