The NHL trade deadline is just two weeks away. The Boston Bruins have been struggling hard as of late, having lost their last five games. The fans have groaned and growled all over social media.
Listening to the fans, one thing is clear. Peter Chiarelli’s job seems to be the least secure it has ever been. Let’s look at Chiarelli’s most damning sins to date.
In an effort to keep giving out long-term, high pay contracts with no-trade clauses, certain players had to be left by the wayside. Andrew Ference was among those players. The Bruins alternate captain helped create the Bruins identity and was a solid leader for the squad. He was the motivator that helped push the team. (He likely got a few of the B’s to change out the light bulbs and recycle their trash as well.) Chiarelli just couldn’t afford to keep Ference, and he’s missed in the current B’s locker room.
Oil On Whyte
Tyler Seguin. Seguin was a party animal that shirked his responsibilities and to an extent wasted some of his talent. Seguin also didn’t fit into the Julien system of two-way, defensive minded hockey (neither did Phil Kessel). That being said, the B’s organization was too prideful to even contemplate moving Seguin to center in one of their lines. Seguin’s offensive potential has exploded as a part of the Dallas Stars, and it’s clear the Loui Eriksson trade went sort of bust for the B’s.
He’s traded away identity players (Shawn Thornton) in an effort to make a faster, and more skill based fourth line. Two thirds of the way through the season, Craig Cunningham hasn’t really filled in the shoes of Thornton that well. There was supposed to be more speed and skill, and it looked like Gregory Campbell would become the thirteenth forward and Daniel Paille would have moved up a line. Campbell and Paille have had certainly disappointing seasons, neither one of them having the impact they were hoping to have in Boston.
The Bruins have also missed Thornton’s role as an enforcer on the ice, and as a leader and community linchpin off it.
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He gave away Johnny Boychuk to the New York Islanders for draft picks. Chiarelli believed the blue line was secure in Boston, and giving up his number three defenseman wouldn’t impact the team too severely. Well, that didn’t quite go as planned. The Bruins blueliners started coming down with a string of injuries that caused the Bruins to empty out their AHL franchise in order to make due. (At best, the Bruins played .500 hockey during that time period.)
Boychuk, like Thornton was an identity player. He was the class clown in Boston, and his smile and attitude were infectious in the locker room. He was willing to give and absorb tremendous punishment to move the puck, and he had a dangerous slap shot that has paid dividends for his new team.
Most damning, Peter Chiarelli has not had a good handle on the salary cap. He has put down too many long-term, cash heavy contracts that have included no-trade clauses. This have left the Bruins precious little (if any) room to maneuver at the trade deadline. He has made too big of an investment in the here-and-now, and it’s cost the Bruins dearly.
He’s not going to be able to make any blockbuster trade. Sure, he might be able to talk one Bruin into waiving their no-trade clause (Dennis Seidenberg has said he’s willing), but it won’t generate the cap space for the Bruins to find that X factor the Black and Gold will need in order to make a serious Cup run this season. While I’m pretty sure they’ll get in the post-season, it looks like a one and done year for Boston. That failure will rest heavily on Chiarelli’s shoulders come April.