What the Bruins are doing/What you'd like to see this off-season 2014

[Over the volcano]

Hoping Kelly can be dumped in a separate deal similar to Peverley last year. Doubt anybody will be interested in an injury riddled 4th line player at $3 Million for two more years. At least not right now. I'm sure most teams will explore the free agent market before even considering Kelly at that price. Chiarelli's own fault... better find a way to fix it.

It's chia's fault Kelly got injured?

 

[Era of Sanity]

Hoping Kelly can be dumped in a separate deal similar to Peverley last year. Doubt anybody will be interested in an injury riddled 4th line player at $3 Million for two more years. At least not right now. I'm sure most teams will explore the free agent market before even considering Kelly at that price. Chiarelli's own fault... better find a way to fix it.

If they can't trade him they should buy him out but that unfortunately does not seem to be the plan. Maybe it's a JJ thing.

 

[David Krejci*]

It's chia's fault Kelly got injured?

I think he was referring to the price of Kelly, when he said it was Chia's own fault. That said, I disagree with the poster. I think Kelly has a lot of value as a player, and a team that needs a veteran 3rd line center would be stupid to not want him, even at 3m.

 

[gravybutt]

Yes good. Yes very good. Hasn't done anything in the playoffs the last 3 years except he had a nice ECF last year. One of the biggest idiots in the NHL, more concerned with being a "pest" than actually playing hockey, takes the worst most unnecessary penalties. He has been more of a detriment than an actual contributor. Add in the diving and faking and BS, get him the **** out of here.

Also his speed is overrated. He's quick, but I wouldn't say he is necessarily very fast.

He was great in 2011, but it's time to deal him with prospects and get a legit scoring winger.

I agree with you on 99% of that, but theres something about him that draws my attention in the untapped potential area.

 

[BadBruins]

It's chia's fault Kelly got injured?

It's Chiarelli's fault he gave 4 years and a NTC to a 3rd line player at 31 years old. At $3 Million no less. Now at 33, he's closer to a 4th line player. It's a hard move, even without the injuries. Also had the option of buying him out last season.

 

[DitClapper]

Yes good. Yes very good. Hasn't done anything in the playoffs the last 3 years except he had a nice ECF last year. One of the biggest idiots in the NHL, more concerned with being a "pest" than actually playing hockey, takes the worst most unnecessary penalties. He has been more of a detriment than an actual contributor. Add in the diving and faking and BS, get him the **** out of here.

Also his speed is overrated. He's quick, but I wouldn't say he is necessarily very fast.

He was great in 2011, but it's time to deal him with prospects and get a legit scoring winger.

I think Marchand is a legit top winger. He's told by management and staff to play the role of the pest. He over does it sometimes, but he's a real solid all around player. And there is nobody out there I'd trade for him confidently. Hope it's just a rumor.

 

[MTaylorJ1]

Yes good. Yes very good. Hasn't done anything in the playoffs the last 3 years except he had a nice ECF last year. One of the biggest idiots in the NHL, more concerned with being a "pest" than actually playing hockey, takes the worst most unnecessary penalties. He has been more of a detriment than an actual contributor. Add in the diving and faking and BS, get him the **** out of here.

Also his speed is overrated. He's quick, but I wouldn't say he is necessarily very fast.

He was great in 2011, but it's time to deal him with prospects and get a legit scoring winger.

He was also our leading ES scorer the past two seasons.

Also, we're in cap hell. Do you honestly think this deal at the draft is for a "legit" scoring winger? The timing of this screams, let's get some assets (picks/prospects) and sign Iginla before 7/1.

If they trade Marchy, I'm guessing you can expect.

Lucic-Krejci-Iginla
Eriksson-Bergeron-Smith
Kelly-Soderberg-Fraser
Paille-Campbell-Florek

We'll hear that we wanted to upgrade in some areas but we're up against the cap (leaving out due to our own doing)

Any "legit" scoring winger that can be moved with a prospect is going to come at a higher cap hit than Marchand, one we can't afford.

 

[Bad Puck Bounce]

If they trade Marchy, I'm guessing you can expect.

