Teams are reportedly targeting two Boston forwards

There’s more than five months left until the NHL trade deadline, but the rumors have started to swirl.

According to The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta, they’re interested in Casey Mittelstadt, too.

“Boston is interesting. Casey Mittelstadt is out there out there again. Pavel Zacha was a player that they explored and took calls on last season,” Pagnotta said. “From the Canucks’ perspective, those are two players that would appeal. There are players they are exploring on and I would imagine that Boston would be a club that Allvin and (President Jim) Rutherford are going to at least poke on to see what the price tag would be for either of those players.”

The Bruins entered the year talking about playoff contention. Dealing Zacha for anything other than somebody who can help the roster right now, means they’re pulling the plug, just 10 games into the season.

To do that, they’d have to fetch a pretty hefty combination of draft picks and prospects.

Plus, if last season’s trade deadline indicated anything, teams were willing to spend big in terms of draft picks close to the deadline. The 2026 deadline is March 4, after the Olympics.

Zacha has a year remaining with a very reasonable $4.75 million average annual value. He has an eight-team no-trade list that Friedman says doesn’t include the Canucks. He plays center and wing, power play and penalty kill. Unless he gets hurt, he’ll still have plenty of value in February and March.

Mittelstadt could be a different story. At 26, the Bruins are still hoping he’ll blossom, but he’s been a healthy scratch once already this season. The Bruins are hoping James Hagens will take over the No. 2 center spot as soon as this spring. And Matt Poitras could be an option to fill it now.

Mittelstadt has six points through 10 games and has a year left on his deal at $5.75 million. They won’t give him away, but if Vancouver, or anybody else, makes an attractive offer, they’d be more likely to pull the trigger.

If the Bruins aren’t in playoff contention in March, they’ll listen on a lot of players. Until then, they’re far more likely to give Marco Sturm some rope.