The Boston Bruins need someone who can put the puck in the net. That much was made clear once again in Tuesday night’s 2-0 loss to the Vancouver Canucks at TD Garden.
The Bruins continued their renewed commitment to defense and 5-on-5 structure under interim head coach Joe Sacco, outshooting the Canucks 32-15 and out-attempting them 72-31. They held a whopping 18-2 advantage in high-danger chances, according to Natural Stat Trick.
They simply could not finish their chances, which has been a problem all season. The Bruins rank 31st in team shooting percentage (8.1%) and 32nd – dead last – in goals per game (2.22). They have been shut out four times in their last 17 games, averaging a meager 1.76 goals per game during that time.
General manager Don Sweeney said last week, following the firing of coach Jim Montgomery, that trades would be next if the Bruins continued to struggle. It’s not a secret that he has already been exploring the market for opportunities to shake things up.
Well, it just so happens that a player who can put the puck in the net is reportedly available. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on Monday that the struggling New York Rangers have also made it known to the league that they are looking to shake things up, and that veteran winger Chris Kreider is one of the players they would be willing to move.
Kreider has topped 35 goals in each of the last three seasons. Even amid a slow start in terms of his all-around game, he has nine goals in 19 games this season. That would lead the Bruins. His 17.3% shooting percentage would rank second on the Bruins behind only Mark Kastelic, who has scored three goals on 15 shots this season.
Kreider, a Boxford native and Boston College alum, is a classic power forward – fast, physical, big (6-foot-3, 230 pounds), and an expert finisher at the front of the net. He is a power-play weapon and one of the league’s most dangerous penalty-killers.
Perfect, right? Go get him, Don!
Of course, it’s not nearly that simple. There are logistical concerns about what it would take to pull off such a trade, and there are also on-ice concerns about the way Kreider’s game is trending this season.
Let’s start with the logistics. Kreider carries a $6.5 million cap hit, and is signed for two more years after this. Because the Bruins have less than $1 million in cap space right now, they would have to send out just about as much salary as they’re taking in.
That means trading someone, or multiple someones, off the active roster, and not just low-salary depth players. Save your “Trent Frederic and Morgan Geekie” proposals. At $2.3 million and $2 million, respectively, that’s not enough money anyways. And the Rangers are still in win-now mode. They would want impact players, not two of the Bruins’ biggest underachievers this season.
Charlie Coyle ($5.25M) or Pavel Zacha ($4.75M) would get you closer to matching salary, but present the same problem in terms of underperformance this season. Maybe Zacha’s age (27) and positional versatility carry some appeal. Maybe Frederic’s power-forward style does as well. So, maybe a Zacha-Frederic package starts to get you somewhere. But the Bruins might have to include a premium pick or prospect on top of that, and they are short on both.
Where the Rangers could really use help is on defense. They rank 29th in 5-on-5 high-danger chances allowed this season. The Bruins, whatever other problems they may have, lead the league in preventing such chances.
Now we’re getting to the heart of a true hockey trade: Both teams trade from an area of strength to address an area of weakness.
Charlie McAvoy ($9.5M) would not be on the table unless the Rangers were giving the Bruins a lot more than Kreider. Hampus Lindholm ($6.5M), Nikita Zadorov ($5M) and Brandon Carlo ($4.1M) could be.
Zadorov may not be the kind of defenseman the Rangers are looking for. They already have one D who is prone to chasing hits and taking penalties in Jacob Trouba, and they have reportedly been trying to trade him for months. Zadorov, whom the Bruins just signed over the summer, also has a full no-trade clause for this year and next year.
Lindholm and Carlo are more dependable defenders and scoring chance suppressors. Carlo has a 10-team no-trade list. It is unknown if the Rangers are on it. Trading him would leave a hole on the Bruins’ right side and would necessitate either Andrew Peeke or Parker Wotherspoon elevating to a top-four role.
Lindholm would be a perfect match money-wise, and is also the player in this whole exercise who might appeal most to the Rangers. But he is also currently injured, expected to miss another month with a fractured kneecap, according to WEEI’s own Rich Keefe. He also has a full no-trade clause. Whether there’s any chance he would waive it for the Rangers is unknown, and whether New York would have any interest in acquiring him before he’s healthy is also unknown.
The Bruins have been able to tighten up their defense under Sacco without Lindholm, but Lindholm was nonetheless playing like Boston’s best all-around defenseman before his injury. Would trading someone who was playing at that level for Kreider be worth it?
That depends on which Kreider you think you’re getting. The one from the last three years? Absolutely. The one from this season? Ehh… maybe.
While Kreider does have nine goals, he also has zero assists. And only two of those goals have come at 5-on-5. Kreider’s 0.56 points per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 are a career worst by a lot, way below his average of 1.74 per 60 over the previous three seasons. He is also not helping to drive play like he has in the past, with his on-ice Corsi (44.1%), goal differential (-1) and expected goals share (43.3%) all down significantly as well.
Of course, that dip is the reason Kreider is even available in the first place. If the Bruins are just buying a dip and believe Kreider can bounce back in a different situation, then no problem. But if they’re buying the start of a 33-year-old’s decline, then that’s a big problem, especially with Kreider signed for two more years after this.
Any in-season roster shakeup always comes with a level of risk, and acquiring Kreider certainly would. But what he can bring when he’s on his game, and what he could do to address the Bruins’ biggest problem, make him someone Sweeney should be taking a good, long look at.