The Boston Bruins are once again regarded as Stanley Cup contenders and are the best team in the Eastern Conference.
The NHL trade deadline is on March 8, two weeks away. General manager Don Sweeney must assess Boston’s level of aggressiveness in attempting to bolster its squad.
The Bruins’ goaltending has been strong this season thanks to Jeremy Swayman, who has a 2.47 goals-against average and a.920 save percentage. With a 2.72 goals-against average and a.914 save percentage, Linus Ullmark is close behind him.
With 3.34 goals scored per game and 2.69 goals allowed, the Bruins are ranked sixth and tenth in the league, respectively. Boston might benefit from a large, stay-at-home defenseman even with those numbers, as the Bruins’ blue line has been beset by injuries this season.
This season, injuries have cost Boston’s defenseman 51 games; Derek Forbort’s 24 game absence is the longest.
With an unidentified ailment, Hampus Lindholm is listed as week-to-week, and Matt Grzeclyk, who had missed 13 games prior, is listed as day-to-day following a lower-body injury he sustained during Wednesday night’s 6-5 overtime victory over the Edmonton Oilers.
If Sweeney decided to target a defenseman, the biggest name that might be available and who would fill a void in Boston is Noah Hanifin of the Calgary Flames.
With practically no salary space available to Boston right now, the Bruins will need to get inventive if they want to sign Hanifin by the deadline. The Bruins’ expected cap space, according to CapFriendly.com, is just $61,558, well short of what Hanifin’s daily budget hit of $1,417,969 will cost.