Bruins GM Sweeney busy on phones, talking trades

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The Bruins are guaranteed a shot at a very good player with the 14th overall pick at next weekend’s NHL Draft at the BB&T Center, home of the Florida Panthers. That much is obvious.

Bruins general manager Don Sweeney couldn’t say for sure whether he thought it was going to be a player that could immediately help them at the NHL level, like David Pastrnak miraculously did last season, but admitted he felt “comfortable” with Boston’s position midway through the first round.

Sweeney also indicated he’s been on the phone quite a bit with other GMs around the league and he’s discussed both moving up in the first round and dropping back to a lower position. One would expect moving up into the top five would be of the most interest to Sweeney and the Black and Gold, a place where they might have a chance to land stud Boston College defenseman Noah Hanifin of Norwood, Mass., the top-rated D-man in the draft.

Big power forward Lawson Crouse, who told CSNNE.com he sees himself as “a more skilled Milan Lucic” is another name that really screams out Bruins among players expected to be drafted among the top 10 picks.

“It has been busy. [There have been] a lot of conversations with all the teams, everybody sort of trying to get a real good solid view of the landscape ahead of each and every one of us heading into the draft,” said Sweeney in a Friday morning conference call with reporters. “It’s a testament - I’ll give you a little context - it’s a testament to [Tampa Bay GM] Steve Yzerman and [Chicago GM] Stan Bowman to be calling teams right after a win and a loss. That says a lot about those guys in general, but it also speaks to the importance of this time of the year.”

Per league sources, a bevy of goaltenders, such as the Rangers' Cam Talbot, Canucks' Eddie Lack and Senators' Robin Lehner are being dangled as trade bait, and some pretty good scorers in Phil Kessel, Patrick Sharp and T.J. Oshie are being shopped, as well. Any one of those three wingers could help the B’s in the scoring department, but the trading partner would have to eat roughly half of each player’s contract to make it work.

One thing is abundantly clear: teams are trying to clear cap space ahead of July 1 and the Bruins are certainly in that group looking to shed a roster player or two from their ranks.

Sweeney confirmed the bevy of phone conversations with other GMs – he said that he’s spoken with every GM in the league over the past month – has also been about potentially moving to a different spot in the first round.

“I think we are comfortable [at the 14th pick] because we feel very good about the list in general. We know the type of player, and the quality of player, that will be there. We’ve had talks moving in both directions, to be honest with you,” said Sweeney. “I think every general manager is going to have talks to see what may or may not transpire. There are players higher up on the list that maybe you’d really have your eye on, and there are players further down that you turn around and say, “Well, I have value — if I move this pick, there’s going to be a lot of value of people that want to move up.’

“You might be able to ascertain something down below, and I’m going to look at every option. I’m really not going to turn down anything. This situation I’m in now, I have to have my ears wide open.”

Power forward Timo Meier, two-way D-man Jakub Zboril and scrappy Travis Konecny are among the top players Boston has zeroed in on when it comes to their first-round pick.

Don’t expect much to happen this weekend as the 30 NHL teams make final preparations for their respective war rooms down in Florida, but next week could be a very busy one indeed for the Bruins and many other movers and shakers around the NHL.

 

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