The Boston Bruins and Pavel Zacha still haven't decided their path forward with the player entering the last year of his contract. Zacha has been a good soldier for the Bruins since joining the organization, but the same old issues continue to pop up with the Czechia-born center, namely that he doesn't fit well as a go-to center when the matchup game begins happening in the playoffs.
The Bruins can't continue with Zacha as their top option at center, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they need to trade him. He has his strengths as a second-line pivot, and if Boston could find their elusive first-line center to supplement the lineup, it's worth at least looking at re-signing Zacha to be that middle-six guy in the future.
One problem is that Zacha might be the piece that goes the other way in any trade involving the Bruins and an NHL center. A name like Dylan Larkin is great in theory, but it wouldn't make much sense to acquire him in exchange for Zacha, as the center-ice depth isn't that much greater with Larkin and Elias Lindholm than it was with Zacha and Lindholm.
Another emerging option for the Bruins involves rumors that the Winnipeg Jets may be open to trading their first-round pick for an NHL center. A top-six center is their ask, and that is what you can classify Zacha as at this point in his career. Is he going to make the impact that the Jets are looking for? Probably not, but he has been a part of some good Bruins teams, and by all accounts, Winnipeg is only looking for a complementary piece.
Zacha's value is even greater given the state of unrestricted free agency heading towards July 1. Impact players are few and far between for teams looking to improve their rosters, and that could mean some good news for the Bruins. If Boston really was open to trading Zacha, they could convince a team to overpay, and the definition of that would be Winnipeg with their eighth-overall pick.
Add us as a preferred source on Google