A few weeks ago, rumors were flying that Edmonton and Columbus were close to making a trade. Artem Anisimov was said to be headed to Canada, though the Oilers may have been trying to acquire Ryan Johansen as well. That deal ultimately fell through and Anisimov is now on IR for a couple of months.
Last night, Aaron Portzline of The Columbus Dispatch tweeted (reported?) that the front office for the Blue Jackets may have an interest in the Boston Bruins.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” lang=”en”><p><a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/CBJ?src=hash”>#CBJ</a> GM Jarmo Kekalainen is in St. Paul for tonight's <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/mnwild?src=hash”>#mnwild</a> vs <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Bruins?src=hash”>#Bruins</a> tilt. Must be advance scouting for NYE game. <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/yuhhuh?src=hash”>#yuhhuh</a></p>— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) <a href=”https://twitter.com/Aportzline/status/545411972888788992″>December 18, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” lang=”en”><p><a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/CBJ?src=hash”>#CBJ</a> asst GM Bill Zito was at a recent <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Bruins?src=hash”>#Bruins</a> game in Boston. Again, advance scouting 12/27 game, surely.</p>— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) <a href=”https://twitter.com/Aportzline/status/545412751678767106″>December 18, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Boston’s cap situation is pretty dire while the Jackets have plenty of space. One would have to think the Bruins would be looking to unload a hefty contract or two, but nearly all of their players making north of $2 million have some kind of no-trade or no-movement clause. In return, they would probably be expecting an inexpensive player, prospect(s), or pick(s). Cam Atkinson, a BC guy himself, and Matt Calvert are both inexpensive compared to some of Boston’s current forward contracts. Would a simple one-for-one flip make sense? Who knows if that is what the front office is looking towards or if Porty is just yanking our chains.
Now, there is an NHL roster freeze for ten days which starts at midnight on Friday. So the odds of a deal being struck in the near future seem pretty low. Then again, Jarmo and company have pulled off some pretty “out of the blue” moves so far.
To recap: Both Jack Skille and Adam Cracknell were picked up off waivers at the start of the season. Jordan Leopold was acquired from St. Louis in exchange for a 5th round pick (this was slightly obvious as it came on the heels of Fedor Tyutin going on IR). Kevin Connauton was then picked up off waivers from Dallas. Finally, Tim Erixon was sent to Chicago in exchange for Jeremy Morin. Jerry D’Amigo was also sent to Buffalo for Luke Adam, though neither player has seen time in the NHL yet this season.
Stay tuned to see if anything comes from this. Or, really, until midnight because then there’s a roster freeze.