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1. When will Torey Krug and Reilly Smith be signed, and for how much?
DING DING DING! Today. One year, 1.4 million apiece. This doesn't solve all of the Bruins' cap issues - they'll have 600k in cap space before bringing up Ryan Spooner or Justin Florek. Someone still needs to move. The ever-wonderful Amalie Benjamin sums it up nicely:
Clarifying: Bs are now $418,000 under the cap. That includes Caron/Florek & 8 D. They need to swap a D for a F and fit another F under cap.
— Amalie Benjamin (@AmalieBenjamin) September 29, 2014
Whatever happens, the forward that needs to fit under the cap will now likely be a third or fourth line winger, as the top six is now set. We have a top six! Everyone rejoice!
2. Who the heck is going to play on David Krejci’s other wing?
Now that Smith is signed, the top six will likely be Lucic-Krejci-Eriksson, Marchand-Bergeron-Smith. Putting Loui Eriksson on Krejci's wing was a thing that the Bruins tried very briefly last year, but David Krejci has spoken at length about being interested in seeing how it goes with a left-shot winger on his right side. He seems excited about having Eriksson's creativity and two-way play up there with him and
From DJ Bean:
Based on the small sample size, you can’t blame Krejci for thinking he’d score more playing with Eriksson. When the Bruins were sitting their star players for a game at a time late last season, Eriksson played on the top line when Iginla sat. That led to two games of Lucic-Krejci-[Eriksson], the first of which saw the trio go scoreless against the Red Wings, but the second of which saw Eriksson compile four assists -- two on Lucic goals, one on a Krejci goal and then a helper on Chris Kelly’s empty-netter.
Whether or not that'll translate to consistent regular-season success remains to be seen, but the nice thing is that now, with Smith signed, the team has options.
3. Will David Pastrnak crack the opening night roster?
This was an easier question to pose before the nifty right-winger was injured before even playing his first preseason game, but on the other hand, it's very likely that the Boston front office will want to have a good look at him before sending him back to Sweden. With his injury rapidly healing, he should be ready for game action soon, and it wouldn't be too surprising if the Bruins gave him at least a few games of regular-season action to make up for his lack of preseason presence.
Or, they could just send him packing with the order to try again next summer. Now that Smith has signed, the team doesn't have to seriously consider Pastrnak as an option if they don't want to.