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It’s become quite clear that the Boston Bruins would like to bolster their defensive grouping with a bonafide top-four -- borderline top-pair even -- presence. Unfortunately for a Bruins club that wiggled their way out of cap hell this summer, that’s an area in which the 2015 free agent class has been thin in since the start. But some low-risk, high-reward options such as
Christian Ehrhoff,
Cody Franson, and even the 38-year-old
Marek Zidlicky remain on the open market.
There’s an even bigger catch in Winnipeg, however, and his name is
Dustin Byfuglien.
An absolute monster at 6-foot-5, Byfuglien has been the face of the ‘Peg defense -- and sometimes even their wing -- over the course of his tenure with the club. Over the course of the last two seasons, the Minnesota-born skater has recorded an impressive 38 goals and 101 points in 147 games for the Jets, and has established himself as a top-tier talent and on-ice presence for the club. But rumors, for whatever reason, have surrounded Byfuglien more and more as his Winnipeg run has gone on.
This could be the final year of those rumors, too.
Entering the final season of a contract that comes with a modest $5.2 million cap-hit and with unrestricted free agency looming while the Jets continue to churn out young talent through their organizational pipeline, this could be the club’s chance to sell high on the 30-year-old defender. And given his age and his performance in Winnipeg as a threat on both the wing and blue line (though it seems like he’s become an even-strength fixture on defense), there’s a huge payday around the corner for Byfuglien. One that the Jets, given their need to re-sign captain Andrew Ladd and long-term commitments to Tobias Enstrom, Tyler Myers, and Mark Stuart on the backend, might not match.
Or want to match, rather.
So, the obvious question then becomes could the B’s
actually pry Byfuglien out of Winnipeg?
First, admit the obvious: it’ll take a whole lot. Like, a lot. Teams don’t just trade 50-plus-point defensemen for a collection of spare parts. Especially when they’ve finally arrived at a competitive level (the Jets made the playoffs last year for the first time since the then-Thrashers made the postseason in 2007). You’re not going to acquire a player like Byfuglien for a package centered around
Chris Kelly,
Dennis Seidenberg, a mid-tier prospect, and a second-round pick. Pieces like that
could be throw-ins, of course, but that alone isn’t getting you a player of Byfuglien’s caliber.
Could you imagine Winnipeg general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff explaining that they just traded a legitimate No. 2 defenseman out of town for a bottom-six forward and top-four defensemen whose body may or may not be breaking down on him and affecting his overall game sooner than anticipated? Nope. (We’re also forgetting that Cheveldayoff has made just one major move in nearly half a decade as their general manager, with his first big move coming with this past February’s trade of Evander Kane.)
But if the B’s were to abandon the free agency market and make a serious pitch to the Jets for one year of Byfuglien, who would be thrown into the mix by Boston general manager
Don Sweeney?
One of Kelly and/or Seidenberg would find their way into the mix for financial purposes alone, you’d think. When it comes to trading Kelly, I still don’t think that the Bruins are intent on moving him for a number of reasons. He’s obviously a leader and well respected in the room, and he’s a utility player of sorts for head coach Claude Julien (and the club’s go-to defensive-zone faceoff option next to Patrice Bergeron, a role that becomes magnified with the offseason departure of Gregory Campbell). And with Seidenberg, while I think that the Bruins have taken calls on him, it’s more of a ‘see what’s out there and if there’s a possible upgrade to be made then yeah let’s make the move’ type of scenario. He finished the year better than he started, that’s for sure (although he couldn’t have started worse, I suppose). And while there’s concern there, they seem to have some faith in No. 44 rebounding.
Yet, if we’ve learned one thing from Sweeney, it’s that he’s not afraid to make a splash if it’ll help the team, and moving one of those guys for Byfuglien -- even if just for one year -- would help the team.
On a prospect front, it’s tough to imagine the Jets having a
ton of interest in two of the B’s bigger chips-- goaltenders Malcolm Subban and Zane McIntyre. For one, the Bruins are not interested in moving McIntyre. They believe in him, and there’s loyalty between the two sides. And even if the Bruins had interest in trading Subban to Winnipeg, who’s to say that the Jets would have interest in Subban when they have Michael Hutchinson and highly touted prospect Connor Hellebuyck on the depth chart?
That shifts Sweeney and the Bruins to their positional talents, where there’s wealth on the point. I honestly don’t believe that there’s room for all of the B’s blueliners of tomorrow to emerge with the club and somebody -- whether it’s Colin Miller, Joe Morrow, Zach Trotman -- will be forced to embark on an NHL career elsewhere. I tend to believe that of the three, Morrow would be the one that the club would be most willing to throw into a trade, if any were to move. Throwing Morrow into a trade would make it four organizations in three years for the former 23rd overall pick from the 2011 Draft.
Up front,
Alexander Khokhlachev remains the club’s best trade chip. He’s not going to bump
Ryan Spooner from that third-line spot given Spooner’s late-season surge with the Big B’s, and you can’t help but feel that ‘Khoko’ is going to grow tiresome of AHL bus rides if the NHL opportunities are few and far between. Khokhlachev has skated in four NHL games in an extremely limited role, and has put up 100 points in 126 games at the AHL level since the start of the 2013-14 season.
When it comes to picks, too, I think that the Bruins picked up that 2016 first-round choice from San Jose in exchange for goaltender King-turned-Bruin-for-a-couple-of-days
Martin Jones with the intent of moving one of the picks (whether it’s the Sharks or their own) to facilitate a deal to bring an impact piece to Boston in the offseason or at the deadline. And for a player of Byfuglien’s talent, a first-round pick, even if he’s just a one-year or two-month rental, a first
would be a must.
In Byfuglien, the Bruins would get everything they need. A right-handed shot on the point, with size, snarl and nastiness, and one that could bring a complementary element to a Boston man advantage that could use another big booming shot (especially if Zdeno Chara remains a net-front option).
For this to work, the Bruins would have to sacrifice quite a bit. And even then, the talents outlined as potential trade chips may not be enough to get Cheveldayoff to bite. But any deal for Byfuglien -- no matter the price Sweeney and the B’s paid (within reason, of course) -- would return Boston to legitimacy in their bid to become an actual, realistic threat in the Eastern Conference next season.
And having lived it for a four-year stretch, the B’s will tell you how tough it is to put a price on that.
Ty Anderson has been covering the Boston Bruins for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, is a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • 
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