As Friday’s trade deadline quickly approaches, the groans from the Eeyore section of Bruin fandom are becoming louder. Everything is awful, the professional pessimists say. The team should just dump all the good players on expiring contracts for draft picks and play for next year, they say, as if anything could came of packing it in.

And, sure, performances like the one the B’s turned in on Saturday night on Long Island in the 5-1 no-show loss do feed that narrative.

But becoming a straight seller when you’ve been at or near the top of the NHL for the entire season? Silly doesn’t begin to describe that thinking.

Yet what GM Don Sweeney can actually accomplish by Friday with the B’s paucity of draft capital (zero picks in the first three rounds of June’s draft) and salary cap space (current cap space of less than $70,000, according to capfriendly.com) is anyone’s guess. He’ll have to be creative, and it will require moving a roster player or two out. He won’t be able to make the kind of impact moves – or what he and everyone else thought were impact moves – like he did last season.

But they need a big thumper in the lineup and, considering the way they’ve been allowing goals lately (11 straight games of three goals or more), they could use some nasty on the blue line the most.

So what assets should or shouldn’t be in play? I would not move center Matt Poitras, defenseman Mason Lohrei or Providence forwards Georgii Merkulov and Fabian Lysell, especially not for a rental. The 2025 first-round pick should be protected as well.

Roster players are a different story. It certainly doesn’t seem like UFA-to-be Jake DeBrusk is close to signing an extension. If that remains the case by Friday, he needs to be in play at the very least to see what kind of offers he can garner. The gut feeling here is you wouldn’t want him walking out the door for nothing in the summer, no matter how disappointing his offensive production has been this season. You need to see what’s out there.

On the other hand, if DeBrusk goes, that would mean the B’s have to fill that hole in the top-six forward group, which at the moment already feels like it’s short a man. Maybe they could finally give Lysell or Merkulov a legitimate try, though management has resisted going the youngster route so far, even with the number of call-ups that have been required. One would think they would have taken a look at either one of them (beyond Merkulov’s three-game stint) by now if that’s the plan.

So, yes, DeBrusk would have to be in play. The same goes for Linus Ullmark. The feeling here at the start of the season – when the B’s were rolling and there was next to no drop-off between him and Jeremy Swayman – was, sure, let’s give this crazy goalie rotation idea a try. But as they’ve won just four games (only two of which in regulation) in 13 games, it’s becoming more clear that having two No. 1 caliber goalies is a luxury they can no longer afford. On top of that, the B’s may be forced to move him in the summer anyway to be able to afford the raise that Swayman ($3.475 million) should be receiving.

But the B’s are limited in the teams that would engage with them on Ullmark. He’s got a 16-team no-trade clause. There are also few teams that would really extend themselves for a goalie at this point, though Los Angeles and New Jersey keep coming up.

With all those roadblocks, what can they reasonably hope for in return? You can say they need one of everything and not be wrong, but that’s not realistic.

Noah Hanifin is on everyone’s wish list and for good reason. He’d go a long way toward helping out the left side of the defense, a problem area. But, according to Elliotte Friedman’s weekly report on Hockey night in Canada, the left-shot defenseman’s preferred long-term landing spot is Tampa Bay. If that’s the case, it’s hard to think that the B’s could do much to sell the pending UFA on coming to Boston, considering he’s from Norwood and he knows all about the city. He wouldn’t be the first player to want to avoid playing in his hometown.

Another name is Jakob Chychrun. If the Ottawa Senators are indeed considering moving the left sot D-man has one year left on his deal at $4.6 million, then the B’s should have their hand up for him, though he’s not been used on the penalty kill and that’s an area that needs improvement.

The kind of help they need on the back end is more of the physical kind than the puck-moving variety, at least when they get Hampus Lindholm and Matt Grzelcyk back. While it’s certainly not all on the defensemen, it’s been painful to see the number of rebound goals that are being allowed right now. If they could pry a Jacob Middleton, who has another year left at a reasonable $2.45 million, that should help. Perhaps Philadelphia’s Sean Walker or Nick Seeler could provide a boost.

Whichever way Sweeney decides to go, one thing is certain. If the Bruins’ best players don’t start playing like their best players again, it won’t matter who the GM can obtain.