Bruins Garnering Lots Of Interest For Zacha
The Boston Bruins don't seem set on keeping Pavel Zacha on their team through the offseason. They continue to take calls on him according to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period.
Boston has at least eight players to sign and $23 million in projected cap space. Fortunately, most of the signings are depth pieces, and unless the Bruins want to and are able to spend big on upgrading, they don’t need to move anyone.
Zacha is currently projected to be the second line center of the Bruins, but the team also has Casey Mittelstadt, who is paid like a top-6 player and should be given a chance on the second line. Zacha is able to play the center and the wing, and although he had a strong first two seasons with the Bruins, his numbers dropped this season like mostly everybody else.
Zacha put up 21 goals and 57 points in his first season in Boston and then followed that up with 21 goals and 59 points in four fewer games in his second season. The 28-year-old, while playing a minute more per game on average, only scored 14 goals and 47 points this season. I think he is still a very serviceable top-6 complementary player, but the Bruins need more than that after losing a lot of key high-end players over the past number of years and not adding much.
Zacha has two years left on his contract at $4.75 million AAV and is a UFA when the deal ends. He has an eight-team no trade list attached to his contract, but given where the Bruins finished last season, it shouldn’t be much of a barrier to move him. If they continue to take calls on Zacha as the insider reported, then it appears as though the Bruins are looking for the right deal to execute a trade. There have been plenty of trades and signings since the season ended and Boston should get in on the action if they want to get better.
I could see a Zacha trade happening a few days after free agency as Boston may want to see if they can grab anyone significant for their team to upgrade before moving off of someone who can put up over 20 goals and 50 points. This is something to keep an eye on.
