2024 NHL trade deadline: Ranking the Bruins’ three biggest needs originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The NHL trade deadline isn’t until March 8, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to start making moves early to give acquired players more time to build chemistry with their new teammates.
Of course, it takes two (and sometimes three) teams to make a deal. And if you look at the current standings, not a ton of teams are truly out of playoff contention, so there’s not a lot of incentive — at least not yet — for these franchises to throw in the towel and become trade deadline sellers.
The Boston Bruins enter the All-Star break leading the Eastern Conference with a 31-9-9 record (71 points). They also are tied with the Vancouver Canucks for the league’s best record. Given their place in the standings, we should expect the Bruins to try to add a player or two before the trade deadline.
Don Sweeney has made a move to add to his roster in each of his eight previous trade deadlines as Bruins general manager. He has acquired multiple players in six of his eight trade deadlines, including last season when the B’s brought in Dmitry Orlov, Garnet Hathaway and Tyler Bertuzzi. Those additions were costly, including two first-round picks.
Sweeney doesn’t have as many quality assets to dangle this time around. The B’s don’t have a first-round pick in 2024 and don’t have second-rounders in 2024 and 2025. Boston’s prospect pool isn’t loaded with elite talent, either. And let’s not forget the B’s have less than $1 million in salary cap space, per CapFriendly.
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But that shouldn’t stop Sweeney from at least trying to make a move or two.
Here are the top three trade deadline needs for the Bruins before the trade deadline, ranked in reverse order.
3) Keep first-round picks
This isn’t a roster need, but it’s still something the Bruins should do.
The Bruins owe their 2024 first-round pick to the Detroit Red Wings to complete the Tyler Bertuzzi trade from last year, assuming it falls outside the top 10 (which is a lock). So unless the Bruins trade into the first round in June, they’ll go without a first-round pick in five of the last seven drafts from 2018 through…