Give John Buccigross this: He knows how to get people talking. On Friday, the ESPN host and NHL analyst got two fanbases riled up when he floated the idea of a blockbuster trade between the Boston Bruins and Edmonton Oilers.
Before we break it down and get into what we here at The Skate Podcast think about it (listen to the full episode above), here's the trade:
Bruins get:
Leon Draisaitl
Warren Foegele
Oilers get:
Linus Ullmark
Jake DeBrusk
Matt Poitras
Fabian Lysell
2026 first-round pick
Based on the responses Bucci got on X/Twitter, it's a trade that the majority of both Bruins and Oilers fans would not make. A poll that we posted on @TheSkatePod backs that up from a Boston perspective, with 74% of respondents as of midday Monday saying no to the potential blockbuster.
Our three Skate Pod hosts were more divided. I was the most torn, saying I would give it serious consideration before ultimately coming down on the "no" side. Downgrading one or two pieces – like being able to keep Poitras, or not having to give up a first-round pick – could change my mind.
Bridgette Proulx was a more immediate and firmer "no." Brian DeFelice, while acknowledging he doesn't like the idea of trading Poitras, was the one "yes" in our group.
OK, so what even led to this idea in the first place? Well, the Oilers, a team that had Stanley Cup aspirations before the season, are off to a miserable 2-7-1 start, and bad goaltending is a big reason why. Stuart Skinner and Jack Campbell have combined for an .864 team save percentage, landing Edmonton dead last in the NHL.
Rumors about the Bruins potentially trading a goalie have popped up intermittently since last season. They have the best tandem in the league with Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman, but there remain questions about just how long they can or will keep both. So, the Oilers' interest in Ullmark, who has one year left on his contract after this, would be obvious.
For the Bruins, the main attraction is Draisaitl, one of the very best players in the world. Since 2018, the 28-year-old center's 82-game averages are 51 goals, 68 assists and 119 points. He won the Hart Trophy as league MVP in 2020 and has finished top-10 in voting in each of the three seasons since. He also has an absurd 77 points in 49 career playoff games, including 13 goals in 12 playoff games last spring. Any and all questions about the No. 1 center of the future would be answered, as Draisaitl would give the Bruins their best offensive center since at least Adam Oates.
One complicating factor here is that Draisaitl's contract expires after the 2024-25 season. The Bruins would have to be prepared to sign Draisaitl to a mega-extension (think something in the neighborhood of the $13.25 million per year Auston Matthews just got from Toronto) to make the trade worth it.
Most Bruins fans would probably be OK with the Ullmark and DeBrusk parts of the trade. DeBrusk is a pending free agent who has been linked to his hometown Oilers before. You would have to guess he'd be more than willing to sign an extension there.
The sticking point is all the future potential the Bruins would be giving away. Poitras is off to a great start this season at just 19 years old. Even if no one expects him to ever produce like Draisaitl, there's a lot of upside there that would be extremely difficult to move on from.
Lysell has certainly hit some ups and downs in his development, but he's still a highly regarded prospect and is still just 20 years old. Including a first-round pick would mean the Bruins would have just two first-round picks in a seven-year span from 2020-26. Trading away that pick plus two of their top three prospects in Poitras and Lysell would seriously limit how much young talent they can incorporate into the team in coming years.
Foegele is a solid bottom-six forward who would help offset some of the loss of depth, but he's also 27 years old and a pending free agent. There's no real upside there, so the trade essentially boils down to all of those pieces for Draisaitl.
Just to help you visualize how the Bruins might look after such a trade, here's how they could potentially line up their forwards:
James van Riemsdyk – Leon Draisaitl – David Pastrnak
Brad Marchand – Pavel Zacha – Trent Frederic
Warren Foegele – Charlie Coyle – Morgan Geekie
Milan Lucic – Johnny Beecher – Jakub Lauko
Danton Heinen
The defense remains unchanged, and Brandon Bussi gets called up from Providence to back up Swayman in goal.
Anyway, let us know what you think by voting in the poll above. Listen to the full Skate Pod discussion here:
