The Bruins signed another one of the young players that they hope will make a push for a roster spot in training camp come September.
The B’s on Tuesday inked right-shot forward Marc McLaughlin to a one-year, two-way deal with an NHL cap hit of $775,000.
McLaughlim, the North Billerica product who will turn 24 no July 26, made a splash when he was first signed as a free agent out of Boston College two years ago, scoring three goals in 11 games with the big club, including a goal in his NHL debut.
He followed that up with a solid training camp last September and was a bit of a surprise demotion near the end of camp. He went down to the farm and had a decent first full pro season, notching 13-17-30 totals in 66 games. He played two games in Boston with no points.
How much of a shot he has of making the team will depend greatly on whether or not Patrice Bergeron and/or David Krejci decide to retire. Right now the B’s have three centermen under contract – Pavel Zacha, who is expected to make the full-time switch to center after playing mostly wing last season, Charlie Coyle and the recently signed Morgan Geekie.
Trent Frederic, who has an arbitration hearing date set for August 1 and will presumably have a contract one way or another, could also move to center after playing most of his NHL career on the wing. McLaughlin could also play wing.
The former Eagle won’t be the only young forward trying to make the roster, and there should be some decent competition. Wings Fabian Lysell and Georgii Merkulov will be vying to push their way into a top-six or top-nine role. Meanwhile Jakub Lauko, who recently re-upped for two years at $787,000, is looking to solidify himself as an everyday NHLer while also further defining just who he is as a big league player.
Aside from Geekie, the B’s also added James van Riemsdyk, Milan Lucic and Patrick Brown. But all three of those additions have a base salary of $1 million meaning that any one of them could be waived and sent to the minors with their salaries not counting against the cap if any of the young hopefuls clearly outplays them in camp.