The B’s are at their bye week and are off until Saturday. Seems like a good time to take stock of the team. Where they are and what can be improved upon. Their place in the standings is pretty solidified. 2nd in the Atlantic, 53 points. 42 regular season games left to play, but it seems that the B’s and Leafs will spend the 2nd half jockeying for home ice for the first round playoff series. The B’s underlying numbers support their spot as a contender. Rask/Khudobin will probably dip a bit (Tuukka got it last night!) as their recent run is unsustainable, but there are no major concerns with the team right now. They probably have too many forwards and D that can play in the NHL, and that’s a good thing.
The trade deadline is 2/26, but the chatter seems to be picking up. LeBrun had a piece on The Athletic last week laying out the contenders wants/needs at the deadline. For the Bruins he said they sniffed around Vatanen before Vatanen was dealt to New Jersey and that they’re also looking for scoring. I wonder if Grzelcyk’s emergence has cooled them looking for a D. I personally don’t think the Bruins should do much of anything, unless they can land a bigger fish. I’m not sure that a Stafford/Stempniak/Liles type would add more than what they already have internally. They still have Bjork, Cehlarik, JFK and I guess Beleskey (3 goals in 9 games!) down in Providence as possible help, plus perhaps Donato coming in if Harvard’s season ends early enough. If they are looking for scoring, I’d rather go for someone like Mike Hoffman to solidify the top 6, but that’d be tricky with the salary cap. I think a bona fide scoring winger to play with Krejci is the only real spot I’d like to see them look to add. But if that is cost prohibitive, I’m fine with riding it out with what they’ve got.
Anyways, this should be a fun second half of the year. They are good and entertaining.
The trade deadline is 2/26, but the chatter seems to be picking up. LeBrun had a piece on The Athletic last week laying out the contenders wants/needs at the deadline. For the Bruins he said they sniffed around Vatanen before Vatanen was dealt to New Jersey and that they’re also looking for scoring. I wonder if Grzelcyk’s emergence has cooled them looking for a D. I personally don’t think the Bruins should do much of anything, unless they can land a bigger fish. I’m not sure that a Stafford/Stempniak/Liles type would add more than what they already have internally. They still have Bjork, Cehlarik, JFK and I guess Beleskey (3 goals in 9 games!) down in Providence as possible help, plus perhaps Donato coming in if Harvard’s season ends early enough. If they are looking for scoring, I’d rather go for someone like Mike Hoffman to solidify the top 6, but that’d be tricky with the salary cap. I think a bona fide scoring winger to play with Krejci is the only real spot I’d like to see them look to add. But if that is cost prohibitive, I’m fine with riding it out with what they’ve got.
Anyways, this should be a fun second half of the year. They are good and entertaining.