Lucic-Krejci-Iginla
Eriksson-Bergeron-Smith
Kelly-Soderberg-Fraser
Paille-Campbell-Florek

Jesus, that line up scares the hell out of me, and not in a good way. I hope they do not move Marchand. They'd be opening one hole to fill another.

 

[Altamira]

Yes good. Yes very good. Hasn't done anything in the playoffs the last 3 years except he had a nice ECF last year. One of the biggest idiots in the NHL, more concerned with being a "pest" than actually playing hockey, takes the worst most unnecessary penalties. He has been more of a detriment than an actual contributor. Add in the diving and faking and BS, get him the **** out of here.

Also his speed is overrated. He's quick, but I wouldn't say he is necessarily very fast.

He was great in 2011, but it's time to deal him with prospects and get a legit scoring winger.

I agree with this completely.

 

[BadBruins]

I think he was referring to the price of Kelly, when he said it was Chia's own fault. That said, I disagree with the poster. I think Kelly has a lot of value as a player, and a team that needs a veteran 3rd line center would be stupid to not want him, even at 3m.

Kelly is valuable as a player, but the problems I see are:

A) NTC, limited suitors.

B) Coming off back surgery. Also two additional lower body injuries these past two years. What version of CK are you getting? He's 33 years old. 34 in November. Considerable risk there.

C) $3 Million/per cap hit for 2 years. Not a lot of contenders can absorb that contract. Bruins won't be retaining.

D) Most teams will look to free agency first. This pool is littered with quality bottom-6 PK'ers. Trade an asset for Kelly or sign Winnik, Mclement, Malholtra, MacKenzie etc?


Teams aren't lining up for Chris Kelly is all I'm saying. Another option is trading him to a team of his choice, taking a bad contract in return, then turning around and buying out that incoming contract. Don't know if that's possible or not.....

 

[David Krejci*]

I agree with you on 99% of that, but theres something about him that draws my attention in the untapped potential area.

If he had shown any sign of returning to 2011 form in the playoffs this year, then I would be hesitant to trade him, but he hasn't. 2011 he was absolutely out of this world in the playoffs and I don't think that's an understatement. Unfortunately he hasn't even come close to that, and is always just doing boneheaded stuff to put his team in bad positions. Game 7 vs the Habs was a microcosm of everything for him. Snowing Price, was completely unnecessary. We were losing, it's game 7, you gain NOTHING from doing that. There's no risk/reward, it's only risk. You aren't setting tone, you aren't getting in his head, you're just putting your team down a man if you get caught, which he did. Then him punching Plekanec sneakily when the ref wasn't looking, same thing except he didn't get caught. I've had enough of him and I want him out of here. It'd be one thing if he was doing that stuff and scoring, but he doesn't.

 

[BruinDust]

He was also our leading ES scorer the past two seasons.

Also, we're in cap hell. Do you honestly think this deal at the draft is for a "legit" scoring winger? The timing of this screams, let's get some assets (picks/prospects) and sign Iginla before 7/1.

If they trade Marchy, I'm guessing you can expect.

Lucic-Krejci-Iginla
Eriksson-Bergeron-Smith
Kelly-Soderberg-Fraser
Paille-Campbell-Florek

We'll hear that we wanted to upgrade in some areas but we're up against the cap (leaving out due to our own doing)

Any "legit" scoring winger that can be moved with a prospect is going to come at a higher cap hit than Marchand, one we can't afford.

This isn't a bad line-up. Wonder if Dallas has any interest in Marchand? Perhaps something like this:

Marchand + Bartowski

for

Chiasson + Dallas 1st Rd. Pick 14th Overall

Use the savings to re-sign Iginla

Not sure if cap-wise it would work without another body moving out but looks decent. Only drawback it doesn't really help the lack of speed issue. Still a decent line-up, arguably just as good as this years. And Bruins get another good young prospect at 14.

Lucic - Krejci - Iginla
Eriksson - Bergeron - Smith
Kelly - Soderberg - Chiasson
Paille - Campbell - Fraser
Florek

Chara - Hamilton
Seidenberg - Boychuk
Krug - McQuaid
Miller

Rask
Svedberg

 

[EverettMike]

I hope we keep Marchand.

