Scoring goals has been a massive struggle for the Boston Bruins through the opening two months of the 2024-25 season. Five games after firing former head coach Jim Montgomery (now hired by the St. Louis Blues) and promoting Joe Sacco to the interim head coach role, the issues are still as prevalent as ever. Heading into the month of December, the Bruins are dead-last in the NHL in goals for per game (2.32) and power play percentage (12%). In their last three games, they’ve been shut out by the Vancouver Canucks, scored six against the 21st-ranked New York Islanders, then scored only one goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins who average the most goals against per game.
Having already exhausted option number one of firing the head coach, the attention now shifts to the trade market to bring in additional external help to improve the weak scoring numbers. Trades early on in the season aren’t overly common – especially ones that shake up the trajectory of a team. In Boston’s case, with few highly-touted prospects, an abundance of under-performing roster players, a hesitance to move even more high draft picks, and barely tiptoeing the salary cap – making these trades are on high difficulty. However, there are a few players that could potentially be on the market if the right deal is presented and could hopefully make the Bruins a better team.
Trevor Zegras – Anaheim Ducks
Trevor Zegras has become one of the more polarizing players in the league. His raw hockey skill, especially his stick handling, is quite undeniable. Everyone has seen his lacrosse goals and flipping the puck over the back of the net for slick assists on all the highlight reels and montages, but the skill hasn’t necessarily translated to scoring. In 22 games this season, the 23-year-old has only four goals and six assists for ten points, but has found recent success to close out November, putting up six points (two goals, four assists) in his last five games.
Last season, Zegras battled injuries, skating in only 31 games throughout the entirety of the 2023-24 campaign. The lengthy time off looks even worse paired with his six goals and 15 points that he ended the season with. Again, the skill is there, but the ability to produce on the scoresheet is quite concerning, especially given the expectations many placed on him shortly following his back-to-back 60-plus point seasons in 2021-22 and 2022-23.
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