Celebrini is averaging better than a point per game in a career that crested 100 games last month. The big dogs are now running with him. The Games exposure has the potential to move him from \u201cfuture face of the NHL\u201d status to \u201cit\u2019s Macklin\u2019s world now.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Macklin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/N5H75GR4IHH4RY6VBHISTTQQMQ.jpg\")
Macklin Celebrini throws a puck to fans.Caroline Brehman\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
As much as the Games will dominate the hockey consciousness in the season\u2019s second half, another key date fast approaches:<\/p>\n
March 6 (3 p.m.) \u2014 the NHL trade deadline. <\/p>\n
Yep, just a month after the Games begin, the swap meet is back. It\u2019s shaping up as a blistering seller\u2019s market and isn\u2019t likely to change. <\/p>\n
As the weekend began, all 16 teams in the East reasonably could think about being deadline buyers. Now, whether their Stanley Cup dreams are realistic is a topic for a different discussion.<\/p>\n
There is slightly more separation in the West. Calgary, St. Louis, Chicago, Vancouver, and Winnipeg all stood below break-even as of New Year\u2019s Day. <\/p>\n
If they\u2019re resigned to being sellers, that leaves 27 clubs potentially eyeing the 100 or so players on varsity rosters viewed as deadline targets. By definition, it\u2019s never good to be a seller, but if the haves\/have nots remain this lopsided, it could make for some huge swaps, especially if those five franchises in the West adopt the roster makeover approach the Bruins took last March.<\/p>\n
With the luxury of only some 10 months worth of hindsight, it\u2019s clear Bruins general manager Don Sweeney wrangled deadline overpays out of Toronto and Colorado. <\/p>\n
The still-sputtering Maple Leafs surrendered forward Fraser Minten and a 2026 first-rounder for defenseman Brandon Carlo (out injured since Nov. 13). Minten has been a comfortable addition to the middle six and looks like a long-term keeper. The first-rounder currently has the potential to be a primo No. 6-10 pick. If the Maple Leafs bottom out, the pick is top-five protected and flips to 2027.<\/p>\n
Coyle, dished to Colorado, brought back Casey Mittelstadt (now in the top six) and high-end prospect Will Zellers (who had a solid World Junior run with Team USA and James Hagens) in an all-forwards deal. Heavy price for the Avalanche, who then dished Coyle to Columbus in the offseason for a couple of picks and a younger, smaller center in Gavin Brindley.<\/p>\n
The deal that sent Brad Marchand from Boston to Florida will bring back a first-rounder. The Panthers got the most of the swap, by a wide margin. <\/p>\n
Marchand\u2019s energy, attitude and postseason production (10-10\u201320) were major factors in the Panthers clinching a second consecutive Stanley Cup, and a major factor in his inclusion on the Canadian Olympic team. The Sunrisers celebrated his 1,000th career point<\/a> (976 of those for the Bruins) recently and it was hard for Boston fans not to ponder how different things would be on Causeway Street today if Marchand were still on the roster, along with Minten and Mittelstadt, and with Hagens and Zellers in the pipeline.<\/p>\n The Panthers willingly overpaid Marchand (six years\/$31.5 million) rather than lose him to free agency. He was deemed not a financial fit on the Black and Gold payroll at that price level, which led team president Cam Neely<\/a> and Sweeney to render his days done on Causeway. The highest cost, as seen in the first half, is the irreplaceable loss of his leadership, manifested in his Herculean work ethic.<\/p>\n What 2025-26 has taught the Bruins is the high cost of saving money over the preservation of culture. Marchand always dragged the Bruins into the fight. No one is doing that now.<\/p>\n OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS<\/p>\n Bussi seizes chance in Hurricanes\u2019 net<\/p>\n If not for Pyotr Kochetkov\u2019s injury in preseason play, onetime Bruins netminding prospect Brandon Bussi likely would be in the minors today, hoping he might log at least a few NHL minutes with the Panthers, who signed the 27-year old July 1 to a two-way deal that guaranteed him only $400,000.<\/p>\n Fast forward five months, the 6-foot-4-inch Bussi is Carolina\u2019s No. 1 stopper, after the Hurricanes announced Monday that Kochetkov required what they project as season-ending surgery for the injury (undisclosed) incurred in September.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was kind of fighting through it,\u201d explained Hurricanes coach Rod Brind\u2019Amour, \u201cbut doesn\u2019t want to continue that way. We\u2019ll get it fixed and go from there.\u201d<\/p>\n Aware of the risk that Kochetkov\u2019s injury presented, Carolina claimed Bussi from the Panthers via waivers on the eve of the season. After spending three full seasons in the minors with Boston, he finally made his NHL debut Oct. 14, giving up one goal on 17 shots in a win over San Jose.