After the Boston Bruins laid a dud in a 6-3 loss to the lowly Nashville Predators on Thursday night, it all but sealed the trade deadline fate for general manager Don Sweeney. A second road loss coming out of the Olympic break to a team that they should have beaten is not sending the message for Sweeney to buy.
Selling out of his unrestricted free agents at the end of the season, who are not in the plans beyond this season, was on the table. Given how the asking prices and final prices were, selling defenseman Andrew Peeke, forward Viktor Arvidsson, or someone else would have made sense. Despite the comments coming out of the locker room this week, in the overall big picture, this Bruins team is not a playoff team. Sorry, but it's not. Sweeney all but proved that point with his quiet deadline.
Bruins stand pat at 2026 NHL trade deadline
While the Bruins stood pat, teams around them in the standings made moves. Mainly the Columbus Blue Jackets. Late Thursday night/Friday morning, they got Vancouver Canucks forward Conor Garland, someone who Boston had been linked to. That move, given the way the Blue Jackets are playing, likely means they'll pass the Black and Gold at some point for the final postseason berth.
Truth be told, you have to take a step back and look at the overall big picture. Boston is in Year 1 of a retool, and not many people thought that they would be in a playoff spot at the deadline. They are at least a year ahead of where they should be.
The Bruins are not a team that is going to win a first-round playoff series this year if they get in. They aren't good enough to beat the Carolina Hurricanes, Buffalo Sabres, or Tampa Bay Lightning in a best-of-seven-series. That's just the reality. They will be better off picking somewhere high in the first round of the Draft, and hopefully, the Toronto Maple Leafs' pick falls to them. A quiet and uneventful trade deadline was looking like reality with Sweeney's comments on Monday, and it rang true. His team's play out of the break showed that they were not worthy of investing in.