Équipe: 2020-21 Bruins de Boston

Date de création initiale: 24 févr. 2021

Publié: 24 févr. 2021

Mode - plafond salarial: Basique

The Bruins need a top-four LHD rental, preferably one who can skate with McAvoy and play big minutes in the playoffs. The inexperience and injury concerns on the left side are too much, especially with the Las test news on Lauzon. Unfortunately, the pickings are slim. Jake McCabe is done for the year, Alec Martinez and Derek Forbort appear playoff-bound, and there are doubts that Alex Edler will waive his NMC. That leaves a rental group that includes Arizona vets Alex Goligoski and Niklas Hjalmarsson, who are both struggling, and guys who may not be a top-four upgrade like Jamie Oleksiak, Patrick Nemeth, or Dmitry Kulikov. The one player who sticks out above all the rest is Ryan Murray. Murray would be a great fit, but I’m starting to worry about the cost and if he’s playing too well that NJ wants to re-sign him instead. If he’s not available or if the cost is exorbitant, the Bs could be out of good rental options when the deadline rolls around in six weeks.

Of course, the problem with adding anyone with term lies with the Expansion Draft. If Matt Grzelcyk isn’t part of the package heading the other way, the B’s either have to expose him or the player they acquire or instead use additional assets to make a side deal with Seattle. Among those with one year remaining on their current contracts, there are again not many top options. Of the eight or so top-four lefties in that class, Darnell Nurse, Morgan Rielly, and Mark Giordano are not available and Nick Leddy and Ben Chiarot might not be either (Bs should be interested if they are). There are a couple players that I would risk creating Expansion issues for: Matthias Ekholm and Hampus Lindholm. However, if the Bruins want to avoid that headache, there is one player left and that is Calvin De Haan. An underrated player imo, De Haan is solid defensively, hits and blocks shots, has the best relative Corsi of any Chicago defender, and can eat minutes and skate on a top pair. Due to being traded multiple times in the past few years and missing much of last season due to injury, his stock is low. That could mean he is both affordable to acquire AND able to slip past Seattle in the Expansion Draft. Or maybe it would be better for the Bruins if he is cheap to acquire that his play is good enough for Seattle to take him over a Lauzon or Zboril. Either way, there is some Expansion upside to adding De Haan at the right price and assuming he plays well with McAvoy, which I think he would.

It only cost the Blackhawks Anton Forsberg and Gustav Forsling to trade for De Haan with three years remaining as well as Aleksi Saarela. Hard to imagine after he missed most of last year and with the market for term players being limited anyhow that the asking price would be high for one and a half seasons of De Haan. Forsberg and Forsling were waiver players this year; Kuhlman and Blidh are in the same boat next year. Throw in a mid-round pick just because they’re each a little older. And honestly with Lauzon out a month and Grz and Zboril still sidelined, I make this trade ASAP rather than wait for the deadline.