East Notes: Bruins, Hillman, Jenkins, Howe

The Boston Bruins are unsurprisingly being more aggressive with some extension candidates this summer with the ongoing contract negotiations between the organization and goaltender Jeremy Swayman likely dragging into the regular season. Ty Anderson of 98.5 The Sports Hub reported earlier this morning that Boston had already opened extension negotiations with forwards Brad Marchand, Morgan Geekie, and Trent Frederic.

There has seemingly been no movement with Swayman throughout the summer on a long-term contract leading the Bruins’ general manager Cam Neely and the rest of the front office to take a more pragmatic approach for next summer. There was no word in the original report if any of the three players would be interested in continuing negotiations throughout the 2024-25 regular season. Still, Boston appears to be getting a head start on their asking price.

Marchand’s next contract will be one of the more interesting situations to see play out as he has arguably been playing on one of the biggest bargain contracts in the league over the last seven years. The Bruins signed Marchand to an eight-year, $49MM extension in 2016 and he’s scored 209 goals and 555 points in 495 regular season games over the life of that deal. Boston’s captain will be heading into his age 37 season on his next contract and it remains to be seen if Marchand will look for more salary with his prime years behind him.

Other East notes:

• The New York Rangers added a bit of depth to their training camp roster earlier today by recalling Blake Hillman and Blade Jenkins from their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack (X Link). Both players are on AHL contracts for the 2024-25 season with the former being the only one with previous experience at the NHL level. Hillman has spent several years bouncing around the AHL but suited up in four games for the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2017-18 NHL while scoring one goal overall.
• The WHL’s Regina Pats will be waiting with bated breath to determine the status of their captain, Tanner Howe. Howe, who was recently selected with the 46th overall pick of the 2024 NHL Draft by the Pittsburgh Penguins, was pulled from today’s game against the Moose Jaw Warriors by the team’s medical staff with an undisclosed injury. Howe’s already skated in two games in the young WHL season scoring one goal overall after participating in the Penguins’ rookie camp over the summer.