3. Bruins make two trade deadline deals.
Just about one hour after his team was blasted embarrassingly at the TD Garden by the Capitals, 8-1, on April 11, Sweeney knew that if his team was going to finish in the top-four of the East Division, he needed to upgrade his roster. Upgrade his roster he did late on that Sunday night.
In the first move, Sweeney filled a hole on defense as the injuries were piling up when he acquired Mike Reilly from the Ottawa Senators for a draft pick. What a pick-up this turned out to be. In 15 games wearing the Spoked-B, Reilly, an offensive defenseman, had eight assists and played very well in his defensive end. Reilly is a free agent and the Bruins should be looking to bring him back next season.
That was just the beginning for Sweeney. A few minutes later, the Bruins GM acquired forwards Taylor Hall and Curtis Lazar from the Buffalo Sabres for a struggling Anders Bjork and a draft pick.
Hall, a free agent this summer, settled in on the second line with David Krejci and Craig Smith and that line supplied what the Black and Gold had been lacking behind their top-line, secondary scoring. In 16 games with Boston, Hall had eight goals and six assists, and a plus/minus of plus-15. What a turnaround from his stats with the Sabres, where he had two goals, 17 assists in 37 games, and minus-21. Yikes.
Lazar went down to the fourth line and revived it as Sean Kuraly and Chris Wagner played well with their new teammate and supplied energy and gave the team a jolt on most of their shifts. The good news is Lazar has one more year remaining on his contract and is a good piece to build the fourth line around for next season.
There are other storylines this past season, but looking back at the big picture in the regular season, these are ones that stuck out. If you have one, leave a comment below.