B/R’s Ultimate 2026 NHL Trade Deadline Cheat Sheet for Every Team

Buyers or sellers: Buyers

Salary cap situation: $1.10 million in salary cap space

Best trade assets: First-round draft picks (two in 2026 and two in 2027), Casey Mittelstadt, Pavel Zacha, Mason Lohrei

Untouchables: David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy, Morgan Geekie

What they need: The Bruins are in one of those tough spots going into the trade deadline. They are very much in the playoff race and have a good chance of getting in. They are also probably a step below the obvious contenders and are more than one player away from being a serious Stanley Cup team.

On the other hand, the Eastern Conference is pretty wide open and there for the taking, and they do have high-end talent in Pastrnak and McAvoy. Their needs are both short-term and long-term, as they are still lacking a true No. 1 center, need more middle-six scoring depth, and probably another top-four defenseman. In other words, there are still some big needs here. There are a lot of different directions they can go, and all of them would make some level of sense both now and in the future.