( Photo Credit: Steve Babineau / NHLI via Getty Images )

By: Mark Allred | Follow Me On Twitter @BlackAndGold277

Last week Boston Bruins General Manager Don Sweeney mentioned in his pre-2021 NHL Entry Draft press conference that the organization would extend qualifying offers to forwards Nick Ritchie, Ondrej Kase, and Zach Senyshyn. Today the Bruins organization announced that only one of the three mentioned last week did, in fact, receive a qualifying offer. Per an article from the official Bruins website, restricted free agent forwards Ritchie and Kase were not given offers making them free agents and can sign with other teams on Wednesday at 12noon ET when the 2021 free agent frenzy officially kicks off.

The Ondrej Kase non-tendering makes complete sense as he had a hard time staying healthy since his arrival to Boston via a trade from the Anaheim Ducks and was a bit risky to make a deal with. The Nick Ritchie non-tendering offer is a strange one after the winger posted 15-11-26 career highs in 56 games in the 2020/21 regular season. Per a very knowledgeable Dom Tiano on Twitter below, Bruins GM Sweeney might have seen the writing on the wall with the former first-round pick back in 2014 with his RFA arbitration-eligible status. In most situations, the arbiter sides with the player when all facts are provided, and that’s a scenario the B’s GM might not want to take a chance on while maximizing all available funds to a roster next season.

The Boston Bruins did announce that they, in fact, tendered restricted free agents Callum Booth (G) and Zach Senyshyn (F) to qualifying offers and signed big defenseman Nick Wolff to a one-year, two-way contract. The two players who were tendered and defenceman Wolff will most likely play for the Providence Bruins in the upcoming season but will also challenge for NHL Roster spots at training camp that kicks off in September as the team prepares for a full 82 game schedule after the Covid-19 pandemic had its way with the last two campaigns with shortened seasons.