There has been talk this week that the Boston Bruins have been looking to clear some salary cap space off of their books. In preparation for Derek Forbort’s return this past Tuesday, the Bruins placed Anton Stralman on waivers, but not before first trying to trade a couple of players.
While the Bruins were unable to find a taker for either Mike Reilly ($3M AAV), and forward Craig Smith ($3.1M), one NHL executive did tell Jimmy Murphy of Boston Hockey Now that “Donny’s [GM Don Sweeney] is working hard to make room for Forbort and to gain any type of cap cushion he can going forward.” He added, “I wouldn’t be surprised to see a trade in the next 48 hours.”
Of course, this all was said before the Bruins waived Stralman, but it appears the team isn’t done trying to make something work. Sweeney is speculated to be still working the phones and trying to move money out. The Bruins want to be buyers as their window to win is this season. They’ll do whatever it takes to improve their roster for a lengthy playoff run.
That might include trading defenseman Brandon Carlo. Murphy asked that same NHL exec if the team would move Carlo, especially with the emergence of Forbort as their best stay-at-home guy and PK defenseman. The exec responded, “You may be onto something. I like Brandon a lot, but he might be worth more to another team.”
The nice thing about trading Carlo is that there would be teams out there interested in him and it wouldn’t require sending a sweetener like it would have to move Smith or Reilly.
If it does happen, this might be a move that comes in the offseason out of concern that removing his leadership and experience could disrupt the chemistry and magic this team is currently seeing right now. Carlo’s contract has four seasons remaining on it after this one.
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