The Boston Bruins have the surplus cap space and the roster flexibility to be exceedingly bold this summer, which makes it a really unique opportunity to set up the franchise for an extended Stanley Cup contender window.
So why not swing for the fences if there’s even a remote chance whatsoever that they can hit a franchise-altering home run?
Much like the Florida Panthers changed the fortunes of their franchise when they were able to extract Matthew Tkachuk from Calgary a couple of summers ago, the Bruins might face that kind of chance this offseason. There are certainly the standard free agent names we’ve already heard like Elias Lindholm and Chandler Stephenson, and his presence in the Stanley Cup Final has plenty of Bruins fans asking if Leon Draisaitl might be available in the trade market once this series has concluded.
But one intriguing name that could make a massive Tkachuk-like impact is, ironically enough, Ottawa Senators power forward Brady Tkachuk.
There have been whispers that the bruising 24-year-old winger might be available this summer as Ottawa continues to languish in the Atlantic Division standings, but those have been vehemently denied by people around the Sens organization.
“Complete B.S.,’’ Steve Staios, president of hockey operations and GM of the Senators, said to The Athletic a couple of weeks ago when asked to comment on the rumors. “We are building this team around Brady. His leadership and unique skill set are rare.
“There is absolutely no validity to it.”
So let’s admit first of all that we’re probably playing fantasy land hockey merely entertaining something that seems to have been borne more out of a Spittin’ Chiclets podcast musing than anything steeped in reality.
Hockey fans NEED to see Brady Tkachuk play in the playoffs.
— Spittin' Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) May 9, 2024
…and the #RumorBoyz are hearing whispers he could be heading to Jersey👀https://t.co/H2asmmmKUm pic.twitter.com/uURMuXBZvM
Still, Tkachuk is a monster forward who’s topped 30 goals three seasons in a row and plays with an even nastier physical streak than his big brother that he can back up with legitimate toughness and intimidation. There are very few players in the NHL these days capable of 30 goals, 70 points and 100 penalty minutes in a season, but Tkachuk is one of those guys while playing in the traditional style of the Bruins organization.
Brady Tkachuk vs. P.K. Subban pic.twitter.com/ofaDxsiXGW
— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) January 28, 2020
There is very little question that the Bruins would be a perfect fit for the younger Tkachuk brother, and it would make the B’s/Panthers matchups even spicier than they already are at this point. In many ways it feels like a guy like Tkachuk is exactly what the Black and Gold are missing at this point.
The real question is whether it’s even remotely possible and exactly what it would cost the B’s to pull off that kind of seismic offseason move. A player like Tkachuk, or Draisaitl for that matter, would cost the Bruins pieces that they absolutely don’t want to give up as the cost of doing business. A goalie-starved team like Ottawa has been interested in Linus Ullmark in a trade, but one would expect that interest would be bumped up to getting Jeremy Swayman in a trade if they were going to part with their captain and franchise player.
David Pastrnak or Charlie McAvoy as an ask wouldn’t be out of bounds in a trade like that either, and certainly top Bruins young players like Mason Lohrei, Matt Poitras and others would be in the discussion along with the obvious draft picks changing hands. Looking at the Tkachuk trade with the Panthers, it was Jonathan Huberdeau, McKenzie Weegar, a prospect and a first-round pick shipped out to Calgary for the rabble-rousing winger and it would be the same kind of massive package required by Ottawa in order to make this kind of deal happen were it to be something more than an imaginary fantasy trade.
The question is whether the appetite is there to radically change Boston’s makeup with a group that’s clearly building something good with the B’s right now.
The price would probably be even higher for Ottawa when it comes to a player that’s signed for the next few years for a cap hit slightly over $8 million AAV that makes him a pretty good value around the league. But it would be fascinating to see if a trade like that could ever materialize to see just how far Boston is willing to go to land a game-changing player even if it means considerably altering a current group that’s been a pretty successful operation over the last few years while passing the torch from Patrice Bergeron/David Krejci to the younger core group now taking over the B’s dressing room.
A player like Tkachuk would be the perfect missing ingredient for the Bruins, but it remains to be seen if there’s any shred of reality to it ever happening.
ONE-TIMERS
*Sad news out of Northeastern as it sounds like the university is going to start exploring ways to replace the venerable Matthews Arena. The 114-year-old rink was the original home of the Boston Bruins in addition to the longtime home of Northeastern University and has been a staple in Hockey East for decades as the aged home of the Huskies.
Matthews Arena hosted the first NHL game ever played in the United States and is the oldest existing hockey rink in the world. It will continue to be just that in the short term as the school has done cosmetic work to keep things going, but the Huskies will eventually be playing elsewhere.
“Matthews Arena is more than a century old and reaching the end of its useful life,” the university said to the Huntington News. “It has recently undergone structural modifications that will temporarily extend its use. Simultaneously, the university has been making long-term assessments regarding the increasing demand for state-of-the-art athletic and recreational facilities, and the existing building’s limitations to meet them.”
It's really too bad they can’t find a way to preserve Matthews Arena to keep its unique history in Boston hockey alive, but it’s difficult to see any way the school can spare that kind of space adjacent to Huntington Avenue for a hockey relic given some of the environmental and structural concerns about the building at way past its prime.
The Huskies men and women’s programs would be expected to play at either BU’s Walter Brown Arena or Warrior Arena in the short term if they were razing Matthews Arena in an effort to build some kind of multipurpose arena for the school sports program.
*Thumbs up for Disney’s “Inside Out 2”, out in movie theatres right now, according to my 8-year-old hockey-playing daughter after watching the animated movie that uses hockey as a central theme to help tell the story of a young girl’s emotional journey through adolescence. It was the perfect way to spend Father’s Day weekend along with being in a hockey rink coaching my son.