Kalman: Trade For Rinaldo Doesn't Mesh With Bruins' Stated Plan
BOSTON (CBS) -- "Clearly we have to integrate our younger players in our lineup and do a better, as I've mentioned, been on record, be patient with them while they continue to develop at the National Hockey League level," said Bruins general manager Don Sweeney prior to the NHL Draft Friday
Sweeney traded defenseman Dougie Hamilton to Calgary and forward Milan Lucic to Los Angeles at the NHL Draft last Friday in Sunrise, Florida, and only got a backup goaltender and AHL defenseman in return, as far as assets that could be useful to the Bruins in 2015-16.
Although one had to figure Sweeney had bigger plans for replacing his departed top-end talent when he uttered the above quote, it wasn't far-fetched to think Plan B might be a youth movement that would allow players from the farm system to replace Hamilton and Lucic, as well as replace Carl Soderberg, Gregory Campbell and Daniel Paille.
And then Plan C came out of the bushes and boggled everyone's brain. The Bruins traded a third-round draft pick in 2017 to Philadelphia for Zac Rinaldo, who had one goal and one eight-game suspension last season in 58 games.
Giving prospects like Brian Ferlin, Matthew Lindblad, Alexander Khokhlachev, Colby Cave and Austin Czarnik a chance to compete against each other for jobs up front would go a long way toward erasing some of the complacency that doomed the Bruins last season. Now for some reason Sweeney has inserted a 25-year-old with eight career goals as a road block in the way of the youth movement.
If the Bruins gave up nothing or next to nothing (say a sixth- or seventh-round pick) to acquire the $850,000 forward, it could be seen as an attempt to add to the competition for jobs and a try by Sweeney to add some pugnacity to the dressing room. But teams that value draft picks and the future don't trade third-round draft picks for healthy scratches. (They don't trade them for fourth-line players either, but that horse has left the barn.)
Sweeney has obviously acquired Rinaldo with the intention that coach Claude Julien will play the 5-foot-11 left wing. Physicality is the only NHL-caliber skill that's come out of Rinaldo over the past four seasons, and often he uses that skill beyond the parameters of the rules. He was suspended eight games last season, four games the season before, two games in 2012. This guy actually takes more dumb penalties than Brad Marchand.
Everyone knew the Bruins needed to upgrade on Paille and Campbell, who were mostly useless beyond the penalty kill. But Paille at least brought some speed to the lineup and Campbell was able to win faceoffs. Rinaldo seems like a downgrade even on Boston's overpaid last remnants of the "Merlot Line."
Unfortunately, the Rinaldo trade came on the heels of another youth road block. By re-signing Adam McQuaid for $2.75 million, Sweeney has made it extremely difficult for Julien to integrate Zach Trotman, Joe Morrow, newly acquired Colin Miller or any other upstart defenseman that might earn a job in the fall. When you figure that Zdeno Chara, Dennis Seidenberg and Torey Krug are fixtures in the lineup, there are only three openings on the rest of the corps. McQuaid might not earn his playing time with his production, but it'll be difficult for Julien to sit a guy who makes close to $3 million. Julien always responds to situations where there are too many capable players for available positions as a positive problem to have. Those situations, though, turn into a negative when salary becomes a deciding factor over performance.
In a League that's not just getting faster and more skilled, but also younger, it wouldn't be the worst thing for the Bruins to try to get a jolt from an extra-large dose of youth. Their precarious position near the NHL salary-cap ceiling, which they can blame on fired GM Peter Chiarelli, would give them a satisfactory excuse for taking a youth-movement approach.
Instead, Sweeney's actions are contradicting his words. He's overpaying for mediocre veterans with valuable cap space and draft picks, and he's creating obstacles instead of opportunity in his lineup.
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.