Bobby Mushkin, Reporter
@bmushkincourant
Well, the Boston Bruins have hit the midpoint of this shortened season, and thus far, the young season has been a story of peaks and valleys for the Bruins. They currently sit at 16-8-4, with 36 points, good enough for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Massmutual East Division. They are two points above their rival Philadelphia Flyers with two games in hand, and four points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins with four games in hand. Our first taste of Bruins hockey this year was initially pretty sour. The Bruins failed to score a 5 on 5 goal for over 160 minutes to open up the season. Bruins fans were hitting the panic button and closing the door on the regular season dominance the Bruins had sustained for many years.
Then, they broke through. The Bruins went on a tear, ripping off a ten game point streak where they won 9 out of 10 games. The Bruins sat at 10-1-2, atop the division in points and atop the league in points percentage. Things were going from good to great, David Pastrnak was returning from his offseason hip surgery, and the Bruins goaltending was starting to heat up. The Bruins looked like the league’s best team.
But since then, the Bruins have staggered with a record of 6-7-2. This is partly because a plague spread throughout the roster. It started when Kevan Miller’s knee injuries flared up again, Matt Grezlyk kept getting banged up, then Jeremy Lazoun broke his hand. An already depthless defensive core was losing bodies, fast. Then, things went from bad to worse. The Bruins most stout “defensive defenseman” Brandon Carlo took a high hit to the head from Capitals winger Tom Wilson, a hit that Wilson would be suspended for seven games for. That hit sent Carlo to the hospital, and left him out of the lineup indefinitely.
With Grezlyk returning and Carlo exiting, three of the Bruins top six defenseman from their depth chart were out long term. In an effort to bolster the defense, the Bruins claimed the six foot six inch Jarred Tinordi off of waivers from Nashville. In his first few games, Tinordi was great, he took down Tom Wilson in a fight, defending his new teammate after an illegal hit, and seemed to fit in seamlessly with the Bruins. But the injury plague doesn’t let anyone off the hook, and Tinordi is no exception. Tinordi left a mid March game against the Penguins with an injury, courtesy of a major boarding penalty on Brandon Tanev. The Bruins defense is absolutely decimated with injury right now, and the Bruins need to get some help.
But the defense isn’t the only thing that needs help, the most glaring issue within the Bruins right now is their lack of scoring and lack of depth. This has been a problem with the Bruins for a few years now, but it never got to be much of an issue. The Bruins defensive dominance and stellar special teams play made up for their even strength scoring issues. But this year, the defense isn’t as good, nor is the powerplay. The Bruins struggle to produce goals on a nightly basis. Aside from their top line of Marchand, Bergeron, and Patrnak, the Bruins have gotten little to no production from their forwards.
Players like Jake Debrusk and David Krejci who are heavily relied on to produce secondary scoring have become shells of themselves this season. Debrusk, a near 30 goal scorer in his brief career, has struggled so much he drew a healthy scratch one night against the Islanders. Krejci, an ultra reliable veteran second line center, failed to score a goal through the first 25 games of the season. Additionally, the Bruins second line right winger going into the 2021 campaign was Ondrej Kase. The young winger had shown promise as a top six forward in Anaheim, and the Bruins were hoping he would live up to his potential and elevate their second line. The problem is, Kase played one and a half games before getting injured and missing the next 26 plus more to come.
The Bruins just don’t have enough scoring down the lineup to produce a lot of offense. Nick Ritchie, Charlie Coyle, and Craig Smith have proven to be a more than capable third line, but with the absence of Kase, that line has been split up. The Bruins are in dire need of a high-scoring second line winger. With the April 12th trade deadline approaching, the Bruins need to make some key moves if they want to compete for a cup. They need to bring in a veteran left shot defenseman and a formidable second line winger. Here are some options:
Mattias Ekholm- Defenseman, Nashville Predators
With the Predators severely underwhelming performance this season, a lot of the top talent on this squad is considered to be “for sale” given the rebuild that is likely to commence. The Predators have two very good defenseman already in Roman Josi and Ryan Ellis, plus a couple of up and coming young defenseman. Ekholm is a super reliable first or second pair defenseman with tons of experience and lots of talent. He is a perfect target for the Bruins.
The only slight hindrance in the possible Ekholm trade for the Bruins is the implications of the upcoming expansion draft. The normal protected players format is seven forwards, three defenseman, and 1 goalie. The obvious protected defenseman for the Bruins are Charlie Mcavoy, Matt Grezlyk, and Brandon Carlo. But if the Bruins were to trade for Ekholm, he would be someone the Bruins would want to protect as well. The alternative if you want to protect an extra defenseman is four forwards, four defenseman, and one goalie.