 

[David Krejci*]

He was also our leading ES scorer the past two seasons.

Also, we're in cap hell. Do you honestly think this deal at the draft is for a "legit" scoring winger? The timing of this screams, let's get some assets (picks/prospects) and sign Iginla before 7/1.

If they trade Marchy, I'm guessing you can expect.

Lucic-Krejci-Iginla
Eriksson-Bergeron-Smith
Kelly-Soderberg-Fraser
Paille-Campbell-Florek

We'll hear that we wanted to upgrade in some areas but we're up against the cap (leaving out due to our own doing)

Any "legit" scoring winger that can be moved with a prospect is going to come at a higher cap hit than Marchand, one we can't afford.

Don't care about the regular season. He doesn't score in the playoffs. He's more of a liability than he is a contributor at this point, with the idiotic crap he does.

I know we're in cap hell, but the Marchand for legit winger deal hinges on everything else. You're right about the cap, but if they let Iginla walk, find someone who wants Kelly and get him to waive, deal McQuaid, then we should be able to afford it. We can fit a 5.5 million dollar player in there, right? I don't feel like doing the capgeek, but there has to be a way, as long as we can unload Kelly, McQuaid, Iginla. I know we have Iginla's cap penalty (something I hated from the jump, if he wanted to sign here he should've signed for less for a chance at the Cup, he's made enough money already in his career for him to sacrifice a couple of million for a real chance or two to win).

If we're still too close to the cap, and have to wait until mid season to get a scorer, fine. As long as we get one before the playoffs.

Kelly is valuable as a player, but the problems I see are:

A) NTC, limited suitors.

B) Coming off back surgery. Also two additional lower body injuries these past two years. What version of CK are you getting? He's 33 years old. 34 in November. Considerable risk there.

C) $3 Million/per cap hit for 2 years. Not a lot of contenders can absorb that contract. Bruins won't be retaining.

D) Most teams will look to free agency first. This pool is littered with quality bottom-6 PK'ers. Trade an asset for Kelly or sign Winnik, Mclement, Malholtra, MacKenzie etc?


Teams aren't lining up for Chris Kelly is all I'm saying. Another option is trading him to a team of his choice, taking a bad contract in return, then turning around and buying out that incoming contract. Don't know if that's possible or not.....

All legitimate points.

A) The NTC hurts, but I feel like it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Obviously he's not going to want to go somewhere awful and it certainly will be a factor, but I think the teams he has the most value to, are ones that want to win now. So I don't think they'll be dealing him to a bottom feeder or anything, which works in our favor because he's more likely to waive to a competitive team.

B) You're right about this. They'll be weary but he hasn't had a long history of injury problems, though recently he's had some bad luck in that department. Teams will be extra cautious and I'm sure will want to be assured of his health.

C) It's an obstacle for sure. If we retain money, does that count against our cap? I don't know, I'll have to check, because if JJ is willing to eat half of his salary, and it doesn't count against our cap, I think teams will be crawling over each other to acquire him.

D) Kelly is better than all of them, but yeah, I agree that they'll likely look there first and try to find a cheaper option.

 

[Gargyn]

I hope we keep Marchand.

I am torn, depending on the return. If its an upgrade, Marchand packaged with something, then I am ok. But if its for space to sign Iginla, I will be pissed. Marchand has speed, kills penalties and still generates lots of scoring chances. I like him, but would love to see an upgrade on one of the top 2 lines.

 

[David Krejci*]

This isn't a bad line-up. Wonder if Dallas has any interest in Marchand? Perhaps something like this:

Marchand + Bartowski

for

Chiasson + Dallas 1st Rd. Pick 14th Overall

Use the savings to re-sign Iginla

Not sure if cap-wise it would work without another body moving out but looks decent. Only drawback it doesn't really help the lack of speed issue. Still a decent line-up, arguably just as good as this years. And Bruins get another good young prospect at 14.

