Rumor: Bruins talking trade with a pair of Western Conference teams

 

The trade deadline is just under two months away and as teams solidify their place in the standings, teams may look to upgrade sooner than the April 12th deadline. One team that seems to be making calls to improve their roster now is the Boston Bruins. Bruins GM Don Sweeney may look out west to fill some roster needs up front and on the back end.

According to Jimmy Murphy of Boston Hockey Now  the Bruins may have checked in with the Vancouver Canucks about power forward Jake Virtanen and possibly center Adam Gaudette. The Bruins may be looking for help on defense as well, Boston lost Zdeno Chara and Torrey Krug in the offseason. TSN's Pierre LeBrun noted a few days ago that Nashville Predator defenseman Mattias Ekholm is also available. Ekholm is a solid top-4 defenseman with one more year left after this season on his contract that pays him $3.7 million. Any deal for Ekholm would likely start with Matt Grzelyk and a package of picks/prospects. A deal with Vancouver may be tougher to pull off for the B's. The Canucks are tight against the cap and a deal for Virtanen would have to be for equal money or less, perhaps the Bruins offer would start with Anders Bjork? Both forwards have struggled this year and a change of address could be the fresh start needed by both players. 

As the calendar turns to March, the playoff picture will become clearer each day. Teams that are on the bubble of the playoffs may jump first to make a trade, especially if there are international quarantine rules in play. We may see some big names trading places this Spring. 

photo credit: Fred Kfoury/Icon Sportswire