There is no official start date for trade deadline season, but for all intents and purposes, it might as well have been Friday night. The Carolina Hurricanes, Colorado Avalanche and Chicago Blackhawks kicked things off with a massive blockbuster that sent Mikko Rantanen and Taylor Hall to Carolina; Martin Necas, Jack Drury and two draft picks to Colorado; and a third-round pick to Chicago.
The Boston Bruins got the first look at the new-look Avalanche on Saturday, and came away with a big 3-1 win thanks to a pair of third-period goals from Morgan Geekie.
What the Bruins themselves decide to do between now and the March 7 trade deadline remains a mystery. Team president Cam Neely already acknowledged two weeks ago that Boston would need to “look at two paths: one that we're buying and one that we may be retooling a little bit.”
In what has been pretty typical for this Bruins team, they’ve had a couple bad losses since then (blowing a third-period lead against Ottawa and getting dominated by New Jersey) that make you think it’s retool time, but also a couple good wins (Saturday vs. Colorado and a shutout in Thursday’s rematch against Ottawa) that give you some pause and a little bit of hope.
The net result of this up-and-down season is that the Bruins sit squarely on a crowded playoff bubble in the Eastern Conference. By points, they are tied for sixth place, one point clear of the cut line. By points percentage, which accounts for games in hand, they’re in ninth, the first team out.
If Neely, general manager Don Sweeney and company do ultimately choose the retool path, what would it actually look like? Who on the current roster could potentially moved? Let’s go through it player-by-player, grouping players into tiers based on their situations.
The pending free agents: Trent Frederic, Morgan Geekie, Justin Brazeau, Cole Koepke, Parker Wotherspoon
Frederic is the Bruin who has been mentioned the most in trade rumors to this point, and remains the most likely to get moved. He is having a down season as he approaches unrestricted free agency, but had started to pick it up a little bit recently before missing a few games with an illness. His size, physicality, willingness to drop the gloves, and ability to play center or wing make him an attractive bottom-six target for contending teams. Those kinds of players usually fetch a decent haul, which the Bruins could be happy to take if they decide that re-signing Frederic is unlikely.
Geekie and Brazeau have both made strong cases for themselves as they approach free agency (restricted in Geekie’s case, unrestricted in Brazeau’s). After a slow start to the season, Geekie has 13 goals and 20 points over the last 24 games, and he makes just $2 million. We covered his situation and recent hot streak more in-depth over the weekend here.
Brazeau has 10 goals and 20 points on the year while making the league minimum. Both he and Geekie would be attractive to buyers and land the Bruins good returns, but both could also be players they want to extend if the price is right.
Koepke and Wotherspoon probably have minimal value as depth pieces, but depth players do get moved at the deadline as well. They could be worth listening on if someone’s interested.
The captain: Brad Marchand
Marchand is also a pending unrestricted free agent, but he really deserves his own tier because this is a unique situation. Technically, Marchand only has an eight-team no-trade list. The Bruins could almost certainly find a buyer even if Marchand doesn’t waive that protection. Just about every contender would be interested given Marchand’s playoff pedigree, style of play, and continued stellar production, even at 36 years old.
But Marchand isn’t just another player. He’s the captain and a franchise legend. His No. 63 is going to hang in the TD Garden rafters someday. That’s not the kind of player you trade if he doesn’t want to be traded.
So, the Bruins have to work with Marchand here. If Marchand wants to finish his career in Boston, and at a salary the Bruins are OK with, then no trade. But if he wants to chase another Stanley Cup elsewhere, or the two sides realize they aren’t especially close on contract terms, then a trade absolutely should be on the table.
Movable veterans with term: Charlie Coyle, Pavel Zacha, Brandon Carlo, Andrew Peeke, Joonas Korpisalo, Mark Kastelic*
We’re putting an asterisk on Kastelic because he just signed a three-year extension and both sides seem thrilled about his fit here. A trade seems unlikely.
From the rest of this group, Zacha may be the most attractive to potential suitors given his age (27), contract (two more years after this at $4.75M AAV), and steady production (57 and 59 points the last two years, tracking towards 50 or so this year). All of that is also why the Bruins might just want to keep him if no one blows them away. Zacha has a 10-team no-trade list.
