What the Bruins' Hronek Offer Really Tells the Canucks

There is something pretty funny about accidentally showing your trade plans to the whole hockey world. The Boston Bruins probably didn't intend to give everybody a peek at their whiteboard. But there it was, sitting in the background of an episode of “Behind the B,” showing a proposed trade for Vancouver defenceman Filip Hronek.

How valuable did the Bruins really think Hronek was?

And once everybody had a chance to look at it, the more interesting part wasn't really Hronek. It was what the Bruins were willing to give up to get him. They were willing to give up two first-round picks and prospect Liam Pettersson. That's a pretty serious shopping trip.

The Bruins weren't looking for somebody to fill a hole on the third pairing. They were apparently willing to pay a very high price to change their defence. And that tells us something. Boston must have looked at its blue line and decided that adding another solid defenceman wasn't enough. They wanted somebody who could actually change the way the group played.

That's where this gets interesting.

Teams don't normally throw two first-round picks into a trade just because they are a little unhappy with their defence. That's the kind of price you pay when you believe you're getting someone who can be an important part of the team for a long time.

The Canucks weren’t interested in moving Hronek.

Hronek wasn't available anyway. Vancouver apparently wasn't interested in moving him, and there are plenty of reasons for that. He's an important part of the Canucks' defence and has become part of the leadership conversation there.

So Boston's offer wasn't going anywhere. But the offer itself is still useful information on two fronts. First, it tells us the Bruins are thinking bigger. Second, it shows how much the Canucks value what they have in him.

The Bruins did bring in Will Borgen, and that's a useful addition. But if Boston was prepared to make a much larger move for Hronek, it suggests the Bruins don't believe their work on defence is finished. And that's something to keep an eye on.

September is usually a pretty quiet month for trades.

The funny thing about September is that everybody says the trade market is quiet. And it usually is. Teams want to see what they have before they start moving pieces around. But hockey has a way of creating problems quickly. Somebody gets hurt. A young defenceman isn't ready. A veteran doesn't fit. A team discovers it has more depth at one position than another.

Suddenly, the quiet trade market isn't so quiet. The Bruins have already shown us that they're willing to look. Maybe Hronek was never going to happen. Maybe the Canucks never seriously considered the offer. But Boston put a pretty big number on the table.

The Canucks weren’t listening to the offer.

And sometimes what a team is willing to give up tells us more than the player it was trying to acquire. That's the part of this little accidental leak that I'd be watching. The Bruins aren't just shopping for a defenceman. They appear to be looking for a defenceman who matters.

But the bottom line is that Vancouver wasn’t listening. And that tells us a ton about their priorities as they continue their rebuild.