Boston general manager Peter Chiarelli made it clear that the Bruins will be active leading up to the February 28th NHL trade deadline and says that the first-round pick obtained from Toronto in the Phil Kessel trade is in play if the right deal came along.
"Yeah, I'd look at it, sure," Chiarelli told sports radio network, WEEI. "I've had discussions involving that pick. I certainly would look at it. We've got a lot of assets, so that alone allows us to be creative also ... there's been one [deal] that we've thrown around here internally, I don't know that I would do it but it's something that warrants further discussion."
With the recent news of first-line centre Marc Savard suffering a season-ending injury, Chiarelli said there was now added flexibility to their salary cap space.
"Basically, you can replace that salary; that cap number," Chiarelli told WEEI. "So that's [$4 million] and a little bit of change. ... So with Savard on LTI you have the ability to replace that player with a number of players up to an amount of $4 million. That's not cap space, that's actual salary. We've got some good flexibility right now."
When asked if there would be some kind of deal before the deadline, Chiarelli said "I would bet on it."
The Maple Leafs sit in 26th place in the standings through Wednesday, meaning the current pick could be a top-5 selection for Boston.
The Bruins sit third in the East, but is just two points ahead of the Montreal Canadiens for the lead in the Northeast Division. The Bruins play the Canadiens this evening on TSN (7pm et/4pm pt).
