Boston Bruins

Top NHL Trade Target Could Be On The Move By End Of Week; Bruins Among Teams Interested

Published

7 months ago

June 3, 2024

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AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson

With the propane tank turned on, the mise en place set and all the other necessary accouterments prepped and ready, the NHL hot stove has been set to light for a matter of weeks now. All that’s left is for someone to provide the match.

Enter the Carolina Hurricanes, who seem to be operating with some urgency, hoping to move one of the top trade targets on the market this offseason sooner rather than later.

According to Frank Seravalli of The Daily Faceoff, the Hurricanes could make a deal involving forward Martin Necas as early as this weekend.

“I don’t know if motivated is the right word, but I would say I wouldn’t be shocked to see him even moved by Saturday,” Seravalli said on Monday’s edition of the Daily Faceoff Live podcast. “I think you will see a flurry of activity ahead of when the Stanley Cup Final begins. There have been so many teams that are excited to get Necas. I don’t envision a path for him to come back to Carolina.”

As he becomes a restricted free agent this offseason, it’s been reported that Necas has little desire to re-sign with the Hurricanes and is looking for a fresh start with a new organization.

The Boston Bruins are believed to be among the teams interested in acquiring Necas. After putting up 20-plus goals and 50-plus points in each of the last two seasons, the 25-year-old would fit a Bruins lineup in need of reinforcements in its top six.

Necas is already familiar with a couple of players on the Bruins’ roster, as he, David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha won the gold medal at this year’s IIHF World Championship as part of the Czech national team. That familiarity would make for a line that would make the people of Boston and Prague proud and, in theory, should increase Necas’ interest in signing a long-term contract with the Bruins, should they and the Hurricanes come to an agreement on a trade.

What helps the Bruins in this situation is that the Hurricanes are one of a few teams looking to improve its goaltending this offseason. The two teams reportedly discussed a deal involving Linus Ullmark ahead of the NHL trade deadline back in March, creating a path for the two sides to rekindle those talks this summer.

However, those previous negotiations that Bruins general manager Don Sweeney had were with Don Waddell, the now-former Hurricanes president of hockey operations who recently left Carolina to take on the same role with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Eric Tulsky now leads the Hurricanes’ front office as the interim general manager. Although he’s been a part of the leadership group in Carolina for a decade now, including spending the last four years as the assistant GM, it’s unclear if Tulsky will have the interim tag removed from his title and which way he’ll steer the Hurricanes in the meantime.

Further complicating things for the Bruins is that they’re not the only team with an interest in Necas. As Seravalli mentioned, multiple organizations have checked in with Carolina looking to acquire the forward, with Calgary, Columbus and Vancouver among them.

Like the Bruins, the Canucks were also reportedly in discussions with the Hurricanes ahead of the NHL trade deadline over a deal that would’ve sent Necas to Vancouver as part of a package for Elias Pettersson.

Nevertheless, Necas remains a member of the Hurricanes. But that may not be for much longer.