According to Joe Haggerty of Boston Hockey Now, “it’s stunningly obvious to everyone that the Bruins need another defenseman after letting Torey Krug walk in free agency.” Saying the Bruins let him walk for nothing and could potentially lose Zdeno Chara, Haggerty notes that the Bruins might be ready to pull off a trade that would see them move a promising young defensive prospect.
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Haggerty explains that the Boston Bruins have work to do because they are not a better team than the one that ended last season. He says the club is in a tough spot and that could mean trading Urho Vaakanainen, a top blue line prospect for the team.
Haggerty adds:
They are going to have to give up something to get something, and many around the NHL believe they still have one more desperately needed big move to make ahead of the start of the upcoming NHL regular season.
He also notes that if the Bruins somehow manage to bring back Chara and then sign forward Jake DeBrusk, those two deals still won’t “move the needle very when it comes to fan expectations”. He believes the team needs to do something more significant and suggests it should be something like the Oliver Ekman-Larsson deal they tried to pull off but were unable to finalize.
In order to land a bigger fish, he’s suggesting Vaakanainen would be the piece leaving Boston.
Who Would the Bruins Be Targeting?
The rest of the article is covered by a pay wall, but it sounds like Haggerty suggested either Cam Fowler or Noah Hanifin as targets. If so, those are interesting choices because the Anaheim Ducks may be a rebuilding team looking to shed some additional salary as they are over the current cap ceiling and Hanifin has long-been a target of the Bruins in trade rumors.
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