Let me preface this by saying this is all my opinion. Absolutely none of it is factual.
If you've followed hockey at all this season, you'll know that the Boston Bruins have been god awful. A team that is normally near the top of the standings is fighting for a wildcard spot right now. If you're a fan of the team I'm sure you've had the same realization that I've had, being that, this isn't the team I fell in love with watching play. The B's normally played an extremely gritty, tough game. They were never an offensive focused team, but they managed, this year their offense sucks, they traded away a top 6 defensemen in Johnny Boychuk and their captain got hurt. Watching the Bruins this season is just flat out painful. They are awful in their defensive zone and they can't score a goal to save their lives. During the off season they lost Iginla who was playing Right Wing on the Lucic/ Krejci line. Iggy registered 61pts in 78 games last season, losing him was a huge loss but I think everyone expected someone new would step up and fill that roll. Everyone thought that this would finally be the year that Eriksson came alive, Marchand really caught fire, Reilly Smith continued to elevate his game. Unfortunately, none of those things have happened. While Marchand is having a good season, he's not making up for the gaping hole that Iginla left. The Bruins have no one to play right win on their first line with Lucic/ Krejci. They have had rookie Seth Griffith skating with 17 and 46 but he's simply not doing the job, I think he's a solid player and will be a good NHL player but he's not ready for first line action yet. There has been a ton of trade rumors surrounding the Bruins, getting Taylor Hall, trading Lucic. I personally don't think that Taylor Hall would be a good fit for them. Look at Tyler Seguin, the pick behind Hall in the 2010 draft. He did not work well in Boston, he was way too offensively minded in Claude Julien's defensive system. He's a great player just not right for the Bruins. If they traded for Hall, I would expect that to happen again. Hall is such a developed player already, I don't think he could change his ways.
I think the best thing that Peter Chiarelli could do is make a trade for a first line Right Winger. I think T.J. Oshie or Jordan Eberle would be great fits for the Bruins. Both are great in the defensive zone but also have offensive skill and can put up good numbers. When the first line has a good right winger you see the whole team really come together. When the B's had Nathan Horton, Lucic was putting up good numbers and that line was on fire all season. Last year when Iggy was in Boston Lucic played much better as well. So I think that if the Bruins get a top line winger they'll start playing a lot better. As to giving away players, I think that the Bruins should put Malcom Subban on the trading block and see what they can get for him. I don't see a lot of room for growth in the Bruins system for him. Rask is only 27 and is a great goalie and Subban is too good to be a back up goalie. So I'm thinking they could get a pretty good return for him. There are also some quality young players in the system such as Jordan Caron or Ryan Spooner that I think the Bruins could also get a pretty good return for. If the B's could get Oshie or Eberle, I don't think there would be any problem giving up a high draft pick and Subban. Oshie and Eberle both have a lot of upside potential and could really elevate the Bruins game. There is also a ton of trade speculation about trading away Lucic. I'm probably biased on this one because I'm a huge Lucic fan, but at the same time I'm willing to admit that he's not having a great season at all. I think the problem might be that Lucic isn't necessarily fit for a first line. He's an incredible player who can control the emotion of a team when he's on top of his game, but I don't think that he's quite first line material. Maybe second line. When Lucic is on the top of his game the Bruins are on the top of their game. He's an emotional leader and he offers a lot that can't be seen on the stat sheet. I would hate to see him go but I can see why teams would want him. If a team needs a lot of grit and a power forward, Lucic is a great option. Depending on how big the return is, I think I could come to terms with losing Lucic. I think a very important thing is getting NHL ready players in return. Chiarelli was an absolute idiot with the Boychuk trade when he didn't get any actual players in return. Boychuk is an awesome defenseman that was very valuable to the Bruins but for some reason Chiarelli decided to trade him for draft picks. The B's then saw their captain Zdeno Chara get sidelined for a month with a knee injury and I think that was when shit really hit the fan. The Bruins were really hurting for some leadership on the blue line, shortly after Chara got hurt Adam McQuaid got hurt. McQuaid isn't an all star player but he's definitely valuable to the team and his experience is valuable. Instead the Bruins had to dip into the pipe line and call up a defenseman that clearly wasn't ready for the NHL.
I'm expecting to see a big change to the Bruins in the coming days. Things are so bad that something has to happen. I'm excited to see what happens.
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