How experts graded Boston Bruins’ Trent Frederic trade..
BOSTON —Of all the players on the Bruins, who could be involved in deals before Friday’s NHL trade deadline, Trent Frederic always seemed like the most likely to get moved. He was about to be an unrestricted free agent and plays a physical style that makes him attractive to playoff teams.
So, it wasn’t a surprise when Boston dealt him on Tuesday. They sent the rugged forward to Edmonton with Max Jones in a three-way deal with the Oilers and New Jersey Devils. In return, the Bruins got a second-round pick this year, a fourth next year and Max Wanner, a 21-year-old prospect, who profiles as a shutdown-defenseman type.
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Did they get enough? National experts weighed in with trade grades:
The Athletic
The Athletic has two different writers give two different grades:
Harman Dayal: “The Bruins, meanwhile, picked up two valuable draft picks for a player who was likely to walk in free agency and was having an offensive down year. Offloading Max Jones is a nice piece of business, too.” — Grade: B+
Shayna Goldman: “Sometimes, a team has to step back before it can move forward. After years of contending and poor drafting, the Bruins need to start resetting for next season. Adding two draft picks allows the Bruins to do that, whether management uses the picks in the drafts or as trade assets. The return for Frederic was realistically only going to thread the needle so much, especially with his current injury in mind.” Grade: B-
ESPN
“That second-rounder they received should be upper-to-middle-range in the draft, given where the Blues are in the standings. … Wanner is a 21-year-old, right-shooting defenseman who spent the past two seasons with the AHL Bakersfield Condors. He was buried on the Oilers’ depth chart, having struggled through a season that saw him miss time due to injury. Not a bad prospect for the Bruins to get into their pipeline.” Grade: A-
Elite Prospects
“This is the start of the Boston rebuild, and it feels like it’s simultaneously been coming for a while, and arrived all at once. The real aspect of this trade, for them, is that they get a couple of picks, and that’s about it. I don’t think Wanner projects as an impactful NHLer — nor does Hauser — but he might be able to help in Providence, where things have gone quite well this season.” Grade: B
Bleacher Report
“It probably wasn’t an easy call for the Bruins to wave the white flag on this season but there wasn’t much of an alternative. The Bruins painstakingly invested assets in playoff runs for more than a decade virtually uninterrupted. That comes at an organizational cost. … Rent has come due and the Bruins are wise to take a breath as an organization and try to reset for next season. … The second-round pick belongs to the St. Louis Blues, meaning will end up towards the middle of the round. That, plus a fourth-round pick, is the type of return usually reserved for an impact top-six forward. It’s tough to see how Bruins fans could have expected any better from this move.” Grade: A