On the Boston Bruins …
- Joe Haggerty of CSNNE: The Bruins will return from their road trip on February 22nd and they should have a better idea what their options are. Bruins President Cam Neely didn’t shoot down the idea that they could be both buyers and sellers.
“We still would like to improve our club, but we also want to keep the picture on what we want to do, not only this year but moving forward,” said Neely. “We’re going to make a good deal that’s going to help us for today, and for tomorrow.
“You have to focus on the now . We have to focus on ‘How do we keep improving the younger players that we have in our lineup?’ and ‘How do we keep teaching them and help keep getting them better?’ What are we going to do to help our club moving forward? Whether something shakes free at the deadline or in the offseason, or maybe somebody pops over the next year that we’ve drafted recently…it’s all of those things.”
Loui Eriksson value could increase over the next couple of weeks as teams become more desperate to add a scorer.
- Sam Benson Smith of the Boston Globe: Loui Eriksson, Zdeno Chara and Malcolm Subban are possible pieces the Bruins could consider trading before the deadline.
Listing players who have been mentioned as potential trade targets for the Bruins, or who would be good fits: Cam Atkinson, Andrew Ladd, Shane Doan, Jonathan Drouin, Kyle Okposo, Patrick Marleau, Justin Schultz, Teddy Purcell, Radim Vrbata, Kris Versteeg, Matt Dumba and Sami Vatanen.
- ESPN: Pierre LeBrun: Stabilizing the Bruins blueline will be a task for GM Don Sweeney over the next couple years.
Craig Custance: Custance agrees that the Bruins need to address their blueline. There is a deal to be made with Loui Eriksson, but teams are becoming more reluctant to give long-term, big deals for players over 30. If the Bruins are able to lock up Eriksson and add a top four defenseman, it would solidify them as a playoff team.Joey MacDonald: There are not many defenseman out there on trade market.