As Tyler Toffoli heads to Vancouver, Bruins' pool of trade targets continues to dry up

So much for Tyler Toffoli being in the Bruins’ hip pocket, eh? 

Just a day after the surging Tampa Bay Lightning jump-started the arms race in the Atlantic by pulling the trigger on a deal for Blake Coleman, the Bruins saw another one of their trade targets slip through their fingers — as Toffoli was dealt to the Vancouver Canucks on Monday night. 

Per the terms of the deal, the Canucks (just a point out of first place in the Pacific), parted ways with former Bruin Tim Schaller, prospect Tyler Madden, a 2020 second-round pick and a conditional fourth-round pick in 2022 to add Toffoli for a playoff push.

Much like Coleman and Tampa, the Canucks did give up a solid haul in order to add the 27-year-old Toffoli, who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. But with Brock Boeser sidelined for at least three weeks with a rib injury and the Canucks looking to clinch their first playoff berth since 2015, Jim Benning and Vancouver's front office took a page out of the Lightning's book and rolled the dice in order to bring aboard a winger on pace for 25 goals and 47 points this season.

With Coleman and now Toffoli off the board, Don Sweeney and the Bruins' pool of available trade targets is starting to shrink with less than a week to go ahead of the trade deadline.

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Monday's news was a tough hit, considering — A: The Bruins have been linked to Toffoli for over a year now, and B: The now-Canucks forward would have been the perfect fit on David Krejci's line as a right-shot winger.

The good news for the Bruins is that there are still plenty of targets up for grabs that could fill in the vacancy that has hampered Krejci and Co. from reaching their full potential, especially in the O-zone.

Chris Kreider stands as the top prize on the open market — a pure rental with the speed, size and skill that Cup contenders covet when the calendar turns to spring. Given how much both Tampa and Vancouver had to give up for Coleman and Toffoli (a pending UFA), a first-round pick and more seems to be the expected asking price for the BC product. 

Josh Anderson is another intriguing power forward whose game translates well to playoff hockey, although he carries some concerns in terms of health and production. That dip in tangible production could make Anderson an attractive option for a team that doesn't want to sell the farm in pursuit of a deadline deal. 

Anaheim’s Ondrej Kase could be a high-risk, high-reward option for the Bruins if available for the right price, while a red-hot Ilya Kovalchuk is making a lot of teams kick themselves for not taking a flyer on the veteran winger before he signed with Montreal. 

But if the Coleman and Toffoli deals are the transactions that are setting the market, that's not exactly good news for Sweeney — especially if he's looking to avoid expending a valuable first-round pick in order to try to put this team over the top.

Of course, Sweeney could also be waiting to use that valuable trade chip at the right moment. Considering that Boston was reportedly in the running for Coleman (signed through 2021 at a bargain $1.8 million) as late as Sunday, the Bruins very well could be setting their sights more on trade targets with term, rather than pure rentals like Kreider, Toffoli or Kovalchuk.

Such was the stance that factored into the Bruins' decision to swing a trade for Charlie Coyle last year, securing the club's third-line center both for the 2019 playoff run and through the 2019-20 campaign — given that his contract with Minnesota ran through that stretch at an affordable $3.2 million per year.

If Boston is looking to maintain that mindset of adding valuable (but cost-controlled) talent, then perhaps it shouldn't be much of a surprise that Boston didn't go ahead on a deal for Toffoli. After coming up just short on Coleman, perhaps the Bruins are turning their attention to a player like Kase (signed through 2021 at $2.8 million), Anderson (a pending RFA) or Devils forward Kyle Palmieri (signed through 2021 at $4.65 million).

Acquiring players with term won't come cheap, especially for an established scorer and underrated defensive contributor in Palmieri. Given the market rate, a first-round pick would seem to be just the initial asking price to pull off such a deal for the Devils winger.

But if paying such a steep price could benefit the Bruins in 2020 and beyond, it could be well worth it for Sweeney and Co. However, if Boston is intent on making a move, it might want to make a call days ahead of the Feb. 24 deadline. With Toffoli and Coleman now off the board, the trading frenzy is already in full swing — and the Bruins will need to act fast before more viable targets are taken off the board.