<\/p>\n Now with Kochetkov hors de combat, and veteran Frederik Andersen a pedestrian 5-9-2, it appears Bussi\u2019s No. 1 in the cage until further notice. Just hours after Kochetkov was designated for the operating room, Bussi stopped 18 of 20 shots and posted a 3-2 win over the Rangers. Like Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy<\/a>, Bussi grew up on Long Island (Sound Beach, N.Y), east of Madison Square Garden and the Broadway Blueshirts. (He also pinned up a W over the \u201chometown\u201d Islanders on Oct. 30.)<\/p>\n The win over the Rangers boosted Bussi\u2019s numbers to 13-1-1\/2.08 goals-against average\/.911 save percentage. The Bruins signed him as free agent out of Western Michigan in the spring of 2022. He appeared destined to be the next goalie up in Boston, if not for losing ground last season to Michael DiPietro at AHL Providence. <\/p>\n Don\u2019t be surprised if the Hurricanes soon try to lock Bussi into, say, a two- or three-year extension at a reasonable figure ($3 million?). Otherwise, he is on target to hit the unrestricted free agent market on July 1. His NHL payout this year: $775,000.<\/p>\n RUFF STUFF<\/p>\n Sabres coach\u2019s playing days were \u2018crazy times\u2019 <\/p>\n Sabres coach Lindy Ruff, 65, played his first 10 seasons in Buffalo (1979-89) and thrived in the NHL\u2019s now-forgotten world of the rough stuff.<\/p>\n \u201cSome playoff games got pretty heated,\u201d a smiling Ruff said last weekend, with the visiting Bruins reminding him of what he called, \u201cCrazy times. You had to keep your head up \u2026 and sometimes keep your head down.\u201d<\/p>\n One memorable encounter with the Bruins, recalled Ruff, came on March 28, 1982. The Sabres, 9-5 winners<\/a> on the night, carried a 7-5 lead into the third period. <\/p>\n Early in the third, Scotty Bowman rolled out a line that featured Ruff, a career defenseman, as the center, with fellow blue liner Larry Playfair at one wing and tough guy Val James on the opposite side.<\/p>\n Noted Ruff, some 43-plus years later: \u201cI remember [the Bruins\u2019] Brad Park<\/a> saying, \u2018I don\u2019t know what that line is, but they don\u2019t look like they\u2019re out there to score.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Playfair and Terry O\u2019Reilly were tagged with fighting majors and misconduct penalties in the dust-up. Ruff and Mike Gillis were sent off to the Aud\u2019s penalty boxes with roughing minors.<\/p>\n Ruff kiddingly added that he in fact was out there to score. The box score backs him up. Only two goals were scored in the third period and Ruff owned both.<\/p>\n \u201cI was a pretty good center,\u201d said Ruff, who finished with 16 goals that season and 105 for his 691 career games.<\/p>\n POWERLESS AGAINST<\/p>\n Timing of Savard\u2019s Maple Leafs dismissal curious at best <\/p>\n Amid their ongoing woes and very much in need of a course correction, the Maple Leafs fired assistant coach Marc Savard on the eve of the holiday break and soon replaced him by promoting Steve Sullivan from their AHL Marlies staff.<\/p>\n OK, well, let the turnaround begin. What, maybe the Zamboni driver was protected with a \u201cno move\u201d clause? <\/p>\n Savard, the former Bruins pivot\/passing wizard<\/a>, was in his second year as a Maple Leafs assistant. He previously served a year each on the St. Louis and Calgary benches.<\/p>\n The Maple Leafs upon firing Savard owned the league\u2019s worst power play (13.3 percent), made worse by the fact they also allowed four shorthanded strikes while playing man-up. That is a messed up power play. All of it made \u201cSavvy\u201d vulnerable because he was in charge of the bedraggled unit. With him no longer in charge of the whiteboard, Toronto went 3 for 5 on the advantage (two of those strikes by Matthew Knies) in their first two games out of the break. By Tuesday morning, the Maple Leafs had moved up to 27th for PP efficiency (15.5 percent). They still ranked a lowly 13th (.526 points percentage) in the East<\/a> and owned only a .002 advantage on the dead-last Rangers the next morning.<\/p>\n Rarely do assistant coaches get canned during the regular season.<\/p>\n The timing of the move, just hours before the Christmas break, is perhaps the most curious part of all. Indeed, the NHL is a business, and all\u2019s fair when chasing W\u2019s and playoff seeds and Stanley Cup dreams. But pink slips being dealt amid the gift-giving season carries a heartless, if not ruthless, message \u2014 one that doesn\u2019t fit the \u201cwe are family\u201d image that most teams work diligently to cultivate <\/p>\n Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving is trying to bring back glory to a franchise that last won the Cup in 1967. It\u2019s a big ask, especially with a roster that again is underperforming expectations. It\u2019s an even bigger ask if the stick carriers believe their feelings don\u2019t count.<\/p>\n FELL ON BLACK DAYS<\/p>\n Playoff-deprived Kraken let Geekie get away<\/p>\n Seattle, the final stop on the Bruins\u2019 five-game road trip, remains in the thick of the wild-card scrum in the West. <\/p>\n The Kraken have made it to the playoffs only once, in 2023, when they bounced the Avalanche in seven games and then fell short of a trip to the conference finals with a Game 7 loss to the Stars in Round 2.