Outstanding RFA's No More in Boston

The Boston Bruins may have just hit the jackpot or at the very least, could celebrate quite the coup on Monday morning, as the team announced that they signed both of their current restricted free agents, forward Reilly Smith and defenseman Torey Krug, to new 1-year deals, each worth $1.4 million, as per a number of reports on Twitter.

As we went into the Summer, it was widely believed that both players would get significant raises in pay after some quality play in 2014, but it does appear now that they have settled on some hometown discounts, opting to wait for next Summer to possibly sign up to some longer-term deals.

Smith, who came over in the deal that sent Tyler Seguin to Dallas, likely had very few expectations placed upon him, despite being part of the package of that deal.  He came through with flying colours for the Bruins, scoring 20 goals and 51 points for the team through 80 games.  He finished the season ranked 102nd overall in pool scoring, 75th among all forwards.

I don't see him as being a guy that is going to blow the roof of any barn in the NHL, but he sure works well in the Bruins mould, so I can see him getting off to a slower start, since he missed a great deal of camp, but still have a strong season in the 50-point range.

Krug, on the other hand, was an NCAA standout in his younger days, and since joining the Bruins, he has fit in well as Zdeno Chara's right-hand man, providing a little bit more offense from the back end, which was a huge help when the Bruins suffered all those injuries to the blueline last season.

In 2014, Krug was ranked 25th among all defensemen in scoring with 14 goals and 40 points in 79 games and I have a feeling that he should be finishing in the same neighbourhood for scoring again in 2015.

Since neither player took any extra money and bought into the Bruins' system for the 2015 season, the team can breathe a little bit easier, as the team goes into October with about $2.4 million for four spots to fill on their projected roster.  All four spots don't have to be filled, it is just the league maximum.  They will likely fill a couple of forward positions with that money, either taking on some of their young talent, like David Pastrnak and/or signing tryout Simon Gagne to a base deal.

At the draft on Saturday, there were a couple of bold moves by Ryan M., who is usually good for a couple bold moves, as he took both Krug and Smith in the 8th and 12th rounds, respectively.  They were the 179th and 271st picks, so if either player can come through with their projected point totals or their totals from last season, Ryan just picked himself up to fantastic picks.