Boston Bruins: Loui Eriksson Should Be Traded For Defense
Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
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The Boston Bruins have gone 1-3 to start the season and need to make changes now before it’s too late. The Bruins have done nothing right except for generating goals with the man-advantage, which is typically one of the only things they do poorly. The Bruins have been a defensive-minded team for years with Claude Julien as the head coach, but without many solid defensemen to speak of, the Bruins are in trouble. Zdeno Chara, the captain and number one defenseman on the roster, is 38 years old. The second best defenseman on the roster, who’s also coincidentally on the injured reserve for the next two months, is 34 year old Dennis Seidenberg. The Bruins need to find younger defenders to step in and fill the void for the Bruins now, as well as for the near future when the Bruins top two defenders will be retiring.
The Bruins do have some players who have shown they can play meaningful minutes in the NHL to start the year, including Joe Morrow, Torey Krug, Zach Trotman, and Colin Miller, but nobody on that list has the makings of a legitimate top-2 defender to become the heir-apparent to Zdeno Chara. The Bruins do have some pieces that could be moved to acquire a defender from a team that might need help scoring goals, or at the forward position in general.
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Teams that need scoring could look to Boston with the intentions of trading for right winger Loui Eriksson. With good two-way ability, and a solid scoring pedigree to his name, Eriksson could be a very valuable trade piece for the Bruins if packaged with a prospect or a draft pick. Eriksson has the ability to skate on both wings, and that in itself has value as well. Due to the fact that Eriksson only has one year remaining on his contract worth a modest $4,250,000, teams trading for him would likely want something else to sweeten the deal, and the Bruins could improve their haul by packaging disgruntled center Alexander Khokhlachev.
During training camp, Alexander Khokhlachev made it clear that he “will not play in Providence all my life”. Those comments led fans to believe that Khokhlachev could be looking to leave the NHL after his contract expires this season to join the SKA St. Petersburg team of the KHL. Khokhlachev’s agent responded by saying “all I can say is that we really want hockey people to hear how much he wants to be an NHL player and nothing about complaints or other innuendo – just a simple statement of facts.” Unfortunately for Khokhlachev, his preseason wasn’t good enough to earn himself a roster spot, and he was sent down to the AHL to start the season as a result of Boston’s center depth being too deep for the young Russian to crack.
Khoklachev could be a very good NHL player if given the opportunity, and Boston would be wise to capitalize on his potential as well as Eriksson’s in an attempt to start building their defense for the future, now.
Follow Brandon Share-Cohen on Twitter @BShareCohen to discuss all things Bruins and sports