<\/p>\n Hingham native Matty Beniers later that spring was named the Calder Trophy winner<\/a> as rookie of the year. The one-eyed monsters from the deep appeared to be on their way, following the same successful, if not enchanted, path as the Golden Knights, an expansion franchise mature way before anyone expected.<\/p>\n Not so fast. A funny thing happened on the expressway to the Stanley Cup parade.<\/p>\n The Kraken have since logged back-to-back DNQs (69-76-19 in those two seasons). Their No. 1 weak spot: offense. Their top scorer the last two seasons, Jared McCann, led the way first with a meager 62 points, then with only 61. <\/p>\n The Kraken ranked 29th in goal scoring (21) two seasons ago, then shimmied up to 16th (247) last season, but still couldn\u2019t outscore their mistakes (minus-18 goal differential).<\/p>\n Keep in mind, the Kraken had a scorer, a rawboned Morgan Geekie, in their midst for two seasons, then chose not to make him a qualifying offer in the days following their two playoff rounds in the spring of \u201823. He was home in Manitoba, visiting his parents, when he learned via Twitter (now X) that the Kraken cut him free.<\/p>\n \u201cI was like 23, 24,\u201d said Geekie recalling how he felt in the moment, \u201cso it\u2019s like, \u2018Oh, my career is over,\u2019 kind of thing \u2026 and where are you going to go from here?\u201d<\/p>\n Geekie quietly left town, disappointed that Seattle didn\u2019t see room for him to grow there. On July 1, he signed a two-year deal with the Bruins as an unrestricted free agent, then blossomed last season into a 33-goal scorer. He entered Saturday\u2019s contest in Vancouver with 25 goals this season and finished calendar year 2025 with 50.<\/p>\n It will be Geekie\u2019s third time back in Seattle with the Bruins, who over this past summer extended his deal for six years\/$33 million<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cIt just puts a little chip on your shoulder,\u201d he said, musing over his parting with the Kraken, who brought him in from the Hurricanes via the expansion draft. \u201cSomebody doesn\u2019t feel like you can add anything to their team and you\u2019re not worth keeping around. So, I carried it for a long time. I still carry it. I enjoyed my time there and the guys were great, but it\u2019s something that kind of sticks with you for the rest of your career.\u201d<\/p>\n If ever there was a name meant to be on the Canadiens roster, it was Guy Chouinard. Think how that would have played on the ear of the faithful filling the Forum seats had he suited up for Les Glorieux during, say, their last great Stanley Cup run (1975-79). Chouinard, who died last Sunday age 69, enjoyed an impressive NHL career, mostly with the Flames (first in Atlanta, then in Calgary). A center, he potted a career-high 50 goals (and 107 points) in 1978-79 with Atlanta and played his final NHL season in St. Louis. He called it quits at age 28, his r\u00e9sum\u00e9 boasting 575 points in 578 career games \u2026 It was unlikely that Brandon Bussi would have nosed out Daniil Tarasov to be Sergei Bobrovsky\u2019s relief man in Florida. Tarasov also signed there in July, a one-year, one-way deal for just over $1 million, Meanwhile, as Bussi\u2019s stock soars with the Hurricanes, Tarasov has seen but limited duty with the Panthers and was 4-6-2 with a 2.96 GAA and .899 SP through 13 appearances \u2026The Sabres ran their hot streak to 9-0-0 Monday with a 4-2 win in St. Louis. Ex-Yale goalie Alex Lyon was in the Buffalo net and recorded his seventh straight win, but suffered an injury in the contest. Getting center Josh Norris back has been a huge boost for the Sabres, but ditto for Lyon, now sharing the chores with No. 1 Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. Lyon came up huge for the Panthers late in the 2002-23 season, his five consecutive wins helping them avoid a DNQ, and then starting against the Bruins in Round 1<\/a> (eventually ceding the job to Bobrovsky). After playing the next two seasons in Detroit, Lyon signed with the Sabres in July for a two years\/$3 million, his richest deal to date.<\/p>\n Jim McBride of the Globe staff contributed to this report.<\/p>\n Ben Volin and Dan Shaughnessy debate which Boston team is the closest to the next duck boat parade.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/XJ52RRHGZLNQ4GQ4SWUC6RYP4Q.jpg\")
The closest Brandon Bussi came to the NHL with the Bruins was preseason play at TD Garden. \tMatthew J. Lee\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n![\"Marc](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/KZFFTIGWUNE57LRS4XPNFBUBPA.jpg\")
Marc Savard put up 305 points in 304 games for the Bruins over five seasons.Richman<\/p>\n![\"Now](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/W5PKK3D7LSBLS4TJ5YUJM6QQYQ.jpg\")
Now the Bruins’ top scorer, Morgan Geekie had 16 goals for the Kraken over 142 games and two seasons.Tony Gutierrez\/Associated Press<\/p>\n