- Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald: Conroy thinks it’s doubtful that the Bruins would be able to trade for Oilers Taylor Hall. If they are going to trade Hall, it would be best for the Oilers to wait until at least the NHL draft in June so that more teams could be involved. The Bruins would be interested. The Bruins rated Hall over Tyler Seguin heading into the 2010 draft.
If the Bruins have the assets the Oilers would want is a different story. The Oilers would want a potential star, as well as a goalie or defenseman. They won’t move Tuukka Rask, and Malcolm Subban is still a prospect. If they did a Hall for Dougie Hamilton deal, it would just create another hole in their lineup.
It doesn’t sound like Bruins would trade for Jordan Eberle, even though he’d fit in on the right side. The Bruins may have scouted Chris Stewart more then any other trade target. Stewart is making $4.2 million and has plenty of red flags. Oilers David Perron could be another option. Perron has one-year left at $3.812 million.
- Nichols on Hockey: Darren Dreger on TSN 1260 on the Bruins and Canucks.
“They made considerable changes. And I think there’s more to come here. Jim Benning isn’t a guy who spends a lot of time connecting with media and feeding the speculation and all of that. But I do hear that he is in the market. I can’t tell you exactly what he’s looking for because it’s not that specific. But I have heard rumblings that he and Pete Chiarelli are connecting in Boston. I know Boston is really hungry to do something. They’re looking for a top-six, top-nine forward.
“So, who knows? Maybe this type of setback will force management in Vancouver to take a harder look at what they’ve got. They’re not going to get it done in the next 24 hours here, before the holiday freeze, but managers who stop trying to improve are usually managers who are looking for work in a short period of time and I know Benning is a hard worker.”
- Joe Haggerty: Blues T.J. Oshie would be a good fit for the Bruins. The skilled right winger plays bigger than his size.
- Bob McKenzie on who the Bruins could be targeting
