The most wonderful time of the year is right around the corner and after reviewing the countless reports and assessments suggesting the potential solutions to the Boston Bruins cap crisis; one thing is clear and that is Johnny Boychuk is the most valuable trade commodity the team seems to be making available.
I think it’s safe to say the majority of us would rather see a lesser combination of players be moved to abate the Bruins cap woes, however with each day that passes, Boychuk remains the name at the top of the list. The Bruins stalwart d-man has been centered around trades potentially sending him to the Edmonton Oilers, however maintains a positive attitude during training camp.
“This is like home,” Boychuk said Wednesday after a sparsely attended captain’s practice at Ristuccia Arena. “You’ve grown up playing for Boston — not grown up, but the last lot of years of my life. It’s home for me.
All the trade talk of course stems from the Bruins current cap situation created by General Manger Peter Chiarelli and his continued transgression of falling in love with his players. However, the fact that the Bruins seem to be strongly considering the idea of moving Boychuk raises more of an eyebrow than the Chiarelli’s ultimate flaw.
Since the Bruins have opened their doors to Peter Chiarelli and Claude Julien’s ushering in of a new direction for the franchise, there were two components of the game they seemed to value more than anything else; defense and balance. Well, if a move is made dealing Boychuk, it represents a complete and utter failure on behalf of Peter Chiarelli as well as an indication of perhaps a new movement for the Bruins.
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I’m sorry, but does anyone recall we were just in the Stanley Cup finals two seasons ago and the expectation of a Stanley Cup entering this year’s playoffs was reasonable to say the least. Not to mention, the Bruins seem ready to just a bunch of kids together underneath some top talent and just hope everything works itself out.
Hope is not the word I want to hear entering the 2014-2015 season. This is a Bruins team still loaded with talent following an offseason where we saw mostly subtractions as opposed to additions. However, regardless of the changes made, the expectation entering this season should be for the Bruins to make it to at least the conference finals. Well, then why do I have smell something funny with the lack of urgency this team is demonstrating with the Boychuk that whispers of a youth movement is coming.
There has already been the overhyping of David Pastrnak; and I’m not discounting his potential but it shouldn’t have been shocking for a kid who’s been playing in a Swedish Pro League for two years would be a standout in rookie camp. I think it’s a bit premature to be hearing some people wanting to see him on the top line as we heard during the first episode of Behind The B.
Also, there’s rumors regarding the asking price for Torey Krug and Reilly Smith being in the three million dollar range. I’m as big of a fan of Torey Krug as the next guy but three million dollars for a little over a year’s worth of albeit solid production is a bit much. The same argument can be made against Reilly Smith who went from the biggest surprise during the first half of the season to the biggest disappointment of the second half of the season.
My point is this, with a core as good as we have, we should be focused on trying to preserve the veteran presence with as much effort as management can possibly but forth. The sad part is that it’s likely we have seen our last days of Johnny Boychuk in a Bruins uniform. As years move forward, this trend of buying in heavy on our own players will make the situation with Boychuk certainly not the last, then again it’s not the first one either.