Bruins Predicted to Sign Defenseman to $16 Million Deal to Replace Carlo

The Boston Bruins have a need on the blue line after their lackluster season.

The Bruins traded Brandon Carlo to the Toronto Maple Leafs at the trade deadline and will look to replace him in free agency. Bruins insider Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic predicts Boston will sign Dante Fabbro to a four-year, $16 million deal to replace Carlo on the second pair.

“Right-shot defenseman Dante Fabbro would fill Brandon Carlo’s spot on the No. 2 pair. He is an entirely different defender than the stay-at-homer,” Shinzawa wrote. “But the former Boston University Terrier’s puck-moving ability would ease the pressure of opposing forechecks.”

Fabbro is a former first-round pick who really found his footing this past season with the Columbus Blue Jackets. The 26-year-old was given a bigger role, which he didn’t get with the Nashville Predators, and he thrived.

Fabbro concluded his one-year, $2.5 million deal. This season, between the Predators and Blue Jackets, he recorded 9 goals and 17 assists in 68 games, as he only played 6 games with Nashville and didn’t record any points.

Bruins Plan to Compete Next Season

Boston was in the playoff mix but was one of the worst teams in the second half of the season.

The Bruins ended up finishing with the second-worst record in the East, and Boston general manager Don Sweeney plans to do whatever is necessary to get the team back to the playoffs.

“We’re going to use every mechanism possible,” Sweeney said when asked how he would improve the roster.

Bruins CEO Charlie Jacobs, meanwhile, was confident the team would compete for a playoff spot next year.

“We’ve spoken at great length about this,” Jacobs said. “The team we currently have — healthy — with the additions we intend to make this summer, I anticipate we will have a playoff team and play meaningful hockey at this time of year in 2026.”

Boston finished the season with a record of 33-39-10.

Insider Expects Bruins to be Aggressive in Offseason

Boston enters the offseason with nearly $29 million in cap space, according to PuckPedia.

With all the cap space, NHL insider Ty Anderson of 98.5 The Sports Hub expects the Bruins to be aggressive this offseason. The insider expects Boston to go after big names and try and get back to being a playoff team next season.

“I believe [the Bruins] are going to spend to the cap next year,” Anderson said on Daily Faceoff Live on April 4. I think they are going to be very aggressive. Obviously, it may depend on how the ping pong balls fall, and if they get the first overall pick, you don’t want to eat it all up right away, because you obviously have to have a second contract for that player.

“But, they are not a team that looks at themselves and says “we want to retool or a lengthy rebuild”. I can tell you right now that ownership is not about that. They do not believe in retools or rebuilds in terms of stripping it down completely. And so I think they’re going to be big-time players,” Anderson concluded.

The Bruins failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 2015-16.