It really feels like perhaps the Boston Bruins dodged a bit of a bullet in the Rasmus Anderssontrade situation, doesn’t it?
The B’s finished very publicly as the runner-up in trade talks for the Calgary Flames defensemen, as he ultimately went to his preferred destination with the Vegas Golden Knights after his agent declined contract extension overtures from the Black and Gold.
This all was happening amidst a trade offer from Don Sweeney that reportedly included Mason Lohrei, Matt Poitras and a first-round pick going to Calgary in exchange for a top-4 defender that would have given Boston a formidable top four of Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm, Nikita Zadorov and Andersson.
The Golden Knights, of course, also gave up a boatload for Andersson to secure the big-ticket D-man prior to the Olympic break, and that now leaves the Bruins in a position where they’ll be in scramble mode with just four NHL games on the docket prior to the March 6 trade deadline once play resumes around the league.
Andersson has a goal and four points along with a plus-3 rating in eight games since arriving in Vegas while topping 21 minutes a night as a top-4 defenseman, but the Golden Knights have lost five of those eight games, and had a few rough defensive outings before finishing up strong with back-to-back wins over Vancouver and Los Angeles.
At one point during that stretch, Cassidy referenced the new configurations on the back end and, never one to mince words, said "we need to be a hell of a lot more competitive in front of our own net."
Clearly the Golden Knights brought in Andersson to improve their transition game and puck-moving out of their own zone, but there is a trade-off defensively with the 6-foot-1, 200-pound Andersson, who was a minus-38 for the Flames last season. That would have been a considerable challenge for a Boston Bruins team that still currently sits at a mediocre 18th in the league, allowing 3.14 goals per game. It was also noticeable that Andersson was the one taken out of the Swedish lineup -- along with Elias Lindholm-- after they were trounced by Finland during the Olympics, and that spurred the Swedes to play one of their best games of the tournament.
These are the top defence scoring chance creators from the preliminary round of the 2026 Men's Olympic Hockey tournament. 1. 🇸🇰 Simon Nemec 2. 🇸🇪 Rasmus Dahlin 3. 🇨🇦 Cale Makar 4. 🇨🇦 Thomas Harley 5. 🇨🇭 Roman Josi pic.twitter.com/xL1fZfCLeq— JFresh 🇨🇦 (@JFreshHockey) February 16, 2026
Instead of sputtering with a new piece as Vegas did, the Bruins caught fire ahead of the Olympic break, garnering 11 of a possible 14 points over the same span of time.
Now the Bruins move their sets to other potential trade candidates, and perhaps somehow convince Vancouver Canucks D-man Filip Hronek to waive his no-trade clause after looking really strong with Team Czechia during the Olympics, or maybe even a veteran blueliner like 33-year-old Justin Faulk as a faltering St. Louis club looks to be a seller ahead of the NHL trade deadline.
"Filip Hronek is going to be part of the solution going forward in Vancouver."#AgentProvocateur #Canucks@walsha @AdamWylde pic.twitter.com/fMxA3J4M5a— sdpn (@sdpnsports) January 23, 2026
Hronek’s agent has been staunchly refuting that he will be waiving his no-trade to leave Vancouver, so that seems like a Hail Mary that isn’t going to get answered unless Hronek really, really enjoys playing with No. 88 at the Winter Games.
The right shot Faulk has 11 goals and 30 points with the Blues this season, while posting a minus-3 for a team that hasn’t been good defensively, but is signed through next season at $6.5 million, meaning that he will not come cheap at the trade deadline. It may not quite be the package that Boston was willing to send to Calgary in exchange for Anderson, but it won’t be far off from that, given that the trade market now has been set by that deal.
Less likely is trade whispers swirling around old friends like Dougie Hamilton and Brandon Carlo, who come with strengths and weaknesses that may be a good fit for a return engagement.
But it seems pretty clear at this point that the Bruins are angling to get a right-handed D-man to round off their current roster. And that maybe, just maybe, it was a strike of fortune that they missed on the big fish in Andersson.
ONE TIMERS
• Great to see Charlie McAvoy and Latvian forward Sandis Vilmaniswere able to chat after the opening pool play game between Team USA and Latvia to smooth out any lingering hard feelings about Vilmanis throwing a head shot at McAvoy during the final game of the NHL regular season schedule between the Bruins and Florida Panthers.
Nice moment at the end of tonight’s game between Sandis Vilmanis and Charlie McAvoy.#MilanoCortina2026 pic.twitter.com/AvcP1WLMer— Kendall Smith (@SmithKendall__) February 12, 2026
“He did apologize after the (USA-Latvia Olympic) game,” wrote McAvoy in his Olympic diary for The Athletic. “I probably shouldn’t get into it because what he said was between us, but I appreciated it.”
That is perhaps the greatest thing about hockey and hockey players, in general.
Whatever happens on the ice gets handled on the ice and there are very rarely any lingering bitter feelings afterward, as pretty much all players, by the time they’ve hit the professional stage of their careers, have been on both sides of that equation at some time while building themselves up to the NHL.
The good news for Bruins fans: McAvoy has certainly played well during the Olympic tournament for Team USA and there doesn’t seem to be any lingering effects from that hit, or the startling level of swelling on the side of his face at the start of the Winter Games.
• Fascinating to watch Czechia in the elimination round start switching things around on a struggling power play where they moved Martin Necas to the elbow, and then put David Pastrnakdown by the net front in a switch that sparked them to a power play goal against Denmark in their tight playoff win against the Danes.
There is always a danger with a player like Pastrnak that a PP gets too static with players simply standing around waiting for him to do something rather than moving the puck around like the best man-advantage units always, always do. Necas, by the way, has been super impressive for Czechia during these Winter Games and is playing with a pace and speed that's higher than anybody else on either team in most of these Olympic Games, which is really saying something.
• Interesting to see the IIHF and Olympic folks change out the color of the boards at the Olympic hockey rink at Milan Cortina to make it more of a greenish, blueish hue rather than the dark, blackish/purple color that can blend right in with the puck during play. Everybody saw the goal that Jeremy Swayman gave up from half-ice during his game against Germany, and it looked like the exact kind of play where a goaltender might have lost the puck blending in with the background.
Swayman was quick to point out that he is color blind, so it shouldn’t have made any difference to him, which is admirable that he wasn’t looking for excuses after a play that stands as a pretty embarrassing one for a world-class goalie on hockey’s biggest stage.
“It was a flash screen, and it was just the perfect height right between the stands and board level, and I truly lost it,” said Swayman. “Definitely one I want back, but at the same time, especially at this level, you’ve got to stay even-keeled. It’s one shot at a time, and no matter how they go in, you’ve got to step up and stop the next one.”
Definitely not going on the Jeremy Swayman greatest hits tape pic.twitter.com/bj8M5oJxAJ— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) February 15, 2026
• Horrified to see the shooting that took place at Lynch Arena in Pawtucket on Monday during a high school hockey game. The video is terrifying and tragic, the details are senseless and sad, and the ultimate fatalities and lives of young people forever scarred make it something that weighs heavily on the hearts of everybody in the hockey community.
My heart goes out to all those affected in this awful situation.
This humble hockey writer has been to that rink many times, including this season, for youth hockey games, and that makes this entire thing hit very close to home. Something needs to be done about the gun and mental health issues that plague our society and make these kinds of tragedies way more common than they should be. Please take care of yourselves and everybody else out there, and we can all keep trying to make this world a better place.
