Mike Milbury says it’s time for the Bruins to trade Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand

For anyone out there, it would be hard to imagine Patrice Bergeron in any other uniform in the National Hockey League. Or even Brad Marchand for that matter. That’s everyone except for Mike Milbury, who Boston Hockey Now’s Joe Haggerty cited as the one making the suggestion that the Bruins should push the captain and the top forward on the trade block.

Now in his 18th NHL season, Bergeron keeps racking up points and leading the Bruins brilliantly. The same can be said of Marchand, whom the Bruins selected in the third round back in 2006. But according to Milbury, who pointed out this possibility during an appearance last Thursday on WEEI’s “Greg Hill Show”, Boston could face obstacles in making the playoffs this season, and therefore the former NBC Sports hockey analyst feels GM Don Sweeney should trade aging assets like Bergeron and winger Brad Marchand and rebuild their prospect pool.

While there is no doubt that Bergeron and Marchand would draw considerable interest if the Bruins shopped one or both at the trade deadline, this would be a huge move in a completely different direction for Boston. That would jeopardize the Bruins’ chances for a playoff berth and imagine losing Marchand at the March deadline and then losing Bergeron during free agency. Because that’s right: Bergeron is slated to become an unrestricted free agent next summer and while the forward and management have agreed to to put off contract talks until the end of this season, the Bruins could insult him by trading Marchand and then lose him for free.

That’s why Milbury suggest meeting with the captain to see if the Bruins have the green light to discuss a possible trade to a contender.

While this is hard to imagine: the Bruins trading Bergeron and/or Marchand this spring, they could miss the cut this season… and so, is it time to focus on a rebuild with these guys bringing strong assets to the table?