With Dennis Seidenberg on the shelf for a couple of months and captain Zdeno Chara going down with what has been deemed an "upper-body injury," during an exhibition game on Thursday, the Boston Bruins could look elsewhere around the NHL for potential trade reinforcements along the blueline. Frank Seravalli of TSN suggests that, depending on the severity of Chara's injury, the Flyers and Oilers are a couple of teams who could offer the kind of low-cost replacement new Bruins GM Don Sweeney is likely looking for.
The Flyers have long been looking to unload lumbering defender Luke Schenn. Schenn is big and powerful but he's shown a maddening inconsistency during his time in Philadelphia. Of course, part of that may be due to the up-tempo systems in which he's been asked to play. Schenn would undoubtedly be more at home with a system that allowed him to lean into his rugged strengths. Schenn's salary is a bit hard to swallow - $3.6 million - but he'd likely cost Boston little as he's a player Flyers GM Ron Hextall is reportedly "desperate" to deal.
Another player who could potentially entice Sweeney is Oilers blueliner Nikita Nikitin. Nikitin, like Schenn, has a cap hit that may prove prohibitive to a deal - $4.5 million - but he's in the final year of his contract and could be a good band aid addition. Seravalli notes that Oilers captain Andrew Ference may even be available, though he's now 36 and has two years left on his deal at $3.25 million. Considering it wasn't all that long ago that Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli was making personnel decisions for the Bruins, he may be willing to cut Sweeney something of a deal. That, or he'll look to gouge the franchise that gave up on him. Either or.
In the end, the direction the Bruins choose to go depends entirely on Chara's status and the expectations Sweeney and coach Claude Julien have for the clearly declining Seidenberg when he does return. While recent performances from the likes of Joe Morrow have the team encouraged, there's no doubting that without Chara and without Seidenberg, it will be very difficult for the Bruins to avoid missing the playoffs again this season.
