The NHL isn't taking a break just because the Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup to end the season, as trades and other rumors have been rampant over the past few days and leading up to next Friday's draft. Two of the hot names in trade rumors right now are the Boston Bruins' Pavel Zacha and the Anaheim Ducks' Mason McTavish, which can make you wonder if there is a trade fit materializing between the two teams.
The Ducks aren't going to trade McTavish because they believe he is a depreciating asset. If Anaheim is going to trade their young center, it is going to be in hopes of adding a more versatile veteran presence who can give their young team a bit more reliability and leadership over the next couple of seasons of their competitive window.
Zacha feels like the perfect piece if that is what the Ducks are looking for. In comparison, the Bruins are trying to bridge the gap between retooling and rebuilding. It's impossible for the front office to do a full teardown with their elite core in the 30-year-old age range, but they'll also have to start thinking about a young core to build for the next wave.
James Hagens is a great start to that group, along with Fraser Minten and Marat Khusnutdinov, but adding a piece like McTavish would serve them well now and in the future.
With Zacha and McTavish being the key pieces to the trade, the Bruins would undoubtedly need to add to make it worthwhile for the Ducks. However, depending on what Boston did add, could they squeeze a little more out of Anaheim?
Mason Lohrei could be another interesting piece that would head to the Ducks, while someone like Tristan Luneau could look good as the Bruins' new right-shot defenseman, with Andrew Peeke almost certainly leaving.
The rumors surrounding both players, the teams' history of frequent trades, and the centers being great fits for the direction the respective teams are heading make this blockbuster trade almost too good to be true. It's also a much cleaner trade than sending either player to a conference opponent, as all the pieces in this proposed blockbuster have the chance to go on to success in their new organizations.
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