The read on the Bruins' situation entering Friday’s NHL trade deadline is not an easy one for Don Sweeney and the rest of the B’s decision makers.
The B’s definitely aren’t a perfect team as is the case with pretty much every team in the running for wild card playoffs spots, and the struggles on the road are a very real issue for the Black and Gold. The Bruins dropped their sixth road game in a row in a 6-3 loss to the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena, where the hockey club was pretty much dead on arrival in the second period and have now sunk to an 11-14-4 record away from TD Garden this season.
If that continues, the Bruins will not be a playoff team while playing six of their final nine games on the road this season, including a pair of games in Columbus against a Blue Jackets team that’s just a point behind them in the Eastern Conference standings.
There are other concerning trends as well as David Pastrnak has struggled mightily since the Olympic break and is now a minus-6 with just a single assist in four games since NHL play resumed. Pastrnak, Morgan Geekie and Elias Lindholm were all liabilities on the ice aside from Geekie’s power play snipe, and that’s a trend that can’t continue with the Bruins embroiled in a playoff dog fight right now.
Bruins got crushed but this shot of Morgan Geekie’s goal is insane
— Evan Marinofsky (@EvanMarinofsky) March 6, 2026
(🎥: @NHLBruins) pic.twitter.com/QZsuk9pMPL
“I didn’t like our mentality from the start. It’s always tough when the opponent is scratching guys. I’ve seen it a lot of times before. The guys that came in worked extremely hard and they worked harder than us, and that was the difference,” said Marco Sturm of a Bruins team that saw the Predators scratch both Michael Bunting and Ryan O’Reilly ahead of the trade deadline for impending deals. “We just didn’t play good. That’s it…that’s all. We’ve just got to move on.
“It’s a very hard league. You see teams that were very good last year, and this year they are sellers. You’ve got to work your win in and out every night. Where we are right now, we’ve got to be smarter than that. It’s not our game to play a six goals against game, especially in a big game like today. That just can’t happen.”
The Bruins are on the sidelines for pretty much everything that is going on at the NHL trade deadline right now in a massive seller’s market where Maple Leafs journeyman center Nicolas Roy fetched a conditional first-round pick and a conditional fifth-round pick from the Colorado Avalanche.
The Bruins had sniffed around Vancouver Canucks forward and Massachusetts native Connor Garland, but he was dealt to the Columbus Blue Jackets for a second-round pick and a third-round pick. A number of other intriguing names like Robert Thomas, Vincent Trocheck, Zach Whitecloud, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Justin Faulk still sit available on the trade market, but it remains to be seen if the Bruins are willing to pony up the assets it would take to acquire any of these players.
Thomas is obviously a big name linked with the Bruins, given that his production and No. 1 center status would address a major need for Boston, but, if reports are true that it would cost Boston College star James Hagens along with first-round picks and prospects, then the Bruins should pass on that scenario.
He’s ready for the show#NHLBruinspic.twitter.com/gJYthQ4zIx
— Drop the Mitts Hockey (@dropmittshockey) March 6, 2026
Sweeney made it clear earlier this week that the Bruins would be particular about players that they trade picks and prospects for, and that bringing in a short-term veteran player doesn’t make much sense to the Black and Gold.
“Rental market is probably not at the top of the [trade] list. I think we're still trying to stay the course and stay committed to what organization we decided to do,” said Don Sweeney. “It's just that our players and staff have done a good job. So they've put us in a position. You know, we talked about being more competitive. You know, our home record is outstanding. Our road record needs to improve. You know, most teams that have you know, have success, are able to win on the road.
“We haven't done as much as that as we would like, and we haven't played quite as well coming out of the break. So there's all variables that are part of that. As much as Morgan [Geekie] speaks out [about wanting to keep the current group together], I'm going to speak out about what our group, what we would like to continue to see and hopefully those things align, and I can help the group.”
A number of other players, Michael McCarron to name one, have fetched second round picks, which gets people wondering what the Bruins could net if they decided to sell on at least some of their veteran players like Andrew Peeke, Casey Mittelstadt, Viktor Arvidsson and Pavel Zacha among others.
Clearly it's a seller's market that is making the Bruins correctly proceed with caution on any moves they are going to make.
This current situation leaves Sweeney and the Bruins in a very difficult space in terms of