The Boston Bruins return from their road trip on Feb. 22 to host the Blue Jackets, and by then, with the trade deadline only a week away, the results of their road trip will most likely dictate what the Bruins will decide to do trade-wise. If the road trip does not go the team's way, one can be sure that the team will be in sale mode. Loui Eriksson would be a very valuable player to a playoff bound team in need of some offense.
"We still would like to improve our club, but we also want to keep the picture on what we want to do, not only this year but moving forward," Bruins president Cam Neely said. "We're going to make a good deal that's going to help us for today, and for tomorrow."
"You have to focus on the now [with the team]," he continued, according to CSNNE's Joe Haggerty. "We have to focus on 'How do we keep improving the younger players that we have in our lineup?' and 'How do we keep teaching them and help keep getting them better?' What are we going to do to help our club moving forward? Whether something shakes free at the deadline or in the offseason, or maybe somebody pops over the next year that we've drafted recently...it's all of those things."
It is rumored that along with Eriksson, goaltender Malcolm Subban and veteran blueliner Zdeno Chara are potential trade pieces the Bruins could part with, according to the Boston Globe's Sam Benson Smith. If the Black and Gold do well on their road trip, they could look to add players such as Cam Atkinson, Andrew Ladd, Shane Doan, Jonathan Drouin, Kyle Okposo, Patrick Marleau, Justin Schultz, Teddy Purcell, Radim Vrbata, Kris Versteeg, Matt Dumba or Sami Vatanen, who have either been mentioned as potential targets or would fit well with the team, according to Smith.
The Bruins' blue line problems have been evident lately, and it might be wise to try to obtain one at the deadline. The dilemma, however, is that there are no top four defensemen available, according to ESPN's Craig Custance. Dustin Byfuglien has been re-signed to the Jets, Dion Phaneuf is not available, and the Blues' Kevin Shattenkirk is more valuable to his team because of their injured back line. The Ducks seem to be one of few teams with a strong defense that can withstand trading a couple of players.
The Bruins' road trip started well, having taken the game in Winnipeg 6-2, with Patrice Bergeron scoring twice and Eriksson scoring once.
