Bruins add more depth with Max Jones signing

The Boston Bruins got their big moves out of the way early on Monday, with both center Elias Lindholm and defenseman Nikita Zadorov signed to long-term deals.

But the signings have not stopped there for Boston, with forward Max Jones signed to a contract. The deal for the 6-foot-3, 216-pound Jones is believed to be a two-year deal, though the financial terms of the deal were still unknown as of 3 p.m. Monday.

A first-round pick of the Ducks in 2016, Jones posted five goals and 15 points in 52 games with the Ducks a season ago, and made his greatest impact in the physicality department, with 127 hits.

His 127 hits ranked fifth among all Anaheim skaters, while his 12.15 hits per 60 was the second-best rate among all Ducks with at least 50 games played in 2023-24.

In addition to the hits, Jones was credited with having drawn 23 penalties, and his 2.20 penalties drawn per 60 was tops on the Ducks and the third-best rate in all of hockey among players with at least 50 appearances. (In case you're wondering, fellow new Bruin Mark Kastelic led the league on that front, with 2.59 penalties drawn per 60 for the Senators last season.)

The belief is that Jones will contend for a spot on Boston's fourth line, and gives the team another left-shooting look along with Johnny Beecher, as the other two leading contenders for fourth-line work on the Black and Gold's 2024-25 roster are both right shots (Kastelic and Justin Brazeau).

Jones has recorded 31 goals and 62 points in 258 NHL games since 2018-19, and had a career-high nine goals and 19 points in 69 games for Anaheim in 2022-23.

A painfully condensed window between the 2024 NHL Draft and the start of free agency left the Bruins and the rest of the league scrambling to finalize their decisions ahead of Monday's free agent frenzy.

And for the Bruins, that came with decisions made on all seven of the Black and Gold's restricted free agents — a class headlined by goaltender Jeremy Swayman — made by 5 p.m. Sunday. And when it boiled down to it, the decision was a simple one in the sense that a qualifying offer meant that the player was sticking around with the Bruins, while a failure to tender a qualifying offer meant that the player would be free to sign with anybody as an unrestricted free agent beginning at 12 p.m. on July 1.

Now, in the no-brainer of no-brainers, the Bruins did extend a qualifying offer to Swayman.

An All-Star during the regular season, the 25-year-old Swayman (who said at break-up day that his plan was to remain in Boston for the summer) is set for a massive payday after a regular season that featured a 25-10-8 record and .916 save percentage.

That projected payday only grew during the 2024 postseason, too, where Swayman started all but one of Boston's 13 playoff games, and was one of the best goaltenders in the league throughout the postseason, with a .933 save percentage and staggering 13.3 goals saved above expected.

The belief is that Swayman, who is eligible for arbitration once again this summer (though the Bruins have outright admitted that they do not want to go that route again), may very well make $8 million per season on his next deal.

Up front, the Bruins also extended a qualifying offer to forward Marc McLaughlin.

The North Billerica, Mass. native scored in his lone NHL outing of the 2023-24 season, and has recorded four goals and 21 hits in 14 NHL games over the last three seasons. On the farm, McLaughlin posted eight goals and 14 points in 68 AHL contests, and has tallied 21 goals and 44 points in 135 total AHL games with Providence.

McLaughlin's qualifying offer checks in at $813,750.

On the blue line, Massachusetts native Michael Callahan was extended a qualifying offer following a 2023-24 season that featured four goals and 17 points in 70 games for the P-Bruins. Those figures were professional career-highs across the board for the 6-foot-2 left shot defenseman. Originally acquired in a trade with the Coyotes in exchange for a 2024 seventh-round pick, Callahan has made 140 appearances for Providence since 2022.

Callahan's qualifying offer is for $874,125.

Callahan was not the only B's defender extended a qualifying offer by Sunday's deadline, as the Bruins also extended one to Alec Regula. Added to the fold via last year's cap-clearing deal with the Blackhawks, Regula scored four goals and 26 points, along with a plus-36 rating, in 55 games for the P-Bruins. Regula’s plus-36 was not just tops among all Providence skaters, but also finished the year as the best mark in the entire American Hockey League.

The 6-foot-4 right shot's qualifying offer is for $813,750.

The most notable player to not be extended a qualifying offer by the Bruins, however, was speedy fourth-line forward Jesper Boqvist. Capable of playing both center and wing, Boqvist made 47 appearances for Boston in 2023-24, with six goals and 14 points over that NHL run. Boqvist also posted a career-best plus-12 rating, while his 71 hits were also a career-high, besting his previous high (50 in 2022-23) by 21 smacks.

The Bruins' decision to not qualify Boqvist means that he will be an unrestricted free agent, and that the Bruins have effectively moved on from at least two consistent members of their 2023-24 fourth line, with Jakub Lauko traded to Minnesota in last Saturday's deal to move up the board in the fourth round of the 2024 NHL Draft.

In addition to Boqvist, the Bruins also decided not to extend qualifying offers to AHLers Joey Abate and Curtis Hall.

Hall, a fourth-round pick (No. 119 overall) of the club back in 2018, never quite seemed to find his footing with the organization, and will depart having scored just six goals and 16 points in 113 games with Providence.

In the case of Abate, however, his lack of a qualifying offer does not mean a departure from the organization as a whole, as the Bruins have announced that he will remain with the P-Bruins for the 2024-25 season.