Boston Bruins RFA Holdouts Are a Silver Lining for Prospect Development

For lack of a contract, Torey Krug and Reilly Smith have missed the first weekend of the Boston Bruins’ 2014 training camp.

Those absences are looking primed to drag on indefinitely. As Joe Haggerty of csnne.com noted on Friday, “The Bruins will have slightly more than $3 million in cap space once they place Marc Savard on long-term injured reserve, and they’ll need it all and then some for the two skilled RFA’s.”

Under that logic, general manager Peter Chiarelli will have to trade away one of his NHL cap hits before re-upping his restricted free agents. Until then, active campers must fill the void in the puck-moving defenseman and second-line right wing slots.

Though they have barely had two-plus days to assert it, David Warsofsky and Matt Fraser are raring to play those roles. Not unlike an emergency call-up when a regular sustains an injury, the two AHL veterans have a chance to embolden their respective profiles.

Although the arrangement is less ideal than reincorporating Krug and Smith without delay, the Bruins can bank on a degree of benefit. Whether it amounts to team depth, organizational depth, trade bait or a combination, the indefinite substitutions will strew some solace.

To date, the 5’9” Warsofsky has come across as a less proven version of the equally pint-sized Krug. In his third full professional season last year, he earned six appearances in Boston while posting career data in Providence (6-26-32 scoring totals and a plus-eight rating).

In his day job, Warsofsky has defied his lack of brawn enough that he may have nothing left to prove in the minors. Consider assistant general manager Don Sweeney’s assessment, as quoted by Jess Isner of the team’s website, at the end of the P-Bruins’ 2013-14 season:

"

David was an anchor on the team this year from day one…He played with confidence and conviction on both sides of the play. He led a young group of D-men and wanted to be a difference-maker every night….He isn’t the biggest blue liner, but his defensive reads and a strong stick and body position are big reasons that make him an effective defender.

"

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Less than four months later, the Bruins’ choice as to who should spell Krug requires no contemplation. The opening for more minutes in preseason practices and games can elevate Warsofsky’s chance to authenticate his NHL-ready tag.

What that means for the not-so-immediate future, if and when Krug re-signs, is all but a moot matter. Progressive player development in this situation can only percolate the preferred form of dilemma.

The Boston Globe’s Amalie Benjamin suggested in a Friday report that Warsofsky could find himself wearing a Spoked-B, a Spoked-P or virtually any other crest this winter. In her words, “while his two-way deal makes him easier to ship out than the other defensemen in camp, his skill set could benefit the team, especially if Krug doesn’t sign quickly.”

There may be merit to the “two-way deal” aspect of that assessment, but exporting Warsofsky alone will not alleviate Boston’s current cap crunch. CapGeek does not even list his $600,000 cap hit on the team’s NHL salary chart.

To replenish the services of Krug and Smith, the Bruins will probably need to remove Savard’s cap hit and trade a seven-figure player. That would likely mean seeking swap partners for Matt Bartkowski ($1,250,000) or Adam McQuaid ($1,566,667).

Still, Warsofsky could become trade bait later in the season, even as late as the cusp of the trade deadline. All it would take is a sustained overstock on NHL-worthy rearguards and a fourth-year AHL mainstay itching for thicker ice.

If that happens, the extra exposure Warsofsky can garner in Krug’s absence at training camp would help everyone’s cause later on. It could increase his profile enough to make him a convincing commodity and thus a piece that could retrieve something to address a need that emerges later.

Assuming the Bruins can get Krug to commit for an extended stretch, that scenario would be their best balance between realism and favorability regarding Warsofsky.

One and only one undersized two-way blueliner, no matter how valiant both are, is reasonable for full-time membership on an NHL roster. Therefore, Boston’s brass needs to prepare for a potential parting with the prized prospect Warsofsky. If possible, it might as well come with a gain for the organization.

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One area the Bruins would surely love to shore up, for now and for later, is the right wing. With Smith out of the equation, The Hockey News virtually lists Fraser second on the organization’s ladder in that position, followed by Jordan Caron and a slew of rookies.

As a prolific producer in three AHL seasons and veteran of 31 NHL regular-season and playoff games, the 6’1”, 204-pound Fraser seems a natural fit for the third line. However, he has rightly entered this training camp with the attitude that a permanent promotion from Providence is no lock.

Per ESPNBoston.com’s Joe McDonald, Fraser said on Saturday, “Obviously, you hear about the openings, but at the end of the day, it falls on my shoulders and what I can do and what I can bring to this team. I want to do what I can to show these guys that I can bring a different element to this team.”

Temporary top-six duty should only amplify Fraser’s determination and, regardless of immediate results, intensify the learning experience. How he handles it should also go a long way toward cementing his genuine worth as a Boston regular.

Until Smith rejoins, Loui Eriksson is the only right wing with considerable seasoning on the Bruins roster. Already, as McDonald’s report stressed, Fraser has run a few drills with top pivot David Krejci, Eriksson’s presumptive 2014-15 linemate.

Depending on other factors, he may also at times take Smith’s second-line spot, opposite Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand.

None of that is likely to mold Fraser into a top-six type of NHL striker. It can, however, impress some worthwhile takeaways for whenever he settles into his more natural position in the depth roles.

This is not to say that working with the established depth forwards cannot achieve much of the same. For the sake of the club and its constituents, the Bruins are better off having a full roster together to tune up before the regular season.

But as they relearned through last year’s multitude of injuries on defense, they can and must work with what they have when they have it. As long as Krug and Smith hold out, Warsofsky and Fraser will simply bear the expectation to evolve more rapidly and noticeably.

If nothing else, both prospects can hasten their graduation from the minors, even if one later has to spend some "post-grad" time in Providence, and thus give the front office some welcome options.

Unless otherwise indicated, all statistics for this report were found via nhl.com.