When discussing what the Bruins might do before the April 12 trade deadline, it is easy to pinpoint a scoring wing as the team's biggest need.
The conversation tends to acknowledge that while a top-four defenseman would be nice as well, the defense should be fine for the most part once everyone is healthy.
But here's the thing: The Bruins haven't been completely healthy on defense since the first week of the season, and general manager Don Sweeney may decide he can't bank on that ever being a reality for any prolonged period of time.
While the Bruins have enough depth to fill in a third pairing with any number of options if they're relatively healthy, they're thin on legitimate top-four options.
They missed Matt Grzelcyk's puck-moving when he was out. They miss Brandon Carlo's steady defensive presence now. Jeremy Lauzon's physicality and defense-first play hasn't been easy to replace either.
Lauzon is right at the four-week mark since undergoing surgery to repair a fractured hand. His initial timetable stated he would be re-evaluated at four weeks, so he could be getting close if all has gone well.
Carlo has been out with a concussion since Tom Wilson hit him in the head 18 days ago. He is back on the ice skating, but it remains unclear when he'll be cleared for contact and a return to game action.
It's all created a situation where Sweeney has had little opportunity to evaluate a full-strength Bruins defense, and may not get one before the trade deadline.
Sweeney could decide the Bruins need a top-four defenseman, both because they can't bank on health and because they might need an upgrade there anyways, depending on how much you trust Lauzon.
The latest wrench thrown into Sweeney's deadline equation has come over the last five days, as five Bruins -- all forwards (David Pastrnak, David Krejci, Jake DeBrusk, Craig Smith, Sean Kuraly) -- have been on the NHL's COVID-19 protocol list. Sweeney acknowledged that if the Bruins are able to play Thursday, they will likely still not have at least a couple of those players.
That leads to questions about how much time they might miss, and whether there will be any lingering effects. This is where Sweeney surely knows more than those of us on the outside. We just don't know if any of the five are symptomatic or at risk of a prolonged absence.
If they are, then forward help becomes an even more pressing concern. Ondrej Kase also factors in here to some extent -- he's been out since the second game of the season with a concussion, and Sweeney and Co. have to decide if they can expect anything from him this season, or if they have to operate as if he will not be there.
What is clear is that health will be a factor in Sweeney's deadline decision-making, moreso than you'd like it to be.
"We're meeting as groups to decide based on our discussions with other teams and ultimately, as I've said before, the health of our group and how well we're playing will sometimes determine it, as well as the availability of players you might like to add," Sweeney said Monday. "There's all sorts of variables associated with it, and I can't tell you whether or not we're going to make a move in any direction because as I've said before, we'd like to. But a little bit of the health for our hockey club may dictate that.
"We're facing more compressed schedules through the next 28 games, and it's going to be a war of attrition. In the playoffs you have a war of attrition, but I think the balance of the schedules is going to represent some of those challenges. And some players are getting an opportunity — we're testing depth. We've played 12 defensemen over the course of 28 games. And obviously several forwards are getting an opportunity. We'd like to be healthy and fully evaluate, but that might not be possible as well. It is a factor of what we're trying to do and what we'd like to do. But I think all teams are dealing with it."
Sweeney and other GMs would also prefer to act sooner than later to give new acquisitions as much time as possible to acclimate to their new teams, not to mention there will be some required quarantines for players who travel to their new teams by plane. Canadian teams especially would want to move early if they're dealing with an American team, as those players would have to quarantine for 14 days after crossing the border.
"I think anybody would prefer to act sooner and get your group together and acclimated as you get through it," Sweeney said. "But, again, I don't think anybody has a timeline. You can talk to the Canadian teams, they'd like to do it way out front because they're facing 14 hard days before a player's available to them. But the other teams are dictating where the supply is and what the demand is. I can't predict whether we'll be earlier on the deadline day."
Sweeney sounds like someone who still intends to add despite the Bruins' struggles over the last month, but there are clearly some challenges here -- not just that it's always hard to execute significant trades anyways, but also that Sweeney hasn't been able to evaluate or bank on a healthy lineup.
"We've been tested in some areas of our organization depth-wise, and we've acknowledged that if we can add and improve our hockey club, then we'd like to do that — for now, and for the future going forward," Sweeney said. "And really, the team itself and how they're playing usually indicates how aggressive you're going to want to be."
