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The Boston Bruins are in a precarious position in the NHL’s Eastern Conference standings.
Right now, the Bruins sit fourth in the wild-card race, just one point behind the Detroit Red Wings for the second wild-card berth and two points behind the Ottawa Senators for the first spot.
After signing Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov last off-season and finally re-signing goaltender Jeremy Swayman before the regular season began, expectations were much higher for the Bruins this season. Winning one playoff round was not enough for them.
The team’s failure to meet those expectations so far, even after firing coach Jim Montgomery, has led to some difficult decisions ahead of the NHL trade deadline.
Let’s examine the pros and cons of the Bruins doing one of three things: be buyers and upgrade their roster, be sellers and turn the focus to next season, or stand pat for the rest of this season.
Pros Of Bruins Being Buyers
The Bruins are built to win now. However, their struggles this season indicate they need to add talent to maneuver into a playoff spot.
Specifically, Boston needs help on offense, as they’re currently 25th overall in goals-for per game at 2.75. All the teams below the B’s in that category are non-playoff teams. Even though David Pastrnak got hot and leads all NHLers in points since Jan. 1, with 31 points in 18 games, the Bruins are still only 11th in goals-for per game in that span. The need for more help on offense is clear.
Being buyers should give the Bruins enough of a shakeup to overtake the teams ahead of them in the wild-card race. Given that Boston is aiming for a long post-season run, adding depth on offense and in their own zone will be exactly what this franchise needs.
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Cons of Bruins Being Buyers
If the Bruins buy, they’ll have to give up something important in any trade to outbid others. That means they’ll likely surrender draft picks and prospects in any deal. But in doing so, Boston would be depleting a prospect group that THN.com prospect expert Tony Ferrari used the word “barren” to describe.
That doesn’t bode well for Boston’s long-term chances of success. They’ll be hamstringing their future for what will almost certainly be a short-term fix. That might not be palatable for Boston management…