The Bruins will be changing things up on the trade market.
The Boston Bruins are fighting for their playoff lives coming out of the 4 Nations break. The Bruins made a coaching change after a brutal start to the regular season. As the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline gets closer, though, it appears as if the coaching change made little impact. There's a non-zero chance Boston will miss the playoffs. And general manager Don Sweeney is not planning to make a splash move.
Sweeney recently spoke with The Athletic's Fluto Shinzawa. During this interview, the Bruins general manager was asked about his approach to this trade deadline. Boston is only one point back of the Ottawa Senators, who hold the second Wild Card in the East. Moreover, only three points separate them and the East's top Wild Card holder, the Detroit Red Wings.
The Bruins could certainly make a move to bolster their roster. Boston has made some big moves at the NHL Trade Deadline in years past. Sweeney did not rule out a move or two to improve the squad. At the same time, he mentioned being more cautious in 2025.
“Historically, we’ve been pretty aggressive and our team’s been in a position,” Sweeney said on Sunday, via Shinzawa. “I think we’ll take a much more cautious approach as we approach the deadline. That being said, if there are opportunities to improve our team now and certainly moving forward, whether that’s positional shifts or other teams trying to identify what we might have a strength at, we will look at all opportunities to improve our team now, but more importantly, moving forward.”
Bruins' Don Sweeney discusses future of pending UFAs
The Bruins have a few pending unrestricted free agents available entering the NHL Trade Deadline. Bruins captain Brad Marchand is one potential trade candidate given his contract status, in fact. Others include forwards Trent Frederic, Cole Koepke, and Justin Brazeau.
Don Sweeney did not discuss these names at length when speaking with Shinzawa. He did not mention whether the team was actively shopping them or believed a trade was likely. However, the Bruins general manager did admit a contract for any of them seemed unlikely at this time. With the lone potential exception of Marchand.
“It’s unlikely we’ll move forward with things other than maybe Brad’s,” Sweeney said of deals for the UFAs-to-be., via Shinzawa “You never know. Because it takes one phone call for things to change.”
Boston has less than two weeks left to figure out what they want to do. One thing seems clear, however. The days of the Bruins pushing their chips to the middle of the table in an effort to go all in seem to be over. At least, it won't happen this season.
