Boston Bruins: Could defenseman Nick Leddy be a trade target?

Could the Boston Bruins make a trade for New York Islanders’ defenseman Nick Leddy?

The Boston Bruins are in a possible need of a left-shot defenseman with Torey Krug leaving for the St. Louis Blues in free agency and what now seems to be the unlikelihood that captain Zdeno Chara returns.

So, could they make a play for New York Islanders’ defenseman Nick Leddy?

Leddy has been the subject of trade rumors over the last couple of years. With the Islanders extending top defenseman Ryan Pulock for two years with a cap hit of $5 million, they now have just above $3.9 million in cap space left.

Could the Bruins help the Islanders out by taking some of Leddy’s $5.5 million cap hit?

Leddy is 29 years old and has just two years left on his current deal. Over his 10-year NHL career, Leddy has scored 305 points (63 goals and 242 assists) in 720 games.

Additionally, Leddy had a streak of three seasons (2015-16 to 2017-18) where he scored at least 40 points. However, since Barry Trotz has taken over the Islanders, his offensive production has dropped — he hasn’t broken 30 points in each of the last two seasons.

Although his offensive production has decreased, his offensive play has been much better. He went from a -42 plus/minus (+/-) in 2017-18 to just being a -1 over the last two seasons.

Furthermore, his expected plus/minus (E+/-) went from in the -9’s during each of 2016-17 and 2017-18 to in the -6’s in each of the last two seasons. Still not good, but better.

Leddy is also a defenseman that can man the point on the powerplay. From 2014-15 to 2018-19, he had at least 10 assists on the powerplay. From 2013-14 to 2017-18, he had at least three goals on the powerplay except for one season.

Overall, although not the best defensively, Leddy is a defenseman that can give you at least 20 minutes a game and play on a powerplay unit.

What would it cost the Boston Bruins to get Nick Leddy?

If the Bruins were to call about Leddy, they probably wouldn’t want to take on his entire $5.5 million cap hit, as they have just under $7 million left in cap space and still have to re-sign left wing Jake DeBrusk.

With this being a cap dump for the Islanders, they probably would have to send an early-round draft (first to third round) pick along with Leddy.

However, because the Islanders just traded defenseman Devon Toews — a top-four, left-shot defenseman — they are more likely to keep Leddy and trade or buyout former Bruins’ defenseman, 36-year-old Johnny Boychuk.

So with that, if this transaction were actually to somehow happen, the Bruins would have to include one of their left-shot defensemen. Maybe throwing in John Moore could get it done?

But with both teams having issues with cap space and being somewhat thin at left defenseman, I cannot actually see this trade happening.