The Boston Bruins continue to look at options for their blue line
Joe Haggerty of Boston Hockey Now: The Boston Bruins continue to weigh their options on the left side of their defense.
The door hasn’t closed on a Zdeno Chara return, but they are also seeing what else is out there. Reports this past weekend had them having some interest in Ben Hutton, who is coming off a one-year, $1.5 million deal with the Los Angeles Kings.
Bruins president Cam Neely last week.
“I still think we’d like to still explore our back end a little bit. Even though we feel we’ve got some guys that can step in, it’s just a matter of the experience piece that everybody likes. You don’t get experience until you play,” said Neely. “I think you’re never really satisfied with your lineup, so I mean I’m sure Don is still looking at potentially tweaking or adding, but we’ll see what happens the next couple of weeks here.”
They may prefer a top-four defenseman, but would take a third pairing Dman
Jimmy Murphy of Boston Hockey Now: The Bruins may prefer a top-four left-handed defenseman, but they’ll at least settle for a veteran third pairing guy.
Sources say two veterans the Bruins have looked at are Karl Alzner and Sami Vatanen. Alzner could help fill some grit and leadership if Zdeno Chara doesn’t return.
Sources said the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers have also looked at Alzner. The Flames, Oilers, and Ottawa Senators have inquired about Vatanen.
“The Bruins have definitely looked at Vatanen more than once,” one NHL source told BHN over the weekend. “They’re waiting on Chara but they’re not sitting around by any means. If anything, it seems like they’ve worked harder to have something waiting than they have to not need to have something waiting.”