he Boston Bruins find themselves in a weird middle ground heading into the NHL trade deadline. Last year, Boston shipped out long-time players Brad Marchand, Brandon Carlo, Charlie Coyle, and Trent Frederic in order to sell off pieces and rebuild.
But this year, in a season where the B’s were expected to be bottom-feeders in the league, they’ve instead outperformed expectations, and currently sit in a playoff spot in early March.
Boston General Manager Don Sweeney has openly said that the Bruins will be “cautious buyers” at this trade deadline, which is coming on Friday, March. 6.
Even with the success they’ve had this year, Sweeney realizes that this isn’t nearly a finished product; rather it’s the start of a new era of Bruins hockey. Because of this, he won’t be looking to sell draft capital or young players; instead, it will need to be a perfect move that allows Boston to remain competitive this season while holding onto their deep pool of prospects.
A huge reason for the Bruins success this season has been the stellar goal scoring coming from Morgan Geekie. Geekie currently has 33 goals, tied for sixth most in the NHL.
As a member of last season’s team, Geekie remembers all too well what it was like to be a deadline seller; this year, he feels different.
“It kind of feels polar opposite, to be honest,” Geekie said. “I think this group’s done a great job of kind of putting ourselves in the position to stand pat or add guys, whatever they see fit. We have put in a good enough season where we are able to (add).
It’s a results-driven business, and I think for us, it’s just kind of a testament to what we’ve done all year and just to continue to build. So you can kind of feel it every game we know we give ourselves a chance to win, regardless of who we’re playing. So, it’s a lot more fun, for sure.”
Geekie also realizes the very real possibility that the perfect trade won’t come through, and that Boston may just stand its ground at the deadline. Either way, he doesn’t have to worry about another fire sale, with his own name on the market.
The Bruins have pieces they could certainly move on from, but if they don’t want to sell in any capacity, the deadline may be a stalemate for Boston.
Currently in rumors are defensemen Andrew Peeke and Mason Lohrei, and forwards Viktor Arvidsson and Casey Mittelstadt. Each has two or fewer years left on their deals, and would be good rental pieces for true Stanley Cup contending teams, but their losses would likely hurt Boston’s chances of making a playoff run.
It’s hard to be a buyer in the NHL when you want to retain your prospect pool, which seems to be where Boston sits right now. Had they been sitting outside of the playoff picture heading into the deadline, all four of those names would be at the top of the market, but right now, it seems that the Bruins are content keeping all of them around.
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