Boston Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk attended a pro hockey conditioning camp in his home town of Edmonton, Alta., this week. Upon leaving the arena Wednesday, a young fan approached him for an autograph, adding, "I sure hope the Oilers get you.”

His response? “I’ve heard that a lot."

It's no secret the Bruins are in a cap crunch, with the likes of Reilly Smith and Torey Krug still looking for new deals ahead of the 2014-15 regular season. Boychuk, 30, is set to carry a cap hit of $3.36 million this season, and will become an unrestricted free agent at season's end, if an extension isn't reached with Boston in the meantime.

Boychuk, however, appears to have no desire to leave the Bruins - with whom he won a Stanley Cup in 2011 - and believes general manager Peter Chiarelli can work out the club's sticky financial situation.

"You always want to stay with the team you’re with. They’re my family," Boychuk told the Edmonton Journal. "Our GM (Chiarelli) is a mastermind ... he’s good with doing things like this (cap struggles) and we have some good players we’ve developed the last couple of years, but nobody’s heard of them over on the west side (NHL)."

Still, despite being a valuable member of the team, Boychuk's name remains at the top of the list of viable trade candidates, as evidenced in a recent article in the Boston Globe:

Boychuk will be unrestricted after this season. The silly term and money Washington pumped into Brooks Orpik (five years, $27.5 million) underscore how much Boychuk could score on the free market next summer. Boychuk hits like a truck. He’s a right shot. He hammers the puck. The 30-year-old won a ring in 2011 as a dependable second-pairing roughneck. In this market, a team deficient on defense would have to commit $6 million annually for Boychuk’s services. Unless he accepted a healthy markdown, Boychuk would not see that kind of coin in Boston. But even if Boychuk’s Black-and-Gold future after 2015 is doubtful, trading the strongman, even for help at right wing, might not necessarily improve the team. The coaching staff likes to use Boychuk in tandem with Chara as a late-game shutdown pairing. He averaged 21:11 of ice time per game last year, third-most after Chara (24:39) and Seidenberg (21:50). The Bruins know what they have in Boychuk.

Boychuk recorded career highs in goals (5), assists (18) and plus/minus (31) this past season. While he failed to record a point on the power play, he did a tremendous job of driving possession at even strength, posting a 55.2 Corsi For rating. He ranked 14th among all defenseman with more than 1,000 minutes of ice time.

Whatever happens, Boychuk will surely command much more on his next contract than his first go-round as a free agent back in 2009. That summer, the Bruins signed him for a paltry $500,000.