NHL trade rumors had the Boston Bruins looking to trade for Mattias Ekholm earlier in the season, but when the Nashville Predators turned around their season, they took him off the trade block.
Boston Bruins President was quoted as saying, “The elusive left D we’ve been looking for that can chew up a lot of minutes,” said Neely, when asked what he would add to this current core Boston Bruins group in a perfect world. “Maybe play on the second pairing with Carlo. That’d be more of a shutdown or some puck movement [with] some offensive blue line acumen.”
Joe Haggerty of Boston Hockey Now reports, Mike Reilly, Alec Martinez and Alex Goligoski are the top left-handed defensemen on the UFA market next month, but there are others like Ryan Murray and Jamie Oleksiak that could be intriguing possibilities as well. Still, it feels like the Bruins would be better served using trade chips like Urho Vaakanainen and Jake DeBrusk among others to land a younger, established left-shot defenseman that could grow along with the rest of the young Bruins D-man corps.
NHL rumors earlier in the season had the St. Louis Blues shopping Vince Dunn and he could be another option for the Bruins this off-season.
