After We Beat The Isles

Team: 2022-23 Boston Bruins

Initial Creation Date: Dec. 11, 2022

Published: Dec. 13, 2022

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Isles need another defenseman. Aho as the No. 6 isn't bringing much to the table and Salo as the little-used No. 7 isn't helping his development. The Isles are a fringe playoff team right now and need to take advantage of their cap space to improve sooner rather than later. Perhaps losing to the Bs tonight will be the last straw.

All summer, Mike Reilly was rumored as a fit for the Islanders. He's still available and with the added bonus of being waiver-flexible. The Isles may have felt good enough about their D corps not to claim Reilly earlier this year, but by now they may be interested again.

The Bruins obviously need cap space, but the recent injury to Krejci shows that they need cap space now. Carrying a 22-man roster with no flexibility just isn't smart unless you want to start throwing people on LTIR for minor ailments. Not only does trading Reilly open up enough space to add Stralman back to the roster as the 23rd man, but by getting Bardreau - a serviceable AHLer - with retention, the Bs have an ultra-low cost asset that can be added to the roster in the event that someone needs to go on IR and there are more than 23 players counting against the cap, without anyone else on the roster being waived as a result. Right now, that isn't possible.