NHL Trade Buzz: Bruins willing to trade prospects in right situation

Welcome to the NHL Trade Buzz. There are 12 days remaining until the 2018 NHL Trade Deadline (3 p.m. ET; Feb. 26). Are the Boston Bruins ready to trade away prospects to get help for a possible run to the Stanley Cup? Here's a look around the League at the latest deadline doings:

Asked on Tuesday if the Boston Bruins were going to make a big splash at the 2018 NHL Trade Deadline, Bruins president Cam Neely laughed.
"Huge," he said.
How huge?
"Depends on if it's me jumping in the pool," he said.
Jokes aside, the Bruins are in prime position entering the final third of the regular season, sitting in second place in the Atlantic Division with 78 points, one point behind the Tampa Bay Lightning with two games in hand.
Suddenly boasting a number of talented young NHL players as well as a solid group of developing prospects, the Bruins have the ability to trade young talent for a boost toward the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The question is whether they would part with some of that talent.
Neely didn't rule it out.
"It depends on who it is and what it is and what the overall deal looks like," he said.
But would the team be willing to trade prospects?
"If it made sense, yeah," he said.
The Bruins don't have any current glaring needs, though upgrades could be used in a few spots, including on the wing and on defense. But in weighing where they need help, the Bruins also must weigh whether that help might upset the balance that they've struck this season, contending ahead of even the schedule they had anticipated, as they enter what they believe can be a window of contention for the next few seasons.
So is it tempting not to make a trade because of how well things are going?
"That's a great question," Neely said. "Because is it tempting to make a deal because of how things are going, too? For me, it's going to boil down to, what are the costs? We've got a good thing going, the players are playing extremely well, the coaching staff has done a great job, we've got some good prospects coming. But we recognize where we are right now, and if we can do something that makes sense and think it's going to help our club that doesn't cost a fortune, we'll look at it."

Nashville Predators

Predators general manager David Poile is the boldest in the business when it comes to trades, having acquired forwards Filip Forsberg and Ryan Johansen and defenseman P.K. Subban. The Predators went to the Stanley Cup Final last season and lead the Central Division and are second in the Western Conference this season with 77 points, one behind the Vegas Golden Knights.
But at this point, he's hesitant.
"I'm open," Poile said. "I've been making lots of calls. I've been talking to lots of different teams. As we sit a little less than two weeks from the trading deadline, I find the prices are very high."
Poile said there are few sellers because of the parity in the NHL, and teams are using past trades as benchmarks. Last season the Minnesota Wild traded a first- and second-round pick to the Arizona Coyotes as part of a trade for forward Martin Hanzal, a pending unrestricted free agent.
"You can make a judgment of whether that worked out or not," Poile said.
The Wild lost to the St. Louis Blues in the Western Conference First Round. Hanzal signed with the Dallas Stars on July 1.
"I'm really open to anything," Poile said. "I'm not going to say we wouldn't do anything. On the other hand, not to cover both sides here, but I think we've got some pretty good depth with our team."
The Predators are already planning to add a player around the deadline without giving up assets: center Mike Fisher, their former captain, who is coming out of retirement and can play a bottom-six role.
Poile said he has had three conference calls in three weeks with his pro scouts and will bring them in for three days before the deadline. He wants to be prepared for anything but doesn't want to get caught in a bidding war with his division rivals.
"I think that's exactly what happens," Poile said. "Again, I don't know if it's Hockey 101 or general manager school or what have you, but you've got to get your arms around what you're willing to pay."

Ottawa Senators

Now that the Senators
have traded
defenseman Dion Phaneuf and forward Nate Thompson to the Los Angeles Kings for forwards Marian Gaborik and Nicholas Shore, the question is what's next.
General manager Pierre Dorion said
he had spoken to nine other GMs on Wednesday
.
"Nothing's imminent, but I didn't feel yesterday [anything] was really imminent after my conversations from Monday," he said. "So we're going to take it day by day. We're going to do what's right for the organization. We have a plan in place. We know how we're going to go about the plan. I'm excited about the future of this team."
Dorion mentioned he had two pending unrestricted free agents, defenseman Johnny Oduya and forward Magnus Paajarvi, and said, "We're going to make good hockey deals if we make hockey deals, and I think 30 of my counterparts know that."
One burning issue: the future of defenseman Erik Karlsson, the face of the Senators, who is under contract through 2018-19 and eligible to sign an extension July 1.
Another: defenseman Cody Ceci, who lost his partner when Phaneuf was traded.
"I'm a big Cody Ceci fan," Dorion said. "Cody's one player -- and I know a lot of the pundits out there might disagree with that -- I'd like to have a Senator for a long, long time."
Dorion seems unlikely to move players like center Matt Duchene, forward Mark Stone and defenseman Thomas Chabot, and probably forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau, unless the return was huge. But what about forwards Derick Brassard, Ryan Dzingel, Mike Hoffman and Zack Smith? We'll see.
"We're going to be doing a lot of things to make sure that we can field as competitive a team as we can, whether it's in the near future or whatever future you want to look at," Dorion said. "But this is an exciting time, I think, for our fans, because we know we're going to do some good things."

