Boston Bruins: A Trade Target That Could Add Scoring Depth
By Scott Roche
A Kyle Palmieri trade to the Bruins would add much-needed scoring depth.
It has been a quiet free agency for the Boston Bruins and general manager Don Sweeney. His big splash to date has been the signing of right-wing Craig Smith away from the Nashville Predators.
While Smith has the potential to be a nice addition to the Bruins middle-six forwards as he has been a 20-goal scorer in five of his first nine seasons in the league, Sweeney still had work to do. If the Bruins end up passing on remaining free agents like Mike Hoffman, then they can look to the trade market to add scoring depth.
One name that has been rumored that might become available through a trade is right-wing Kyle Palmieri of the New Jersey Devils. There have been whispers that if the Devils and Palmieri can’t come to a contract extension, then they might make him available. He would be quite the addition to a team that desperately needs more scoring depth behind their top line.
Why would Palmieri be a good for the Bruins?
One of the biggest stories of the 2019-20 season was the Bruins struggles to get production out of their second line. Secondary scoring has been an issue for a while with the Black and Gold. At the trade deadline in February, Sweeney acquired Ondrej Kase from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for David Backes, Axel Andersson and this year’s first-round draft pick.
Finally moving on from Backes was key for the Bruins, but the return in Kase has not been what they had hoped for. He had one assist in six regular-season games before the coronavirus pandemic paused the NHL season in its tracks on March 12.
Things didn’t get better for Kase over the summer in the Toronto playoff bubble. In 11 playoff games, he managed just four assists. It certainly was a disappointing first 17 games in a Bruins uniform.
This is where Palmieri comes into play. New Jersey has been trying to work on a contract extension with the 29-year old who is a free agent after the 2020-21 season. If the sides can’t come to an agreement, then he could be available for the right package for the rebuilding Devils.
Palmieri has been a 20-goal scorer for the last five years in New Jersey and scored a career-high 30 goals in 2015-16. He is a very good player even strength, but he could make the Bruins second-ranked power play from last year even better. He has 11 power-play goals in four of the last five years on one of the league’s struggling units. Imagine what he could do with the talent the Bruins can send out on their unit.
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The price for Palmieri would be as high as is his contract the Bruins would be taking on. He has a $4.65 million cap hit for next season and some cap maneuvering would have to happen by Sweeney to make the fit work, but what a fit he would be. It’s probably a long shot, but if he becomes available, the Bruins need to consider it for a team that can make one last run for another Stanley Cup championship with their aging core group.