Bruins Trade Pitch Gets $45.5 Million Power Play Specialist in Blockbuster Deal

Just two years after setting an NHL all-time record for points in a season with 135, the Boston Bruins vanished from the playoff picture altogether. The Original Six team, winner of six Stanley Cup trophies, won just 33 games and assembled only 76 points.

New York Rangers LW Chris Kreider (20)

The season of mediocrity led to sweeping changes in the Boston organization. Before the season even started, 39-year-old Patrice Bergeron who played his entire 19-year career with the Bruins finally hung up his skates. Coach Jim Montgomery was given his walking papers just 20 games into the schedule, and the trade deadline brought a sweeping overhaul of the Bruins’ roster.

The Bruins made seven trades on and leading up to deadline day, shipping out a group of veteran, core players including the longest serving Bruin Brad Marchand, a 10-time All-Star who debuted in 2009. Forwards Charlie Coyle, Trent Frederic and Justin Brazeau were also shown the door in trades, along with defenseman Brandon Carlo.

Proposed Trade Would Bring Power Play Upgrade

The Bruins obviously have any number of areas that need attention in the offseason. But one important aspect of their game that was sorely lacking in 2024-2025 was power play production. The Bruins converted just 15.22 percent of their power play opportunities. That ranked a dismal 29th of the 32 NHL teams.

Their total of 35 power play goals also ranked fourth from the bottom.

“It’s no secret that the Bruins’ power play this season has been downright bad,” wrote Fansided Bruins scribe Scott Roche. “As bad as the numbers are, it’s looked that bad, if not worse, at times this season.”

In the proposed trade, the Bruins would send out a package of 10-year veteran center Pavel Zacha, promising Swedish rookie winger Fabian Lysell and a 2026 first-round draft pick.

That package would land with another original six team, the Bruins’ regional rival New York Rangers. In exchange, Rangers left wing Chris Kreider heads to Boston.

Homecoming for Kreider After 13 Years in New York

The move would be something of a homecoming for Kreider who has spent his entire 13-year career in New York, but who hails from Boxford, Massachusetts, a suburb about a half-hour north of Boston. The 34-year-old Kreider also played his college hockey at Boston College.

More importantly, Kreider is a power play goal-scoring specialist. In 2021-2022 he led the NHL in power play goals with 26. He also tallied a league-leading 11 game-winning goals that year.

“Kreider would bring power play help,” Roche wrote. “There is no question about the talent he has and the ability to score goals in all situations. In 2021-22, he scored 52 goals and he followed that up with 36 a year later and 39 last season. In 845 career regular-season games, he has 315 goals and he has proven that he’s an excellent goal-scorer and he would move right up to the top of the Bruins roster as goal-scoring threats.”

While the Bruins retained top scorer David Pastrnak, whose career 391 goals rank him 14th among all active players, they will absolutely need greater goal scoring threats. Their 222 placed then 27th in the NHL.

The one snag to the trade would be that Kreider, an unrestricted free agent in 2027 comes with a cap hit of $6.5 million on his seven-year, $45.5 million contract, according to the hockey business site PuckPedia. The Bruins currently have a scant $744,000 to work with in the cap department.

That means they will need to send a veteran player New York’s way. If the Rangers would accept 28-year-old Czech center Zacha, his cap hit would take $4.75 million of the Boston books.

That leaves $1.75 million to cover. Lysell, a prospect who returned to the AHL Providence Bruins after scoring a single goal in 12 games for the big club, would cover $863,000 of that cap hit, leaving approximately $887,000 to be absorbed by the Rangers or by parting with another young player.