Coyle and Carlo have done a lot for the Bruins over the years, and both are loved by their teammates, but Sweeney may want to see what the market looks like for them. Despite down seasons for both, there are always contenders looking for third-line centers and second-pairing right-shot defensemen. Coyle’s $5.25 million cap hit is a little steep at 32 years old, but he’s only signed for one more year after this. Carlo is signed for two more years, but is 28 and carries a reasonable $4.1 million cap hit. Coyle has an eight-team no-trade list; Carlo’s is 10. If you decide to alter the core, this could be the place to do it.
The Bruins traded a third-round pick and Jakub Zboril to get Peeke last year, at a time when he was struggling to get ice time on a bad Columbus team. His career rehab in Boston has gone quite nicely, with Peeke proving to be a perfectly reliable third-pairing defensive defenseman who has also stepped into a bigger role recently with both Hampus Lindholm and Charlie McAvoy out of the lineup. In theory, the Bruins could flip him for more than what they gave up to get him, which would be a nice piece of business.
Korpisalo has also rehabbed his value a bit in Boston. He started the season strong, hit a little bit of a rough patch over a five-start stretch from mid-December to mid-January, but then turned in an excellent outing in a 29-save shutout against Ottawa, his former team, on Thursday. There still may not be a whole lot of interest in taking on his contract (3 years after this at $3M AAV), but it’s worth poking around.
Hampus Lindholm
Hampus Lindholm is a bit of a unique situation. He was playing great before fracturing his kneecap in mid-November. He’s skating again, but it’s still unclear exactly when he’ll return to game action. He’s not quite the pillar that David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy and Jeremy Swayman are. He’s not as movable as Coyle, Zacha or Carlo because he has full no-trade protection until 2027. But he’s more movable than Nikita Zadorov or Elias Lindholm because teams would be more amenable to his contract (5 more years after this at $6.5M AAV).
The guess here is that the Bruins probably won’t actively shop Lindholm, but would consider asking him to waive his no-trade if they’re blown away by an offer or if they come across a hockey trade (again, probably for a center) that makes sense.
The franchise pillars: David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy, Jeremy Swayman
Never say never, but trading any of these three seems highly unlikely. Pastrnak and McAvoy have full no-trade protection, for starters. Swayman’s no-trade clause doesn’t kick in until 2026.
Maybe there’s some sort of blockbuster hockey trade along the lines of the Panthers’ Jonathan Huberdeau-for-Matthew Tkachuk trade that makes sense (for a No. 1 center?), but that’s still unlikely. Trading one of them for prospects, picks and/or young players would be a rebuild move, not a retool move, and the guess here is that the Jacobs family has zero appetite for a lengthy rebuild. The Bruins would immediately be looking for another elite scorer, No. 1 defenseman, or No. 1 goalie.
Probably unmovable veterans: Elias Lindholm, Nikita Zadorov
The Bruins’ two big free-agent signings from this past summer have not made anywhere close to the impact they were hoping for. They probably have no choice but to just keep working with them and hope things get better, if not now then next season. No one is going to take on those contracts right now, and Lindholm and Zadorov both have full no-trade protection anyways (until 2029 for Lindholm, until 2026 for Zadorov).
The youth: Matt Poitras, Mason Lohrei, Johnny Beecher, Fabian Lysell, Georgii Merkulov
Trading away young players is generally not part of a retool, and we wouldn’t expect it to be here. But if the Bruins find a high-end player with term worth targeting – someone who helps them not just now, but for years to come – they might consider including one of these guys in a package.
Poitras and Lohrei have the most value – to the Bruins and other teams – as players who have already begun to establish themselves at the NHL level. Lysell has yet to break through (except for one NHL game), but just turned 22 and still holds value. Beecher is a fourth-liner with little offensive upside, so it’s unclear what his trade value would even be.
Merkulov is interesting. He’s 24 now and in year three of high-end AHL production. At some point soon, the Bruins need to decide if they’re going to give him a real NHL look or not. If they think he’s just a tweener, then they should be open to trading him.
Draft picks
Same as above. The Bruins probably shouldn’t be trading any draft picks for rentals this year. In a more forward-looking deal, though, they might consider it. The Bruins actually do own all their future first-round picks for once, but they don’t have their second or fourth in 2025.