The Boston Bruins players on the current roster did their part by going out and once again kicking around the Toronto Maple Leafs for the seventh straight win over their Atlantic Division rivals.
The 4-1 victory at TD Garden on Thursday night was punctuated by a renewed defensive vigor that held high-powered Toronto and Edmonton to just three regulation goals in the last three games. And it felt like a nasty, emotional playoff-style affair that served as a resounding parting shot from a pair of hockey teams that look like they may meet up in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with a month to go in the regular season.
Things got started early in the first period when Maple Leafs defenseman Jake McCabe cross-checked Jake DeBrusk, and then whirled around and threw a cross-check to an unsuspecting Brad Marchand’s throat.
Brad Marchand: "It kind of starts when you get cross-checked in the throat. That's going to get anybody riled up and from that point forth it was an emotional game for both teams. That was a playoff-type game & a fun one to be a part of" https://t.co/vgB2RPckPc
— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) March 8, 2024
The Bruins immediately responded with a David Pastrnak power play strike, and it was on like Donkey Kong for the Black and Gold after that, with Marchand pointing right at the Leafs bench as he skated by to celebrate the score with teammates.
Classic “Poke the Bear” moment here pic.twitter.com/oEAsa5ksfZ
— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) March 8, 2024
“It kind of starts when you get cross-checked in the throat,” said Marchand, who led a throwback physical effort in the win with the 2011 Stanley Cup champs in attendance after arriving at the Garden in a duck boat with the Stanley Cup. “That's going to get anybody riled up and from that point forth it was an emotional game for both teams. That was a playoff-type game & a fun one to be a part of.”
A pair of 4-1 wins over the Maple Leafs in mid-March will be long forgotten by the postseason, obviously, but it does serve as a reminder that Boston has routinely owned Toronto in the playoffs in recent memory. It wasn’t something the B’s players were going to hang their hat on, though, while focused on the NHL trade deadline sitting right in front of them on Friday afternoon, and wondering what the Bruins roster will look like for the rest of the season moving forward.
Many, many players previously linked to the Bruins have gone elsewhere already with Massachusetts native Noah Hanifin to the Golden Knights, rugged forward Brandon Duhaime traded to the Avs, big defenseman Joel Edmundson traded to the Leafs, Alex Wennberg dealt to the Rangers, and Adam Henrique traded to the Oilers.
The latest rumor had the Bruins in pursuit of Elias Lindholm in a three-team deal with the Canucks and Penguins as Vancouver wanted sniper Jake Guentzel instead of a player that hasn’t really clicked with the Canucks in Lindholm. He’s been playing on the third line for the Canucks and has just two goals and five points in his last 15 games in Vancouver since scoring twice in his debut after being traded from Calgary.
Lindholm would be a good fit for the Bruins as a frontline, two-way center that’s winning 58 percent of his draws in Vancouver, and he’d undoubtedly be cheaper in trade this time around if he’s being flipped by the Canucks.
But all that fell apart when the Hurricanes stepped up Thursday night and shipped Michael Bunting, prospects, a conditional first rounder and another pick to Pittsburgh for Guentzel and defenseman Ty Smith. At this point, the Canucks could still be interested in moving a player in Lindholm that hasn’t flourished in Vancouver, but there is going to have to be another high-profile winger worth doing it for and significant salary cap retention with both Boston and Vancouver involved.
It's the uncertainty of these kinds of situations, particularly concerning a Bruins team with a lot of moving parts required to pull off an impactful trade, that can cause anxiety in NHL dressing rooms in and around the deadline.
“The biggest thing is worrying about what you can control and staying in the moment. It definitely is nerve-wracking coming close to the deadline, the uncertainty of it,” said Marchand. “But I think the easiest way to go about that is coming in and focusing on doing your job every day and performing at your best, and keeping your mind off things that are out of your control.
“At the end of the day things will play out a certain way and we just all have to grateful with how it plays out. Grateful for the opportunity to be in this league and to be an NHL player. It is stressful. It’s tough. But you just have to focus on what you can control. Regardless of what happens [on Friday] I feel good about this group, and I think we’ve shown in the last three games that when we play the way [the coaches] are pushing us to play we are a really good team that can compete with anybody.”
The Bruins ($57,500 in cap space) would clearly have to flip NHL players to create the salary cap space in order to make anything at all happen. DeBrusk and Linus Ullmark are the likeliest trade pieces because they A) hold significant trade value with other teams and B) have very uncertain futures with the Bruins given impending free agency for one and a looming Swayman contract extension in the other case.
Big defenseman Derek Forbort ($3 million) is another possibility, though trading defensemen away is always a dicey proposition for teams headed toward the playoffs.
Both are popular, well-established teammates with DeBrusk ($4 million cap hit) as the only useful NHL piece from the infamous first round of the 2015 NHL Draft, and with Ullmark ($5 million cap hit) as the reigning Vezina Trophy winner. The idea of Thursday night’s goalie hug between a victorious Jeremy Swayman and Ullmark being the last one ever because of the NHL trade deadline was an upsetting thought for Swayman after a feel-good win.
“That guy is my brother for life and he’s a huge reason we’ve had success every year. There’s not going to be any surprises hopefully. It’s a business and I know that just as well,” said Swayman. “Whatever happens, happens and it’s a business. We’ve dealt with it over the years, but I don’t even want to think about [Ullmark getting traded].”
At this point, though, there may not be a significant move to be executed at the NHL trade deadline for a Bruins team up against it cap-wise all season, and with a B’s management group loathe to trade their top remaining draft capital or their best young prospects.
Names like Alex Barabanov, Tyler Toffoli, Jason Zucker, Matt Dumba and Erik Johnson are among those that were scratched on Thursday night for trade-related seasons, so that is the caliber of players still available at this point after a flurry of trades on Wednesday and Thursday ahead of the deadline. At least a guy like Dumba would bring more thump and heaviness to the back end, even if he is a right shot when the Bruins are looking for somebody on the left side.
Matt Dumba lays the body to Connor Bedard 👀💣#NHL | #Blackhawks | #yotes
— The Cam & Strick Podcast (@CamandStrick) March 6, 2024
pic.twitter.com/hp5IEtapHX
Perhaps the B’s can pick up a player like Pat Maroon to give them some additional heaviness and physicality up front.
The simple truth is that a quality NHL organization can’t go “all in” every single season even if they’re in the thick of the Stanley Cup playoff hunt annually, and that’s a reality Bruins fans might very well be experiencing when things settle for Friday afternoon’s NHL trade deadline.
UPDATE: Bruins acquired Maroon from the Wild for a conditional 2026 sixth-round pick. He is two to three weeks from returning from back surgery.
Montgomery wouldn't confirm the deal to reporters but told them: "I just remember last year, he came in here and he wanted to start something right away. He brought emotion into the game right away. And he ended up in a fight in five seconds with [Garnet] Hathaway. ... Glue guy."