It’s almost that time of year again for the Boston Bruins and the rest of the NHL. With the Stanley Cup playoffs being pushed to a fifth game on Wednesday night following the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 overtime win over the Tampa Bay Lightning Monday night, all the attention in July will soon turn to a very busy time for all 32 teams.
On July 21, the Seattle Kracken Expansion Draft will take place, and then two nights later, the annual NHL Entry Draft will take place. Then the free agency craziness will begin on July 28 and the Bruins have several of their own free agents that they would like to retain, as well as look to add from outside of the organization.
As well as the three big events happening this month, there is also the remainder of the offseason where trades can be made to upgrade rosters and as usual, expect the Bruins to be involved in many trade rumors.
What should we expect from the Bruins in the trade market over the offseason?
According to The Fourth Period, the Bruins are being linked to many different players that could be available via trade. At their final media availabilities, after the Black and Gold were eliminated by the New York Islanders in the second round of the playoffs, general manager Don Sweeney and team President Cam Neely said that they would like to bring back a team to make a run at a championship for their veteran core.
How will they go about it? Well, there are many different ways they could. They could bring back some of their key free agents, they could sign free agents from other teams or they could look to acquire a much-needed piece through a trade.
While all of those options are very much in play, if there’s one thing that we have learned in Sweeney’s tenure as GM is that the Bruins are linked to a lot of players and not a lot ends up happening on the trade front.
The Bruins would like to add a 20-minute a night left-shot defensemen to their top-four and that might have to come through a trade. We’ll see.
As we have learned in the past, the Bruins being rumored to players has just been that, a rumor. Not a lot happens. It’s not Sweeney’s DNA to make a big offseason splash. If they are going to all-in with their core a championship run next season, he might have to make a splash this summer. If not, then it’s once again just a rumor.