Trading Trent Frederic just got a lot more complicated for the Boston Bruins. The forward is week-to-week after leaving Tuesday’s 5-4 overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, as first reported by The Athletic’s Chris Johnston.
“Trent Frederic is considered ‘week to week’ after leaving Tuesday’s Bruins game with a lower-body injury, but the sense is that it won’t change any plans ahead of the trade deadline,” Johnston wrote on Thursday morning. “The pending UFA could still be moved.”
Frederic has long been considered a top trade candidate for the Bruins, especially as the team continues to fade away in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
The 27-year-old has managed eight goals and 15 points over 57 games in 2024-25, while mainly playing in a bottom-six role. In his absence, forward Riley Tufte — who was a healthy scratch on Tuesday — will draw into the lineup against the New York Islanders on Thursday night.
It’s a brutal blow for Boston, and could lead to general manager Don Sweeney holding onto the pending unrestricted free agent longer than the March 7 NHL Trade Deadline.
The front office has a couple of hard decisions to make as the roster continues to struggle down the stretch.
Bruins struggling mightily at the worst time
The Bruins have lost four games in a row — two on either side of the 13-day 4 Nations Face-Off break — and have fallen to 27-24-8. They’re now sixth place in the Atlantic Division and two points back of the final wildcard berth in the Eastern Conference.
But the conference is a logjam, with the Bruins, Ottawa Senators and New York Rangers all tied with 62 points. The Columbus Blue Jackets currently own the final playoff spot with 64 points, while the Detroit Red Wings are in the top wildcard slot with 66 points of their own through 58 games.
It’s going to take a herculean effort for this Boston team to sneak into the playoffs, and the most likely scenario is that it will be a first postseason-less campaign in Beantown since 2015-16.
And that could lead to a couple of roster players getting a change of scenery between now and March 7. Frederic was probably the team’s top trade chip, although there are rumblings that heart and soul captain Brad Marchand could himself be traded.
“Historically, we’ve been pretty aggressive and our team’s been in a position,” Sweeney told The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa last Sunday. “I think we’ll take a much more cautious approach as we approach the deadline. That being said, if there are opportunities to improve our team now and certainly moving forward, whether that’s positional shifts or other teams trying to identify what we might have a strength at, we will look at all opportunities to improve our team now, but more importantly, moving forward.”
It looks like the days of the Bruins going all-in at the trade deadline are over, and along with Frederic and Marchand, a couple other pending UFA’s — like Justin Brazeau and Cole Koepke — could be getting shipped out.
The Bruins badly need to get back on the right track against the Islanders on home ice on Thursday.
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