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The 2015 NHL Trade Deadline is less than a month away, and like just about everybody else within striking distance of the playoff picture, the Boston Bruins are surveying their options for upgrades across the board. And though the Bruins have multiple openings -- they’d love to add another high-end, top-four defenseman and a right-shooting winger -- the club is currently without the assets or cash to make more than one splash. That’s put the focus on their seemingly more pressing need: another big winger than can pot goals.
That, for better or worse, has put Buffalo winger Chris Stewart back in Boston’s light, per Sportsnet.
The 27-year-old Stewart has nine goals and 18 points in 49 games played this season, and in the final year of a contract that comes with a heavy $4.15 million cap-hit, is an obvious goner from the tanking Sabres. Stewart’s been linked to the Black and Gold for far too long, and seems like a natural fit given his 6-foot-2 size, right shot, and power-forward type of presence. (The Bruins would acquire Stewart with the hope, or perhaps prayer is a better word, that he could find a spark in a winning environment a la Nathan Horton did on his jump from Florida to Boston in 2010.)
He could see himself in Boston, too.
“I like to consider myself a hard-nosed player who can stick up for his teammates,… Stewart said in an interview with WEEI.com’s Big Bad Blog back in December. “If I do get open, I can put the puck in the net. So yeah, I think that could be a good fit.…
The Bruins' revolving door on their right-side is well documented by now. The latest carousel spin has landed Reilly Smith up on that top-line with David Krejci and Milan Lucic, while Loui Eriksson skates with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand, and 18-year-old first-year skater David Pastrnak plays with Carl Soderberg on the third line. President Cam Neely noted that it's still an area that they'd like to make an upgrade to if possible, even with Pastrnak in the fold, before the Trade Deadline, too.
But Stewart’s a prayer and a project, simply put.
An on-again, off-again healthy scratch for the league-worst Sabres, Stewart began his year with just five goals and 10 points in the first 37 games of the season, but has regained some value by way of a January of four goals and eight points in 11 games. All four of those strikes came on the power play (and two of the assists did, too), while Stewart posted a .200 shooting percentage.
That, based on his career trend, is an aberration more than anything else.
But in a thin market, it bolsters the asking price from Buffalo general manager Tim Murray.
Murray, in Boston for this week’s Beanpot, has long been linked to B’s prospect Alex Khokhlachev. The 5-foot-11 Khokhlachev, an AHL All-Star this season, has 11 goals and 33 points in 38 games for the Providence Bruins this season, and has appeared in four NHL games, including three this season. From what I’ve been told (coupled with common sense), the Bruins are not willing to part with the 21-year-old Khokhlachev in any rental, especially if it’s a trade within the division. Ryan Spooner, however, a player that Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos mentioned, could be a piece the Bruins are willing to move.
The 23-year-old Spooner is, well, in an interesting-yet-unfortunate situation with the B’s.
Now skating in his third full-year in the AHL, the speedy playmaker seems by all means banished to the minors after a listless start to his season on the top six with the big club. Beginning the year on a line with Milan Lucic and Matt Fraser, Spooner failed to register a point, dropped down to fourth-line minutes, and then found himself sent back down to the minors. And in Providence, Spooner’s recorded five goals and 17 points in 26 games. Factor that in with an NHL resume that includes zero goals and 11 assists in 32 games, an NHL roster loaded down the middle, and the fact that Khokhlachev looks like a player that’s jumped him on the organizational depth chart and it’s no longer hard to envision a trade that moves Spooner out.
On Spooner, it’s not that his talent has ever been a question or debate. But time and time again, it appears that there’s been a strife of sorts with a coaching staff that simply demands more from the former 45th overall pick from 2010. Head coach Claude Julien called the 23-year-old out after the club’s first preseason contest, going as far to call him a liability on the ice. It was a true tough love approach, and one the club wanted Spooner to embrace and simply growth with. It didn’t appear to work, however, and it’s clear that Julien, right or wrong, simply doesn’t have the patience to coddle and hope that Spooner eventually gets it.
As one source put it, “When the head coach is done with you, you’re screwed.…
That without question hurts his name on the market, and puts an unofficial clock of sorts on a timeline to either find a role for this player on your NHL roster or move him before his stock drops to complete nothingness. In the case of Spooner, the latter undeniably seems to be the more likely of the two routes.
Is Spooner enough to get Stewart in Boston? Given the rumor of other potential suitors for the Toronto, Ont. native -- including the Ottawa Senators and New York Islanders just to name a few -- probably not. But it could be a starting point, especially if/when Stewart regresses over the next three weeks or so.
But whether or not the Bruins should go all in on addressing their deadline needs by way of another power-forward hopeful, is still something that’s very much in question.
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