Posted by Gayle Simone, Sun Staff
The Bruins dropped their third straight last night for the fourth time in this year's campaign, but the Black and Gold have not had a losing streak extend farther than that. Can they turn it around against Buffalo tonight?
The last time the Rangers handed the Bs their third straight loss, the Bs came out and beat the Sabres in a shootout - maybe it can happen again tonight.
What needs to change? Who needs to step up? The answers are simple, everything and everyone.
Offensively the Bruins have had one player to be the most consistent: Marc Savard; Defensively the Bruins have had one player to be the most consistent: Zdeno Chara; On the power play the Bruins have had one unit which has been the most consistent: Savard, Chara, Patrice Bergeron, Glen Murray and Marco Sturm. In fact, out of the 47 ppg the Bs have Savvy, Muzz and Bergy have 9 apiece, Chara has 7 and Sturm 4 - that's 38 of the 47.
Goaltending still seems to be a major question in hand - ironically Hannu Toivonen had one of his best games of the season in the 3-0 loss to Ottawa the Saturday before the All Star break and Tim Thomas has been shakey lately and I have to agree with Dale Arnold, one thing that is completely annoying with Thomas' game is that one shot on goal becomes three shots on goal- "He is horrible at controling rebounds."
Brad Boyes has been basically non-existant this season, Paul Mara has also had a disappointing season... who else is on that list - trust me it goes on and on...
One thing is for sure GM Peter Chiarelli is not sitting still, the Bruins have recalled David Krecji from Providence and waived Jeff Hoggan ; wonder if he's done or if the new GM wants to make a move. But a move for who and who is he willing to give up?
With Sturm, Wayne Primeau and Brad Stuart all free agents at the end of the season, will one of them be the one to be moved? Is there a package in the works?
From what I've heard and read, Stuart is not happy in Boston and has said he will test the free agency market at the end of the season anyways, so why wait and get nothing for him.
Who would you put on the trading block? Is there a player you would try and go after? Chiarelli said he's looking for depth on defense and a gritty forward... can they get one of the two or both? Why does the club seem happy with the goaltending?
They should target Joe Thornton in trade :-)
Seriously they need BIG fixes and I don't see anyone out there willing to trade franchise-style talent for the kind of guys the B's have to deal.
They should make a deal for a goalie- maybe Robert Esche of the Flyers. Tim Thomas is NHL-caliber (as a backup) but how can you count on Hannu for anything? He plays okay for a game or two and then stinks up the place. Thomas would be better if not overplayed. The Flyers have a trio of goalies and don't seem too enamored of Esche... They SHOULD have jumped all over Roberto Luongo when he was made available over the summer. I also don't understand dealing away Raycroft. He had a down year but certainly was young enough to bounce back. Al Montoya of the Rangers would be even a better deal as he's still very young but unless the Rangers think they are Cup contenders they probably wouldn't deal for the Bruins' players...
The problem for Chiarelli is that O'Connell/Sinden didn't leave a lot of chips to deal either in prospects or in NHL-level players. They can maybe make a deal (or deals) and get to #8 in the conference just to get waxed 3 straight in the playoffs but what good is that? They are probably best to bide their time and wait until a true contender has injuries close to the deadline and would be willing to overpay for a Stuart or a Sturm (don't think they can get more than a bag of pucks for Primeau) and try to get themselves at least a decent player or two to build upon.
Posted by dboisver | January 30, 2007 3:16 PM
Posted on January 30, 2007 15:16