Tag: trade deadline

NHL Trade Deadline

NHL Trade Tracker – ESPN

Well, there is only about 45 minutes left until the NHL trade deadline.  The Bruins have not made any moves yet.  No top four defensemen coming our way as of yet.

Callahan went from the Rangers to the Lightning for St. Louis.  Two players the Bruins don’t really need, but who I was seriously liked to have seen in a Boston uniform.  There was a defenseman in Ottawa that was rumored to be on Boston’s wishlist who signed a two year extension.  Crap.

Marion Gaborick went to the Kings.  Would he have fit in with the Bruins?  Probably not.

We’ll see how things unravel in the rest of the hour.

Go Bruins.

Trade Deadline Day

The Bruins beat the crap out of the Florida Panthers last night thanks to a hat trick by David Krejci.  Ever since going AWOL last season, it pleases me to no end to watch Tim Thomas get shelled.  After yesterday’s trade that brought former Vancouver goalie (and Thomas’ 2011 Stanley Cup Finals opponent) Roberto Luongo to Florida, it will please me even more to watch Thomas sit on the bench as Luongo gets shelled.  I don’t expect that will happen though.  I can’t imagine Tim Thomas makes it through today’s 3:00pm ET trade deadline without being moved.  He has a no trade clause, but I expect he’ll waive it for just about any team.  I can’t imagine he’s happy about being Luongo’s back up, although now there is no question of whether or not he needs to pump Lu’s tires.

The trade deadline is a fun day to be an NHL fan with an internet connection.  I just wish it fell on a weekend so I could actually pay attention to it.  I expect to find a live blog following the news this afternoon (I’m in a meeting all morning) but I don’t expect to actually have any time to look at it.

The Bruins need a defenseman.  Preferably a top pairing kinda guy but at least a top four.  They have a huge hole to fill with Dennis Seidenberg (am I even close to spelling that right?  I could look it up but… lazy) being out for the season.  That’s the big need.  Beyond that they are just looking for depth all around.  They have been tied to a number of big names, mostly forwards, but that might be just an attempt to drive up the price for their rivals.  Specifically, Ryan Kesler has been rumored to be going to Pittsburgh for a few days now.  Suddenly the Bruins are in the talks too.  As much as Kesler NEEDS to be a Bruin, I think that has more to do with trying to get Pitt to over pay than an actual chance of him coming here.  Who knows.

Enjoy the trade deadline, and may the Bruins hit the jackpot.

Luongo to the Panthers

Roberto Luongo traded to Florida Panthers from Vancouver Canucks – ESPN

 

Vancouver has traded Roberto Luongo to the Florida Panthers?  They sent him back where they got him from?  Does this mean the Panthers have to trade him to the Islanders next?

That’s unbelievable.  Really.  The Panthers are craptastic and they are adding a player at the trade deadline?  The article doesn’t say what they gave up for him.  Also, does this mean Tim Thomas is going to be traded by the deadline?  I’ve heard that he might be a fit for Minnesota, but I didn’t think they would actually take him.  This is crazy.

I really don’t care so long as the Bruins get a top four defenseman to replace Dennis Seidenberg (sp?).

It should be an interesting day for NHL fans tomorrow.

Go Bruins

They Got Their Defenseman

For weeks now, we’ve been hearing that Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli was going to try to add  a forward and a defenseman.  Yesterday they got the forward in Jaromir Jagr.  Today they got the defenseman.

Wade Redden.

Unfortunately.

Redden is a former Ottawa teammate of Zdeno Chara and Chris Kelly.  I can recall a while back when Ottawa was in a pickle over which of their two excellent defensemen they were going to sign and which they were going to let get away via free agency.  They signed Chara.  They let Redden walk.  He signed a large contract with the Rangers and ended up being the captain of their AHL affiliate.  He became the poster child for NHL teams who hide huge, bad contracts in the minors.  When the new CBA eliminated that loophole, the Rangers bought him out and he signed with the Blues.  He has five points in 23 games this year.  Not exactly a show stopper.

The Bruins gave up a seventh round pick for him, so it’s not that bad a deal.  I hope Redden can find a little of his old self by being around Chara again.  I sort of expect him to be a spot starter who is a healthy scratch more often than not.  He’s probably better than some of the Providence players we’ve had filling in for injuries, but not by much.

The big news for Bruins fans, however is that Patrice Bergeron seems to have suffered concussion last night.  Without him, we aren’t going far.  Get well soon.

Jarome Iginla

The NHL trade deadline is coming.  It’s time for the annual, “Wouldn’t Jarome Iginla look good in a Bruins uniform?” discussions.  Whenever Calgary starts slipping the conversation inevitably begins.  He should ask for a trade for the good of the team.  The team needs to trade their best player ever for the good of the franchise.  Yadda, yadda, yadda.  Eventually the topic always turns to how Boston should go out and get him.

A few years ago I was fully in the do-whatever-it-takes-to-get-this-guy camp.  Now… he’s getting old.  He’s 35, which is very old for most hockey players.  He’s not going to come into Boston and light the lamp 50 times in the final month of the season.  He’s not going to show up and solve all of our offensive problems.  He’s probably not even going to be one of our top scorers.  Should we still pay the unquestionably high price to get him?

HELL YES!

When the Bruins traded for Marc Recchi a few years ago, I was insulted.  Recchi was ancient by hockey standards, and his best years were so far behind him it was sick.  Then he got here and became “The Veteran”.  He set himself up as the elder statesman.  All of the young players looked up to him.  All of them saw him as a role model.  All of them saw his Stanley Cup rings and bought in.  What happened?  Well, just a Stanley Cup a couple of years later.  That’s all.

Iginla is better now than Recchi was then.  He’s never won a championship, but most of the current roster has, so we don’t need that sort of leadership like we did when Recchi got here.  What we do have is a bunch of forwards who go through streaks where they struggle to score goals.  Iginla can assume the role of “The Veteran” and smoothe out all of those scary times when Lucic and Horton and Marchant and Seguin all suddenly forget how to score.  Look at me, he can say, I’m Jarome Iginla and I have twice hit the 50 goals in a season mark.  Learn from me as I demonstrate the wonders of hard work and consistency.

On top of that, throughout his career Iginla has been an A list power forward.  He is what Milan Lucic needs to be.  Wants to be.  Must be.  Trading for Iginla would be worth it just so he could teach Looch what he needs to learn.

People are already complaining about the possibility of the Bruins giving up Malcolm Subban.  Subban is 19, playing in juniors, and a very late first round pick.  In other words, he hasn’t done anything real yet (no offense) and he won’t be ready to contribute at the NHL level for a while.  I hear people saying three years but that seems super optimistic to me.  I say deal him to Calgary and then work your black and gold asses off to sign Iginla for a few more years.

I ask you, wouldn’t Jarome Iginla look good in a Boston Bruins uniform?

I answer you.  Yes, yes he would.

Go get him!