Boston Bruins: Is Bruins top trade target Chris Kreider off the market?

The Boston Bruins have had a keen interest in adding Chris Kreider as we near the deadline, but it now looks like he may sign and stay in New York.

As reported by Joe Haggerty of NBC Sports Boston, Chris Kreider and his representative have met with New York Rangers GM Jeff Gorton in recent days, meaning the Boston Bruins pursuit of him may end up amounting to nothing.

Much was said about the fact Kreider is Massachusetts-born and may see a trade to the Boston Bruins as a homecoming of sorts, but it would seem that he’s got other ideas. The Rangers are in a rebuild timeline and it sounds like he wants to remain a part of that.

Given that the Rangers are rebuilding, that was always a stumbling block too. They likely would seek a significant prospect and draft pick in return, minimum. Although the Boston Bruins’ current window is closing, adding Kreider might not have held that much value.

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Perhaps though, there may still be a trade involving Kreider. There’s probably some degree of restriction upon a gentleman’s agreement to re-sign a player once they hit free agency in the summer, but if I’m the Rangers, I’m making a pact and dealing him regardless.

Why not gain assets for a player that offers value to your team in the short-term but not in regards to any sort of play-off race. Losing a few extra games because he’s been dealt away wouldn’t be the end of the world for New York.

You’d think there are measures to prevent such a deal, but if they’re not, you make that deal nine times out of ten. That may perhaps be the only way Kreider ends up wearing Boston Bruins colors.

You’d have to imagine that if Kreider does indeed manage to sign a new deal in New York, it’s not going to be a sign and trade, it’s going to be to stick around.

This poses a few problems in terms of where the Boston Bruins then look for a winger, but it gets them off the hook for having to suss out how Kreider’s cap hit fits within their limited cap space.

At that point, all eyes turn to the likes of Josh Anderson in Columbus, Tyler Toffoli in Los Angeles, Kyle Palmieri in New Jersey and Ondrej Kase in Anaheim. One must surely end up with the Boston Bruins.

Between the cap hit, the fact he naturally plays on the left, not the right (the position we’re looking to upgrade on) and the expensive asset cost of acquiring what would just be a rental signing, I think his negotiations in New York actually get the Boston Bruins off the hook.

Perhaps it’s best to let this ship sail and focus in on the other names that we’re being linked with; maybe, we have an option there already, internally.