In an unsurprising but notable report, ESPN’s Kevin Weekes shares that Boston Bruins forward Trent Frederic should have plenty of interest in his services once he becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1st, 2025. Frederic has developed into a prototypical Bruins forward, combining physicality and toughness with a knack for goal-scoring.
Frederic plays a similar style to Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson although he hasn’t racked up nearly the number of PIMs as the veteran. From 2022-24, Frederic scored 35 goals and 71 points in 161 games for the Bruins while also collecting 309 hits. He has more experience down the middle which should give him some extra value but his career 44.4% success rate in the dot leaves a lot to be desired.
Outside of his solid offensive output as a middle-six center, Frederic can also be trusted in the defensive zone. He averaged 57.4% of his zone starts in the defensive zone during the 2023-24 regular season and still managed a 91.3% on-ice save percentage in all situations.
Aside from likely interest in free agency, Frederic could be an interesting trade chip throughout the 2024-25 regular season. Boston has gotten off to a disappointing 6-6-1 start to the regular season and Frederic could be valuable trade bait closer to the deadline should the trend continue.
Other notes from the Eastern Conference:
- If the last four years were any indication, the Philadelphia Flyers are again expected to be a deadline seller evidenced by their 4-7-1 start to the regular season. One trade piece the organization has is defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen who will have two years and $10.2MM left on his contract after this year. Given the market over the last few seasons, Ristolainen’s size and physicality on the blue line could warrant a first-round draft pick according to Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff. Di Marco may be correct in his thinking regarding size and physicality but a first-round pick for an edge top-four defenseman still appears bullish at face value.
- Another piece already publicly on the trade block is Toronto Maple Leafs’ defenseman Matt Benning. The organization may have difficulty shedding the two years and $2.5MM left on Benning’s current four-year contract but they likely have a contingency plan. In an article from James Mirtle of The Athletic (Subscription Article), he shares that Toronto is likely to place Benning on waivers should they not find a suitable trade. It stands to reason the Maple Leafs are more willing to lose Benning over Conor Timmins once they ultimately activate Jani Hakanpää from the injured reserve.
If someone is offering a 1st for Risto I expect the Flyers to jump all over it. I doubt it though, and I guess having to keep his contract and mixing into the bottom 4 for 2 more years while we wait for Bonk et al to be NHL ready isn’t all that bad.