November 26, 2024 | 1:07pm ET
TheFourthPeriod.com
BRUINS STILL ACTIVE IN TRADE MARKET
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David Pastrnak, forward
The Boston Bruins have won two straight since Joe Sacco replaced Jim Montgomery behind the bench as Interim Head Coach with their next test Tuesday night at home against the Vancouver Canucks.
It is clear Bruins management is hoping a coaching change galvanizes the group and gets them back on track, but GM Don Sweeney continues to explore the trade market for help up front.
In Monday’s late edition of “The Latest” on TFP, Dennis Bernstein and David Pagnotta addressed the Bruins’ next steps and outlined what type of player they are looking to acquire, despite salary cap restrictions.
“They’re looking for offence... they’ve been looking left and right,” Bernstein stated. “So look, they’ve never replaced the offence from (losing) Jake Debrusk (via free agency). They haven’t gotten what they needed offensively from Elias Lindholm – but I’ll be honest with you Dave, on a championship team he’s a 2C, he’s not a 1C.
“I think they need to find offence, but (Brad) Marchand has to be more healthy and better, Charlie Coyle has to be way better, Pavel Zacha has to be better – it’s been a group effort on why they’ve been so poor offensively.”
The Bruins are last in the NHL in goals-for per game (2.32) and 20th in the league in goals-against per game (3.18). With limited cap space, Sweeney will need to be creative if he wants to make an impact addition to his roster, which likely means someone in the current lineup has to go.
“It’s going to be difficult. They don’t have a ton of cap space to play with. That’s the other thing that’s part of it,” Pagnotta stated. “So, whether it’s a Coyle, a Zacha, a (Morgan) Geekie... we know Trent Frederic has generated some interest this season. They’ve got to find ways to swap out the dollars in order to bring in some offensive help. We’ll see if that can pull that off.”
One move down, how many more to go? That will ultimately depend on how the team continues to perform under Sacco and if the likes of Marchand and David Pastrnak up their offensive levels and Jeremy Swayman regains form in net.
“We’re going to identify the guys that love being here, love representing the Boston Bruins,” Sweeney said last week. “And if they don’t, we’ll make some changes as a result of that and performance will drive that.”