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Something that could mean nothing or could mean something: Almost the entire Boston Bruins front office, including the organization’s top pro scout, Adam Creighton, were extremely late leaving their ninth-level box of the TD Garden last night. (They were finally heading down when the locker rooms were closed for any further interviews.) It’s only ‘strange’ because you’ll find the front office execs heading down to ice-level with most media-folk shortly after the final horn almost every other day of the year. Factor it in with the looming Trade Deadline, and the speculation, naturally, started flying.
It seemed as if the Black and Gold were hot on a trade.
One source indicated to HockeyBuzz.com that the B’s have been high on Columbus forward Cam Atkinson for some time, while Calgary’s Curtis Glencross (since traded to Washington) and Stars forward Erik Cole (since traded to Detroit), was another name that they could have been focusing in on following yesterday’s 4-1 win over Arizona.
It was also worth noting that the Bruins were in search of a trade that would have allowed the club to make “another trade towards an area of need… per a source, making a name like Atkinson, a restricted free agent at the end of the season, without question more appealing. Sources also indicated that the Bruins were not in on Antoine Vermette (traded to Chicago) when Arizona failed to accept anything less than a first-round pick in exchange for the pending unrestricted free agent.
Sunday has by all means come and gone with the Bruins losing out on Arizona defenseman Keith Yandle -- a local talent they’ve long been linked to -- to the New York Rangers for a promising package featuring New York’s top prospect Anthony Duclair, defenseman John Moore, a 2016 first-round pick, and second-round selection in this year’s draft. In spite of the price they paid, the Rangers will undoubtedly benefit from the Coyotes retaining half of Yandle’s $5.25 million salary, something that would have been a huge selling point for Boston. For Yandle, the writing was on the wall, as one source told HockeyBuzz.com that the ‘Yotes knew that this deadline would bring the franchise their best chance at trading Yandle for a significant return, noting that it ‘had to happen now or not at all’.
But the Bruins have remained on the sidelines. They’re still weighing their options -- from Atkinson to Sabres power forward Chris Stewart, or maybe even New Jersey’s Marty Havlat or Michael Ryder -- and hoping for a price decrease.
Unfortunately, time is far from on their side, as the B’s (and the rest of the league for that matter) have until just 3 p.m. tomorrow afternoon to make a decision as to whether or not this year’s team is worth moving assets of the future out to improve the team in the now. The general belief is that, with a few tweaks to their lineup here and there, the Black and Gold could have a sporting chance in a considerably wide open Eastern Conference, but what’s moved out of the Hub has always been the biggest talking point for general manager Peter Chiarelli.
And nobody here really wants out.
“We’ve got a good team in here. We believe in this group of guys,… said Bruins forward Brad Marchand. “It’s part of the game when guys move around and guys come in and out. Regardless of what happens we’re gonna remain confident within our team. We can beat any team in this league on any given night. We know that, especially when our team’s healthy. If someone comes in, great. If they don’t, then that’s great too. We’re gonna work with what we have and do the best we can.
“When you’re on a team you feel like family and you feel like home. It’s always tough to be traded. I think the only team you would only want to be is if you end up winning the Cup.…
When it comes to what the Bruins want to or will give up, it gets tricky to say the least.
A month ago, the Bruins would have likely entertained the idea of moving Ryan Spooner out of town. But now, with David Krejci out for almost the rest of the regular season, the Bruins need the 23-year-old Spooner (and he’s playing quite well, too). The Bruins will not move a piece of their core (a Milan Lucic, Marchand, Loui Eriksson, etc.) just yet, nor are they keen on moving top prospects Alexander Khokhlachev, Malcolm Subban, or this year’s first-round pick.
They would very much like to acquire a piece for one of their second-round picks -- either their own or Philadelphia’s -- and hope to land a piece for that and perhaps a mid-level prospect.
But again, and written here before, teams aren’t exactly lining up to do Chiarelli any favors like a pile of mid-draft picks and low-level prospects for a worthwhile contributor, as they know the pressure is on the Boston front office to make a move or face the wrath of ownership this spring. In essence, teams are trying to get Chiarelli to overpay what most would consider market value for a rental. It’s the biggest (and probably only) reason why Vermette, despite his various connects to the club, isn’t a Bruin right now, and why the B’s have yet to pull the trigger on a player like Stewart just yet.
Even if the prices drop a bit, this is still a major seller’s market and the Bruins aren’t quite there.
Barring a season-altering offer, the Bruins don’t sound like a club that’s intent on selling off their pending free agents -- Carl Soderberg, Adam McQuaid, and Danny Paille to name a few -- even if the return could be worth the long-term benefits. So, if there’s not a home run on the table (which with Yandle off the board to NY, to spoil the surprise, doesn’t appear to be the case), and they don’t want to sell and therefore waste another year of the ‘Zdeno Chara Cup window’, the Bruins have two options-- They could make a minor trade or two to bolster their depth or they could do nothing at all.
Now, given the season-long backlash to the Johnny Boychuk trade, I’d say that there’s a slim-to-none chance that they stand completely pat before the deadline.
But wishing for anything more than depth or Stewart at this point, as painful a pill as that is/will be to swallow, seems like a dream in a year full of nightmares on Causeway Street.
Ty Anderson has been covering the Boston Bruins for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, is a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com