Bruins trade likely to clear cap space for Anton Stralman
The Boston Bruins invited veteran defenseman Anton Stralman to training camp on a professional tryout, and the sense is that he wouldn't agree unless he expected a deal with the club to get done.
Ian McLaren of the Locked on Bruins podcast recently reported that a trade could be forthcoming for the Bruins to clear cap space for a Stralman contract. As per McLaren:
The Bruins are deep on the left side of the defense with Hampus Lindholm, Derek Forbort, Jakub Zboril, Mike Reilly, and Matthew Grzelcyk when he's healthy. On the right side the club only has Charlie McAvoy (out till November) and Brandon Carlo as NHL regulars, along with Stralman and Connor Clifton.
McLaren is right on point here as Boston will have offload a left-shot defenseman, and both Reilly and Grzelcyk make around $3 million per season. Grzelcyk is still out for a while as he recovers from off season shoulder surgery so it would be more difficult to move him.
However, keep in note that the Bruins have also been playing left-shots Zboril and Clifton on the right side as well.
It appears as though that general manager Don Sweeney has some big decisions to make ahead of him. Will he make the right one?
