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A weekend of asset management began on Thursday night for Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney. Without a legitimate chance to re-sign Carl Soderberg, the Bruins moved Soderberg’s negotiation rights to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for a sixth-round draft choice in 2016. That pick originally belonged to Boston, and was part of the four-piece deal in which the B’s sent Jordan Caron to Colorado for Max Talbot (and minor league forward Paul Carey).
As previously reported here, Soderberg’s camp was seeking a four-to-five year contract worth $5 million annually, and that was something that the Bruins, still in cap trouble, couldn’t and wouldn’t even come close to matching. That figure took a slight dip, too, with Soderberg signing a five-year contract with a $4.75 million cap-hit with the Avalanche early this morning, but was still way out of the B’s price range.
And now, draft morning is upon the Black and Gold. And rumors are flying literally everywhere.
Milan Lucic’s name has been thrown around every room possible. The Bruins are listening hard on any and all offers for the 6-foot-4 power forward. It’s not that they necessarily want to move Lucic, per se, either, but rather a realization that Lucic might be one of their best (or only) legitimately moveable options to attain some assets that the B’s could view as more valuable down the road.
Like another legit top-four defender to plug into the lineup.
It’s believed that some Western clubs like Arizona, Calgary, and Vancouver have expressed interest in Lucic, and that a deal could be hammered out. Vancouver’s Alex Edler was a player that at one point was on the B’s wish list (the ‘14 trade deadline), and their GM (Jim Benning) is familiar with Lucic from his tenure as the B’s assistant general manager for all but one year of Lucic’s career to date. Although it was once a city he said he didn’t want to return to given the way he and his family have been treated since the B’s 2011 Cup win, Lucic, a Vancouver native, would be willing to waive his no-trade to go to the Canucks, per a source. Is Lucic for Edler, who is on the books with a $5 million cap-hit through 2019, a fair swap for the Bruins? Given the contract uncertainty surrounding Lucic’s final year in the Hub and potential demands moving forward (Lucic wants ‘Krejci money’, so anywhere from $7 to $7.5 million per season, it would seem), it could be. But I can’t help but feel that B’s president Cam Neely, one of Lucic’s biggest backers, would want more out of that deal.
There’s also a rumor that’s linked Lucic to the New York Rangers in exchange for Keith Yandle. But I’m not necessarily convinced that would be a good match. I’m not sold that Lucic is a good for the Rangers in every sense of the word -- from his slower, lumbering style to his $6 million cap-hit -- nor do I believe that the B’s would want to entrust Yandle with a top-four role after the Rangers turned him into a third-pairing, power-play specialist of sorts during his half-year tenure on Broadway. Like Lucic, Yandle would be an unrestricted free agent in 2016, but would also come to Boston on an insanely affordable $2.625 million cap-hit for the ‘15-16 season (Arizona ate half of his salary in the trade to NY).
If the Bruins do move Lucic, and I think that it’s a strong possibility by the end of the night, especially if it can net them another first-round pick tonight, I’m nearly 100% convinced that it will be to the West.
But should they move him? We keep coming back to this point, and for good reason. When Lucic is on his game, I don’t think if there’s a stronger presence in turning the tide of that game. Again, when on, he’s one of the few truly imposing forces in this sport. For me, I always look back to that Game 7 comeback against the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2013. Lucic was a monster in the third. He constantly went at the Leafs’ Phaneuf, Gardiner, Franson, and even Gunnarsson, and forced them to be restless with the puck. That led to chances on James Reimer, and lo and behold, a Boston comeback.
He can still be a total gamebreaker for the B’s. And there’s an emotional attachment to Lucic from the Bruins and fans, the way he plays, and what’s expected of ‘Bruins Hockey’. I know of the cringes that that mindset can send some fans into, but it’s true. If you trade him, you’re moving on from that philosophy. You won’t pick up another Lucic on the free agent market. And you might not in the draft. (Hell, 29 teams have been searching high and low for the next Lucic in the draft for the past five years.)
He’s essentially an irreplaceable commodity for the B’s, and that’s why trading him requires a hell of a lot more mulling over for Sweeney and the rest of B’s brass than people seem to realize.
At this point in time, the Bruins have yet to approach Lucic with a trade proposal of any sort.
Another rumor that’s emerged surrounds… you guessed it… Dougie Hamilton.
Well, maybe it’s not a ‘rumor’, but more of a ‘situation’. It sounds like the Bruins would like to move up to that third-overall pick, and that they could use Hamilton as a main piece to sell that pitch to Arizona. Dumb? Yes, very dumb. Any potential move up to draft Noah Hanifin should be done with the idea that a Hamilton/Hanifin pairing would be your one-two for the next decade plus. You should not move Hamilton for Hanifin because you don’t want to pay Hamilton a higher priced contract right now. Especially when, if you’re right about Hanifin and his ceiling as an NHL defenseman, you’ll just have to pay him in three years. It’s the cycle that started with Phil Kessel, continued on with Tyler Seguin, and put you in this mess that’s shaped you into this nightmarish cap (and identity) crisis.
And if it didn’t stop with Hamilton, a player that’s surpassed almost all expectations of a third-year pro that went from juniors straight to the NHL, why makes you honestly think it would stop with Hanifin?
This all comes back to the idea that at a certain point, you have to pay the right people. And Hamilton, with three years of NHL minutes his belt, should be considered the right person over the 18-year-old that’s yet to skate on NHL ice. As good as Hanifin might be in two or three years, there’s no sense in banking on that when you have a pretty damn good player already on your club.
Lost in these latest Hamilton rumors is a simple question: Why would you take one pick for Hamilton when you could have say two or three if somebody comes up to you with an offer sheet? Those picks might not be for the third overall pick, but you said the same thing about the Kessel picks in ‘10 and ‘11, and if a player is not one you deem a fit within your team’s structure moving forward (feeling this way about Hamilton would drive me into a temper-tantrum, I’ll be honest), it would obviously be in your best interest to maximize the return for that asset. Something the old regime (Peter Chiarelli) always seemed to make a point of emphasis in his trades.
If this leaguewide staredown continues, the B’s will make their first pick at No. 14 overall tonight.
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