With Kyle Palmieri off to Islanders, where do Bruins go from here?

The NHL trade deadline is officially heating up — with a potential Bruins target swapping sweaters and heading off to one of the B's top roadblocks in a crowded East Division.

Devils winger Kyle Palmieri — who has been an apple of the Bruins' eyes for years now as a steady two-way forward with an established track record of offensive production (25+ goals in his last five full seasons) — was dealt to the Islanders on Wednesday night along with his New Jersey teammate, Travis Zajac.

In return, the Islanders parted with their 2021 first-round pick, a conditional fourth-round pick and forwards A.J. Greer and Mason Jobst to New Jersey — with the Devils retaining 50% of both Palmieri and Zajac's salary.

Even with relinquishing a coveted first-round pick, it stands as a solid move for the Islanders, who were desperate to recoup some top-six scoring punch with captain Anders Lee out for the season due to injury. Even though Palmieri has seen his offensive production decline a bit this season, you'd be hard-pressed to find a drawback with this deal — especially given that the Islanders did not have to part with top prospects in addition to that first-rounder.

Given how much the Islanders have stood as a thorn in the side of the Bruins already this year (0-3-2 vs. New York), adding a guy in Palmieri who has already lit the lamp five times against the B's in six games makes an already tough New York club even a tougher outcome the postseason.

BSJ Analysis

Well, another season, another target slipping through the Bruins' grasp.

We've seen the Bruins land in this spot before — with the club finishing as runners-up the Blake Coleman sweepstakes a year ago and coming up short on a player that was reportedly in their "hip pocket" in Tyler Toffoli. 

Now, granted, even if the optics of the Bruins' coming up short on yet another forward that would have helped their middle-six might be awfully frustrating to some, you could make the argument that parting ways with a first-rounder for a pair of rentals was too high of a price for the B's.



However, you wonder where exactly the Bruins go from here to address the evident flaws on this roster. At this point, the Bruins are stuck in a bit of a crossroads — pondering whether to sit idly by and opt to not invest in a team ravaged by injuries, or indeed go for it with a big acquisition or two.

(I will note, because I've seen it brought up many times on both social media and in comments, that the odds of the Bruins actually selling at the deadline seem to be incredibly slim. While some fans might still be incensed at the B's not dealing guys like Loui Eriksson and Carl Söderberg back on those 2014/15 B's teams going nowhere, the challenges of selling off pieces are much harder in a league frozen by a flat cap in 2021. Regardless of the argument that the Bruins shouldn't wave the white flag so long as guys like Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand are still in their prime, the Bruins not exactly have a ton of sell-able assets, especially considering how few buyers there really are in the NHL. 

For example, if Boston wanted to deal a pending UFA like David Krejci — it remains to be seen which contender actually has the cap space to acquire him. Even with salary retention factored in, a top team in need of a pivot like Vegas likely wouldn't even be in the running, given that they literally had to dress just 16 skaters a week ago due to their cap limitations. So even if pivoting to selling might be an option that some fans are endorsing at the moment, this is almost certainly not the year to due it, because the reality of the situation is that there are only so many realistic buyers out there with a frozen cap.)

But even if selling isn't a (realistic) option, this is far from an enviable position to be in if you're the Bruins — considering they're currently soldiering on without both of their starting netminders and two of their top-four defensemen in Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo. 

For now, the Bruins will likely turn to other rumored targets such as Taylor Hall — who could be a top-six solution for the Bruins without parting ways with significant draft capital. (However, you wonder if New Jersey prying a first-rounder from the Islanders could raise the asking price for Hall). Other options remain in rentals like Mike Hoffman or perhaps a player with term like Anaheim's Rickard Rakell.

Perhaps the Bruins have a trick up their sleeve in the days leading up to the deadline. Even if a first-round pick would have to be sacrificed (along with other capital), the perils of a post-Bergeron era shouldn't cloud the potential returns that could be struck if somehow Boston still managed to pry a player with term (and top-flight skill) like Mattias Ekholm or Conor Garland from teams in Nashville and Arizona that, while surging, might be more fool's gold than viable contenders in 2021.

But then again, some might say the same of the 2021 Bruins — a team that, despite years and years of Stanley Cup expectations, might be becoming more and more cognizant that such a window is slamming shut.

The clock is ticking...