Bruins GM Don Sweeney wants to give team ‘bump’ at trade deadline

Bruins general manager Don Sweeney does not expect to approach this Friday's trade deadline like he did this time last year.

The Bruins, still in a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and arguably more comfortably in a playoff spot than they've been for the majority of the season, have earned the right to not be completely torn down and stripped for futures. As much as the market may call for them to explore that opportunity.

So, what does Sweeney see for his club by Friday's 3 p.m. deadline? Nobody really knows, it seems. Not even Sweeney, really.

"In all likelihood, it’ll be a little different than last year, not necessarily as aggressive and active, but we would like to continue to improve our club, if possible," Sweeney said following Monday's practice at Warrior Ice Arena. "We'd like to give them a bump, because they've earned that. But it's [also] an eye towards this year, but moving forward as well. That's what our intentions are as we go to the deadline, and that may or may not come to fruition."

The biggest problem for the Bruins, though, appears to come on the cost front.

As is always the case, there's too many buyers and not enough sellers. That makes high-end help cost an arm and a leg (and then some), and it even inflates the cost of mid-tier help.

Now, the Bruins' interest in high-end help was already there earlier this deadline season when the club tried to make a play for Rasmus Andersson. That bid obviously came up short, yeah. But not for a lack of trying on Boston's part, as they seemed to have enough to complete the deal, but not enough interest from Andersson to make the deal worth it (an extension) for them. In-season trade markets, of course, rarely have multiple Rasmus Anderssons available.

And with that knowledge in mind, and with a playoff team but still a 'coin flip' kind of playoff team in a tight-as-hell wild card race in the East, it's all been enough to make the Bruins rethink their course. As well as their willingness to get in on the action just to say that they got in on the action, which was one of Sweeney's greatest flaws during his first few deadlines on the job.

"We're going to explore them and see what presents, [but that] doesn't mean we're going to sacrifice some of the things that we went through last year to try and address organizational depth, both at prospect level, draft capital level and at the NHL level," Sweeney noted. "And I think that we've done a decent job there, but it's only a one year snapshot, and we have to have an eye towards you know, what our intentions were back then."

With less than a week to go before the deadline, the Bruins seemed to be linked to any and every defenseman who can play the right side. It remains to be seen whether or not the Bruins can close on one of those — they could even trade one of their own, with Andrew Peeke a pending unrestricted free agent — but it's an area that Sweeney can't deny wanting to attack at some point.

"A lot of times you run into problems on depth with defense. Jonathan Aspirot is on our team as a result of that; Victor [Soderstrom] played games, [Michael Callahan] played games, [Frederic] Brunet’s had a really good season. So we feel comfortable that we have adequate depth, but you just never know. Now, moving forward, with Andrew [Peeke] expiring, we’re playing Mason [Lohrei] on the right side, right now, I think we have to be realistic that our group probably needs to be supplemented in that position.”