Dustin Brown to the B's?

I thought that headline would grab your attention.

Is he coming to the B's?  No.  The trade deadline is over, so there's no way we could get him this year although it is reported that we tried.  This is just me playing GM.

There's a report that the King's want to strip Brown of his captaincy and give it to Mike Richards (former captain of the Flyers).  I can just envision how that conversation is going to go in the offseason...and I'm sure that won't piss Brown off....not one bit....

If this is really the case, it makes the most sense to trade Brown instead of relinquishing him of his captaincy, which just seems mean.  Has that ever been done?

If he's made available, I would love the Bruins to make a play for the American this offseason.  He's signed through 2014 with only a $3.175m cap hit, so the B's can easily fit him in under the cap.  He's incredibly durable, playing close to 80 games a season during his 7 years.  He also has scored more than 20 goals the past 4 seasons and appears to be on the verge of continuing that streak this year.

What would it cost to get him?  Good question.  It'd put out feelers for Krejci and Thomas this offseason to see who's interested.  The Kings aren't lacking for either centermen (Richards and Kopitar) or goalies (Quick and Bernier).  In fact, they also have two starting caliber goalies on their team.  They did just trade Jack Johnson to the Blue Jackets, so they could be looking for a defenseman.  Sending them Boychuk wouldn't be enough.  Do we make Hamilton available?  I'm sure they would at least listen, but our prospect pipeline is already thin, so I'd prefer not to give up Hamilton as some believe he'll be with the big boys next season.

For this to happen it seems like a third team would need to get involved unless the brass are making players available that I wouldn't consider available.  Maybe a team interested in Thomas could send a player/picks to the Kings and the Kings could send Brown our way.  Or maybe a team interesting Bernier would also be interested in Krejci and we get a deal done that way.  In those scenarios I'm sure the B's would also have to include picks as well.

Why would I get rid of Krejci?  He's underachieving and frustrating.  He does have enormous potential, shows flashes of brilliance and his cap hit is very friendly, so he could be moved and I'm sure teams would be interested.  I would then slide Seguin up and over to the first line center (his natural position), resign Horton (as long as he's healthy) and then you figure out who Brown works better with: Lucic and Seguin or Marchand and Bergie...that's where he goes and Horton goes on the other line.

Pretty simple right?  Anyone got Chiarelli's number?  Realistic?  Eh probably not, but it's fun to throw out ideas.