Lucic - Krejci - Iginla
Eriksson - Bergeron - Smith
Kelly - Soderberg - Chiasson
Paille - Campbell - Fraser
Florek

Chara - Hamilton
Seidenberg - Boychuk
Krug - McQuaid
Miller

Rask
Svedberg

This would be a horrible deal. Chiasson as a centerpiece for Marchand when we're trying to win now, is a significant downgrade, and I don't like Marchand at all. We should not be dealing top 6 guys for draft picks and downgrades, this would be a cap dump deal and as much as I want to trade Marchand, I only want to do it if we're upgrading on Iginla.

 

[DoubleAAAA]

This isn't a bad line-up. Wonder if Dallas has any interest in Marchand? Perhaps something like this:

Marchand + Bartowski

for

Chiasson + Dallas 1st Rd. Pick 14th Overall

Use the savings to re-sign Iginla

Not sure if cap-wise it would work without another body moving out but looks decent. Only drawback it doesn't really help the lack of speed issue. Still a decent line-up, arguably just as good as this years. And Bruins get another good young prospect at 14.

Lucic - Krejci - Iginla
Eriksson - Bergeron - Smith
Kelly - Soderberg - Chiasson
Paille - Campbell - Fraser
Florek

Chara - Hamilton
Seidenberg - Boychuk
Krug - McQuaid
Miller

Rask
Svedberg

I think that's the sort of deal you'd need to look at for a Marchand trade. Gotta have a same age or younger NHL winger, at lesser $ coming back.

I'm not huge on Chiasson, but admittedly haven't seen him enough to have a solid opinion. It's been beat to death but Perron is another option, essentially Marchand making less $. Cam Atkinson's worth a look. Kyle Okposo would be terrific although you'd have to add a fair bit for NYI to even pick up the phone

 

[BruinDust]

This would be a horrible deal. Chiasson as a centerpiece for Marchand when we're trying to win now, is a significant downgrade, and I don't like Marchand at all. We should not be dealing top 6 guys for draft picks and downgrades, this would be a cap dump deal and as much as I want to trade Marchand, I only want to do it if we're upgrading on Iginla.

The centerpiece would be the 14th overall pick, who could turn out to be a very good player. You might even have a chance at one of the top 10 rated guys slipping a bit to 14. At least with Chiason you get a young Top-9 right-shooting winger still on his entry-level contract who has upside. Sure it's a bit of a salary dump, but Bruins need to clear some salary, and other than finding a taker for Kelly, this seems like a good way to do it. To trade Marchand, let Iginla go, and find a upgrade on Iggy at RW using Marchand might be pretty hard to do. Seems like there's plenty of Cs and Scoring LWs available, finding a right-shot RW who can score you 25-30 goals I don't see many options out there.

 

[NYBruins52]

This isn't a bad line-up. Wonder if Dallas has any interest in Marchand? Perhaps something like this:

Marchand + Bartowski

for

Chiasson + Dallas 1st Rd. Pick 14th Overall

Use the savings to re-sign Iginla

Not sure if cap-wise it would work without another body moving out but looks decent. Only drawback it doesn't really help the lack of speed issue. Still a decent line-up, arguably just as good as this years. And Bruins get another good young prospect at 14.

Lucic - Krejci - Iginla
Eriksson - Bergeron - Smith
Kelly - Soderberg - Chiasson
Paille - Campbell - Fraser
Florek

Chara - Hamilton
Seidenberg - Boychuk
Krug - McQuaid
Miller

Rask
Svedberg

If we trade Marchand (which I do not want to do) and roll out that forward group we would have some of the slowest lines in the conference. Bergeron and Smith sure are not blazers and often rely on Marchand's speed to enter the zone and spearhead the attack so replacing his foot speed with Loui would be a huge risk. I still do not see how this team could trade Marchand and hold on to Kelly, Campbell and McQuaid. If Marchand is traded to free up cap space for Iginla that would be even more disappointing.

 

[DitClapper]

Still baffles me that they're giving up Marchand instead of Eriksson due to cap. When they're cap hit is similar and clearly the better player is Marchand.

Dump Kelly and McQuaid, that's 4.5mill right there for players we naturally don't need. Eriksson at 4.25, then that's 8.5 almost 9 mill.

