If the Bruins acquire him, he could take penalty kill minutes away from players such as Hampus Lindholm and Derek Forbort in an effort to keep them as fresh as possible for the playoffs.One silver lining about this tumultuous NHL season - during which lineups have become exponentially jumbled in ways we've never quite seen before - is that the clubs you'd want to steer clear of were obvious before the campaign started. Gavrikov leads the Blue Jackets at 22:10 of ice time per game, and he ranks fifth in the league in shorthanded time on ice per game (3:31).

1 defenseman for large stretches of the season due to Zach Werenski appearing in just 13 games because of injury. How Leafs acquiring O'Reilly, Acciari impacts Bruins before trade deadline He's best used as a defensive defenseman who eats up 20-plus minutes per game, kills penalties and blocks shots. He has tallied 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in 52 games this season. The 27-year-old veteran is not much of an offensive player. Gavrikov could end up being the Bruins' sixth or seventh defenseman.

A first-round pick and a third-round pick is a very steep price for a player who is arguably better than only one or maybe two of the Bruins' top-six defensemen. Boston reportedly has been aiming to add a left-shot defenseman to the mix. Gavrikov has been linked to the Bruins in several rumors over the last few weeks.

Adding Gavrikov could surely eliminate Boston from the Chychrun talk. Ball (or puck) is in Boston's court as they try to make the $ work. It's understood that if another team swoops in with a competitive/better offer, they could go that route.

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