Record: 33-19-7 (first place in division, third in conference)
Two wins in a row for the Bruins, but in all honesty those were two wins they should have had with no problem. Both the Islanders and Senators need to be beat if you want to continue to compete at the highest levels of the NHL. Easy teams should be easy wins. The real news over the last couple days were the trades Chiarelli pulled off, one for Thomas Kaberle, the Toronto defensemen and one with the Atlanta Thrashers for center Rich Peverley and defensemen Boris Valabik. Add that to the already acquired Chris Kelly and the Bruins are a much different looking team then they were a week ago.
The biggest move was the pick up of Kaberle in exchange for Joe Colborne, our 2011 first round pick and a conditional 2012 second round pick. The conditions of the 2012 pick being either the signing of Kaberle for next year or the Bruins making it to the Stanley Cup finals. The Bruins needed help on the blue line. They have a nice group of young defensemen that might blossom into NHL greats, but at the moment they are nothing more then a bunch of number threes. I love Kampfer, Boychuk and McQuaid, but they just aren’t there yet. They also lack a good puck moving d-man. Chara is considered the Bruin’s number one defenseman but he couldn’t keep a beach ball on his stick through center ice, forget about a puck. Kaberle helps with both those issues, but I’m not sure he’s the answer. He will be a huge help on the power play and brings some puck movement to the blueline, but his numbers have gone down over the last 5 years and he is in his 12th season in the NHL. Luckily the cost wasn’t too steep. Joe Colborne has a big upside, but we’re not really sure yet what he will become in the NHL. There is a chance he will become a superstar, but with the Bruins depth at the position it is worth the risk. Since we already have Toronto’s first round pick this year, giving up our pick isn’t much of a loss. If things play out like they appear to be heading, the Toronto pick will be higher then ours and there is still a chance that the Toronto pick becomes a lottery pick.
The trade for Peverley and Valabik was mostly a cap clearing move. We gave up Blake Wheeler and Mark Stuart. Anyone who has read my Bruins posts knows my feelings on Wheeler. I won’t miss him at all. Most nights he was a waste of space on the ice and you never knew what kind of effort you were going to get from him. I would have rather seen Ryder go, but I doubt there is anyone who would be dumb enough to pick up that contract. Stuart was a good Bruin and will be missed, but in all honesty, he has been the odd man out of the defense corp. recently. Valabik is going to Providence. I doubt he will have any effect on the big team. Peverley is a great face-off guy, something the Bruins have had problems with this year. Other then Bergeron, the Bruins don’t really have a go to face-off winner. Peverley will help with that.
Over all I think Chiarelli did a great job with these moves. I would like to see the Bruins pick up another defensemen before the deadline, but I’m not sure the cap space we are dealing with will allow that.
No comments:
Post a Comment