BOSTON – The NHL trade deadline is still five days away, and the Boston Bruins players won’t have any definitive answers until they get on the other side of it on late Monday afternoon.
The Black and Gold enter Wednesday night’s pivotal game against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the top wild card spot, but the Penguins could overtake them with the full two points that come along with a regulation win at TD Garden. Likewise the New Jersey Devils and Carolina Hurricanes are within four points of the Black and Gold as well, so the B’s have their main focus on picking up points amid a congested Eastern Conference.
But the B’s have also been in playoff position for quite some time, and continue to deliberate over the fate of pending free agent Loui Eriksson as they approach the Feb. 29 deadline. It’s been pretty clear for months the two sides aren’t close on an extension, and the Bruins aren’t willing to get into the 5-6 year range the Swedish winger is looking for in his next contract.
So the best long term move for the Bruins franchise would be to trade Eriksson to the highest bidder ahead of the deadline, and hope they hang onto their playoff position for the final 20 games in the regular season. The big unknown is what kind of impact moving a player like Eriksson would have on a Bruins dressing room that’s in the middle of a playoff hunt.
Krejci has been Eriksson’s center for most of the season, and he admitted trading off a big, productive all-around piece from this Bruins team would be “sad.”
“Sometimes different guys taking things a little differently; it depends on how close you are with him, and if you play together on a line,” said Krejci. “Obviously it would be said, but our GM is trying to do what’s best for our team. So we’ll see what happens.
“Obviously there’s a lot of talk about [the Loui Eriksson] situation, but I’m really happy with him. We’ve been doing a great job this year, and even on the [penalty kill]. I would love for him to obviously be here, but this [situation] is what happens sometimes. So we’ll see what happens.”
So if, or when, Eriksson does get dealt prior to Monday afternoon at 3 p.m., it will be interesting to see how quickly the Bruins bounce back from the “sad” reality of a teammate moving on for the stretch run. It could also depend greatly on exactly what the Bruins will have coming back to them in any deals Don Sweeney pulls off over the next week.