Chess Master's Moves at the Trade Deadline

Two moves...tick, tick...still two moves. Alright, so are we better off today than we were a day ago?

I see you nodding your head yes. But this leaves me with a very interesting thought in mine. Maybe it’s me, but I think Peter Chiarelli’s move on deadline day were brilliant. I know an aging winger and a defenseman.

Remember, I am talking about the Boston Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli. You know that really smart guy that seems to make all these brilliant moves? Yeah, that guy.

I know I’ve been away from my friends here in Bruin-ville. I apologize I’ve been working on spring previews for Major League Baseball. But the equivalent of Palm Sunday on the NHL calendar had my eyes glued to the TV.

I mean this is Canada; Deadline day gets more coverage than elections, wars, and visits by heads of state combined. The lead up to the trade deadline had many a Bruins fan assessing needs and wants. I heard we don’t need anything as a common refrain.

So about a week ago I started thinking, why would this Bruins team make a move? They are deep, they are young, and can score. Then it hit me, look at the cap situation and the number of young players the Bruins have. The type of let's-win-it-right-now moves the Bruins made yesterday makes perfect sense.

Let me first say that Mark Recchi and Steve Montador make you a better team today. The Bruins are better prepared for the play-offs on Mar. 5 than they were on Mar. 3. So I have no problem with the moves from a win now stand point.

To be fair, this league has become more of a win now league than ever.



Look at the Bruins to be free agents next year and follow me to find why these moves aren't just good, but a great. A free-agent class led by Phil Kessel, David Krejci, Matt Hunwick, Tim Thomas, PJ Axelsson, Stephane Yelle, Byron Bitz, Manny Fernandez, and Shane Hnidy and after yesterdays moves add Steve Montador, Mark Recchi to the list.



Now that list isn’t up there to scare you, just put it in perspective. How do you get all those guys back under contract? Next part may frighten you a little bit, so grab something to bite down on; I promise you’ll be happy when we’re done.



In the new NHLyour window to win is tight, just ask the Pittsburgh Penguins, unless you can manage your stars and build around them a la the Detroit Red Wings. Yesterdays moves mean that the Bruins are committed to only 14 players for next season at a total cap hit of $42.5 million.



If I was to estimate that the cap will be approximately the same as it is this year. (It might be less because revenues are down, but stay with me because it will affect all teams spending proportionally so it doesn’t matter that much.)



That would set the number at about $59.5 million, giving the Bruins a free $17 million to spend to resign key players like Kessel, Krejci, Hunwick and Thomas.



Now I know what you’re saying, we didn’t really need the room because three of the four are restricted free agents.



Although that is true, there is nothing in the collective agreement that says that a GM won’t throw a ton of money the way of Kessel or Krejci for that matter, a young player that has turned himself into a point a game centre at the age of 22 and looks to be getting better. (A la the Kevin Lowe situation with Thomas Vanick and Dustin Penner a couple of years back.)



This maybe paranoia but to be fair it’s not completely out of the question to see at least one of these guys get a big deal the Bruins have to match in order to retain the youngster.



You currently have Tuukka Rask under contract for another year at $850,000 and signing Thomas to deal seems like the way to go. Then you have to ask are we ready to commit $6 million to Thomas at the age of 35?



Minnesota just put four years and $24 million into Backstrom. I think Boston is kidding itself if it things Thomaswon’t be looking for a similar deal, at least dollar-amount wise.


He is coming off back to back all-star seasons and a year where he looks primed to finish in the top three goals against and save percentage. (He’s currently ranked first in both.)


So I know on the surface yesterday’s moves look ok, but when you drill down a little deeper it is proof that the Bruins are committed to winning right now, and realize these are the kinds of sacrifices you must make in the new NHL to win for years to come.


Tick tock, click...check...your move Eastern conference.

Boston Bruins' Future Looks as Bright as the Past

It’s funny you know, how history repeats itself.

I was just listening to the local Toronto alternative rock station and they had an interview with Justin Pogge.

You know, the same Justin Pogge the Leafs decided to keep.

