Five center trade options for the Boston Bruins
Josh Wegman of theScore: The Boston Bruins aren’t really going to find a Patrice Bergeron replacement, but there are some centers out there that could help the Bruins.
Elias Lindholm – One year left at $4.85 million and is the best trade fit. He’s already turned down a Calgary Flames contract offer and is looking for a big raise. Would he sign long-term with the Bruins?
Mark Scheifele – One year left at $6.125 million. He has a 10-team no-trade list. Playing for the Bruins may be tempting.
Logan Couture – Four years at $8 million. He’s 34 and his cap hit may be to high for the Bruins liking. He has a three team trade list.
Evgeny Kuznetsov – Two years at $7.8 million. The Capitals are still looking to compete so they may be interested in someone like Trent Frederic.
Christian Dvorak – Two years at $4.45 million. Not an upgrade over Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha but he’d be a buy low option. He hasn’t produced offensively since being acquired by the Canadiens, but is only 27 years old and good defensively.
The Blues blue line and two forwards entering the last year of their contracts
Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic: (mailbag) St. Blues GM Doug Armstrong said that they will likely enter the season with eight defensemen, with Scott Perunovich being waiver-exempt from a group that includes Justin Faulk, Colton Parayko, Torey Krug, Nick Leddy (their top-four group) and Marco Scandella, Robert Bortuzzo, Calle Rosen, Tyler Tucker and Perunovich.
Perunovich will likely be sent to the AHL or they could try to sneak Rosen through waivers, but he could get selected. Trading one of their top-four defenseman, or Scandella or Botuzzo could be the perfect scenario.
It wouldn’t be a surprised if a defenseman was traded before camp. Krug has a no-trade clause and blocked a deal the Philadelphia Flyers. Would anyone else be interested, and would he go there? It might take a sweetener for someone to trade for Scandella.
If Kasperi Kapanen and Jakub Vrana have good seasons with the Blues, could see them re-signing. Could also see that if the Blues are sellers at the deadline and they’re having decent season, they could be traded.