Arrivals:
The Bruins were disgustingly underwhelming at the trade deadline that hit at 3pm yesterday. I already wrote about the Brett Connolly trade, and since I have I am even more sold on him. Although he may not make an immediate impact this season, I believe in the long run he will. Shortly after the trade deadline hit, rumors started flying that the Bruins had traded Jordan Caron to the Colorado Avalanche for Max Talbot. Then during Peter Chiarelli's press conference, it was announced that the Bruins also traded their 6th round 2016 pick for Paul Carey. The B's also made an AHL trade sending Jared Knight to the Iowa Wild in exchange for Zack Phillips. Initially, I was extremely unhappy about getting Max Talbot, a 31 year old who's cap hit next year was going to be 1.8M. He's only known for his game winning goal in the Stanley Cup against the Red Wings. I later found out that the Avalanche would retain half of the cap hit next season which 900K, I became a little more comfortable with it. Caron's cap hit next season would have been 600K, so what's 300K more for a guy with good playoff experience and has played with a few Bruins in the past (Bergeron and Paille). Then I saw this tweet and all my worries went away, if Bergeron says its great then its great and I'll never think otherwise. #InBergeronWeTrust.
Onto Paul Carey, I love this move. Carey is a great depth guy and a 2-way AHL forward. He has 27 points in 43 games in the AHL and I wouldn't be surprised to see him in Boston possibly next season if he earns it. There are spots up for grab on the fourth line and I think he could be a good fit. Carey is a Boston native and played four years of cawlidge hawkey at Boston College under Jerry York. Now I may be a little biased because I'm a big BC hockey fan but I think thats the recipe for a great hockey player. I also love the fact that he's coming home to play in his hometown.
Departures:
Ahhhh, Jordan Caron. Another Bruins first round draft pick that never developed. Add him to the long list, 25th overall in 2009 and he absolutely never flourished. Now I don't blame this directly on him, he never got a fair chance. He registered only 28 points in 134 games in the NHL. Caron was probably one of the most hated young guys in Boston, I guess because he never really performed like he was expected to but for some reason I always had a soft spot for him. I never thought he'd be a top 6 forward but I didn't mind seeing him in the bottom 6 every so often. With that said, I'll take Max Talbot over Caron.
This one really bummed me out. The Bruins put Craig Cunningham on waivers and unsurprisingly he was claimed by the Arizona Coyotes. Yesterday in Peter Chiarelli's press conference he said that they had brought Cunningham up for a potential trade but that fell through so they either needed to include him in another trade or place him on waivers. I thought Cunningham was a great player and a good fit in Boston. My expectations were that next year he would be on the 4th line and I thought that was perfect. He's a solid player and a good contributor to the B's. It really sucks that the Bruins didn't get anything in return for him. I expect that he'll have a solid career in Arizona and get the ice time that he deserves.
In conclusion, the final question that is asked at the end of the trade deadline is, are they better than they were before? I suppose the answer here is yes, but barely. Basically every year, Bruins fans are disappointed by Chiarelli's actions at the trade deadline. It's a glaring fact that the Bruins need help on the blue line. I was really hoping that the Bruins would get Keith Yandle. I would have been comfortable with the Bruins giving up for big players (ie: Chris Kelly, Loui Eriksson, Reilly Smith, Dennis Seidenberg, Malcom Subban) to get him. He would have been a HUGE help for the Bruins. If the Connolly trade works out then Chiarelli will be viewed as a genius, giving two second round picks for the 6th overall pick in the 2010 draft. If it doesn't work out then it will fuel the fire of people calling for Chiarelli to be fired. In my eye's you have to give Connolly a little time before you decide whether it was a good trade or not. I really would have liked to see Chiarelli do more at the trade deadline but I understand that he did not want to give up a first round pick for a rental player, which I completely agree with. When Chiarelli was asked why he didn't trade for a defensemen to fill out the blue line, he said that he felt like the younger guys deserved a chance to prove their worth and that they had earned it. If you ask me, it sounds like Chiarelli isn't too worried about winning the cup because that will be pretty hard to do with unexperienced defensemen. I am really hoping that Chiarelli will go out this summer and make some big trades. The Bruins desperately need a top 6 forward that can score. They could also benefit greatly from another defensemen to fill out the blue line. Everyone knows that Chara's playing days are numbered and Adam McQuaid shouldn't be on the second pair.
This is what I'd like to see for the projected lines right now:
Marchand- Bergergon- Connolly
Lucic- Spooner- Pastranak
Kelly- Sodberg- Eriksson
Ferlin- Talbot- Smith
I'm not much of a fan of Reilly Smith, if you ask me he's pretty underwhelming. I'd love to see Connolly get a shot with the first line.
No comments:
Post a Comment