Bruins head coach hints at which player he wants before the trade deadline.

The National Hockey League's trade deadline for the 2018 - 2019 NHL regular season is only mere weeks away now and that means that almost all of the attention around the National Hockey League has shifted away from what the players are doing on the ice at the moment and is instead on what NHL general managers will do for the future of their respective organizations.

It is entirely understandable why all that focus would be on the general managers of the NHL but it is also easy to forget that there is another role in the NHL that can be drastically impacted by what happens at this time of year, that of head coaches in the NHL. For a head coach the trade deadline can mean the addition of a key weapon, or the loss of one for that matter, and it can also mean a new headache as he has to rework the chemistry he has spent the entire season building in his locker room to accommodate an incoming player.

In spite of the major impact it can have on their jobs moving forward you will very rarely hear head coaches commenting on trades in the National Hockey League and that is likely due to the fact that they do not want any comments to be perceived as a coach attempting to influence the decision of his general manager. This time around however there is a really big prize out there on the trade market, and it seems at least one head coach is not shy about admitting that he would very much like to have that player.

This week Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy was asked about his role at the NHL trade deadline and although he was very quick to make it clear that those decision come from general manager Don Sweeney, and repeated that often, he also hinted at one player he would love to have. That name unsurprisingly belongs to Columbus Blue Jackets star Artemi Panarin. 

“We do go over it as an organization. Donnie [Sweeney], the coaches and whoever he wants to include. So there’s a discussion on players that could be available, and we talk about our lineup and what’s the biggest pressing need. Using last year as an example we knew that we could use a winger for [David Krejci],” said Cassidy as per Bruins insider Joe Haggerty. “We went out and got it. That becomes [the general manager’s] call. How do I approach it as a coach?

“I don’t talk to the players about the trade deadline and what’s going on. We just try to deal every day with the lineup we have, how we can make it better and move the pieces around. I try to just stay in the moment. Of course when I go home tonight I’ll be wondering ‘I wonder if we’re going to trade for Panarin tonight.’ But that’s it and it’s gone and then I’m cooking burgers at home. I don’t concern myself with it a lot. I think Donnie is making calls, but whether if anything happens or not I don’t know.”

The Bruins are in need of an additional weapon on offense and Artemi Panarin would certainly fit that bill. The question is after giving up a first round pick, as well as additional assets, for a rental in Rick Nash not too long ago will the Bruins be will to make such a move again so soon?