NHL Trade Rumors: Bruins acquire Drew Stafford from Jets

The Boston Bruins have acquired Drew Stafford from the Winnipeg Jets for a conditional pick. 

The Winnipeg Jets are a team needing a bit of a rebuild. Rather, they have their stars, but they need to acquire role players and replenish their prospect system. The Boston Bruins, on the other hand, needed forward depth. A match was made, as the Bruins have acquired upcoming free agent forward Drew Stafford from the Jets for a conditional draft pick.

This is a decent return for Winnipeg. Getting something for the ice cold Stafford is definitely good. He has just 13 points this season in 40 games. However, one has to wonder what they could have gotten for him after his 20 goals season in 2015-16.

The Bruins are taking a chance on Stafford. It costs them virtually nothing and they might catch lightning in a bottle. Stafford has proven to be a very streaky player. Boston’s banking on him getting hot like he has in the past.

While this is a very nice trade for the Bruins in terms of value, one has to wonder what’s going on in Boston. They aren’t acting like a contender because they’re not adding the pieces necessary to go on a deep playoff run. On the other hand, they aren’t exactly sellers either. For a team with an aging David Backes, David Krejci, and Zdeno Chara, this is a bit confusing.

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Still, in a vacuum, this is a solid trade for Boston. Maybe Stafford helps them make the postseason. At the very least, maybe they can recoup the draft pick they give up (if they even give up one) by trading his free agent rights. For Winnipeg, they should have done more, but this at least gets them something (maybe).