With the league wide cap compliant roster deadline of 5PM EST rapidly approaching, NHL Insider, Elliotte Friedman, reported that a trade between the Columbus Blue Jackest and Toronto Maple Leafs for star forward, Kirill Marchenko, could be imminent.
Marchenko was linked to the Bruins at points during this busy NHL offseason, and it seems that they will lose out on him to a division rival. Another reminder that Boston may not be the destination that it once was in the 2010s, and that if the Bruins want to attract high-end talent outside of free agency, it is going to take an enticing trade package and a lot of cash in a contract extension.
The Bruins were able to land a nice piece over the summer when they traded for 24-year-old winger JJ Peterka from the Utah Mammoth. It took a relatively hefty return to pry Peterka away from Utah, as the Bruins gave up the number 23 pick in this past draft and an additional first-round pick in the 2028 draft. At the time, it was a bit of an alarming price to pay for a player who will now be on his third team in three years and has only surpassed 60 points once in his career. However, at this point, it looks like the young German is going to be a linchpin in an offense that has struggled to score goals in the past.
In the preseason and training camp, we saw Peterka getting a chance to play with the duos of Casey Mittelstadt/ Pavel Zacha as well as David Pastrnak/ Elias Lindholm. This is a welcome sight for Bruins fans, mostly because Peterka is known for his speed and acceleration and those two combinations of players lack pace when entering the offensive zone.
Recipe for Success with Peterka on the wing
JJ Peterka comes to Bruins in the second year of a 5-year deal that carries a $7.7 million AAV. For however long his tenure is with the black and gold, fans and local media will surely not forget the price the team paid for him in the trade over this summer. It will be integral for him to prove his worth early and often.
In his last three seasons in the NHL, Peterka has eclipsed 25 goals, a solid stat for a guy who is still only 24 years old. However, looking at the Bruins forward group, he will be one of their highest-paid, and that means that he will be looked upon for a much larger role than he has been used to. We have seen that 25 goals is the floor for Peterka in the NHL; the real question will be, what is his ceiling?
Personally, I think he is someone who could get to 40 goals playing on the opposite wing of new Bruins captain, David Pastrnak. In recent years, we have seen that Pastrnak is not only one of the league’s best goal scorers, but he is also one of the league’s best puck distributors. We can look at the past two seasons playing with Morgan Geekie, where Geekie was able to amass 33 and 39 goals, respectively.
Outside of the goal-scoring that Peterka can bring to this lineup, the main thing he can bring is speed through the neutral zone. Peterka is one of the fastest players in the league, and the Bruins have been missing that elite-level, speedy forward who serves as a one-man entry into the offensive zone. Too many times last year, the Bruins' offensive zone entries had to happen by dumping the puck below the opposing team’s goal line and hoping to win a 50/50 battle to retrieve it. With the addition of Peterka, the one change that Bruins fans should expect is the fact that he can do it all himself while playing at a pace this team has not seen in quite a while.
The Bruins and Peterka open their season on Tuesday night against the New York Rangers at TD Garden.
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