6 Favorable Destinations for Bruins Center Trent Frederic Amid NHL Trade Update

Trent Frederic isn’t a household name. In fact, unless you are a die-hard Boston Bruins fan, you might not have heard of him.

However, according to social media, the 26-year-old is in high demand.

Kevin Weekes, a multi-channel analyst/broadcaster, announced Tuesday that his sources have informed him that multiple teams are interested in obtaining the 6’3″, 220-pound center, who was selected No. 29 overall by the Bruins in the 2016 draft.

Frederic is set to become an unrestricted free agency after this season if he and Boston do not reach an agreement to replace the two-year, $4.6 million contract he signed in August 2023.

According to Weekes, Frederic’s size, speed, toughness, character, and skill are the traits that are attracting attention in the marketplace. He scored a career-high 18 goals and 40 points (plus 69 penalty minutes) while averaging 13:45 of ice time across 82 games.

The B/R hockey staff used Weekes’ inside information to generate a list of six teams that might be best suited to acquire Frederic, who turns 27 in February.

Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought in the app comments.

New Jersey Devils

The New Jersey Devils are awash in high-end talent on their top two lines, and their 53 goals through 15 games this season are the third-most in the league.

So, offensive output certainly isn’t the problem. But making sure it’s spread around could be.

Nearly one-fifth of the team’s goals (10) through Tuesday had come from top-line center Nico Hischier alone, while linemates Timo Meier and Dawson Mercer had added another nine. And if you slide down to the second line, the usual trio of Jack Hughes, Ondrej Palat and Jesper Bratt had accounted for another eight.

That means more than half the production had come from six players, which illustrates why coach Sheldon Keefe might be interested in punching up his middle six with another center who’s produced at the NHL level.

And given an organizational pool that has graduated multiple recent prospects to the league, there’s ample trade bait from which to choose.

Colorado Avalanche

It’s not been an easy beginning to the season for the Colorado Avalanche.

Though they’re unquestionably one of the league’s most talented teams, they have been equally prolific when it comes to injuries and other issues early in the campaign.

Center Ross Colton had eight goals in 10 games before suffering a broken foot that will keep him sidelined for six to eight weeks, and winger Jonathan Drouin had played only one game on October 9 before an upper-body issue landed him on injured reserve.

Gabriel Landeskog had a setback in a lengthy rehab process for a knee injury that has shelved him since 2022, and Valeri Nichushkin is still more than a week away from reinstatement following a suspension during the team’s playoff run last spring.

Needless to say, a player like Frederic could help a team in such a state of chaos in the forward group. But the biggest stumbling block could be finding crawl space underneath the salary-cap ceiling Colorado is pressed up against.

Calgary Flames

Elias Lindholm is a teammate of Frederic’s in Boston.

But the Swede’s former boss in Calgary might be cajoled to look eastward to fill the gap left when Lindholm was dealt to Vancouver last winter before signing with the Bruins in July.

Lindholm played parts of six seasons with the Flames and spent the tail end of that time working with GM Craig Conroy, who said recently that he’s been looking to plug the second-line center hole that was created at the moment the 29-year-old became a Canuck last January.

“We lost Lindholm, a right-hand center in your top-six,” he told Sportsnet’s Eric Francis, “and that’s something you’d want to find.”

Frederic fits some of the bill, but not all of it.

Though he’s near the age range Conroy covets and has proved he can score at the NHL level, he’s a left-shot pivot and it’s up for debate whether he could be a reliable No. 2.

But if Conroy’s immediate search goes awry, don’t be surprised if he looks to Boston.

Minnesota Wild

These are heady times in Minnesota.

The Wild missed the playoffs last season and haven’t won a series since 2015, and it didn’t seem like much was expected of them as 2024-25 got started.

However, they’ve been among the league’s pleasant surprises with an 8-2-2 record through 12 games and it’s starting to seem as if GM Bill Guerin’s roster might have some staying power.

And given Minnesota plays in a rugged Central Division, it’s needed.

It’s not hard to imagine Frederic’s skill set being a good fit in coach John Hynes’ lineup, which features emerging youngster Marco Rossi as the top-line center and reliable two-way player Joel Eriksson Ek in the middle of the second group.

Frederic could certainly add some toughness and touch across the middle six if Hynes, Guerin and Co. decide that bolstering is the path they need to take in the penultimate year of Kirill Kaprizov’s contract.

Guerin said before the season that winning would help convince his Russian magician to stay for the long term, and adding a Midwestern-born piece such as Frederic could be an interesting approach.

Ottawa Senators

It helps to do business with familiar parties.

The Bruins and Ottawa Senators are certainly that, given their participation in one of the summertime’s biggest deals that sent Vezina-winning goaltender Linus Ullmark to the Canadian capital for two players and a pick in late June.

Ullmark has provided instant credibility for a franchise that hasn’t seen playoffs since 2017, and if the Senators can stay in the hunt for the postseason come late winter, it might not be a stretch to suggest GM Steve Staios gets back on the phone to Boston counterpart Don Sweeney to talk about another transaction.

Ottawa is another team with a significant collection of young talent, and Frederic could slot in nicely as another middle-six piece with some tangible edge to his game.

His 40 points last season would place him fifth among forwards still on the team’s roster, and his 69 penalty minutes would rank second only to team captain Brady Tkachuk.

Columbus Blue Jackets

The Columbus Blue Jackets are off to a respectable enough start to 2024-25 given an unfathomably difficult summer, but it doesn’t change the fact that they’re rebuilding.

They’ve not reached the playoffs since the COVID-ravaged 2019-20 season and have not won a traditional non-qualifying series in the postseason since the shocking sweep of the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Tampa Bay Lightning a year earlier.

Put it all together and it means they’ve had some premium draft picks in recent years and have filled a prospect pool to the point it was ranked second by ESPN in a recent poll.

It’s not likely to matter in terms of a playoff run this season or next, but GM Don Waddell could make a move in that direction by adding a proven commodity such as Frederic to bring his production and grit to the cast of younger characters.

And given he won’t be 27 until February, it’s not as if they’ll have to carry him to the ice.