Rumor: Panarin to the Bruins!?

Don Sweeney coming in hot!

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 5 years ago
Rumor: Panarin to the Bruins!?
Zuma Press

Despite seeing his name in just about every trade rumor in the NHL these days, Russian sniper Artemi Panarin hasn’t let the constant threat of a life changing trade affect his play. The 26 year old pending unrestricted free agent has three goals and nine points in the Columbus Blue Jackets’ first seven games this season.

Of course, Panarin ignited the wildfire of trade speculation himself by insisting on NOT signing a contract extension with the Blue Jackets this season, a decision that he seems to share with teammate Sergei Bobrovsky. As it is, the Blue Jackets stand to lose BOTH Panarin, their leading scorer from last season, and Bobrovsky, their two time Vezina winning goaltender, for absolutely NOTHING this upcoming offseason. Of course, there’s always the possibility of a trade. If Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekkalainen elects to put Panarin up for trade ahead of the 2018 NHL Trade Deadline, there’s no doubt that rival GMs will come calling with their best offers ready.

One of those teams, according to Kevin Paul Dupont of The Boston Globe, could be the Boston Bruins.

In his latest column for The Globe, Dupont highlights the Bruins as a team that could and should be in the mix for Panarin, stressing that the team has a lot of desirable assets for the Blue Jackets in exchange for Panarin. So… what would a deal look like? Check out these quotes from Dupont’s column:

Kekalainen’s target pool in a Boston swap no doubt would include the likes of Charlie McAvoy, Brandon Carlo, and Jake DeBrusk — the three kids GM Don Sweeney would be the most reluctant to surrender — and any number of others, including Danton Heinen and Anders Bjork on the varsity, and AHL stock such as Trent Frederic and Urho Vaakanainen.

It’s unlikely that the Bruins would trade Charlie McAvoy… but could you imagine a Blue Jackets defence with Seth Jones, Zach Werenski and Charlie McAvoy? Good God…

Would a package of say Brandon Carlo, Jake DeBrusk and a first round pick move the needle for Kekalainen? It might be too early to say, but don’t be surprised if rumors pick up between these two sides. The Bruins have the cap space to make Panarin work long-term and they also have the assets needed to acquire him in the first place.