As we know by now, Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney has yet to address his team's biggest need this offseason. As we are five days removed from free agency opening, the Black and Gold are still missing a No. 1 center addition.
Sure, you can bank on Elias Lindholm having a bounce-back season, but it still doesn't solve the need for a top-six center. Are the Bruins banking on Casey Mittelstadt filling the role, or maybe Pavel Zacha? If so, then it's not going to move the needle much from last season. Sweeney addressing the need for a top-six center feels like it's not going to happen with each passing day unless there is a trade coming before training camp opens in September at Warrior Ice Arena. There is one trade that Boston's GM could make with a team that he has a trade history with.
Boston Bruins GM Don Sweeney should trade for Anaheim Ducks center Mason McTavish
Anaheim Ducks center Mason McTavish remains unsigned as a restricted free agent (RFA) and it feels like if you come to GM Pat Verbeek with the right deal, he might be willing to move his young center. Sweeney and Verbeek have a trade history after Hampus Lindholm was traded to Boston at the deadline in 2022. Could another deal between the teams be done?
McTavish being moved is easier said than done after Anaheim traded Trevor Zegras to the Philadelphia Flyers, but if Verbeek wants a haul of a return, this might be the time to trade him after he just put up a career year in Southern California. In 76 games, he scored 22 goals and handed out 30 assists for 52 points, all career highs while winning 51% of his faceoffs and averaging 16:53 a night, also a career-high.
This is a move that would supply Boston with a top-six center they have been looking for since Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci both retired two summers ago. Acquiring him would require a haul going the other way, but Sweeney can do that if he really wants to. He has multiple first-round picks he could pick to move, along with a roster player and/or a prospect. Sooner or later, decisions have to be made with Matthew Poitras and Fabian Lysell, and whether or not they are in the long-term plans of the Black and Gold. You would think, but you never know.
It was an underwhelming free agency, to say the least, but there is still time to address the biggest need he has, and he can do it by placing one call to Anaheim and trying to pry McTavish away from Verbeek. It feels like Sweeney needs to move some key pieces in a trade or two to give his team a realistic shot at competing for a Stanley Cup Playoff spot in 2025-26.