Time To Pull Trade Trigger?

There may be another 19 days until the March 4th NHL trading deadline but it's certainly on the mind of fans already. This year, the Bruins will undoubtedly be buyers, looking for that veteran or added depth to help their quest for their first Stanley Cup in 37 years. With left-winger Marco Sturm done for the year the Bruins have his 3.5 million dollar salary and plus to work with to bring in another player. Let's start with the obvious: the Bruins are not in the market for Ilya Kovalchuk, Marian Gaborik or Vincent Lecavalier, nor should they be. All 3 players have high salaries not to mention their astronomical asking price.

With Ryder out for another 3 weeks, Kessel struggling to regain his scoring touch and the cooling down of Blake Wheeler the Bruins should definitely consider all their options. In my opinion, player such as Petteri Nokelainen, Vladimir Sobotka, Matt Lashoff, Matt Hunwick and even Manny Fernandez in certain situations can be used as trade bait. For the right price, I can see Peter Chiarelli throwing in a 1st round draft pick to sweeten the deal. With these players potiental and age to the Bruins advantage, they need to see who's on the market in order to potientally add that one piece for the Cup Run.

Let's start in Toronto where Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke is beginning the selling of center/right-winger Nik Antropov. Burke has publicly stated that he does not see Antropov being apart of the Leafs future and with an expiring contract, one can bet that he'll be looking to move the 6'6 forward. With a 2.2 million dollar salary he doesn't come as a big risk not to mention Burke's familiarity with the Bruins from his Anaheim days. Antropov has struggled in spurts this year, including a dreadful stretch where he went goal-less in 16 games straight but the upside is there when you factor in his size, potiental, and powerplay production (5 PPG, 5 PPA). His -15 isn't anything to write home about but realize how terrible the Maple Leafs and their goaltending has truly been. Antropov's stock has undoubtedly gone up given his latest hot streak of scoring goals in 4 of his last 7 games.

In St. Louis the Blues just won't die. Making the situation with Keith Tkachuk that much more diffecult for potiental buyers. Although the Blues find themselves in 14th place, they're just 8 points away from the 8th seed. There's no question the Bruins would be interested in a veteran such as Tkachuk, but his health and St. Louises asking price could give the Bruins a reason to stand back. Tkachuk's trade to Atlanta in 2007 only strengthens the Bruins desire to stay away from the Medford native.

There's no team that demonstrates the word 'bubble-team' better than the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers are currently 3 points away from the 5th seed and 7 points away from the 15th seed. However, the Oilers are insistent upon the idea that Erik Cole is on the market. Cole, a player capable of playing both LW and RW has struggled fitting into the Oilers offense, producing just 22 points in 54 games. However, his best days came with Carolina where he posted 50+ points in his final seasons along with a total of a +26. Cole is a gritty player who fights for every possession and has a knack for scoring too, a perfect fit in the Claude Julien system. Given the Oilers rumored asking price (Sobotka and Lashoff) the Bruins should definitely keep a close eye on this one.

Perhaps the most intriguing option resides in Anaheim. Chris Pronger, a physical and ferocious defensmen is rumored to be on the block by the Ducks. Pronger currently makes just over 6 million dollars and is under contract for 2009-10 which makes the idea of trading for him more difficult given the Bruins current salary-cap predicament. There's no question the idea of having Chara and Pronger on the ice for 20+ minutes in the playoffs is an intriguing option for Boston and a terrifying one for their opponents his salary may not fit into the Bruins budget without the B's having to give up a key piece of their team. One idea I had is a three-way trade in which the Bruins send Manny Fernandez to Colorado, Colorado sends Jordan Leopold to Anaheim and Pronger comes to Boston.

Injuries Showing; Replay Robbery

Injuries plauged the Boston Bruins in 2007-08 and it seems that yet again the injury bug has hit the Bruins, hard. "It's frustrating for everybody, it's frustrating for the players, it's frustrating for the fans, and then people that have seen our team in a better position before" Coach Claude Julien said regarding the teams recent injury woes. Yesterday the Bruins took to the ice without Milan Lucic, Phil Kessel, Patrice Bergeron, Andrew Ference, Aaron Ward and Marco Sturm (who's lost for the season). It was evident yesterday that these are not the Boston Bruins we've watched with such excitement this year. Julien later remarked "You can't replace Patrice Bergeron or Marco Sturm for his speed and his skill level..You got guys moving up that are playing big roles..and doing the best they can" and it's starting to show.


You can't blame everything on injuries though it was clear that the Bruins seemed very lackluster out there against a last place team. "I don't think our effort was there like it was against Washington". The Bruins were apparently on cruise control up until they were blessed with a 5 on 3 powerplay. They scored twice, Ryder (18) and Axelsson (4) to put them ahead 3-2. Then Chara put a weak shot from the blue line right through the 5-hole of Mason and it was 4-2 Boston. Game over, right? No. After a Stephane Yelle penalty the Blues scored on the powerplay. 4-3, about a minute left. They could still hang on, right?



Wrong. With the goalie pulled, Blake Wheeler's shot goes just wide, Krejci gets the rebound but Jackman blocks it with his body and the Blues skate up ice. Shane Hnidy then knocks the puck out of the Boston zone, and with 9 seconds left St. Louis makes their final rush then in a final frenzy David Backes bats the puck into the net past Tim Thomas with .2 seconds left on the clock as if his name was David Ortiz. Bruins players and fans thought they heard the voice of God over the PA in the words "The play is under review". It was clearly a high stick in the eyes of Bruins and fans as the stadium sang "No Goal", but the zebras and suits in Toronto had their say. The ruling was a goal. Seriously? It appeared the rules of "no goals when the stick's above the crossbar" were changed overnight and no one in the Boston area was told.

I honestly couldn't believe this call. I mean can't you just tell by that screenshot above that his stick was a good 2-4 inches above the red? Granted the Bruins were lucky to even get a point out of this but there wasn't enough conclusive evidence to say it wasn't a goal? I don't buy it. Neither did Claude Julien 'Everyone on our bench thought it was no goal'. It happens, there's 82 games in a season. But the bigger issue in this one is do the Bruins have enough fire-power to carry on down the stretch run?


With Sturm done for the year and his placement onto the Long Term Injured Reserve list the Bruins have 4+ million to play around with and be potiental buyers at this years trading deadline. Fact is, hoping for Lecavalier, Gaborik or Kovalchuk to be dawning a Bruins uniform into March is just being unrealistic; the price tag's are too high and the cap-hit is too much with guys like Krejci and Kessel becoming RFA's at seasons end. A name that intrigues me is St. Louis Blues LW and Medford, Massachusetts native Keith Tkachuk.


Adding Tkachuk would undoubtedly be a rental but his veteran presence and know-how could give nothing but an extra boost to this Boston club. Sturm's loss and the gain of a Keith Tkachuk would give the Bruins another weapon on the powerplay as 13 of Tkachuk's 30 points have been on the powerplay. His price tag may also not be as large as someone like a Nik Antropov, Mike Comrie or Islanders Captain Bill Guerin. Another appealing attribute Tkachuk has is his ability to play both left wing and center. Usually I'm not one for deadline deals ever since the Gonchar deal in which the Bruins lost both a 1st and 2nd round draft pick and saw Gonchar leave for Pittsburgh in the off-season but with the injuries this team's combating and question mark that is Patrice Bergeron I believe a deal would only benefit this team.