Bruins get Kase from Ducks

A little different, a little the same, and, as usual, expensive.

That’s one way to look at general manager Don Sweeney’s acquisition of winger Ondrej Kase, who cost the Bruins a first-round draft pick, defense prospect Axel Andersson and veteran forward David Backes.

Friday’s trade with the Ducks is reminiscent of the deal Sweeney swung with the Rangers two years ago, when a first-round choice, defense prospect (Ryan Lindgren) and under- or non- [...]

A little different, a little the same, and, as usual, expensive.

That’s one way to look at general manager Don Sweeney’s acquisition of winger Ondrej Kase, who cost the Bruins a first-round draft pick, defense prospect Axel Andersson and veteran forward David Backes.

Friday’s trade with the Ducks is reminiscent of the deal Sweeney swung with the Rangers two years ago, when a first-round choice, defense prospect (Ryan Lindgren) and under- or non-performing assets Matt Beleskey and Ryan Spooner brought Rick Nash to Boston. It smacks a bit of last year’s swap with the Wild, too, because Kase, like Charlie Coyle (he cost prospect Ryan Donato and a fourth-round pick), isn’t a rental, and he’s young enough to still have upside. Kase, in his third NHL season, is 24, and under contract through next season at a reasonable $2.6 million.

And, for the third straight year, Sweeney is attempting to address the most obvious need of a team that came within one win of the Stanley Cup last year, and which leads the NHL standings with about six weeks remaining: There’s no right wing scoring behind David Pastrnak, who was tied for the league lead with 43 goals entering Friday night’s game at Calgary.

"With his speed and scoring ability, his versatility, I feel [Kase] will probably play either with [David] Krejci or Coyle on that right side," Sweeney said in a Friday afternoon conference call. "He’s a right shot who adds some speed and offensive ability to our hockey club, so we think we’ve addressed what we need."

Speaking to reporters in Calgary, head coach Bruce Cassidy was as specific as he could be about a player he has rarely seen, but he wasn’t averse to stating the obvious.

"The easiest thing is to say we’ll try him with [Krejci]," the coach said, "and we probably will, then go from there."

Coyle was a second-line right-wing option for Krejci and left wing Jake DeBrusk a year ago, but Sweeney’s subsequent addition of rental Marcus Johansson (who signed with the Sabres upon reaching unrestricted free agency) pushed Coyle back to where Cassidy likes him most — centering the third line.

That’s how the lineup has been set for most of this season, which is to say that Krejci and DeBrusk have again played with an array of right wings, none of them especially productive. Rookie Karson Kuhlman’s bid to stay there may have expired, as he was expected to skate with Coyle and left wing Anders Bjork against the Flames. Danton Heinen was to get yet another shot with DeBrusk and Krejci.

Because he played with an assortment of centers in Anaheim, from veteran puck-possessor/shooter Ryan Getzlaf to playmaker Adam Henrique to rookie Sam Steel this season, Kase is likely to get a look with Coyle, too. Cassidy even mentioned the possibility of moving Pastrnak to Krejci’s line, to see what Kase looks like with Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron.

"The simplest thing is we’ll start [Ka] with Krejci and see how it works out," Cassidy said. "We may shuffle the lines. No promises."

While Sweeney again took pains to affect the current roster as little as possible, someone will inevitably feel pain. Whether it’s Heinen (seven goals in 56 games), Bjork (nine goals in 53 games) or Kuhlman (one goal in 21 games), someone will sit when Kase is ready to play.

There’s a bit of a gray area there. A 20-goal, 38-point player over 66 games two years ago, Kase’s 2018-19 season (30 games, 11-9—20) started late because of a concussion and ended early because of shoulder surgery. The Ducks put him on injured reserve after his last game (Feb. 7, at Toronto), listing "flu-like symptoms" at first, and the Bruins put him on injured reserve as soon as they obtained him. He wasn’t scheduled to play at Calgary, or on Saturday night at Vancouver (10 p.m., NESN, WBZ-FM 98.5).

Sweeney didn’t sound worried.

"He’ll be on the ice with us fully on Monday," said Sweeney, who added that Kase, 7-16—23 in 49 games this year, had skated with the Ducks on Thursday. "Then we’ll make an evaluation as to how comfortable he is in getting back to playing. We have an understanding of where Ondrej’s health is at."

Sweeney hopes he’s accurate when it comes to the Bruins’ reaction to the trade. As hard as it was to tell the team’s amateur scouts that they wouldn’t get to make a first-round pick in June, Sweeney expected overwhelming support from current players.

"Your team, when they’re playing well, they want to win," he said. "They want to continue to have people that can add. Hopefully, we’ve done that for them in this case. That’s what the ultimate goal is."