Bruins Sign RFA Marc McLaughlin To One-Year, Two-Way Contract

For a second straight day, Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney locked up one of his remaining restricted free agents.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Bruins announced they had signed forward Marc McLaughlin to a one-year, two-way contract that carries a $775,000 NHL salary cap hit.

The 6-foot, 203-pound forward from Billerica, MA, played two games for the Boston Bruins last season and did not register a point. McLaughlin, 23, did have a solid season for the Providence Bruins, though, with 13 goals and 17 assists in 66 AHL games.

Marc McLaughlin made his NHL debut late in the 2021-22 season and had three goals in 11 games with the Boston Bruins. McLaughlin also played one game with the Providence Bruins that season after signing a two-year entry-level contract with the Bruins as an undrafted NCAA free agent out of Boston College on March 15, 2022.

Just as there was heading into training camp for the 2022-23 season, there is an even stronger expectation that Marc McLaughlin can crack the NHL lineup for the Boston Bruins in training camp this September. Since the 2022-23 season ended for the Bruins, Sweeney has been adamant that there could be a youth movement in the team’s bottom six forward group, and McLaughlin is expected to be in the mix again.

Before signing McLaughlin on Tuesday, Sweeney signed restricted free agent and 24-year-old defenseman Ian Mitchell to a one-year, one-way contract worth $775,000 on Monday. This came after he locked up restricted free agent forward Jakub Lauko and RFA goalie Kyle Keyser last Wednesday. Lauko was inked to a two-year contract with an annual NHL cap hit of $787,500. Lauko’s contract is two-way for the 2023-24 season and one-way for the 2024-25 season. Keyser was signed a one-year, two-way contract with a $775,000  NHL cap hit.

The Boston Bruins now have four restricted free agents left to sign in defensemen Alec Regula and Ryan Walsh, forward Trent Frederic, and most notably, goalie Jeremy Swayman, who, along with 2023 Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark, won the 2023 Jenning Trophy as the NHL’s best goalie tandem.

Per Puckpedia, the Boston Bruins now currently have $4.65 in projected salary cap space.