There have been some questions floating around Boston recently about whether the Boston Bruins should be buyers or sellers at the NHL trade deadline. For years now the Bruins have been considered buyers at the deadline, simply due to the fact that they have been eying deep playoff runs and championships. Now things are a bit different. Although they are on a great pace to make the playoffs, they haven’t appeared to be a serious threat, and they have been sitting as the eighth seed for several weeks now. So, should they sell and look to the future, or buy and go all in for another year?
Even though it may benefit the future of the team to sell, the Bruins are most definitely going to be buyers. Why? This could potentially be the last year of Patrice Bergeron’s career and with him still playing at a high level alongside Brad Marchand, it would be a major punch to the face to those guys if Boston decided to look to the future. With that in mind, what can the Bruins get?
Unfortunately for the Bruins, they have not drafted exceptionally well in the past few years and have one of the thinnest prospect pools in the entire NHL. So, trading for a piece with any sort of high-end talent is going to take one of their few prospects, probably an NHL player and a draft pick. When your team is a buyer, you don’t exactly want to give up any everyday NHL players, however the Bruins may be willing to give up Jake DeBrusk for the right price.
Going into the season, DeBrusk’s agent made it known that he wanted a trade out of Boston this season. The issue with his proposal at the time was that he hadn’t proved that he was worth very much on the trade market, but now things are trending up for DeBrusk. DeBrusk has scored four goals in the past three games, and now that the Bruins are on a west coast road trip, he is getting time on the top line with Bergeron and Marchand. It is likely that the Bruins are trying to showcase DeBrusk and attempt to drive up his production for a potential trade.
Typically in the NHL, or any sport for that matter, teams like trading outside of the conference, so with the Bruins being on a west coast trip, this is a perfect time for teams to get a good look at DeBrusk and his potential. If he can continue to produce throughout this road trip, it could make a trade for a player like J.T. Miller, Tomas Hertl or maybe even Jakob Chychrun a lot easier as Boston might not have to give up as much. Still, when you are talking about players like that, all trades will likely have to include a first-round pick even if DeBrusk plays well. At that point, it would be a question of whether Don Sweeney would be willing to give up such assets when the team desperately needs to improve their prospect pool. In my opinion, if the Bruins can get a player that can help the team now and in the future, like the names I listed above, it would be worth the draft pick. However, I would not go out of my way to spend a high draft pick on a one-year rental, as that would be counterproductive.