Dave Pagnotta of the Fourth Period was on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio with Gord Stellick and Scott Laughlin on Monday. Even with the Four Nations Faceoff coming up next week, trade activity will continue. Thus teams like the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning will continue to see what the market holds for them. As Pagnotta reported both are going to be patient. Tampa is looking to add, while Boston could sell if they fall off.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
NHL Rumors: Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers
Gord Stellick: “So of course, business will continue. And the trade deadline, everyone always laments that. Oh, my goodness, are there any trades left on trade deadline day? It’s not anywhere near what it used to be because it’s a trade deadline period, and we’re seeing all this really get underway and take flight.
So, I’m curious about the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning. They’ve been battling to kind of hang on to playoff spots. Technically, they’re out of the playoffs as of today.
In Boston’s case, I look at it, you just get (Charlie) McAvoy back. You didn’t have McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm for a long period of time. In Tampa Bay’s case, I don’t quite know exactly what to pin it on. I don’t know if you would be concerned with one situation more than the other, Dave and how active their respective general managers might be.”
NHL Rumors: Should the Boston Bruins be Sellers? Should the Calgary Flames be Buyers?
Dave Pagnotta: “Yeah, I think, you know, in each case, I think from Tampa side of things they have been looking. Julien BriseBois, their GM, kind of chatted with the media this past week, and just kind of indicated that, hey, we’re still trying to figure out where we’re at. We’re not out of this, but we, we’re still trying to figure out kind of where we are. And these next four to five weeks are going to determine what type of moves they end up making.
And I think for those teams like Boston, for teams like Tampa, like right now, just on the outside looking in, although they’re each a point back to the playoff spot, and Tampa has got a couple games in hand of both Columbus and Detroit, who they are chasing in the wild card race. Now they’re going to kind of proceed with a little bit of caution.
I know like in Tampa’s case, I know they’d like to add on defense. They’ve been looking around for that, they’ve been looking for second orthird line option to add to the mix. They’ve got a little bit of cap space, so they’ve got some flexibility there.
NHL Rumors: Brad Marchand And The Pittsburgh Penguins
In Boston’s situation, they don’t have a ton of space. So anything that they want to do impact-wise will have to take the salary cap into account. They’re going to have to get creative. They’ve got some guys that have generated interest from other teams, like Trent Frederic, who’s a pending UFA. Justin Brazeau is another one. If things fall off the rails for them, they fall a little too far back, they might consider moving one. They have considered, and they may actually act on moving each of those guys, and generating some assets for them.
Of course, the big one being. Brad Marchand. I guess it’s a possibility that they go that route, if they completely fall back, but I would imagine it would take quite something of major significance for them to consider moving their captain. They obviously want to get him also locked into a long-term deal or a multi-year deal, I should say, to get him to stay.
But both of these teams are kind of proceeding with caution ahead of the deadline Gord. They’ve got a little bit of runway here before they have to make any big decisions.”
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