By: Jake Ferraro | Follow me on Twitter/X @18Jxxx18
The Boston Bruins are fighting to keep their 2026 playoff hopes alive in a tight Eastern Conference. At the moment, the Bruins have 76 points and hold the second Wild Card seed. Outside of acquiring prospects Alexis Gendron and Missimo Rizzo from the Philadelphia Flyers, and trading for Lukas Reichel from the Vancouver Canucks, the Bruins didn’t do much at the National Hockey League Trade Deadline.
It was a trade deadline that some thought general manager Don Sweeney would have done more. Earlier today, Bleacher Report’s Sara Civian wrote an article titled “1 Word for Every NHL Team After the 2026 Trade Deadline.” Sweeney’s moves helped describe how Civian labeled the Bruins’ one word as “careful” in her article, and it’s accurate.
“The Bruins stood pat at the deadline, and the careful approach makes sense,” Civian said. “Not only was this trade deadline pretty uneventful overall due to high prices and new CBA rules, but the Bruins are in a precarious situation. They are in a playoff spot, which wasn’t expected at the beginning of the season.”
Staying put and being careful may have been the right approach for Sweeney. In retrospect, the Bruins are a team that isn’t one or two moves away from winning a Stanley Cup. Sweeney trusts the roster for now to grind out a playoff spot in the 2026 playoffs.
The Bruins have strong draft capital that teams would be interested in acquiring in a potential trade, including four first-round draft picks over the next two years. Weeks before the trade deadline, rumors went around that the Bruins were interested in St. Louis Blues defenseman Justin Faulk. However, the price was important to decide whether or not to trade for a 33-year-old defenseman making $6.5 million per year with one year remaining on his contract.
The Blues eventually traded Faulk to the Detroit Red Wings. One of the assets the Blues acquired from the Red Wings in exchange for Faulk was a 2026 first-round draft pick. Trading a first-round draft pick for Faulk, considering his age and contract, may not have been worth it for the Bruins, but that may have been the right move by being careful with giving up important draft capital.
When the Bruins traded for Reichel from the Canucks, the Bruins only traded away a 2026 first-round draft pick. Some may have thought Reichel’s value would be higher, considering he was a former 2020 first-round draft pick, but that wasn’t the case for the Bruins.
While he has only played in 19 NHL games this season and has only recorded 59 points in 188 NHL games, potential is still there for Reichel. A fresh start away from Vancouver may be what Reichel needs. Sweeney spoke highly of Reichel when he traded for him, saying he has great speed, is a two-position player, and has upside as a young player, being 23 years old.
Civian also mentioned how Sweeney didn’t do anything to hurt Boston’s playoff chances by selling, and that he didn’t hurt the future by overspending and giving up future assets. That is another reason why the careful approach was the right move by Sweeney, given the roster and the team holding onto a playoff spot.
Although the Bruins are in a playoff spot, the team needs to get hot again. The Bruins hold onto the second Wild Card seed by two points, but teams like the Columbus Blue Jackets and Ottawa Senators are both hot and right behind them. While the Bruins fell 5-4 in overtime last game to the Pittsburgh Penguins this past Sunday, seeing Pavel Zacha record a hat trick was a big thing for the Bruins to see.
Tonight’s game against the Los Angeles Kings will be another pivotal game to keep the Bruins in the playoff picture. However, the Kings are fighting for a playoff spot in the Western Conference, so more pressure is on the Bruins hosting the Kings at TD Garden tonight. Puck drop for tonight’s game is at 7 p.m. ET.
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