The Bruins still need help on defense, particularly the left side of their defense. Torey Krug is gone, Zdeno Chara may be gone, and so far they haven't signed or traded for any replacements.
They missed out on two very good left-shot defensemen who were traded for peanuts in cap-clearing moves in Devon Toews and Nate Schmidt. They didn't seem to be interested in taking a flyer on now-Flyer Erik Gustafsson either.
All hope is not lost, though. There are still moves to be made this offseason, and the Bruins may be eyeing one for an underrated player who could turn out to be a steal.
According to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, the Bruins are one of the teams that have "checked in" on Florida Panthers defenseman MacKenzie Weegar. Friedman lists the Anaheim Ducks, Colorado Avalanche, Toronto Maple Leafs and Winnipeg Jets as others.
The 26-year-old Weegar is a restricted free agent who is slated to head to arbitration next week, and his name has been popping up in trade rumors for a couple weeks now. Rumors really heated up when the Panthers were reportedly close to getting Schmidt from Vegas, which could've prompted them to then flip Weegar. The Panthers didn't land Schmidt (who ended up going to Vancouver instead), but based on Friedman's report, it seems they still may be listening on Weegar.
Weegar is far from a sexy name, and his acquisition would probably be met with a little bit of "That's it?" from some corners of Bruins nation, but it would be a smart move, and it probably wouldn't be long until he'd win over many of the skeptics.
He is tough and physical and excellent in his own zone, but he's no stiff. While he doesn't contribute a ton offensively, his 18 points in 45 games this past season (he missed 24 games due to a pair of upper-body injuries) would've put him on pace for 33 points over 82 games. He didn't play on the Panthers' power play, but he was one of their top penalty-killers.
He's a good passer, he's improved his skating, and he's an effective puck-mover on breakouts and in transition. He is a right shot, but he played much more on the left side this past season, and would slot in on the left side for the Bruins given their needs there.
Weegar saw his minutes jump from 16:58 per game in 2018-19 to 20:07 this past season while playing with Aaron Ekblad on the Panthers' top pairing. Their numbers together were impressive -- in 560 minutes together at 5-on-5, the Panthers had 58.3% of goals, 56.2% of shots, 55.4% of shot attempts, and 54.1% of expected goals. Pairing him with Charlie McAvoy could produce even better results, and their styles would seemingly complement each other well.
Weegar's 8.0 expected goals above replacement (according to Evolving-Hockey's model) would have ranked third among Bruins defensemen last season behind only Charlie McAvoy (11.7) and Torey Krug (8.6). The only Bruins forwards who beat that mark were Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak, Patrice Bergeron and Charlie Coyle.
Weegar probably wouldn't be too cheap, because the Panthers presumably know all of this about him, too. Friedman writes that the Panthers discussed Andreas Johnsson/Travis Dermott from Toronto, Tyson Jost from Colorado and Jack Roslovic from Winnipeg in possible deals, so it would appear they're targeting at least one NHL-caliber young forward and maybe more.
Jake DeBrusk has already surfaced in some trade rumors and could potentially land you Weegar one-for-one. Of course, then you'd have to find someone to replace DeBrusk, especially knowing that Marchand and Pastrnak will miss some time to start the season. The Bruins are reportedly one of the teams "most interested" in free agent left wing Mike Hoffman.
Or maybe some other package involving some combination of players like Anders Bjork, Jack Studnicka, Jeremy Lauzon or Urho Vaakanainen could get it done. Once acquiring Weegar, you'd have to sign him to a contract that would likely have an average annual value in the $3.5-4.5 million range.
Regardless, the point here is that a trade for Weegar is worth exploring. If he really is available and the cost isn't too steep, he'd be a really nice addition to the Bruins blue line.
