The reeling Boston Bruins could use a shakeup. In particular, they could use help up front as their offense continues to struggle. With Elias Lindholm yet to find his game, and Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle underperforming as well, the Bruins should be turning over every stone as they continue to search for a legitimate No. 1 center – not just for this season, but for the future as well.
The Vancouver Canucks are reportedly listening to offers on not one, but two top centers. A reported personal feud between Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller has resurfaced this season and become a distraction for the team. The Canucks would love for them to work things out so they can keep both, but it appears the situation has been bad enough that they would be willing to trade one of them if they get the right offer.
Bruins general manager Don Sweeney should be interested. According to Marco D’Amico of RG.org, he is. And if one of Pettersson or Miller actually is available, Sweeney should be preparing an aggressive offer.
No. 1 centers do not become available often. Teams who have them lock them up. They don’t get to free agency. They are usually only traded when there is some sort of extenuating circumstance, which there is in this case.
Miller had 103 points last season and 99 two years before that. Pettersson had 102 points two years ago and 89 last season. Miller has 30 points in 30 games this season. He missed 10 games while taking a leave of absence for personal reasons. Pettersson has 28 points in 34 games. He is currently dealing with an upper-body injury, but is expected to return soon. Both are 200-foot, all-situations players.
Miller is 31 and signed through 2030, but his cap hit is a reasonable (for a player of his caliber) $8 million. Pettersson makes $11.6 million a year through 2032, but he is just 26 and has many years of his prime left.
Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin is not just going to give either of them away, no matter how much friction there is. It will not be easy for the Bruins to put together the kind of package that would convince him to pull the trigger. They are thin on high-end prospects. They don’t want to keep trading away first-round picks. Both Boston and Vancouver are up against the cap, so the money in and out would pretty much need to match. The Bruins would likely end up with a hole elsewhere on their roster.
Here’s the thing, though: holes at other positions are usually easier to fill. Scoring wings, while expensive, are available via trade or free agency pretty much every year. Top-four defensemen are harder to acquire, but still more attainable than No. 1 centers. The Bruins and Canucks both have goalies locked in, so we probably don’t need to talk about that, unless this grows into some sort of three-team behemoth.
So, what might it take? Well, let’s start with the one offer that’s actually been reported. The Athletic’s Josh Yohe reported this week that the New York Rangers offered veteran center Mika Zibanejad for Miller, but were rejected. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman added that the Canucks wanted young defenseman Braden Schneider included, which the Rangers were not willing to do.
The Canucks have been looking for help on defense for a while, but they would also need to try to replenish their center position if they’re moving Miller or Pettersson. The only (roughly) 1-for-1 matches the Bruins have salary-wise at those positions are Charlie McAvoy on defense ($9.5 million) and Elias Lindholm at center ($7.75 million).
Both players have a full no-movement clause. Pettersson, given his age, is a player the Bruins might at least consider asking McAvoy to waive for, even if it would leave them without a franchise No. 1 defenseman. Whether McAvoy, who has spent his entire life on the East Coast, actually would waive it to move across the continent is a different story.
Lindholm played for the Canucks just last year after getting traded from Calgary. After a slow start, they liked what they got from him in the playoffs. But Lindholm also has a full no-movement clause. There’s no guarantee he would want to go back, and there’s no guarantee Vancouver would be willing to take on his seven-year contract. Same goes for defenseman Nikita Zadorov. The Canucks liked what they got from him in the playoffs, too, but he also has a full no-move to go along with a six-year contract that isn’t looking so great right now.
So, what else? At center, Pavel Zacha might have some appeal given his age (27) and reasonable contract ($4.75 million AAV for two more years after this). Same goes for pending free agents Trent Frederic and Morgan Geekie. Looking younger, there’s Matt Poitras, who has already played well in the NHL and projects to be a middle-six center.
On defense, the Canucks could target Hampus Lindholm ($6.5 million AAV through 2030), who just started skating this week as he recovers from a knee injury. He also has a full no-move, though. Brandon Carlo ($4.1 million AAV for two more years after this) may be too similar to what Vancouver already has in Tyler Myers. Mason Lohrei would be the young D to target.
For once, the Bruins actually own all of their first-round picks. Pettersson and Miller are the kinds of players who are worth moving one for.
Of all those potential chips, is there some sort of package the Bruins could put together that would appeal to the Canucks and work financially? Would something like Hampus Lindholm, Zacha, and either Poitras or a first-round pick get them close on Pettersson? Maybe replace Zacha with Frederic or Geekie if we’re talking about Miller?
Maybe the Canucks demand more than that. Maybe the ask reaches a point where it’s just way too much. Maybe the Bruins dive into whatever is going on between Pettersson and Miller and don’t like what they find from a character perspective. Those would all be valid reasons to not go all-in here.
On the surface, though, Pettersson and Miller both offer the kind of high-end center play the Bruins just don’t have right now, and may not be able to find for many years. Either one would help this season, but more importantly for years to come.
The Vegas Golden Knights got uncomfortable for Jack Eichel in 2021 and were rewarded for their boldness with a Stanley Cup the next season. The Bruins should view that as a model worth following when debating whether to seriously pursue Pettersson or Miller.