Rumor season has arrived, and this is a weird one.

Darren Dreger, TSN's insider, appeared on Montreal radio this morning and discussed one of the more noteworthy subplots of the upcoming free agent season: the NHL return of Ilya Kovalchuk.

Chris Nichols of FRS Hockey has the transcript, and it has a local surprise in it.

From FRS Hockey:

"And then beyond that, probably more solid contenders include the likes of San Jose and Los Angeles, and I’d put the Boston Bruins in that group and maybe the New York Rangers as well. So there’s a total of nine teams."

Huh.

The "beyond that" Dreger refers to was his mention of the Detroit Red Wings, St. Louis Blues, Dallas Stars and a few others he called dark horses.

He places the Bruins in interesting company, as Kovalchuk already met with the Kings and Sharks on a California tour.

Truthfully, I'm not sure Kovalchuk would fit in Boston. The Bruins already have Brad Marchand, Jake DeBrusk and Danton Heinen on the left. Maybe they could switch DeBrusk to the right and play Kovalchuk with Krejci?

If that's what you'd have to do, you'd probably be better off re-signing Rick Nash. He and Kovalchuk will probably command similar deals.

In any case, these seems like a longshot, but Dreger must have heard it somewhere.

Kovalchuk is 35 and hasn't played in the NHL since 2013. He has put up big numbers in the KHL and was a point-per-game guy at the recent Olympics, so it's no surprise that teams are interested.

Woukd you be interested in getting him on the Bruins?

Edit: Per Matt Kalman, Dreger isn't the only insider who thinks Kovalchuk to Boston is possible.