Toronto Maple Leafs

The Maple Leafs are on an 8-1-0 run
entering their game
against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Air Canada Centre on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN, TVAS, FS-O, NHL.TV). They're third in the Atlantic Division, 18 points ahead of the next-closest division rival, the Detroit Red Wings.
But they remain focused on the long term. They finished 30th in a 30-team NHL in 2015-16, made the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in four years in 2016-17 and want to be a perennial contender.
"No one has lost sight of anything going on," coach Mike Babcock said. "The standings don't affect our plan. Our plan is to build a product here we can be proud of and to give ourselves a chance every year to knock on the door, so when you arrive at training camp you know you're in the playoffs. We're not at that stage yet. That's the focus of our plan."
Asked if the Maple Leafs' recent run put pressure on general manager Lou Lamoriello to add before the deadline, Babcock said: "Pressure is a privilege. Don't ever kid yourself. If you don't have a chance, there's no pressure."
That said …
"If you think anything we're doing is affecting the way Lou Lamoriello sleeps, it's not, unless we don't play well without the puck," Babcock said. "If there is a deal here to help us, we're going to make the deal. I think some people think there's a tree where you need a No. 1 center and you just grab him off the tree. It's not quite like that. It doesn't work like that."
At least opposing teams aren't shaking the tree in Toronto anymore. The Maple Leafs aren't sellers.
"It's certainly not the same mood as it was five or six years ago, when everyone was walking on eggshells," center Nazem Kadri said. "So it's a much better feeling to be involved with knowing we can make a push to end up achieving our end goal, which is to be in the Stanley Cup Final. Obviously there's a lot of hard work to that.
"Whether or not management wants to make tweaks or changes or add or subtract, whatever they do, that's not going to change the way we feel in this dressing room and the way we perform on the ice."

Anaheim Ducks

Ducks general manager Bob Murray acquired forward Patrick Eaves from the Dallas Stars for a conditional second-round pick Feb. 24, 2017. Eaves had 14 points (11 goals, three assists) in 20 games down the stretch. The Ducks went to the Western Conference Final.
This season?
"Unless something drastic happens in the next two weeks or they play a lot better than we've been playing, I don"t see much happening," Murray told The Athletic. "It's not as if it's one of these teams where I feel like, last year when we went out and got Eaves, where I had lots of confidence. I'm still kind of waiting for them to show me something, and they're not. We're very inconsistent."
The Ducks snapped the Boston Bruins' 18-game point streak with a 3-1 win at TD Garden on Jan. 30. They've gone 2-3-2 since, losing three road games to teams out of the playoff picture, the Ottawa Senators, Montreal Canadiens and Detroit Red Wings.
With 65 points, they're one point behind the Calgary Flames for third place in the Pacific Division and three behind the Minnesota Wild for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. They've played one more game than the Flames, and two more than the Wild.
Illness and injuries have been an issue all season, and remain so, even though defenseman Cam Fowler (12 games), center Ryan Getzlaf (22), center Ryan Kesler (37) and right wing Corey Perry (11) have returned from long absences.
Eaves, who signed a three-year contract June 23, has missed the past 53 games with Guillain-Barre syndrome and remains out indefinitely. Kesler still is struggling after having surgery on his right hip June 8, and that has affected the line of Kesler, left wing Andrew Cogliano and right wing Jakob Silfverberg.
"He's not going to be the Kesler he was of last year," coach Randy Carlyle told NHL.com. "I don't think we can expect that. …
"That line has been a pretty solid checking line and it's produced some form of offense for our hockey club. They've had stature in the League, and I don't think they're anywhere near what they are capable of or what we've previously experienced. That's not a knock on them. I just think it's been one of those years that they've been apart, and we'd just liked to see them continue to develop into more of a cohesive unit."
Kesler should improve after a full offseason of rehab and training.
Perhaps the Ducks will be in a better position to compete next season.

Detroit Red Wings

Red Wings general manager Ken Holland is working the phones.
"I've talked to lots of teams over the last week and 10 days, and I'm doubling back with a number of them," Holland told the Detroit Free Press on Wednesday. "We'd like to get assets, open up spots for a kid or two for next season."
It's no surprise the Red Wings are sellers. They have 55 points, eight behind the Carolina Hurricanes for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. They almost certainly will miss the playoffs for the second straight season after making them for 25 consecutive seasons.
Their most marketable chip is defenseman Mike Green, who can become an unrestricted free agent July 1.
What is a little surprising is the mention of opening spots for younger players, considering the Red Wings' rebuild-on-the-fly philosophy. The question is whether they are willing to move players like forwards Tomas Tatar or Gustav Nyquist, or able to move players with expensive, long-term contracts.