Boston Bruins Sign Anton Blidh To One-Year Contract

The Boston Bruins made their second signing in a week Thursday inking forward Anton Blidh to a one-year, two-way contract that will carry a $750,000 NHL cap hit.

The Bruins signed 26-year-old forward Jesper Froden to a one-year $842,500 contract on Monday.

Blidh, 26, is entering his sixth season in the Boston Bruins organization. The 6-foot, 185-pound forward scored one goal in ten games this past season with the Bruins. He had two goals and one assist in 38 career NHL games with the B’s.

In 278 games with the Providence Bruins since coming to North America in 2015, totaling 46 goals, 42 assists, a plus-31 rating and 247 penalty minutes.

The Molnlycke, Sweden native was originally selected by the Bruins in the sixth round (180th overall) of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.

Boston Bruins General Manager Don Sweeney still has plenty of work to do this offseason. Forwards David Krejci, Taylor Hall, Sean Kuraly, and Greg McKegg are unrestricted free agents, as are defensemen Kevan Miller, Mike Reilly, Jarred Tinordi and Steven Kampfer, and goalies Tuukka Rask and Jaro Halak.

Forwards Zach Senyshyn, Nick Ritchie, Ondrej Kase, Trent Frederic, and Cameron Hughes, and defensemen Brandon Carlo and Nick Wolff are all restricted free agents.

The Boston Bruins currently have $29.3 million in salary-cap space.

Earlier this week, both Sweeney and team President Cam Neely indicated that there is mutual interest between the team and Krejci, Rask, and Hall to reach an agreement on new contracts but that they may have to wait until after the July 21 NHL Expansion Draft to put pen to paper with these key unrestricted free agents for the Bruins. Unrestricted Free Agency begins a week later on July 28.

“In talking to both [Krejci and Hall] at the end of the year, and even when Taylor got here, he’s expressed interest, mutual interest, to have him back. [We] had an early conversation with his representatives and obviously, we’ll have to see where all of the pieces fit together,” Sweeney said regarding Krejci. “In David’s case, it’s very unique in the fact that he would like to continue to play with the Bruins, he’s obviously interest that he may return home at some point in time. Whether that’s next year or down the road. His family dynamic is important to him.

“He’s asked to have a little bit of time in the next few coming days to allow him, on his own, to have conversations with his family, and then we’re going to sit back down and have a real honest conversation. I do believe David does want to continue to play and we’d like to make it clear to him that if he’d like to continue his career, this is the place he’ll continue to play should he chose to stay at the NHL level.”