Boston Brown Bears should pursue Mickey Manner as a free agent – Hockey writer – Boston Brown Bears

What an exciting time this is the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs. For the Boston Bruins, they either play golf or enjoy the holidays. They would rather play meaningful hockey, and that’s how this conversation goes.

General Manager Don Sweeney finished his work for him. The Bruins went from the second round of the 2023-24 season to becoming the top ten draft lottery team. Getting along with their core groups, but talent is required. When it comes to free agent classes, the biggest fish on the market is a perfect infusion of talent. His name is Mitch Marner.

Players like Mana don’t show up often

Players like Mana don’t grow up on trees and don’t show up often. His current team is at the forefront to expand him and keep it in folded form. Toronto Maple Leaf has some key decisions, not just Mana. Will they bring John Tavarez back? How did they manage to keep the Matthew knife? This is definitely something to watch, but the Brown Bear will not be the only one who is queuing for his service.

Marner is an elite talent in the NHL and has always been a key part of the Leafs’ offensive offense. Since his debut in 2016-17, Marner has never scored 60 points in one season. It was a very powerful game for him, which shows that he always had to produce (he has been a player in every game throughout his career.) Marner has three more than 90+ points seasons in his career and finally hit a 100-point record in his 2024-25 season. His 102 points led Maple Leaf and his 75 assists also stood out.

Marner brought all the tools to the table, including being a good defensive forward (he was nominated for the James Selke trophy in the 2022-23 season).

This sounds exactly like the type of player that Brown Bear needs. This is why.

Brown Bears need Mana type players

Looking at the Brown Bear’s lineup, there is a talent gap in the forward group. The Bruins have one of the best players in hockey with David Pastrnak, who just finished the 2024-25 season with his third 100-point season. When you look at the Brown Bear production over the past few seasons, you’ll see Pastenak at the top and then go down a lot. In the 2022-23 season, he scored 34 more goals than the players in the next game and 18 more goals than the next goal in 2024-25. The crazy thing is that this season is the first time since 2021-22 years that a player under the name Pastrnak scored over 30 goals: His name is Morgan Geekie.

Related: 4 things on the offseason Bruins to-do list

The Bruins will do their best to keep the freak, but after those two need more talent, that’s Mana’s coming in. In addition to Manna’s statistical output, he can also help the Bruins become drivers.

The Brown Bear struggles on offensive end this season. They are often beaten to the hockey, find themselves chasing the game and trying to score goals. The Bruins ranked 27th in CORSI with a percentage of 47.71 (CF%), with an expected target of 47.95 for the expected target (XGF%). This is not the secret to success. They worked hard to generate scoring opportunities and were beaten in high-risk areas. What the Brown Bear needs most is more talent and create more offense.

Mana and his production capacity will add a layer to the Brown Bear’s offense. He can improve the club in five of five games, but can also help the Brown Bears play the power, struggling with a tremendous effort this season with a success rate of 15.2% this season

The question remains now: Can brown bears afford it? Is this worth it?

Can bears play a financial role?

Entering the offseason, the Bruins will have $27 million in salary cap space. They do have some key decisions that can be made through pending restricted free agents (RFAs) such as Geekie and defender Mason Lohrei. However, even after these contracts are signed, the remaining RFA levels should not undermine the opening of banks.

Under the salary cap, Marner will have room, especially as the hat is expected to rise in the next few seasons. Will this situation be tense after this potential signature? Absolutely. Is it worth it? Absolutely.

Brown bears need to run in Mana

The Bruins will have a lot of young players next season. Fraser Minten, Matthew Poitras and Fabian Lysell should play roles in the 2025-26 lineup. But these guys shouldn’t come in and be the savior of this crime, but are able to contribute and have a depth of influence. Mana is a sure thing and has established his achievements in this league. To be honest, Brown Bear only needs more high-end talents. They should do due diligence, check him out and hope to propose a competitive offer to bring him on board, as Marner and Pastrnak will be the electric duo at the top of the lineup.