Boston Bruins Cap Space: Examining the Bruins salary in the off-season

The Boston Bruins had a historic season but were stunned in the first round of the playoffs and had a tough off-season to start.

The Bruins are expected to see Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci retire while Tyler Bertuzzi left in free agency due to the limited cap space. Boston projects to have $6.2 million in cap space but still have some moves left to do.

The Bruins have three RFAs still left to sign but none bigger than goalie Jeremy Swayman who forms a tandem with Linus Ullmark. Outside of that, they have forward Trent Fredric and defenseman Ian Mitchell as RFAs.

Although those are the three moves left to do, the Bruins have added some nice depth signings so far in free agency.

Boston Bruins add depth players

The first signing the Bruins announced was signing Milan Lucic to a one-year deal to return to where his career started. It was a good signing for the Bruins and an exciting one for the player and team.

"I had permission to talk to teams early and Don reached out about two weeks ago when it first happened, Sweens called me and said he was interested in having me back," said Lucic (via NHL.com).

"He asked me if I had any interest in coming back and, obviously, it's a place that's close and dear to my heart. Having the opportunity to come back, you can see the smile on my face right now. It feels like I'm going home. It's always felt like I've been a Bruin, and I'm just so happy and thankful for the opportunity to be a Bruin again."

Outside of signing Lucic, Boston also inked forwards James van Riemsdyk to a one-year $1 million deal as well as signing Morgan Geekie to a two-year deal worth $2 million per year. They also signed depth forwards Patrick Brown, Jayson Megna, and AJ Greer to one-year deals.

Although the Boston Bruins didn't make any splashy moves, GM Don Sweeney is happy with their group and expects them to still be competitive next season.

“We know we’re a competitive group and we want to remain a competitive group and with an eye towards the future,” Sweeney said to reporters.

“We didn’t really encumber ourselves too badly from a standpoint of contracts. As we pointed out, we feel good about the competitiveness of our group... You put March and Pasta, Coyle and Zacha and Lindholm, McAvoy and the goaltending situation and the other guys. That’s the next core for the Boston Bruins and we’re excited about that.”

Ultimately, the last move the Boston Bruins need to make is signing Jeremy Swayman, but they have had a nice off-season with limited cap space.