Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
This is a follow up to my last article on replacing Dennis Seidenberg. Though there is no replacing our fine German Defenseman, the Bruins need to try. Also, the time is now, they can’t afford to wait until the trade deadline in March.
Cam Neely was asked recently (On the radio) if they were looking for a Defenseman. He wouldn’t answer the question directly but the way he hesitated and didn’t answer the question with a “No” makes you believe it’s a “Yes”.
One would think that G.M. Peter Chiarelli would;
1. Be looking for a Left handed player like Dennis. 2. Be looking for either a Free Agent (FA) to be or at the very least a Restricted Free Agent (RFA) that they could deal his rights after the season is done. I highly doubt they would want a player that has multiple years left on his pact. 3. One would assume that he would prefer someone that puts in regular minutes. (Dennis regularly played 20+ minutes a game.)
So, with all of that here is the list.
*MPG= Minutes Per Game.
- Nikita Nikitin (Clb) +9, 17MPG, $2.15M, FA
- Kris Russell (Cal) +1, 23MPG, $1.5M, FA
- Keaton Ellerby (Win) +5, 16MPG, $735K, RFA
- Brenden Dillon (Dal) +1, 21MPG, $900K, RFA
- Andrew MacDonald (NYI) -5, 25+MPG, $550K, FA
- Mark Stuart (Win) -1, 17MPG, $1.7M, FA
- Rostislav Klesla (Pho) -2, 16MPG, $3M, FA
- Mattias Ekholm (Nash) -4, 18MPG, $1.025M, RFA
- Adam Pardy (Win) +2, 14MPG, $600K, FA
- Justin Falk (NYR) -2, 12MPG, $975K, RFA
Throw-ins:
Matt Donovan (NYI) -5, 16+MPG, $875K, RFA
Ron Hainsey (Car) -9, 21+MPG, $2m, FA
Dmitry Kulikov (Fla) -9, 20+MPG, $2.5M, RFA
The order of quality can be argued but in my opinion this is where the Bruins should look/consider.
As for certain attributes that stand out… Dillon, Ellerby, Pardy, Stuart and Klesla will all play physically and or fight. Russell and Nikitin are scrappy players with a good shot. MacDonald is a good shot blocker.
*The salary listed is for the entire season.
I have no idea if any of these players are available or what it would cost.
One last thing, the only players listed are from teams that are at or near the bottom of their respective divisions and more likely/willing to make a trade.
Go B’s!