We've got some trade deadline strategy discussion in the game thread, so figured we could use a dedicated thread. The deadline is 2 weeks from today.
According to Cap Friendly, the Bruins are projected to have roughly $3.5 million in cap space on that day. The injuries and Covid situation has forced a ton of call-ups that has eaten into what they had banked early in the season. It isn't as much as anticipated but it is enough to do some real business if they wanted to.
In terms of inventory, the Bruins have every one of their picks in the next 3 drafts available plus an extra 7th round pick this year from Toronto. The farm system is bottom 5 in the league. I would say their top prospects in no particular order are currently Studnicka, Vaakanainen, Vladar, Swayman, Lauko, Lohrei.
If they went the selling route, the UFA's are Kuraly, Miller, Krejci, Rask, Halak. Krejci and Rask have some no-trade protection. It looks like for Krejci it's half the league, Rask is 15 teams he'd OK. That said, Rask has threatened retirement if traded so he kind of has a full no-move unless something has changed.
I think at this point I'm in a holding pattern. If Kuraly gets off the Covid list, I'd shop him around for a mid to late round draft pick. I feel like he's the kind of guy that'd be easy to move at the deadline. He's got the intangibles, big goals type label on him. If they start slipping more over the next 7-10 days, I'd put some feelers out on Halak. I'm not sure what the goalie market looks like this season but with Covid hovering over every team, I think they could get a pick for him. That also would free up the net for Vladar to continue getting his feet wet. Then at the end of the year they'd have a better idea if Vladar is in their NHL plans for next season. Between Halak and Kuraly maybe they grab an extra pick or two and head into the offseason with tons of cap space (almost $30 million) and a few extra assets to work with.
According to Cap Friendly, the Bruins are projected to have roughly $3.5 million in cap space on that day. The injuries and Covid situation has forced a ton of call-ups that has eaten into what they had banked early in the season. It isn't as much as anticipated but it is enough to do some real business if they wanted to.
In terms of inventory, the Bruins have every one of their picks in the next 3 drafts available plus an extra 7th round pick this year from Toronto. The farm system is bottom 5 in the league. I would say their top prospects in no particular order are currently Studnicka, Vaakanainen, Vladar, Swayman, Lauko, Lohrei.
If they went the selling route, the UFA's are Kuraly, Miller, Krejci, Rask, Halak. Krejci and Rask have some no-trade protection. It looks like for Krejci it's half the league, Rask is 15 teams he'd OK. That said, Rask has threatened retirement if traded so he kind of has a full no-move unless something has changed.
I think at this point I'm in a holding pattern. If Kuraly gets off the Covid list, I'd shop him around for a mid to late round draft pick. I feel like he's the kind of guy that'd be easy to move at the deadline. He's got the intangibles, big goals type label on him. If they start slipping more over the next 7-10 days, I'd put some feelers out on Halak. I'm not sure what the goalie market looks like this season but with Covid hovering over every team, I think they could get a pick for him. That also would free up the net for Vladar to continue getting his feet wet. Then at the end of the year they'd have a better idea if Vladar is in their NHL plans for next season. Between Halak and Kuraly maybe they grab an extra pick or two and head into the offseason with tons of cap space (almost $30 million) and a few extra assets to work with.