The Boston Bruins and Anaheim Ducks love doing business with one another, with Don Sweeney and Pat Verbeek connecting on some trades over the past few years that have helped both teams. The Hampus Lindholm deal stands out most for the Bruins from the 2021-22 season, but the Ducks' acquisition of Jeffrey Viel this season helped Anaheim immensely as they advanced to the second round of the playoffs.
The Ducks had a good run, but some of Joel Quenneville's lineup decisions could make this a tough summer for Verbeek. Two of their brightest young players, Mason McTavish and Olen Zellweger, played limited minutes during the playoffs, with Zellweger dressing for just three games. In comparison, McTavish played 10 of 12 games but didn't get the minutes that he normally would.
Zellweger is a left-shot defenseman with plenty of mobility, can defend well enough when paired with the right partner, and excels at breaking out of the puck, which is one of the biggest problems for the Bruins' defense corps. If you want to give Charlie McAvoy a defense partner for the rest of his Bruins career and improve the team's puck-moving abilities, Zellweger would quickly fill that needed role.
McTavish has plenty of upside for the Ducks, but the 2025-26 season was his worst offensive output since joining Anaheim full-time in the 2022-23 season. It seems like he fell out of favor with Quenneville, which can happen when a veteran coach takes over a young team. It's unfortunate for both McTavish and Zellweger, but Quenneville still led them to within two wins of the Western Conference Final without those players.
Could the Ducks look to the Bruins to add some veteran depth to their lineup and accrue a couple of prospects or draft assets through a trade for Zellweger and McTavish? If the Bruins don't see a future for Pavel Zacha in Boston, or even Elias Lindholm, it'd be easy to add him to the deal and have McTavish replace him in Boston.
The Bruins could also add in Mason Lohrei as a Zellweger replacement. It could even be wishful thinking that Anaheim would take back Hampus Lindholm if Jacob Trouba and John Carlson don't return to their organization.
If James Hagens ends up being a center in the Bruins' organization or Dean Letourneau pans out, how does a trio of Fraser Minten, McTavish, and Hagens/Letourneau down the middle sound for the future? Add in David Pastrnak, Hagens as a winger, Marat Khusnutdinov, and Morgan Geekie, and some of the other prospects, and the Bruins' forward depth doesn't sound too bad for the next stage of their franchise.
Add us as a preferred source on Google