The Bruins believe the Eastern Conference is wide open so they've loaded up for the playoffs.
If you thought the Boston Bruins were going to fold their tents at the news Marc Savard was done for the year, you were wrong.
The fact is the Bruins are taking a serious run at winning their first Stanley Cup since 1972.
It's not that the Buins are Cup favorites at this point. They wouldn't even be the No. 1 seed from the Eastern Conference; an honour that belongs to the Philadelphia Flyers who have arguably been the best team in the entire NHL.
That said, there's lots of hockey to be played and the Philadelphia Flyers have been very healthy. Other teams in the Eastern Conference, namely the Pittsburgh Penguins, Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers have been bitten by the injury bug and while they all still have a chance to taste glory, their chances diminished as the year went on.
The Bruins, though, have quietly been getting better.
Even without Savard the Bruins know they are a good team and they feel, aside from the Flyers, the Eastern Conference is wide open. The Penguins are in a heap of trouble with the loss and uncertainty about the return of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Without those two players, it's hard to imagine them being a serious threat to advance to the Stanley Cup final. The Rangers have been in a month-long funk and now that their best offensive player, Marian Gaborik, is down with a concussion, their chances have been severely hurt.
The Tampa Bay Lightning, led by rookie general manager Steve Yzerman, have made significant moves to address their defensive issues, but through 59 games they had allowed six more goals than they had scored -- 179-185. Only three teams in NHL history, Chicago in 1937-38 and Toronto in 1948-49 and 1966-67, won the Cup in a season in which they allowed more goals in the regular season than they scored.
The Bruins see a potential opportunity lying ahead of them this season. That 's why they paid such a steep price -- prospect Joe Colborne and a first-round draft choice in June (as well as a conditional second-round pick in 2012) -- to acquire veteran defenceman Tomas Kaberle from the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Bruins know Kaberle may just be a rental player and could walk with nothing in return July 1, but it is a risk they were willing to take.
"We felt good enough about our team that it made sense to make that move," said Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli. "We have faced some adversity through the season with the loss of Savard among other things, but the addition of Kaberle, along with Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley, I think the team has regained its identity. Obviously Chris Kely is a different type of player than Marc, but he is a good two-way center. We think Peverley is a smart, fast player with a good shot."
Kaberle, obviously, is the key addition to the Bruins.
The funny thing is, his playoff record in the NHL is nothing to write home (to the Czech Republic) about. In 77 games, all with the Maple Leafs, he has just seven goals and 28 points. Also, he hasn't played an NHL post-season since 2003-04 when he had just three assists in 13 games.
Still, this is not Toronto and the Bruins are a team more suited, at this stage of his career, to Kaberle's skill set. More than anything, Kaberle should be a huge asset to the Bruins if he is able to form a bond with hard-shooting Zdeno Chara, much the way he did in the past with former Leaf Bryan McCabe as a tee-up man. Chara has the hardest shot in the NHL and with Kaberle feeding him perfect saucer passes for one-timers, he could do some serious damage.
The two were seen working on that exact play at the back of the plane on the flight to Calgary. Just kidding.
Beyond that, Kaberle won't be expected to be the team's No. 1 defenceman. That's Chara's job and without the pressure, perhaps Kaberle can rise to the occasion.
Chiarelli is confident his team is battle-ready for the playoffs. Certainly their 3-1 win over Calgary Tuesday night is an indication they mean business. The Flames have been one the of the NHL's hottest teams of late and were coming off a convincing 4-0 win over the Canadiens in the outdoor game Sunday.
"We've always tried to be a hard team to play against since I got here," Chiarelli said. "Maybe the guys are sick of hearing that from me, but that is how I envision our team. The one thing I don't think we get credit for is our offence. We have scored the second most goals in our conference and are fourth overall."
In what has been a weird lead-up to the NHL's trade deadline, with lots of moves being made way before the Feb. 28th cutoff, Chiarelli said there was a method to his madness in making significant changes to his team early.
"We wanted to get our moves done before our western trip," he said. "We wanted to be ahead of the curve so our players could get acclimatized with one another. Also, I think the price's change at the deadline. You don't want to end up overpaying for a need you have identified by waiting to long."
Chiarelli addressed his needs. Now what remains to be seen is if his new-look Bruins can exorcise the ghosts of last year's playoff flop when they blew a 3-0 series lead against the Flyers.
One thing is certain: they didn't take the defeat sitting down.