With that, the Bruins would be unable to protect Jake Debrusk and would most likely lose him to the Seattle Kraken. That would mean the Bruins would likely look to trade Debrusk, rather than lose him for nothing. The issue with trading Debrusk, is that he hasn’t performed to his capabilities this season which deflates his value. The best the Bruins could get in return would be another player with high potential that is underperforming, which would feel like a pointless swap. They also run the risk of trading away Debrusk and seeing him turn into a star, a trend in the recent trades from the Bruins. Even with those complications, a trade for Ekholm might have more benefit than cost for a team whose cup window is closing rapidly. Whether or not the Bruins pull off a trade for Ekholm is up in the air.
Filip Forsberg- Forward, Nashville Predators
As I stated above, the Nashville Predators have shown the possibility of a full on sale of some of their best players, and at the top of that list is Filip Forsberg. Forsberg has been one of the best forwards on the Predators for a while now, and he’s in the midst of a career year. He has slowed down a bit, but his point production this season would translate to his best season of his career. The 26 year old leads his team in goals, assists, and points. He is just scratching the surface of what could be an elite career. With that, he has become the most enticing trade candidate on the market. And for a team like the Bruins that desperately needs a player like Forsberg, he is a perfect option for the Bruins to trade for.
However, his price tag is pretty high. He is performing extremely well, isn’t overpaid, and still has two years remaining on his contract. He would require at least a first round pick, and because the Bruins aren’t lower in the standings, a first round pick likely won’t cut it. And trading away their first round pick is exactly what the Bruins want to do. They have traded first round picks quite frequently in recent years, and it is starting to come back and bite them. With most of their top players aging, the future is in the hands of the Bruins prospect pool. But because they have traded their first round picks, they have one of the weakest prospect pools in the league. And like I said, trading for Forsberg would likely require more than a first round pick from a competitive team like the Bruins, so if they were to make a trade happen they would likely need to include one of their best prospects. So getting Forsberg would further weaken their prospect pool, and elongate the weakening.
But when determining whether or not you should make a trade like this, you have to weigh the cost and benefit. In this scenario, is the cost of losing out on possible prospects bigger than the benefit of gaining Filip Forsberg? Well it comes down to a couple things, is the prospect you are losing going to become better than Forsberg, will Forsberg highly increase your Stanley Cup chances, and are the future implications more important than the current situation. Obviously only the Bruins front office can answer those questions, but from my perspective, it’s easy. Forsberg is much better right now than all of the prospects the Bruins have, and the likelihood of those prospects surpassing him is slim.
Acquiring Forsberg makes the Bruins a very possible candidate to win the cup, given their goaltending and defensive structure. And the current situation outweighs the future implications. The Bruins have made several trades in the last five years that make you raise an eyebrow. They have traded away draft capital for aging players out of their prime, and young players with high potential for proven veterans. The common denominator in all of these trades, was the motivation behind them. They were all executed so the Bruins could win a Stanley Cup. They have elite talent, players with a cup under their belt already, and plenty of experience. They have gotten as close as a game 7 at home in the Stanley Cup Finals. They were one win away from hoisting the cup. They have gotten so close, and while the possibility of them winning is fading, it’s still there for at least a year or two.
The point is, they have made all of these controversial trades that have put a roadblock in front of their future all so they can win a cup. And they haven’t done that yet. The future damage is already done, that cannot be changed, but at least get the reward from it before it’s too late. If Forsberg is the missing piece that will help bring the cup back to Boston, make that trade happen. He’s 26, he’s really good, and although you would lose prospects which might slightly worsen the future, that has already been done with no cup to show for. The moral of the story is, if all those other trades were made to win a cup, why not make this one.
Taylor Hall- Forward, Buffalo Sabres
The upside in a trade like this is obvious. Hall is a recent winner of the Hart Trophy, the league’s most valuable player. He’s a former number one overall pick with a high end talent and a pretty decent body of work. He would slide in next to David Krejci and form what would be on paper an elite second line duo.
But the downside is there too. Hall is having a rough year on a team that is having an even rougher year. Buffalo is last in the league standings right now, losing 14 games in a row. To put it into perspective, a Buffalo newspaper source put out an NHL mid-season power rankings. They put their hometown Sabres at 32. There are only 31 active teams in the NHL, they placed the Sabres below the brand new yet to play Seattle Kraken.
Hall bet on himself in the offseason when he signed with the Sabres for just one year worth 8 million dollars. What looked to be a promising season with Buffalo has turned into a disaster. With the possibility of losing Hall in the offseason, the Sabres may look to capitalize on whatever value he has left. The Bruins look like a great option, but surprisingly, I don’t know if the Bruins win this trade. Hall is going to be a free agent, he will likely demand more money than he deserves, and will likely leave to another team. He would be a one year rental for Boston, and while he does make them a lot better, you might have to give up a lot for a player filled with uncertainty. But Boston has made trades similar to this before, so it’s definitely a possible outcome.
What will take place with the Bruins from now through April 12th is in question, but one thing isn’t. The Bruins want to win a Stanley Cup, and the group they have right now is not good enough to do that. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be. They are one or two players away from being a cup favorite, and if General Manager Don Sweeney can pull the right strings, Bruins fans might see a return of Lord Stanley to Commonwealth Ave.
