NHL Trade Deadline Primer: The Bruins are in a no-win situation

This team needs to sell but how much should they trust Don Sweeney to do that? He also might not be motivated to sell.

The NHL Trade Deadline is on March 7, so it is time to start taking a look at some players that could be on the move and some bigger picture trade deadline subjects. Today we focus on the Boston Bruins who should probably sell, but have a general manager that needs to win and does not seem to have the best plan. It is a tough situation.

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The Boston Bruins should have made it easy on their front office this past week when it comes to their trade deadline plans. While on the outside of the Eastern Conference playoff picture, they went into the third period of games against the New York Rangers and Vegas Golden Knights holding leads that could have significantly improved their playoff odds had they simply held on to them and won those games.

Getting four points out of that week could have been season-altering, and would have dramatically changed the perception of them going into the 4 Nations Tournament break this week.

Not only did they not hold on to those leads and lost both games, they did not even get a single point out of them, losing both in regulation.

They now go into Tournament break sitting only one point out of a playoff spot, but having played more games than all of the teams they are chasing. Their playoff chances are somewhere around 22 percent, while they would need to really go on a run coming out of the tournament break just to have a realistic chance at the playoffs.

They would probably need at least 33 points in 25 games (a .660 points percentage) just to have a chance.

There is nothing about this roster or the way it plays that suggests they are capable of that, or that they are anything close to a contender this season.

Realistically speaking, they should not only be sellers over the next month, they should be aggressive and significant sellers.

The problem is they have a general manager in Don Sweeney that might be in “I have to save my job” mode, and might have more incentive to try and add something to this flawed team as opposed to doing something that might be for the long-term betterment of the franchise.

I am also not sure how much they should trust that general manager to do anything based on his most recent moves.

Let’s talk about it