All of our scoring would mostly rely on Smith and Eriksson. That is a scary thought...really scary.

If Evander Kane is on the other side of the deal, I wouldn't be too shocked. I don't know why, I think he would thrive as a Bruin. Again, with the cap it is unlikely. Unless Kelly is thrown in. It would piss me off seeing Kane's stupid tweets after games though.

 

[dredeye]

"My source in Philadelphia at #NHLDraft is telling me to expect #NHLBruins to make a deal this weekend. Marchand's name being mentioned" - Shawn Hutcheon - The Fourth Period. I hope Marchy isn't being traded...

I don't know how reliable this guy is but I put little to no faith in anything associated with the fourth period

 

[David Krejci*]

The centerpiece would be the 14th overall pick, who could turn out to be a very good player. You might even have a chance at one of the top 10 rated guys slipping a bit to 14. At least with Chiason you get a young Top-9 right-shooting winger still on his entry-level contract who has upside. Sure it's a bit of a salary dump, but Bruins need to clear some salary, and other than finding a taker for Kelly, this seems like a good way to do it. To trade Marchand, let Iginla go, and find a upgrade on Iggy at RW using Marchand might be pretty hard to do. Seems like there's plenty of Cs and Scoring LWs available, finding a right-shot RW who can score you 25-30 goals I don't see many options out there.

That 14th pick does absolutely nothing for us in our Cup window. It makes us worse. Winning the Cup while we still can is priority number 1. Hard pass. That's a bad deal, man.

 

[Oates2Neely]

Still baffles me that they're giving up Marchand instead of Eriksson due to cap. When they're cap hit is similar and clearly the better player is Marchand.

Dump Kelly and McQuaid, that's 4.5mill right there for players we naturally don't need. Eriksson at 4.25, then that's 8.5 almost 9 mill.

All of our scoring would mostly rely on Smith and Eriksson. That is a scary thought...really scary.

If Evander Kane is on the other side of the deal, I wouldn't be too shocked. I don't know why, I think he would thrive as a Bruin. Again, with the cap it is unlikely. Unless Kelly is thrown in. It would piss me off seeing Kane's stupid tweets after games though.

Agree

Ericksson goes before Marchand

Can't believe someone suggesting Marchand for Chiasson & 14th. Look at recent #14 picks , nothing special. And Chiasson seems like nothing special. Terrible trade

 

[Alberta_OReilly_Fan]

what am I missing... dave bolland asking for 7 years and 5 mill per year and people thinking that's a good starting point for the dude... and Kelly being called a buyout for 3 mill times 2 years ???


I might say bolland when he is healthy is 'slightly' a better player than Kelly but imo its not a huge difference. I might think Kelly is the better leader... I might think Kelly is the better defender... bolland might be a bit more agitator... but offensively bolland isn't miles better than Kelly

these are both third liners

if theres several teams kicking the tires on bolland, all but one will be disappointed. the teams that miss out could easily like a short two year term for someone like Kelly

I cant begin to imagine if bolland/boyle/moore are getting these rumored deals that are being rumored for them that someone wont jump on Kelly instead.

 

[BruinDust]

That 14th pick does absolutely nothing for us in our Cup window. It makes us worse. Winning the Cup while we still can is priority number 1. Hard pass. That's a bad deal, man.

Alright so maybe Boston gets a young d-man like Oleksiak or Nemeth added to the deal. A young RW who can play now, a 1st round pick and a top prospect, basically the same type of package Ottawa and Vancouver are asking for Kesler and Spezza. I get the "win now" thing, but money has to go, Iggy or no Iggy. There's just no upgrade I can see the Bruins acquiring to replace Iggy at RW by trading Marchand and not taking money back. About the only other guy who fits the criteria of Young RW still on his ELC who can play in our top 9 now I could see was Smith Pelly out of Anaheim, and you could still make the argument we get worse not better short term, Chia is backed into a corner, and if he can't ship out the likes of Kelly/Campbell/Paile/McQuaid just to clear salary, this looks like a pretty decent outcome all things considered.