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The Boston Bruins are in need of solid top-pairing defensemen. This is a truth that no Bruins fan can escape and the solution doesn’t seem imminent. Acquiring a top-2 defenseman in the NHL requires a few factors, the first starts with a team who is for one reason or another looking to move a top-2 defenseman. The second, and easily the most difficult part for any fan or member of management to swallow, is the absolutely ridiculous return it would take to acquire a defenseman who can play top minutes and shutdown opponents top players. The most common way to acquire these sort of defensemen is through the draft, however the free agency market is also an option if contract talks result in a parting of ways between player and team, a recent example of this is the Dougie Hamilton trade.
The Bruins for many years had one of the best all-around defensemen in the league in Zdeno Chara, and while he is still very capable of playing a meaningful role on a team, he is no longer physically capable of playing close to 30 minutes a night over an 82 game season, with additional playoff games also taking their toll. Zdeno Chara is 38 years old and still has three years remaining on his contract that counts for just under $7 million against the Bruins Salary Cap. It doesn’t take an analyst to realize that Zdeno Chara is nearing the end of his career and with a few injuries (some irreparable) hampering the Bruins captain, is seems like the end will be sooner rather than later.
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The Bruins had a choice to make last season regarding salary cap issues and decided to trade away fan-favorite defenseman Johnny Boychuk. The decision to move Boychuk was arguably one of the biggest factors as to why the Bruins missed the playoffs for the first time since the 2006-2007 season. Johnny Boychuk signed a contract extension with the New York Islanders for seven years with a $6 million average cap hit.
In hindsight, the Bruins made a good decision in signing Dennis Seidenberg to a four year $16 million contract extension, but injuries turned a good decision into a train-wreck as Seidenberg is another “top-2” Bruins defenseman who is dealing with age as well as injuries in the latter part of his career. With Seidenberg and Chara both costing the Bruins a combined $11 million against the salary cap, $6 million for Boychuk really seems like a bargain; or at least an easier contract to swallow.
The Bruins could potentially try to move Zdeno Chara sometime this season, however it doesn’t seem like it will make much of a difference at this point as the return could potentially be minuscule and with no replacement in sight, it doesn’t seem worth it at this point. If the Bruins can somehow work a trade out that returns some actual value to the Bruins, which is possible, but not likely, then a trade could make more sense. All in all, it seems like the Bruins pulled the trigger on the wrong Bruin defenseman, and are going to be forced to deal with that decision for years to come.