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If there’s one thing that the Hub learned almost immediately into his tenure, it’s that Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney is not an executive afraid to make trades. Far from it.
But with the season started and the Bruins looking to find their rhythm, at least from their 12-man forward grouping, could Sweeney be looking at another move to upgrade the Boston roster?
From the Ottawa Sun’s Insider Trading section (Sunday, Oct. 25):
The Bruins would like to move RW Loui Eriksson and the $4.25 million contract. He’ll be a UFA on July 1 and we’re told Sweeney tried to move him several times during the off-season while a playoff contender will likely take C Chris Kelly off their hands. Sweeney has been desperately trying to get a defenceman.
This is not the first time in 2015 -- or even 2013 and 2014 for that matter -- that Loui Eriksson or Chris Kelly have found themselves linked in various trade rumors. But while that may have been the case this past summer while the Bruins were in full-on tinker-with-the-roster mode, I have a genuinely hard time believing that it’s still the case for Sweeney and the Bruins.
I’ll tell you straight-up that I’d be President of the Loui Eriksson Booster Club if I could be, but that’s a weird job title and the benefits kinda stink. At the same time, though, I don’t think I’d be out of my tree if I told you that trading him right now -- or any time before the Bruins legitimately fall out of playoff contention, if they do -- would be a massive, massive mistake on the part of the B’s front office.
Through eight games, Eriksson has been everything the Black and Gold thought they were getting from the Dallas Stars when they made the infamous Tyler Seguin trade on the Fourth of July in 2013. It’s an incredibly small sample, and that much is known, of course. But you know why they’ve been a successful eight games for Eriksson? ‘Cause he’s skating in a top-six role. No longer pigeonholed into a third-line role as Carl Soderberg’s binky of a winger, Eriksson has simply thrived with the larger offensive role, on either the Patrice Bergeron opposite Brad Marchand or David Krejci line opposite David Pastrnak.
With two goals and nine points in eight games thus far, it’s undoubtedly easy to fall in love with Eriksson’s 21-goal, 93-point pace. The 21 goals could (and probably should) happen if the Swedish winger is healthy for most of the season, and while the 93-point plateau seems incredibly unlikely, a return to the 70-point player Eriksson was during his time with the Stars doesn’t seem impossible.
Skating as the net-front presence on a Boston first power-play unit that’s simply lit it up through the first three weeks of the season, Eriksson’s ability to rack up goals via deflections and rebounds and secondary assists seems like shooting fish in a barrel for his point totals, which have yet to eclipse the 47-point mark (set last year, his first healthy season in town) during his two seasons with the Bruins.
Eriksson is also a noted analytics darling and possesses (ha, see what I did there? ‘Cause I didn’t until I was editing this) an unbelievably strong positioning game and is always among Boston’s best when it comes to pushing the puck out of harm’s way and into the attacking zone. Regardless of his role in the lineup, Eriksson does the little things and the big things for the Black and Gold.
That has immense value to a Boston roster that’s still lacking a proven top-six winger to stick to Bergeron’s right or Krejci’s left. And that’s not a slight towards the rest of the Boston roster, as they’re still figuring out exactly what they have in guys like Matt Beleskey, Brett Connolly, and Jimmy Hayes while the 19-year-old Pastrnak is still just 19 years old, but rather a testament to Eriksson’s value.
It’d be tough to move that for a quick defensive fix, even if you don’t think you’re going to have the cake to re-sign No. 21 this summer. (Which in my opinion, you absolutely should so long as he’s not coming into your office demanding $6 million a season for the next five to six seasons.)
It’s worth noting, too, that while Eriksson lost his full no-trade clause when the Bruins missed the playoffs last season, he still has a 14-team list he can and has submitted to the B’s front office.
Still, the idea of trading this player right now, with the offense clicking the way it is, is nuts.
When it comes to Kelly’s situation, it’s a little easier to understand the possible impetus from Sweeney and the Bruins to unload No. 23’s $3 million cap-hit off the books at some point this season.
Although he’s the Bruins’ version of a Swiss Army knife, with an ability to play any forward position on any line in any situation, the 34-year-old has been primarily relegated to a fourth-line role with the B’s in 2015-16, and the belief that his money could be used elsewhere is certainly legitimate.
But answer me this-- is Kelly’s contract such a burden that it’s prevented the Bruins from nabbing the defenseman that would have put them over the top? Unless you viewed either Mike Green or Andrej Sekera as the defenseman that would have put them over the top, which I would not advise you to believe, it has not. Answer me this, too, if you wouldn’t mind-- which team is going to take Kelly’s contract off your hands and in return give you a d-man that will honestly bolster your chances in 2016? I can’t see many teams knocking down doors to acquire a veteran forward on an expiring deal, and move a piece (a defenseman) that has perceived playoff value in the process. That just doesn’t add up.
On top of all that, Kelly's far from what I'd call a guy that has to go.
There's value in his shorthanded game and aforementioned flexibility throughout the lineup, and he's a voice that I think that locker room needs at times compared to the lead-by-example types of many of the B's other leaders within that room.
Kelly’s contract has hurt the Bruins at times -- I’d ask you to find me a contract that didn’t hurt the Bruins a year ago -- but never to the point where it’s crippled the club into a non-playoff team. And factor in his clout within the B’s dressing room and I question the B’s desire to actually move him.
I question the B’s desire to move just about anybody right now, to be honest. At least until the club figures out exactly how they’ll look once a healthy Dennis Seidenberg returns to their top four.
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter since 2013, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.