While the Boston Bruins wrap up their offseason’s internal business (such as dealing with RFA’s like Jimmy Hayes and Brett Connolly), the focus turns from their revamped forward corps to defense. We recently discussed potential unrestricted free agent fixes for the Bruins’ blue line.

Today, let’s explore some of the potential trade-based solutions to the Bruins top-four hole.

With the exodus of Dougie Hamilton and limited attractive solutions on the unrestricted free agent market, Boston may have to explore trading some of its impressive organizational depth to fill the vacated spot.

Undeniably, there are decent – if not exciting – options within the organization: Linus Arnesson, Zach Trotman, Joe Morrow and Colin Miller. But to suggest that these youngsters will seamlessly fit and thrive within an aging, slowing defensive core strains logic.

When considering defensemen on the trade market, there exist numerous possibilities – the greatest coming from franchises which are cap-strapped or with players due major raises in the coming offseasons.

The ‘best’ targets are those which fulfil both standards: Defensemen like Brent Seabrook of the cap-strapped Chicago Blackhawks are on-the-nose targets. The Bruins have the prospect and pick depth to go after a D of Seabrook’s caliber but Chicago will probably seek to dump overpaid players like Bryan Bickell and desirable veteran forwards like Patrick Sharp before they consider moving their number-two blueliner.

The Bruins’ former Stanley Cup foes in Vancouver face similar cap constraints (albeit to a lesser extent). Since moving Kevin Bieksa earlier this offseason, they’ve gained adequate space to the need to force a trade. However, ex-Bruins’ Assistant GM Jim Benning undoubtedly has the phone lines working as Vancouver transitions from an abortive re-tooling to a rebuild. If they’re looking for some futures, the Bruins have ‘em in spades.

Both Alex Edler and Dan Hamhuis have been on the Black and Gold’s radar in recent years as possession-savvy defenders who can hold their own in the defensive zone.

Other teams like the Bolts and Sharks are pressed against the cap but either do not have players available to move or lack significant impetus to move defense when their forward corps are more up in the air.

With Green to DET, Boston could look to Franson via free agency or circle back to Yandle trade. Then again, who the f even knows. I'm bored. — Ty Anderson (@_TyAnderson) July 1, 2015

One can’t forget the pie-in-the-sky wish list. St. Louis’s Kevin Shattenkirk, New York Rangers’ Keith Yandle and Calgary’s Mark Giordano have all seen their names enter the rumor mill at times. However, the chance that any of these or similar players wind up truly on the market, let alone shipped up to Boston lies at the intersection of Slim St. and None Blvd.

#Flames Giordano now eligible to sign #NHL extension. Hearing starting point on max term is 72m over 8 years. — Nick Kypreos (@RealKyper) July 1, 2015

Perhaps a better goal would be to aim for the lesser-known and more underappreciated players on squads with deep defensive cores. That way, the prospective price-tag would be significantly lower and permit the Bruins to pursue other big fish if they so choose. One such target is infrequently-used Ottawa Senators’ defenseman Patrick Wiercioch.

The 6’5″ Wiercioch almost uniformly improved his teammates’ 5-on-5 Corsi-For% and Goals-For% over the past two seasons, yet saw the ice in fewer than two of three games for the Sens in that span.

Whether Boston sticks with growing players in-house, hitting the free agent market, or setting up a trade; Boston’s team-building under new GM Don Sweeney is far from complete. The only question is whether whatever’s in the pipeline will come with fireworks or poppers.

Advanced stats courtesy of Stats.HockeyAnalysis.com

Follow Bob Mand on Twitter at @HockeyMand