But on Thursday morning, Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli said that the gap between the two prospects remains too small for him to pay the high ransom such a move would apparently cost.
"I'm not in a position right now, based on how big I feel and how big our group feels the gap is," Chiarelli said of making a deal. "I'm not in a position right now. I don't know if I ever will be, to go to Edmonton and say, 'Here's this, this, this, and this, let us take our guy.' I think those players are so good at that 1-2 that it's not worth, to me, to go and give something where I think I could get something somewhere else."
Sources in L.A. told NESN.com that “somewhere else” could come in the form of numerous deals the Bruins GM is in on and seriously pondering. The Bruins have been linked to Maple Leafs defenseman Tomas Kaberle, whom they tried to acquire at the 2009 NHL Draft in a trade that would’ve sent Phil Kessel to the Maple Leafs then as opposed to the September deal that netted the Bruins the second overall pick in tomorrow’s draft. No one could confirm that the Bruins were one of the reported five teams to have made offers for Kaberle.
A report also surfaced Thursday that the Bruins have granted goaltender Tim Thomas and his agent Bill Zito permission to speak to NHL teams about a possible trade. Thomas has three years remaining on his contract at an annual cap hit of $5 million per year and a no-movement clause. An email to Chiarelli for confirmation was not replied but Zito confirmed to Pierre Lebrun of ESPN.com that this was the case.
"I do have permission to talk to teams," Zito told ESPN.com on Thursday afternoon. "But I'm not pounding the pavement looking for a team. What we agreed to with [Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli] is that he would see what's out there. Tim said he would look at whatever Pete brought to us and decide from there. But Pete hasn't brought anything to us at this point. I guess that could change at any point though."
