NHL Trade Rumors: Should the Boston Bruins Deal Within the Northeast Division?

One year ago, Chris Kelly made his Boston Bruins debut against his previous employers at his previous workplace within three days of being dealt by the languishing Ottawa Senators.

This week, Boston general manager Peter Chiarelli has a chance to enact a similar scenario in advance of Friday night’s visit to the Buffalo Sabres, who enter Wednesday’s action one game below .500 and four slots outside of the playoff picture.

As it happens, an intra-divisional deal may be Chiarelli’s only realistic option to give the Bruins an effective boost. The likes of TSN and the Canadian Press each list a relatively slim selection of trade bait, wherein there is an even more minimal supply of players who could fit Boston’s exact needs and come at a reasonable cost.

The Bruins need to add insurance to their depth chart without sacrificing any of their established players or their most prized prospects (e.g. Dougie Hamilton). They need a forward much more than they need a defenseman and they need a newcomer with proven seasoning and aptitude, but also with a short-term contract and relatively low cap hit.

Of the top 15 potential moves in TSN’s eyes, only four fit all of those criteria. Edmonton has right winger Ales Hemsky, the rival Montreal Canadiens have Andrei Kostitsyn and the Sabres brandish both Paul Gaustad and Derek Roy.

The Canadian Press report excludes Gaustad and Kostitsyn, but it does mention Montreal left winger Travis Moen.

Gaustad, Hemsky, Kostitsyn and Moen are all on the cusp of free agency as July 1 inches closer. Roy is slated for one more season in Buffalo and will have his salary raised from $4 million this season to a $5.5 million in 2012-13. Although, his cap hit figures to stay the same at $4 million.

At age 30 and with a $2.3 million cap hit, Gaustad is both the eldest and the second-to-least expensive of the four options in question. His offensive numbers have never been up to the same par as Roy’s, but among the current Sabres, his physicality is rivaled only by Patrick Kaleta, meaning he would be especially invaluable when the time comes for intense postseason action.

There are similar things to be said about Kostitsyn and Moen, who once teamed up with Shawn Thornton to help the gritty Anaheim Ducks to a title in 2007. And for what it’s worth, Kostitsyn played his first nine NHL games under then-Canadiens head coach Claude Julien as a rookie call-up in 2005-06.

Kostitsyn would come with a $3.3 million cap hit, while Moen would cost a mere $1.5 million.

With their respective histories of injury and inconsistency, along with cap hits at or exceeding $4 million, Hemsky and Roy may not be the most enticing choices. But between Gaustad, Kostitsyn and Moen, the Bruins have three chances to inject a new face and, upon assimilation into Julien’s championship-caliber nucleus, extract his maximum offering of depth and toughness.

Accordingly, Chiarelli should set his sights on swapping with either one of Boston’s two most bitter Northeast Division rivals. He merely needs to convince Montreal’s Pierre Gauthier or Buffalo’s Darcy Regier that one of their commodities is worth exporting in exchange for any combination involving Matt Bartkowski, Andrew Bodnarchuk, Carter Camper, Zach Hamill or Josh Hennessy.