Bruins searching trade market for veteran center

Speaking on TSN's Insider Trading on Tuesday night, TSN hockey insider Darren Dreger reported that the Boston Bruins are searching the trade market for help, and apparently willing to potentially deal one of their young players for such help.

"They’d like to add an experienced forward, preferably a center," Dreger said. "Maybe [they'll] dangle one of their young guys; Anders Bjork’s name is potentially out there, and likewise Danton Heinen. Not saying that those players are being shopped, but maybe there’s a team that has experienced forwards that they want to swap with a younger, more inexpensive player.”

The Bruins' issues at center are obvious, particularly on their third line, as a training camp battle between three prospects did not come with a winner of any sort, and both Noel Acciari and Sean Kuraly proved to be skating over their heads in such a role. That's left the Bruins with David Backes playing center since the third game of the season, which has been good but not great for Bruce Cassidy's squad, and is probably not something the Bruins want to subject Backes to for a full season.

This apparent outside search is not a shocking development in the least, as their interest in bolstering their center depth dates all the way back to their summer meeting with John Tavares. Of course, Tavares' decision to go Toronto turned that interest into more of a pressing need, and it was not helped by steady B's third-line pivot Riley Nash's departure in free agency.

Dreger did, however, make sure to note that the Bruins currently view this as a 'back burner search' for the team.

The Bruins will start a four-game road trip Wednesday night in Calgary.