If the Bruins trade Torey Krug, an old friend seems a likely suitor

DALLAS – Former Bruins and current Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli has actively voiced his desire to shop the No. 10 pick overall pick — and he's eyeing players who sound an awful lot like one of his former players.

Chiarelli, speaking Thursday one day ahead of the NHL's draft and less two weeks away from the July 1 start of free agency, said he's interested in a defenseman, perhaps an offensively gifted one, and doesn’t have an overarching preference on left-shot versus right-shot shooters.

“I’d be ok with (the same blue line),” Chiarelli said Thursday at the Hotel Crescent Court. “But having said that, we would look to move the pick if the right player is available, the right NHL player, is available. We’ve had that discussion with some teams. Just on the righty versus lefty, I know that’s a hot topic, but just from an offensive perspective of the defensemen that we’d be looking for, if it were a right shot it’d be great, but they’re hard to get.

“There are some in the draft, too. At No. 10, we think that defenseman might be available. We might have to move up. But as far as acquiring defensemen, it is hard, especially in this NHL.”

Torey Krug checks a lot of those boxes. He scored 59 points last year, a career-year where he scored 14 goals and 45 assists. Asked whether he'd be interested in Krug, Chiarelli, of course, declined to comment.


The Bruins currently do not have a first-round draft pick after trading it to the New York Rangers for Rick Nash in February. Nash is expected to become an unrestricted free agent July 1, and if he doesn’t come back to Boston, the deal will look like it left the Bruins empty-handed after getting bounced from the playoffs in the second round.

Don Sweeney’s willingness to part with a first-round pick in order to make a more serious run for the Stanley Cup with a veteran forward is an encouraging approach. The Bruins were aggressive last season when mixing young players with a solid veteran core. It seemed like Sweeney found the right coach for that executing that philosophy with Bruce Cassidy, who finished second for the Jack Adams Award Wednesday night.

Sweeney, through his season-ending media availability, lamented not having a first-round pick. He acknowledged how challenging it would be to get back into the first round, but that it’s something the team has explored.

For what it’s worth, one former GM said he believes Krug would fetch the No. 10 pick in the draft, or somewhere not far off in either direction. That aligns nicely with where the Oilers stand, especially considering their top two scoring defenseman combined for 47 points last season.

One thing that could hold up a deal such as this, though, is that the Bruins don’t have any collateral to offer in the first round. It’s not like they could persuade Edmonton to take a later pick at the end of the first round, unless they made another move beforehand.

Meanwhile, the Bruins earlier this week signed Matt Grzelcyk to a two-year extension after he had a strong rookie season with the Bruins. Whether or not the Bruins feel comfortable deploying two 5-foot-9 left-shot defensemen will dictate which direction they go in, but the Oilers could possibly be the likely suitor for Krug.

There’s the obvious familiarity between Krug and Chiarelli. The GM helped bring Krug into the fold as an undrafted free agent in 2012 – before Chiarelli was fired in 2015. During the end of that season, he signed Krug to a short, one-year deal that kept him with the Bruins. A year later, Krug signed the four-year deal he’s currently on.

The Grzelcyk extension doesn’t really define the Bruins' intentions. Perhaps it signals they found the more cost-efficient option to Krug, who’s due $5.25 million each of the next two seasons. Perhaps they are OK with their current defensive core and expect the return of Brandon Carlo, who’s been injured for the playoffs the last two seasons, to bring a more physical, defensive-minded game to the blue line.

Another name that would make sense for the Bruins is Oscar Klefbom, the Oilers’ 6-foot-4, 216-pound defenseman. The 24-year old has proved to be a smooth passer who can chip in offensively when needed, but has a sounder defensive game. The concern would be the shoulder injury that ended his season last year. The season before that, Klefbom had 12 goals and 26 assists in 82 games.

If the Bruins want to get back into the first round, it’s not going to be cheap. Perhaps it’s not as high as No. 10 where the Oilers sit, but either way, it’d likely take a deal that involved Krug in place of the draft pick they don’t currently have.

[democracy id="7"]