As the NHL gathers back at practice for the rest of the 2024-25 regular season after the completion of the 4 Nations Face-Off Championship Game on Thursday night at the TD Garden, eyes are going to start to also turn toward the 2025 trade deadline at 3 p.m. ET on March 7.
Just what the Boston Bruins are going to do remains to be seen, however, with the injury news surrounding defenseman Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm going forward, all signs are pointing to some type of selling and retooling. Just who GM Don Sweeney decides on moving remains to be seen, but there would no doubt be some surprises if he wanted to get serious about a retool and looking ahead to next season. Here are three players that it would be surprising if they were traded, but it would make sense if they were.
3 Bruins players that would make sense if there traded by March 7
Joonas Korpisalo
Ok, so this one might be a dream scenario if Boston were to move on from Joonas Korpisalo as it's unlikely that any team would take him, but hear me out. He has three more years remaining at $3 million a year, which makes little sense for having $11.25 million in cap space tied up to a pair of goaltenders with many more pressing needs.
Jeremy Swayman appears to be ready to take on a heavy load of games in an 82-game regular season and if that's the case, having Brandon Bussi or Michael DiPietro back him up and play 20-25 games a year. It would be much cheaper and open up more cap space to address more glaring needs throughout the roster. Again, this would make sense if someone is willing to take Korpisalo, but that's a big if.
Brandon Carlo
One name that has been thrown around for a couple of years in a deal is defenseman Brandon Carlo. The 6-foot-5, 220-pound Carlo is someone who contending teams would value as a blueliner with a long reach that can frustrate opponents as well as eat up key penalty-killing shifts.
He will have one more year remaining with a a cap hit of $4.1 million for next season, but the Bruins need to make changes on the backend, and moving Carlo will allow that to happen over the summer either through free agency or another trade. There would be no shortage of suitors for the Colorado native if he became available.
Morgan Geekie
One of the more fascinating names for the Bruins at the trade deadline is Morgan Geekie. He has taken off scoring and along with David Pastrnak, they have the Bruins within one point of the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot. Now the question is, does the front office see him as part of the team going forward?
If so, then is there common ground on a contract, or is Geekie pricing himself out of Boston? If that's the case, then it's time for Sweeney to sell high on him and move him in a trade. He could fetch a decent return for a contender desperate looking to add depth scoring for the stretch run and postseason. If the Bruins see him as part of the future, then keeping him is a no-brainer, if not, it makes a ton of sense to trade him.