Kalman: Bruins Need Defensive Upgrade To Meet Lowered Organizational Expectations
BOSTON (CBS) -- Despite the wishes of overreacting fans that are panicking and level-headed ones that see a brighter future if the Bruins gain something in return for some of their assets during a season that's not going to end with a Stanley Cup victory parade, the Bruins are not going to be sellers on March 2 at the NHL trade deadline.
We know from CEO Charlie Jacobs' proclamations in early January that missing the playoffs would be an absolute failure. He would clearly have to back up his words with a major shakeup if that happens. So general manager Peter Chiarelli isn't likely to do anything that would put the Bruins' playoff position in jeopardy and force Jacobs to fumigate the Bruins' front office. Expectations have been lowered on Causeway Street, so Chiarelli doesn't have to panic.
Anyway, the Bruins really wouldn't get all that much for some of the pieces they're willing to part with. What are Daniel Paille and Gregory Campbell really worth? Would Carl Soderberg, who took a decade to come to Boston, even report to a new team if traded? Those are the Bruins' pending unrestricted free agents. As for players under contract beyond this season, Chiarelli is unlikely to go back on his admission that he's not going to mess with the core of the team.
When the Bruins were winning enough in January, the playoffs seemed like a foregone conclusion and it was starting to make more sense for Chiarelli to stand pat. With defenseman Zdeno Chara and center David Krejci rounding into form after long injury absences, rookie David Pastrnak providing an energetic and dynamic presence to an otherwise dull and grizzled lineup, and Milan Lucic and Reilly Smith finally producing like top-six forwards, the Bruins were bound to improve without any outside help.
Well, January turned to February and the improvement process hit reverse. Chara and Krejci have been inconsistent, Pastrnak has been strong in three zones but hasn't found his scoring touch, and Lucic and Smith are competing for the title of Phantom of the Bruins. Worse of all, the fully healthy defense corps that's supposed to be able to play soundly within the system and keep goaltender Tuukka Rask protected and opposing teams frustrated has been as effective as the MBTA after a snowstorm. More than anything, the Bruins' play on defense, especially the past two games against Vancouver and Calgary, has made it urgent that Chiarelli be a buyer before the deadline and make a move for a top-four defenseman.
Dennis Seidenberg and Dougie Hamilton are averaging two egregious errors per game over the past couple of weeks. Regardless of the extent of Kevan Miller's injury, he was already playing under restrictions because of his banged-up shoulder. Even if he comes back soon from his current injury, he's bound to be back on the sidelines again. Adam McQuaid, who was a healthy scratch Monday because of his lackluster play, is always a candidate to wind up out of the lineup injured.
Bottom line -- the Bruins are thin on defense. The Bruins can get by with streaky offensive performances backed by shutdown play from Rask, as long as the defense corps plays smart and structured. But no matter how pathetic the Florida Panthers' attempt to overtake the Bruins in the standings has been to this point, the current defense corps has shown it can't get its measly job done.
Luckily for Chiarelli and the Bruins, the modest mandate from Jacobs was to just be among the top eight in the Eastern Conference. So there's no urgency to touch the core. There's no reason to mortgage the future for a big-ticket defenseman. In fact, if you subscribe to the notion that either Hamilton will get back to his steady play of earlier this season or Seidenberg will finally find his game, the Bruins might just need to add one serviceable veteran.
With the idea that most of the targeted defensemen will be players in the final year of their contract playing for non-contending teams, there are only a couple of options that should interest Chiarelli. According to NHLnumbers.com, the Bruins have a little less than $2 million in cap space to work with, but Chiarelli is on record saying he could make a little more room by manipulating his LTIR overage. So he could make a move for a decent player if he's so inclined.
The price to acquire Carolina's Andrej Sekera and Edmonton's Jeff Petry in a trade will probably be too high for Chiarelli. Still, it couldn't hurt for him to inquire about what it would take to get them. Based on what we've seen from the Bruins' defense corps of late, Chiarelli could pick up one of these players with the intent to re-sign them in the summer as part of a reworking of the group.
Figuring other teams with more of a chance to challenge for a championship and better prospects to offer win the Sekera and Petry bidding, Chiarelli will have to look at someone in the next tier of available defensemen.
When people around these parts think of defensemen and the Arizona Coyotes, they begin to salivate over the notion of Keith Yandle in black and gold. Sorry, but Yandle isn't the type of defenseman the Bruins need right now. They need low-risk, keep-it-simple types that can defend and give coach Claude Julien more depth and versatility. That's why 32-year-old Zbynek Michalek would be a better fit that would come cheaper (a second- or third-round pick with or without a decent prospect). Playing for a team with an even-strength goal differential of minus-50, Michalek has averaged more than 21 minutes of ice time and is just a minus-6. He's also on the positive side of Corsi For Percentage. With a player like Michalek on the back end, Hamilton wouldn't have so much heat on him to play the difficult minutes and Seidenberg would have some leeway for finding his game. McQuaid and Miller would be allowed to play on the third pair, where they belong, full-time when one of them is in the lineup.
The pickings are slim beyond Michalek in terms of reliable defensemen. New Jersey's Marek Zidlicky and Columbus' Jordan Leopold would probably come cheaper in a trade, but that's because they're both lesser defensemen and would do little more than create competition among Boston's bottom four. Of course, a little more competition might be what the Bruins' better defensemen need to get them to remove their heads from their rears and play smarter in front of Rask.
An earth-shattering trade isn't worth it for the Bruins right now. They never replaced Jarome Iginla's offense and never remade their fourth line as Chiarelli promised. The fourth line has actually gotten worse instead of better. Nothing they do now is going to make them an elite team. The grand plan to continue to contend for the Cup after last year's gamble didn't pay off has failed. With Pastrnak and a few other prospects, plus some decent draft picks this June, the Bruins still have a bright future and they could be back in the Cup conversation by this time next season with the right offseason moves.
Right now, Chiarelli only has to get the Bruins into the playoffs. With only that drastically lowered bar to cross, Chiarelli can make a low-risk addition on defense and get the job done.
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.
