Rumor: Don Sweeney ready to trade veterans as Bruins “have gotten too comfortable.”

The Boston Bruins are in a playoff spot but there's no question that the team is not comfortable being 4th in their division. It is a far cry from the recent run of success that fans in Boston have come to expect from their team and it sounds like Bruins management may also be unhappy with the performances they've received from their roster this season.

Of course losing both veteran defensemen Zdeno Chara and Torey Krug in a single offseason has caused the Bruins roster to take a significant hit, but interestingly enough it seems that general manager Don Sweeney is most displeased with the performance of his bottom six forwards. Recently a source told Boston Hockey Now that Bruins management believe some of their players have become too comfortable in their roles on the team.

"Word is the Bruins would also like to shake up that bottom six and more specifically the bottom 3 because they think the [Sean] Kuraly’s and [Chris] Wagner’s have gotten too comfortable," said the source as per BHN. "They’ve got kids ready to take those jobs."

Even more interesting were the comments about Sean Kuraly specifically. Although the source did not explicitly state that Kuraly is the player the Bruins are trying to move in order to shake up this problem of players being too comfortable, it was heavily implied that it is his name that has been dangled out there by management. It also sounds like the Columbus Blue Jackets could be among the teams with interest in the Bruins veteran.

"Krejci isn’t going anywhere; they want a Cup and that just doesn’t make sense right now if they’re in the hunt," the source said. “Everyone knows John Moore’s in play but look at Columbus for example. They want depth at center. I think they’d like more offensive skill there but you can bet they’re interested in a solid two-way guy and a local kid like Sean Kuraly. I can tell you I’ve heard his name more often lately than ever before."

Kuraly is of course a native of Dublin, Ohio and the Blue Jackets have already shown a willingness to bring in local products this season when they acquired Jack Roslovic from the Winnipeg Jets as part of the Patrik Laine - Pierre Luc Dubois trade. That part of the trade has looked good for the Blue Jackets with Roslovic producing quite well on the offensive side of the ice, so I can certainly see a world in which they would look to repeat that success with a player like Kuraly.