By: Tom Calautti | Follow me on Twitter/X @TCalauttis
Believe it or not, the NHL trade deadline is just 14 days away. With March 6th bearing down on us, the Boston Bruins must begin formulating their plans for how to approach it. One easy piece of business they should be able to get done is an Andrew Peeke trade.
Before I get into the reasons why Boston should move on from the right-shot defenseman, let’s take a look at his tenure in Black and Gold. Peeked has spent parts of the last three seasons with the Bruins, skating in 147 games and posting 5-26-31.
Peeke has been as advertised since he arrived on Causeway Street: a reliable and solid third-pairing defenseman who’s responsible in his own zone, blocks shots, kills penalties, and plays a rugged game. He’s also in the final year of a three-year, $8.25 million contract, with an AAV of $2.75 million.
That contract, combined with his player profile, is the two major reasons Boston should be looking to move Peeke.
When you take a look across the NHL landscape, there’s a premium on reliable right-shot defensemen. Rasmus Andersson is off the board, Justin Faulk carries a hefty price tag and is turning 34, and Zach Whitecloud has played more than 70 games only once since 2020. The relatively thin nature of the market, combined with Peeke’s reliability, should make him a relatively popular commodity.
In late January, the New York Rangers traded defenseman Carson Soucy to the New York Islanders for a 2026 third-round pick. That deal set the market for mid-to-bottom pairing defensemen, meaning a third-rounder is the starting price for Peeke. It’s not unfathomable that a bidding war could break out and that the price could rise to a second rounder by March 6th.
It’s also important to consider where the Bruins currently sit in both the playoff structure and their retool.
Boston currently holds the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference and is four points clear of its closest opponent. That said, their eyes should still be on the future and on acquiring assets where they can.
When you compare the franchise’s long-term outlook with its current playoff odds, the goals of this trade deadline become clear: continue to build for the future while maintaining the structure of your current roster.
Trading Peeke for draft capital leaves a fillable hole on the roster. With Peeke out of the lineup, Henri Jokiharju can slot back in alongside Nikita Zadorov (a duo that had success dating back to last season), and your other pairs (Aspirot-McAvoy, Lindholm-Lohrei) are untouched.
A Peeke trade is the most straightforward move General Manager Don Sweeney can make for the Boston Bruins. Trade an ancillary piece of your roster that isn’t part of your long-term plans for future assets.
There are more difficult decisions the organization will have to make come deadline day (especially on Viktor Arvidsson and Casey Mittlestadt). But when the time comes, the most prudent course of action the Bruins must take is to trade Andrew Peeke.
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