Bruins’ Trent Frederic Traded To Oilers As Part Of Three-Team Deal

The Bruins aren’t going to wait until the NHL trade deadline to start building toward the future, and Trent Frederic is the first domino to fall.

Boston is sending Frederic to the Edmonton Oilers as part of a three-team deal that also involves the New Jersey Devils, the team announced Tuesday. The Bruins got a 2025 second-round pick (previously belonging to St. Louis) and a 2026 fourth-round pick from Edmonton, as well as defenseman Max Wanner.

The Bruins are also sending Max Jones to Edmonton as part of the deal and the Devils, according to reports, are helping facilitate the deal by taking on 50% of Frederic’s money. The Bruins are retaining 50% of the money, too.

Wanner has spent his entire professional career in the AHL. The 2021 seventh-round pick has appeared in 22 games for the Bakersfield Condors in the AHL this season, scoring a goal and adding an assist in 22 games. The 6-foot-3, 185-pound blueliner posted 7-10-17 totals for the Condors last season. He’ll report to Providence, the Bruins announced.

It will be a little while before Frederic makes his debut with the defending Western Conference champions. The Bruins placed Frederic on injured reserve with a lower-body injury Tuesday shortly before making the deal. When he suffered the injury, the club said his absence was expected to be a week-to-week thing, so there’s no surprise about that development.

When healthy, Frederic will be a very good complement to a talented Edmonton team. The pending unrestricted free agent, like most of his now former Bruins teammates, is having a down year. However, he’s one year removed from a career-high 18 points, and his combination of size (6-foot-3, 221 pounds) and scoring ability is valuable. He’ll likely slot in on the Oilers’ bottom six where Edmonton won’t need him to drive the offense in any substantial way. Assuming he gets healthy, his ability and willingness to play a physical brand of hockey makes a lot of sense for Edmonton.