Another day passed and another trade target to which the Bruins had been linked to is off the table.
After right-shot defenseman Rasmus Andersson went from Calgary to Vegas on Sunday, middle-six forward Keifer Sherwood was traded from Vancouver to San Jose on Monday.
Either player would have helped the B’s, especially Andersson, and it sure sounds like they took a healthy cut at landing him. But considering what it cost for both players despite contract extensions not being in place for the pending unrestricted free agents, the Bruins won by losing out.
Vegas may yet sign Andersson but the package the Knights put together (veteran defenseman Zach Whitecloud, a 2027 conditional first-round pick, a 2028 second-round and prospect defenseman Abram Weibe) to obtain him without the benefit of an extension is a gamble, but one the Knights will always take. These are the deals that elite teams can make.
The Sharks’ deal for Sherwood (second-round picks in 2026 and ’27 plus defenseman Cole Clayton) is a little bit different. Like the B’s in the Eastern Conference, the Sharks are just inside the Western Conference playoff bracket. The playoffs are not a given. But the Sharks already have a number of high-end young players via the draft — led by Hart Trophy candidate Macklin Celebrini — and they have not made the playoffs in six years. For the Sharks, it’s time to make getting there a priority.
The B’s, of course, want to get there, too. But they are still in the early stages of their retool. It was only last March that they dished out their captain Brad Marchand, significant complementary pieces Charlie Coyle, Brandon Carlo as well as Trent Frederic and Justin Brazeau. They kept foundational pieces David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy and Jeremy Swayman (you can probably count Nikita Zadorov in that group now, too) so the house wasn’t torn down to the studs, but there’s clearly some work that can be done to ensure more long-term and sustained success.
That’s not to say the B’s should rule out any rentals. Those kind of deals should just not include any of their four first rounders over the next two years as bait.
Also, now is not the time for a rental deal. Bruins general manager Don Sweeney should wait till closer to the March 6 trade deadline to get a fuller picture of who this team really is. They’re on a win streak right now, but twice the pendulum has swung back on them with six-game losing streaks. On top of that, the entire Atlantic Division has been on absolute fire as of late. Even the goalie-challenged Senators are managing to pick up points on most nights.
If they are in ensconced in a playoff spot then, sure, see what kind of player they could get for multiple fourth rounders. Thanks to Jeffrey Viel trade, they now have three of them.
But unless they have an Andersson-type deal on a comparable player and with considerable term – and their involvement in those talks indicates that management isn’t completely sold on it’s D corps — the B’s should sit tight for a while.
Management won’t have to wait long to see how much they can trust this six-game win streak.
The B’s are facing an extremely challenging week against some of the league’s iron, starting with the Dallas Stars on Tuesday. The Stars have hit a rut (2-6-2 in their last 10 ) but they’ve managed to hang on to the second spot in the Central Division behind the juggernaut Avalanche. Losers of their last three, the Stars will be hungry.
The B’s then come home on Thursday to face the Pacific Division-leading Golden Knights, who are healthy and surging and no doubt buoyed by the acquisition of Andersson. They wrap up the week Saturday against the Canadiens, with whom they split the two games so far.
That’s a gauntlet.
But despite the B’s roller-coaster history, there are signs that they could be turning a corner in this current streak in which they’ve succeeded in various ways. They’ve won when they’ve been dominant (Flames, Rangers, Red Wings), they grinded out victories (Penguins) and they’ve won when they weren’t necessarily the better team (Kraken). They also came from behind by two goals to beat the Blackhawks.
“I think we’re growing every day, we’re getting better and it’s been a fun process,” Sean Kuraly told reporters in Dallas on Monday. “For us, it’s just the next game. Let’s focus on the next game, let’s play as well as we can 20 minutes at a time. If something goes wrong, let’s put it behind us and move on.”
And if this team can keep on keeping on, it should earn at least some help from management at some point.
