The Bruins and Rangers aren’t happy with the way their respective NHL seasons have begun. Now, could the two Original Six rivals help each other shake things up?
Boston played a card out of its deck when it fired head coach Jim Montgomery last week. The early results have been positive. The Bruins are 2-0 since dismissing Montgomery in favor of interim head coach Joe Sacco.
New York, meanwhile, is 12-6-1, a number that looks pretty good on the surface. It looked even better two games ago when the Blueshirts were 12-4-1 before dropping back-to-back games to Calgary and Edmonton.
Apparently that’s enough for general manager Chris Drury to take stock of his roster and wonder if a change is needed. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported the Rangers are open to a shake-up, and veterans Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba might be on the block.
Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said last week he’ll look to make more moves outside of changing the head coach. He might as well give the Rangers a ring and check in on both Kreider and Trouba.
Given the Bruins’ issues through the first two months of the season, Kreider might make more sense of the two. The Boxford, Mass., native has a scoring touch the Bruins have desperately lacked (29th in five-on-five scoring) this season. Kreider’s offensive production is down. He has nine goals and zero assists through 19 games.
Those nine goals, though, would lead the Bruins, and just three players in Black and Gold have exceeded Kreider’s nine-point total to this point in this season. Kreider has also shown more life in the last week or so, registering at least four shots on goal in three of the Rangers’ last five games. His shooting percentage has also dipped by more than half in his last 10 games after scoring six times in the first nine games. It’s reasonable to expect he’ll come alive soon.
Kreider’s past certainly suggests that will be the case, too. The 33-year-old had at least 36 goals in each of his last three seasons, including a career-high 52 tallies in 2021-22.
There are obvious questions that must be answered, though. They both are tied to Kreider’s contract. The Boston College product is signed through 2027 with a cap hit of $6.5 million. That’s a good chunk of change, and it’s certainly more than the Bruins can afford to add right now; Boston has just under $1.4 million in cap room right now, according to Spotrac. There would have to be money going out, but Sweeney’s comments last week indicated he’d be willing to rearrange the NHL roster if he saw an opportunity to improve.
There’s also the question of Kreider’s age. He’ll be 34 in April, which means he’ll be 36 when the contract ends. There’s certainly a case to be made that the Bruins should be looking to get younger right now, not older. That’s fair. Given the Bruins’ roster, though, with players like David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm and Jeremy Swayman under contract for the foreseeable future and on the heels of adding Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov, there’s certainly a core in place.
The biggest hurdle to clear: Do the Bruins have enough to get a Kreider deal done? They’d have to find some sort of combination of contracts that makes the money work and still get Drury to say yes. The Rangers probably aren’t tearing it down, so they’ll need to get something in return. Maybe the Bruins add a prospect or two to sweeten the pot, but that comes with obvious down-the-road implications.
One thing we know, if past reporting is to be believed: The Bruins have shown interest in Kreider in the past. He certainly fits their type. His steady veteran presence could also be a welcomed addition to a team looking to essentially restart its season.
It’s at least worth a phone call.
