Report: Bruins have interest in Sabres' Stewart

The Boston Bruins' offense has struggled out of the gate and the club is desperately in need of a top-six winger to play on the right flank of David Krejci and Milan Lucic. Could Buffalo Sabres right wing and pending unrestricted free agent Chris Stewart fit the bill?

The Bruins have interest in the high percentage shooter, according to TSN's Bob McKenzie.

"He's much in demand," McKenzie said during an Insider Trading segment on TSN Tuesday night. "There's lots of teams interested in him, one of those teams: the Boston Bruins. 

"They've got that big gaping hole on the right side that was Jarome Iginla, that was Nathan Horton. But playing alongside David Krejci and Milan Lucic is a player that the Bruins need to go out and get and a guy like Stewart would be a tremendous fit."

Stewart turns 27 in October and hasn't recorded more than 20 goals in a season since the 2009-10 campaign. He's a big body with a plus wrist shot though, which would seem to make him a natural fit in the Iginla, Horton role in Boston.

Of course, there are some salary cap hurdles to get around. Stewart is due $4.2 million in actual salary on his expiring contract, which carries an annual averaged value (or cap-hit) of $4.15 million this season. 

The Bruins, meanwhile, are pressed up against the upper limit of the cap and have an estimated $3.76 million in salary cap space, according to capgeek.com. That would suggest that if the Bruins want to acqiore Stewart by way of trade, they'll have to send someone off their 23-man roster to Buffalo in the exchange.