The idea of the Boston Bruins being sellers at the NHL trade deadline is a pretty unfamiliar one given their history. But then again, the 2024-25 season has been a pretty unfamiliar one for the Bruins.
The B’s added top-six center Elias Lindholm and top-four defenseman Nikita Zadorov to an already good roster in free agency last July, with the intention of building on their first playoff series win since 2021.
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But the Bruins have largely been an average team through 45 games. An 8-9-3 start cost head coach Jim Montgomery his job. The B’s are technically in a playoff spot as of Thursday, but they rank 10th in points percentage among Eastern Conference teams.
The Bruins typically have been buyers ahead of the trade deadline during Don Sweeney’s tenure as general manager, but could this team actually sell ahead of the March 7 deadline if it falls out of the playoff race?
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Team president Cam Neely admitted Wednesday that it’s a possibility.
“I think right now we’ve got to look at two paths,” Neely told reporters ahead of the Boston Bruins Foundation gala Wednesday evening. “One that we’re buying. One that we may be retooling a little bit. We still feel like we’ve got a playoff team here. We certainly don’t want to jeopardize getting out of the playoffs because we made some moves that may be good for the future but not good for the present.”
Neely’s comments could be viewed as a message to the players. They have dug themselves into a hole, and if they want management to invest in the roster and buy at the trade deadline, then they need to start playing better and bolstering their position in the playoff race.
If the Bruins sell, it’s hard to imagine major pieces going out the door. This team doesn’t need seismic changes to be a contender in the Eastern Conference. But moving player(s) who can hit free agency this summer and getting a draft pick in return wouldn’t be a bad idea if the Bruins don’t see a realistic path to the playoffs in early March.
That said, it’s hard to imagine the Bruins dropping so far in the standings that selling at the deadline becomes the undisputed path to take.
The primary goal for the Bruins as a team needs to be consistency. They have won more than two games in a row only once this season. Each time they win a game or two, it’s often followed by a lackluster result (or multiple) that stops any progress that was made.
The Bruins have won their last two games, the most recent of which was an impressive 6-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning at TD Garden on Tuesday night. Starting goalie Jeremy Swayman and superstar right wing David Pastrnak were the Bruins’ best players in those games.
All of this is encouraging for the B’s, but are they going to go on a real run of positive results or will the momentum be halted by another bad game or two? The Bruins now know that selling is a possibility, so it’ll be interesting to see if that motivates the players to start performing at a higher level on a more consistent basis.