Bruins Still Need Top-6 Forward Help After Peterka Trade – The Hockey Writers –

The Boston Bruins have addressed several needs this offseason while also making some fairly significant organizational changes, particularly involving their AHL affiliate. While they’ve been aggressive in some regards, the team is still in need of additional forward help. This remains true even after the team acquired JJ Peterka from the Utah Mammoth on June 26.

The 24-year-old Peterka has the potential to be a big-time get for the Bruins, but with Viktor Arvidsson departing to join the Detroit Red Wings, the Bruins essentially got younger while hoping Peterka can replace and ideally improve on Arvidsson’s 25 goals and 54 points. The hope is that Fraser Minten and James Hagens can compete for top-six center roles during training camp, but that’s a significant amount of pressure to place on two young forwards who have yet to handle that level of NHL responsibility. As it stands, the Bruins have Pavel Zacha, Elias Lindholm and Casey Mittelstadt, who are all capable of playing center for the Bruins, but none of whom is best suited as a top-six center.

If the Bruins are looking to really make a splash this offseason, they may need to find a big fish on the trade market who can help address that need. The issue is that top-six centers rarely become available, and when they do, they often cost more than contenders are willing to pay.

Finding a Trade Target Will be Tough for Bruins

It’s unclear which player the Bruins would target in such a trade, but they do have several potential trade chips. These pieces include Mason Lohrei, two first-round picks in 2027, including the Toronto Maple Leafs pick, which may ultimately become a 2028 first-round pick, Matt Poitras, Dean Letourneau, Will Zellers, Cooper Simpson and a few other possible trade chips.

If the Bruins can’t land a big fish with proven upside, they could also turn to some more unproven options with immense upside, including Shane Wright from the Seattle Kraken. Such a move would almost certainly cost the team less than trading for a proven commodity, but acquiring a player looking for a change of scenery doesn’t guarantee that they’ll suddenly blossom into a star. At that point, the Bruins would essentially be adding another lottery ticket, much like Hagens and Minten.

The Bruins could opt to see what they have to start the season and then make corresponding moves in-season, but by that point, the players who may currently be available could be off the market. It’s a gamble, but it also may be the route the Bruins choose if they don’t deem anything currently available as worth the price.

It’s an unenviable situation for general manager Don Sweeney. On the one hand, he needs to find success in the near future if he doesn’t want his seat to get too warm. On the other hand, the Bruins have talent on the current roster and in the pipeline that could become impactful in the near future.

The team has only recently recovered from nearly a decade of pushing its chips toward the middle of the table. Determining which players are worth mortgaging some of the future for during this stage of the team’s timeline is a tough call. Still, the Bruins showed last season that they could compete despite missing some crucial pieces and with David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy in their prime, it would be a questionable decision not to make a strong effort to be competitive in the present. With training camp approaching, though, the clock is ticking.