Can the Wild Find Goals from the Boston Bruins roster?
The Minnesota Wild are looking for goals or, more to the point, players who score goals. We already covered the Wild’s roster in the first part of this 31-part series! You can see other parts here: Chasing Goals on…
Minnesota Wild | Anaheim Ducks | Arizona Coyotes | Boston Bruins
Buffalo Sabres | Calgary Flames | Carolina Hurricanes | Chicago Blackhawks
Colorado Avalanche | Columbus Blue Jackets Dallas Stars | Detroit Red Wings
Edmonton Oilers | Florida Panthers | Los Angeles Kings | Montreal Canadiens
Nashville Predators | New Jersey Devils | New York Islanders | New York Rangers
Ottawa Senators | Philadelphia Flyers | Pittsburgh Penguins | San Jose Sharks
St. Louis Blues | Tampa Bay Lightning | Toronto Maple Leafs | Vancouver Canucks
Vegas Golden Knights | Washington Capitals | Winnipeg Jets
One of the problems with “Chasing Goals” is every team is trying to do the same thing. No team wants to give up a goal-scorer when they find one so this is no easy task for the Minnesota Wild and General Manager Paul Fenton. That being said, we are going to point out some options available to the Wild on each NHL team and the only limit we’re going to put on those options is they have to be able to help the Wild score goals next season so they have to already be playing or, at least, played some games in the NHL. We may point out some prospects that look like they could help but it’s very difficult to judge what a player can do in the NHL based on stats from even the AHL let alone NCAA Hockey & the Canadian Junior Hockey Leagues. The Foreign leagues are usually even more difficult to judge because they are top professional leagues and the prospects are usually not playing top line minutes so their stats reflect that.
Next up is….the Boston Bruins.
The Bruins are currently up 2-1 in the Stanley Cup Finals so… they must be doing alright in the scoring goals department. They have a good culture in Boston with a core of F Patrice Bergeron, D Zdeno Chara, G Tuuka Rask, F Brad Marchand, F David Pastrnak and F David Krejci. All but one of those players are over 30-years-old but the most impressive part of the Boston Bruins is the way they bring their prospects in and they become a part of the team almost seamlessly. From the outside, it looks like the young and/or role players adapt to the system and the team immediately. That’s the ultimate goal for every team in the NHL, a team that has player after player step in and step up to a new role and they keep winning despite injuries or other adversities.
Obviously, they still went out and acquired some players at the deadline but that also means they have the prospects and draft picks to keep doing that and that isn’t easy to do. If it were, the Minnesota Wild wouldn’t be trying so hard to change their team. The majority of their previous core is gone now or soon to be gone with F Charlie Coyle on this current Bruins team, F Mikael Granlund sent to Nashville, F Nino Niederreiter sent to Carolina and F Jason Zucker soon to be joining them since GM Paul Fenton has already tried to trade him twice. What are the chances he can’t trade him because teams or players (Kessel) won’t accept the trade? Then Zucker still plays here and is a changed player because he’s playing with a bunch of different players. Doubtful but it would be interesting if, at some point, Fenton decides he can’t get what he wants for #16.
The Chase
Looking at the Bruins roster and prospects, these are the players we suggest the Wild chase. Some of these players might make you go, “why would they do that trade,” but the Bruins might have to move some players because of their cap situation and that could force one of those Paul Fenton blockbuster Hockey Trades so, just keep that in mind when you see our first player to chase…F David Pastrnak.
F David Pastrnak
23-years-old; Contract: 4 years, $6,666,666 Cap Hit
2019 Stats: 38 goals, 43 assists in 66 games; Power Play: 17 G, 16 A
NHL Totals: 132 G, 152 A in 320 gms; Power Play: 42 G, 45 A
Highlights
- How much do you really need to see to be sold on Pasta? Alright, fine. He’s gotten better every year. He has 3 straight 30-goal seasons and he’s been a beast in the playoffs for the Bruins.
- 7 G, 9 A in 19 games including 2 & 5 on the PP this season
- 15 G, 25 A in 37 career playoff games including 4 & 11 on the PP
- D Charlie McAvoy is a Restricted Free Agent after the season. Will he come cheap? Doubtful. Bridge deal? Maybe but he’s a huge part of their team. Chara might be riding out on a very big horse if the Bruins win the Cup again.
- If they have any interest in Zucker, and Charlie Coyle will for sure put in a good word for his buddy, they’ll have to give up something. Would a package of Zucker and Brodin for Pastrnak & Heinen? We wouldn’t do it but you never know.
F Jake DeBrusk
22-years-old; Contract: 1 year, $863,333 Cap Hit (RFA)
2019 Stats: 27 goals, 15 assists in 68 games; Power Play: 8 G, 3 A
NHL Totals: 43 G, 42 A in 138 gms; Power Play: 10 G, 10 A
Highlights
- Jake is a nice back-up plan when the Bruins balk at the offer for David Pastrnak.
- He shoots and he scores and also does that on the power play. He shot more and shot better this season, 17.1% in the regular season. Is that sustainable? How do you tell? He scored in Juniors (42 goals in 72 games in his 2nd WHL season) so he’s done it for a while.
- He has one year left on his Entry-Level Contract and he went from 16 goals in 70 games last season to 27 goals in 68 games this season (10 PPGs, too). If he makes a similar jump next season, he’s going to get a hefty raise.
F Danton Heinen
23-years-old (24 on July 5th); Contract: RFA
2019 Stats: 11 goals, 23 assists in 77 games; Power Play: 1 G, 6 A
NHL Totals: 27 G, 54 A in 162 gms; Power Play: 3 G, 16 A
Highlights
- He has a great shot and a quick release and has a knack for getting open in front of the net for the short, quick one-timer.
- He scored 36 goals in 81 games in college (Denver)
- May have taken a step back this season, scoring 13 fewer points than he did last season. Might that help the Bruins keep him?
- He also played with Bergeron & Marchand for a while so you can say that helped him score but he also was picked to play with those two so…he can score and, as a Restricted Free Agent, it will be interesting to see if the Bruins can afford him.
F Anders Bjork
22-years-old (23 in August); Contract: 1 year, $925K Cap Hit
2019 Stats: 1 goals, 2 assists in 20 games; Power Play: 0 G, 0 A
NHL Totals: 5 G, 10 A in 50 gms; Power Play: 2 G, 1 A
Highlights
- Good skater with a nice shot who just needs more of an opportunity.
- Scored 40 goals in 115 games in NCAA (Notre Dame)
- Shoulder surgery knocked out most of his 2017-18 season. Still finding his way back. Could be a reason for the Bruins to move another player as they’ll need some inexpensive forwards to fill in some spots
F Peter Cehlarik
23-years-old; Contract: RFA
2019 Stats: 4 goals, 2 assists in 20 games; Power Play: 1 G, 1 A
NHL Totals: 5 G, 5 A in 37 gms; Power Play: 1 G, 2 A
Highlights
- You’re probably thinking, “Huh? Why this guy?” He’s a player who looks like he just needs a chance to play in a bigger role.
- We’re intrigued by players who haven’t played many games but manage to get power play time. That says something about their talent.
We looked at some of their other prospects but didn’t really see anything that could help right away and there’s plenty of options there for the Wild.
Let us know what you think in the comments or on social media (Facebook, Twitter or Instagram) &…ALWAYS…
