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It appears as if reality is beginning to set in for the Boston Bruins.
As a three-game tour of California came with three close contests but zero wins (the Bruins failed to earn a single point, no less), general manager Peter Chiarelli looks and sounds like an executive that’s coming to terms with the fact that he’s going to need some external help. He took in a contest between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Buffalo Sabres this past Tuesday night, and he followed that up with a trip to the United Center for some St. Louis Blues-Chicago Blackhawks action on Wednesday night. And a rumor out of the Canada that the Bruins are once again chatting with the Edmonton Oilers -- perhaps about the availability of one Jordan Eberle -- broke on Thursday night.
Given the Bruins’ recent slide, this sounds like it’d check out.
Within seconds, the Black and Gold had their package. According to internet hypothesizers, the Bruins were going to send Milan Lucic to the Oilers for Eberle. Or they would send a package featuring one of Chris Kelly, Brad Marchand, or Loui Eriksson to the Oilers along with a package of prospects including but not limited to Ryan Spooner, Joe Morrow, or Malcolm Subban. The Bruins could also ‘throw a pick in’, completing the video game trade.
But here’s the catch-- No.
While it’s clear that B’s fans have found their new white whale in Eberle -- first it was Jarome Iginla, then Rick Nash, then Bobby Ryan -- there’s nothing out there to suggest that the Bruins can take on Eberle’s heavy $6 million contract in the now, or for the four years that follow, without sending something of considerable significance back to Edmonton. That’s to make this deal work from a financial point alone, too.
To address that, Lucic (a $6 million player) and Eriksson (a $4.25 million player) have become everybody’s go-to suggestions. But, much to the chagrin of those that fail to mention this, both players have some sort of no-move clauses in their contracts with the Bruins. And with all due respect to the Oilers (the little they deserve at this point), Lucic, the holder of a modified no-trade clause, doesn’t seem like the type of player that’d include Edmonton on his list of acceptable trade destinations. Not only this, but everything I’ve been told and heard over the past three seasons has indicated that Milan Lucic is not a player the Bruins have any interest in moving. His struggles and growing injury concerns aside, he’s become a face of Boston hockey, and that’s something that the Bruins, a year-plus removed from the famed Seguin trade, are conscious of.
And Eriksson, who recently bought a house in the Back Bay, doesn’t seem like a player that’d be willing to bail on Boston after a season and a half for a city that’s become an absolute hockey wasteland. He hated the impression he made on the Boston fans last season, too, and wanted another chance to show the Hub that he was more than what he was last season. That’s proved difficult for the Swedish winger, though, as Eriksson skates into the weekend with just three goals (with just one goal in his last 22 contests) this season.
A change of scenery could give Eriksson a chance to return to his 25-goal form of three years ago, but I’d be shocked if Eriksson actually wanted that change, especially if it’s coming via Edmonton.
No matter if you’re talking about Lucic or Eriksson, the bottom line remains the same. You’d be shocked if these guys, or anybody on the B’s roster with the slightest bit of control over their destiny for that matter, approves a trade that lands them with the Oilers.
And you’re not getting Eberle without sending something big back.
(Also: Please stop telling yourself (and me for that matter), that a package of Kelly, Spooner, and a first-round pick nets you a 24-year-old top-sixer that’s scored 101 goals and 237 points in just 300 NHL games.)
In fact, while Eberle’s the name, a more realistic target for the club might be David Perron.
Including this season, Perron has just two years left on a contract coming with a modest $3.8 million cap-hit, and has been the subject of numerous rumors throughout a year that’s left the 26-year-old former first-round pick with just three goals and 13 points in 26 games. Like Eberle, Perron has a right shot, and has played on both the left and right wing throughout his eight-year career. And unlike Eberle, Perron is not a talent that the Black and Gold would have to pay through the nose for, given his struggles and injury woes throughout his NHL career (though in this trade market, I never know anymore.)
Yet, despite the rumors, I don’t think the Bruins are taking as hard of a look at Edmonton as indicated. From what I’ve heard and read elsewhere, it sounds like the B’s would like to pluck a Bluenote out of St. Louis.
It’s widely known at this point the Blues, loaded down the middle even without Paul Stastny contributing much of anything this year, would like to get something for Patrik Berglund before his no-trade clause kicks in this July. But Berglund, with a left shot and just 38 points in his 103 games, doesn’t bring a major upgrade to the B’s lineup in any one particular area. He’s certainly more attainable than say the latest pipedream making its way through the rumor circle, winger T.J. Oshie.
Missing seven games with a concussion earlier this season, the American forward has scored just two goals and six points in 19 games this year, with three of those points coming in just one game against the Oilers. So, take that game out of the mix and Oshie has just three points in 18 contests. But Oshie would be an instant fit on the Bruins’ top line, especially with Lucic and David Krejci. Despite his 5-foot-11 frame, the 27-year-old Oshie is a player that hits, initiates, and shoots the puck. He’s just a year removed from a 21-goal, 60-point season, and is signed to a modest $4.175 million contract through 2017.
His cost (and his availability for that matter), is another story.
Still, as is the case with any trade to make a significant upgrade to the Bruins’ struggling offense, something of actual value has to head the other way for the Black and Gold.
That’s ultimately what the club has been wrestling with for quite some time now, too. Too many guys on the B’s control their own fate by way of full, modified, and partial no-trade clauses. Countless players have struggled and simply don’t have the desired value to warrant a justifiable return. A player like Spooner, unable to solidify an NHL spot and with just three goals and 13 points in 17 American Hockey League contests this year, is no longer the stud prospect that sells a deal on his own (if he ever was). Ask around and some people will tell you that they’re almost better off hanging onto their first-round pick, too.
The line between being smart and simply panicking and strong-arming yourself into a regrettable, shortsighted trade is so thin, and that’s something the Bruins are almost too wary of at this point. But at a certain point, and with the team continuing to let points slip by, they know that something’s gotta give if they want to see that Stanley Cup Playoffs decal painted on Garden ice this spring.
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