Why Haven’t The Bruins Been Active In The Trade Market?

The Boston Bruins are undoubtedly in one of the biggest markets in the NHL. A team that is always trying to compete, regardless of record, amount of talent on the team, or star power on the team. With so many big names being traded in the passed few seasons, why haven't the Bruins pulled the trigger? It's not necessarily money, but rather the pieces valued by other teams.

Thinner than we think

As much as we'd like to think otherwise as fans, the Bruins farm system is one of the worst in the league. There's potential and high hopes, no doubt. But compared to the rest of the league, the Bruins prospect pool is rather thin. If the Bruins want to make a run at a big name like Taylor Hall, it will take almost a complete depletion of the farm system.

The players that the Bruins covet are the same players that other teams covet. Jack Studnicka, Trent Frederic, Urho Vaakanainen, are all players the the Boston Bruins fans and front office are all excited to see suit up for the Bruins some day. If a player with the talent and star power potential like Taylor Hall is going to end up in a Bruins sweater, its likely that other teams are going to want at least one, if not more than one of the players mentioned above.

How do we fix this issue?

Ultimately it comes down to Don Sweeney and the Bruins scouting staff to solve this issue. Whether it's through the draft, or through trade, the Bruins have to put a target on the backs of the right players to bring into the Bruins organization. A lot of people like to bring up the 2015 NHL draft when the conversation turns to Bruins prospects. Having had three picks in the first round, the Bruins selected Jakub Zboril, Jake DeBrusk, and Zach Senyshyn. While Jake DeBrusk has managed to make his mark in Boston, Senyshyn and Zboril haven't done so quite yet. While they're still young, players drafted after Zboril, and Senyshyn have already made quite an impact at the NHL level.

Matthew Barzal, Kyle Connor, and Sebastian Aho were all drafted soon after the Bruins made those three consecutive picks. Barzal and Aho have both been All Stars already in their NHL careers. Although its reasonable to say that not every player that's drafted is going to live up to the expectations, this scenario is just an example that you have to bring in the right guys in order to maintain a constantly rotating talent train in an NHL organization.

What does this mean?

With so many players ready to play at the NHL level, so many pending free agents, and at least two of those free agents due a pretty decent pay day, the Bruins are sure to be active come trade deadline time. The bulking of the Bruins farm system is going to go through a very crucial couple of months between now and the start of next season.

Credit to blackngoldhockey.com for the featured photo