It’s possible the Bruins could be looking to move No. 25 for a pair of picks in the second round.
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LAS VEGAS — The Bruins own the 25th pick in Round 1 of the NHL Draft, to be held Friday at The Sphere, but general manager Don Sweeney sounds as if he might consider trading out of the spot — and not necessarily for a position higher in the order.
“Unlikely for us probably to try to move up,” said Sweeney, meeting at noon Thursday with reporters at the club’s hotel headquarters, “but you never cross it out because there might be a guy our [scouts] are excited about. But getting back into the top part of the draft was important for us.”
With only three other picks (Rounds 4, 5, and 6) during the two-day affair, it’s possible the Bruins could be looking to move No. 25 for, say, a pair of picks in the second round. Another possibility could be to swap it for a young forward or defenseman, currently under an NHL contract, to provide immediate help for a club that has failed to make it beyond the first or second round of the playoffs for five straight seasons.
Free agency.
Sweeney has some $21.5 million in shopping dollars and a desire to make his lineup “deeper down the middle” as well as deeper on defense, presumably with a left shot in the top four.
Sweeney, unsurprisingly, was vague about the players he would bid on come Monday noon. Asked if he could envision paying one player as much as $9 million or more per season, he only noted that there could be a point where price puts a player out of the club’s range.
“Market dictates,” he said. “If you are going after . . . trying to be aggressive . . . chances are you are going to bump into an area where you are uncomfortable. That’s just what happens, if you’re going to continue to do that. You can be patient, if somebody falls through . . . but deep down, we’d like to improve our club. We’ve been a very, very competitive team and we want to continue to do that.”
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