Boston Bruins: Lack of This Will Hurt in Trade Talks This Offseason
July is going to be a month for the Boston Bruins where it is one of the biggest for general manager Don Sweeney. The Bruins GM has his own free agents that he would like to bring back with his veteran core group to make a run for another championship.
Free agency is not the only way that Sweeney can improve his roster as there are rumors that several key players could be available through trades. Expect the Black and Gold to be linked to many names once again.
The Bruins won’t the only team linked to some names in the trade market, but make no mistake about it, if the Bruins are not able to land a player it will most likely be because it’s not Sweeney’s motive to make a big offseason splash or because Boston just doesn’t have the young assets team would want in return.
Bruins prospect pool is not as deep as they would like.
In most cases this time of year, prospects are involved in trades. The problem of the Bruins and Sweeney is that their many misses in recent drafts have limited their prospect pool.
Which prospects would teams be interested in? In goal, there’s no chance that the Bruins move either Jeremy Swayman or Dan Vladar. None. With the season Swayman had and some of the performances of Vladar has given Boston, there’s a lot to like with the future between the pipes on Causeway Street.
On defense, there’s a strong chance that Jakub Zboril or Jeremy Lauzon could be lost in the Seattle Kracken Expansion Draft in two weeks. If Zboril does not get selected, could he be a prospect that a team would be interested in? Urho Vaakanainen is some that has not progressed the way that the front office would have liked and he could be dangled as a future NHL defenseman.
Upfront, Jack Studnicka’s progression as an everyday NHL player is not coming as fast as some had thought it would, but he is the brightest center in waiting in Providence/Boston, so there’s little chance he’d be moved. Sweeney just re-signed Trent Frederic to a very good two-year deal and would they consider moving him? Probably not as he should make more of an impact in Boston next season. Zach Senyshyn anyone?
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Other prospects that teams could be interested in is Curtis Hall, Jakub Lauko, Jack Ahcan, and John Beecher in college. Regardless, we could be seeing the fallout from Sweeney trading first-round picks in past drafts, along with some prospects in deals that have not exactly worked out come back to affect the Bruins and it might be what holds them back from getting a player in a trade this offseason that they need.