Brenden Dillon (San Jose Sharks)
The most surprising player attached to Boston Bruins trade rumors this year is perhaps San Jose Sharks defenseman Brenden Dillon.
You could make a strong case for the Boston Bruins already having depth in terms of both young and experienced options available to them on the blue-line, making a trade for a defenseman a bit of an odd one, unless of course it’s attached to a salary dump.
Even that scenario seems unlikely given the make-up of the Sharks roster with significant contracts for Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson.
Looking solely toward the possible Boston Bruins acquisition though and Dillon could certainly offer something. He has more NHL experience than Jeremy Lauzon, who has shown a slight edge to his game in recent weeks. He also is able to curb his temper and balance his hits to ensure that he’s not penalised too often.
The dependable left-shooting defenseman has size and grit to his game, as well as proven top-four pedigree having partnered Brent Burns quite regularly in San Jose. That in itself suggests his defensive game is decent given Burns often plays offensively as a quasi-winger.
Teams that have made the run all the way to the Stanley Cup in recent years have always stocked up defensively, whether that’s the Blues adding Michael Del Zotto last year, Michael Kempny going to Washington the year before, or the Penguins adding Mark Streit and Ron Hainsey in 2017.
Perhaps Brenden Dillon is that missing piece in terms of defensive depth. After all, beyond the top four, the depth reads Matt Grzelyck, John Moore, an injured Connor Clifton and Kevan Miller and then we’re looking at Steven Kampfer, Alex Petrovic or any number of rookie NHL defensemen.
As a depth signing and provided the Boston Bruins move out a contract to offset his steep $3.27 million cap hit, he rates a good option. If Charlie McAvoy, Zdeno Chara, Brandon Carlo or Torey Krug were to miss a game, he’d be a great option to plug into their spot.
With that in mind, acquiring Brenden Dillon rates a strong B+ for me, provided we weren’t to give any major asset up.