You know, the reason that we Bruins fans are now so excited about Tuukka Rask and not Justin Pogge. (Boston requested either/or in the Andrew Raycroft trade.)

I only mention this because one of the on air personalities referred to how skinny Pogge was, at 6'3" and 190 pounds. His counterpart more directly said, “Yeah we’ve got to get you on that Tim Thomas diet.”

Now normally this banter would’ve only mildly amused, but Pogge's response started a snowball of thoughts in my head that I just had to get out. His answer, “Yeah, that guy is like a Ninja Turtle.”

Now first, what the heck does an off-the-cuff comedic statement about a 22-year old AHL goalie and a Saturday morning kids cartoon that ran from 1986 through 1996 have to do with the Bruins starting netminder? Other than the obvious parallels like when Thomas spins on his back, I could occasionally mistake him for Michelangelo?

Well, I got to thinking—I know, a dangerous process in and of itself.

Let’s start here: How good were those Bruins teams from ’86 to ’96?

Well in the '86-87 season Bruins lost in the first round of the playoffs. Not surprising as we tend to do that a lot. But the following year we marched all the way to the Finals.

That run to the Finals started a series of the most beloved and heart breaking Bruins teams in memory. We against lost in the Finals in 1990. We managed heart breaking loses in the conference finals in 1989, 1991 and 1992. Every year from 1986 to 1996 we made the playoffs, and on six separate occasions managed to go more than one round.

So what am I saying? Bring back the Ninja Turtles? Well they did, in 2003 and are currently working on there seventh season, so that’s not the answer.

But let’s look at Tim Thomas and throw him into the “which NHL player does he remind you of” machine? Could it be the dough-shaped Andy Moog? Let me explain.

Moog wasn’t pretty, he just won. He split starts for most of career, he was too short, too fat, and at the end of the day for all the complaints he was a winner. He was a starting goalie in the NHL and lost his job to the flashy first-round pick Grant Fuhr.

Although not quite the journeyman that Thomas was, Moog was in Edmonton for three Stanley Cups. In those three years he played, 38, 39 and 46 games. He put together a record of 77-28-7 over that span.

Over 47 games in the 1985-1986 season, he was 27-9-7. So in those four years, his winning percentage was 0.675, and by 1987-1988 he found himself on the Canadian National Team. He played 31 games, then headed back to the NHL to split starts with Reggie Lemelin.

Is this the same story as Tim Thomas’ journey through Europe, the AHL, IHL and ECHL? No, but I hope you are getting some of the parallels of disrespect.

Has Thomas carried us to the Promised Land yet? Unfortunately not, but under the steerage of Moog we saw three conference finals, and two Cup finals. Thomas sure looks like he has that kind performance in him.

Lets again get in the way back machine for a minute. Wasn’t our first line during those years a tough, rugged goal scorer and a savvy, play-making center? We’ve all heard the Lucic and Cam Neely comparisons. But what about Marc Savard and his doppelganger—his ghost from the past, if you will?

It doesn’t take too long to look into those teams and find one of the greatest assist men of all time. I present to you Adam Oates—1420 career points, 1079 of them assists. Before Oates it was Craig Janney having 100-plus-point seasons feeding the puck on to the tape of the goal scoring monster.

If this is true, then Chara must be Raymond Bourque, a power-play quarterback that longs an inhuman amount of minutes every night. Again, do they play exactly the same way? No, but both today’s Norris Candidate and the multiple Norris winner of yesteryear (all 5 were won between the years 1986 and 1996) do fill the same need for a stud anchoring the blue.

It’s also strikingly similar the balance of talent behind the big men. Hagwood, Wesley, and Galley managed to put in 38, 36, 35 points respectively from the back end. This year's version boasts Wideman, Hunwick, and—although hurt for most of the season so far—Andrew Ference supplying secondary firepower from the back end.

Then again, how far is Shawn Thornton from being Lyndon Byers?

So what am I saying? Well guys, what I am saying is just like Turtle soup, there is a recipe for success, and I think that Chef Chiarelli has put the right ingredients in the pot.

Now let's see if they can cook up something worthy of being served from Lord Stanley’s Mug.

That would be pretty radical, if I do say so myself!