The Bruins and Rangers aren’t pleased with the best way their respective NHL seasons have begun. Now, might the 2 Unique Six rivals assist one another shake issues up?
Boston performed a card out of its deck when it fired head coach Jim Montgomery final week. The early outcomes have been optimistic. The Bruins are 2-0 since dismissing Montgomery in favor of interim head coach Joe Sacco.
New York, in the meantime, is 12-6-1, a quantity that appears fairly good on the floor. It seemed even higher two video games in the past when the Blueshirts have been 12-4-1 earlier than dropping back-to-back video games to Calgary and Edmonton.
Apparently that’s sufficient for common supervisor Chris Drury to take inventory of his roster and marvel if a change is required. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported the Rangers are open to a shake-up, and veterans Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba may be on the block.
Bruins common supervisor Don Sweeney mentioned final week he’ll look to make extra strikes outdoors of adjusting the top coach. He would possibly as nicely give the Rangers a hoop and examine in on each Kreider and Trouba.
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Given the Bruins’ points by means of the primary two months of the season, Kreider would possibly make extra sense of the 2. The Boxford, Mass., native has a scoring contact the Bruins have desperately lacked (twenty ninth in five-on-five scoring) this season. Kreider’s offensive manufacturing is down. He has 9 objectives and nil assists by means of 19 video games.
These 9 objectives, although, would lead the Bruins, and simply three gamers in Black and Gold have exceeded Kreider’s nine-point whole thus far on this season. Kreider has additionally proven extra life within the final week or so, registering not less than 4 pictures on aim in three of the Rangers’ final 5 video games. His capturing share has additionally dipped by greater than half in his final 10 video games after scoring six instances within the first 9 video games. It’s cheap to anticipate he’ll come alive quickly.
Kreider’s previous definitely means that would be the case, too. The 33-year-old had not less than 36 objectives in every of his final three seasons, together with a career-high 52 tallies in 2021-22.
There are apparent questions that have to be answered, although. They each are tied to Kreider’s contract. The Boston Faculty product is signed by means of 2027 with a cap hit of $6.5 million. That’s a superb chunk of change, and it’s definitely greater than the Bruins can afford so as to add proper now; Boston has slightly below $1.4 million in cap room proper now, in accordance with Spotrac. There must be cash going out, however Sweeney’s feedback final week indicated he’d be prepared to rearrange the NHL roster if he noticed a chance to enhance.
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There’s additionally the query of Kreider’s age. He’ll be 34 in April, which implies he’ll be 36 when the contract ends. There’s definitely a case to be made that the Bruins needs to be trying to get youthful proper now, not older. That’s truthful. Given the Bruins’ roster, although, with gamers like David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm and Jeremy Swayman underneath contract for the foreseeable future and on the heels of including Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov, there’s definitely a core in place.
The largest hurdle to clear: Do the Bruins have sufficient to get a Kreider deal carried out? They’d have to search out some form of mixture of contracts that makes the cash work and nonetheless get Drury to say sure. The Rangers in all probability aren’t tearing it down, in order that they’ll must get one thing in return. Perhaps the Bruins add a prospect or two to sweeten the pot, however that comes with apparent down-the-road implications.
One factor we all know, if previous reporting is to be believed: The Bruins have proven curiosity in Kreider up to now. He definitely matches their sort. His regular veteran presence may be a welcomed addition to a staff trying to basically restart its season.
It’s not less than price a cellphone name.
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