The NHL trade deadline is fast approaching and the Boston Bruins have yet to make a move.
The Bruins enter Tuesday with the league's best record and one of its deepest rosters. Still, there are a few areas that Bruins general manager Don Sweeney would be wise to upgrade ahead of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and one of them is secondary scoring.
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So, what do the B's have to trade? Here's a look at the team's best trade assets.
NHL PLAYERS
David Backes, C/RW
John Moore, D
Danton Heinen, LW
Backes won't be easy to trade. His injury history should be a concern and he's no longer a productive offensive player. There are several teams with enough salary cap space to absorb's Backes' $6 million salary cap hit for next season, but he does have a modified no-trade clause that allows him to veto deals to 15 teams.
Boston Bruins
John Moore is a good option for teams who want to upgrade their blue line but aren't looking for a rental. Moore has three more years left on his contract with a manageable $2.75 million cap hit. He's a solid third-pairing defenseman despite his lack of scoring. The Bruins have a few young defensemen who could step into Moore's role if he was dealt.
Danton Heinen hasn't played particularly well this season, but he's signed through next season at a reasonable $2.8 million cap hit. Giving up on him at this juncture would be shortsighted.
The Bruins have a really nice roster -- duh, they have the league's best record -- so it doesn't make a ton of sense to trade away many of their NHL players. Torey Krug can be an unrestricted free agent this summer, and while losing a defenseman of his caliber for nothing in July would hurt, there's no way a top championship contender should trade an upcoming UFA like him at the deadline. Same with Jaroslav Halak, who has been one of the league's best backup goaltenders since Boston signed him before the 2018-19 campaign. Halak also is a UFA this summer.
PROSPECTS
Jack Studnicka, C, AHL
Urho Vaakanainen, D, AHL
Jack Beecher, C, Michigan (NCAA)
Curtis Hall, C, Yale (NCAA)
Jakub Lauko, LW, AHL
Trent Frederic, C, AHL
Jakub Zboril, D, AHL
Zach Senyshyn, RW, AHL
The Bruins don't have any elite prospects, but they do have several with impressive potential. Jack Studnicka is the best of the group, although it's hard to imagine the Bruins giving him up without a significant player coming to Boston in return. Studnicka should be ready for an extended look at the NHL level next season. Urho Vaakanainen shows promise at 21 years old, and the Bruins can ill afford to give up on their top defenseman prospect with captain Zdeno Chara in the final stages of his career, and veterans Krug and Kevan Miller eligible for unrestricted free agency this summer.
Jakub Zboril has not met expectations since the B's drafted him No. 13 in 2015. Jeremy Lauzon's emergence as a legitimate NHL talent could make Zboril expendable. Zboril also is a restricted free agent after this season. Another member of the Bruins' 2015 draft class is forward Zach Senyshyn, who, like Zboril, has yet to make a strong impact in the NHL and will be an RFA at season's end. Senyshyn has just nine points in 33 AHL games, and a fresh start might benefit him.
Frederic is an interesting one because he doesn't project to be a No. 1 or No. 2 center at the NHL level, which was pretty much the consensus when Boston surprisingly drafted him in the first round in 2016. In fairness, he's only 22 years old and has set career highs in goals, assists and points in Providence this season. The Bruins have plenty of center depth in the NHL and throughout their prospect pool, so it wouldn't be a massive hit to trade away one of these forwards.
DRAFT PICKS
The Bruins are in great shape when it comes to owning their own picks. The only selection over the next three drafts that Boston no longer owns is its fourth-round pick in 2020. This draft pick was part of the trade that sent New Jersey Devils forward Marcus Johansson to the Bruins before last season's deadline. So, if selling teams are looking for draft capital on the trade market, the B's should be able to satisfy this need. They have all of their first-, second- and third-round picks to trade.
Bruins general manager Don Sweeney has done a nice job holding on to his first-round picks at recent trade deadlines. The only instance where he dealt a first-rounder at the trade deadline was in 2018 when the Bruins acquired Rick Nash from the New York Rangers. The trade made sense at the time -- Nash was among the best players available and filled a need -- but injury prevented him from being a reliable top-six player in Boston. Sweeney mostly has parted with second-, third- and fourth-round picks at the deadline. Last season, he traded two fourth-round selections and a second-rounder (plus Ryan Donato) in deals that acquired Charlie Coyle and Johansson.
The window for Boston to win is right now, and maybe the next two years. The team's veteran core is nearing the end of its prime, so if there was a time to trade a first-round pick for an impact forward, it's this season.
All salary information via Cap Friendly