They needed a month like that after their dismal October, but the reigning Cup champs dug themselves out of their early hole and are back battling for the top spot in the division. Despite that, this week's mailbag inquiries definitely had a pessimistic feel to them, with the recurring themes focusing on David Krejci's slump and potential trades the club could make.
I've tried to address those issues and plenty more in this edition of the Bruins Mailbag, and as always I'd like to thank all the readers who sent in questions and apologize in advance if I wasn't able to get to yours. Please keep submitting your questions and I'll answer as many of them as I can as we continue on in the season.
Hey Doug, why do you think it is that we seem to always dominate Toronto? Even before the [Phil] Kessel trade we always seem to get a 'W' by four or five goals, sometimes more. It just seems to me that division games would be the closest calls, often going into OT. Am I missing something in Toronto that the Bruins aren't?
–Alex, R.I.
While there have been a few blowouts of the Leafs in recent years, those lopsided scores haven't been quite as common as they might seem. Since Claude Julien took over in 2007, the Bruins do have a huge lead in the series with an 18-5-5 record against Toronto. But just four of those wins have been by four or more goals — the first two games this year when the Bruins won 6-2 at home and 7-0 at Toronto, plus a 7-2 win in 2009 in the first clash with Kessel and a 6-2 win all the way back on March 25, 2008. There have been four other wins by three goals, but the majority of the games have been very close (10 wins by two goals or less, not to mention the 10 games the Leafs actually won). Also, eight of the 28 games in that span have been decided in overtimes or shootouts. That's 29 percent of the games played between the two teams in that stretch, so there have actually been twice as many games that haven't been settled in regulation as there have been Bruins blowout wins.
That said, the Bruins do have an excellent record against the Leafs. That isn't a real mystery, though. Toronto hasn't made the playoffs since 2004 and has been among the worst teams in the league for most of the last few years. Outside of James Reimer's emergence late last year, they've also had some pretty atrocious goaltending in that stretch, which helps account for many of those losses and the occasional blowout. Toronto looks much improved this year, even with Reimer missing much of the season so far with what the team will only term "concussion-like" symptoms. Playing without Reimer contributed to the lopsided wins earlier this year, but the Leafs have settled things down a bit since then and don't look ready to wilt just yet. I still think the Bruins are a superior team, but I don't expect the final four games against Toronto this year, which begin Wednesday night at the Air Canada Centre, to be quite as easy for Boston as the first two were.
[Zdeno] Chara's been on an offensive tear this month! Why has he become one of our most dangerous weapons?
— via Twitter @bruinsgirl33 (Sara T.)
There are a couple of factors contributing to Chara's increased production this month. When asked about it, Claude Julien noted that Chara is benefiting from the team's improved power play. There's some truth to that, as two of Chara's three goals this month have come on the power play. But Chara has just six of his points on the man advantage this season, compared to 10 at even strength. He's also just sixth on the team in power-play ice time, and third among defensemen behind Dennis Seidenberg and Joe Corvo. I think a bigger factor has been his willingness to shoot more this month. As anyone who has watched an All-Star Skills Competition in recent years can attest, Chara has the most powerful shot in the league. In November, he's put 44 of those blasts on net, compared to just 26 in October.
The other thing to note is that this month isn't really out of line for what Chara can do. While his 12 points (three goals, nine assists) in 12 games so far this month match his career high for points in a month, he has scored 10 or more points in a month 12 times in his career. Three of those occasions have come within the last calendar year, with 6-6-12 totals in 14 games last January, 4-8-12 totals in 15 games in March and now this month, which still has one game left for him to set a new high. He has had better goal-scoring months in the past, including an 8-3-11 February in 12 games in 2008. It also shouldn't be too surprising that this latest big month is coming when it did. November is by far his most productive month of the season for his career, with 23-66-89 totals and a plus-59 in 161 games. The good news is his second-best month is December, albeit with just 75 points and a plus-26 in 175 games, so he might just be able to sustain this run for a while.
If you could interview any Bruin, current or past, and only that player before your career abruptly ended, who would it be?
— Bob Barsalou, Barkhamsted, Conn.
Well, hopefully that abrupt end won't be coming anytime soon. I'll also be the first to admit that I have been extremely fortunate in my career to have had the opportunity to not only get to know and talk hockey with all the players and coaches who have worn the Black and Gold since I started covering the team in 2000, but I have also been lucky enough to interview most of the franchise's all-time greats as well. So with the likes of Bobby Orr, Milt Schmidt, Johnny Bucyk, Terry O'Reilly, Phil Esposito, Cam Neely and Ray Bourque, plus Don Cherry from the coaching ranks, already scratched off my bucket list, there aren't too many Bruins legends I haven't had the pleasure of interviewing, and believe me, with the class, humility and humor of most hockey players, these interactions have all truly been pleasures. But if we're really making this a fantasy, the one guy who I would truly find fascinating to speak with would be Eddie Shore. If confined to those still among us and actually possible to track down, I would have to go with either John Wensink or Stan Jonathan. To be able to hear the stories of their wild days with the late '70s Bruins firsthand, it might just be enough of a grand finale to make the forced ending of my sports journalism career in your scenario bearable.
Tyler Seguin and Chris Kelly are among the surprises of the year. My question to you, Doug is who have been your disappointments so far this year?
— Tyler, Boston, Mass.
The easy answer would be just about everyone in October and nobody in November. On a more serious note, it really isn't that easy to point to disappointments with how the team has played of late. Benoit Pouliot has struggled, but I can't honestly say that I had high expectations for him anyway. And even he has improved dramatically in recent games, though he still needs to curb the undisciplined penalties. I had hoped that Jordan Caron would be ready to make more of an impact than he's shown in his limited opportunities and it's been a frustrating start for Adam McQuaid, but that's mostly been injury related and he's come around this month as well.
Probably the only real underachiever of note thus far is David Krejci. I expected a lot out of him after his monster postseason (leading the entire NHL in playoff scoring) and with him both coming into a contract year and also coming into the season fully healthy for the first time in three years after hip and wrist injuries the previous two years. Instead, he didn't stay healthy long with a "core" injury sidelining him for three games and got off to a slow start with 1-0-1 totals and a minus-6 in his first eight games. He showed some signs of life with 2-5-7 totals and a plus-4 in the next three games, but quickly slipped back into his funk with 0-2-2 totals and a minus-2 in his last eight games. Overall, he's ninth on the team in scoring with 10 points and has a team-worst minus-4. I still think he will turn it around. He's too talented not to, but he would have to be the biggest disappointment so far.
Hi Douglas, What do you think the Bruins should do about David Krejci? He has looked totally lost all year. [Milan] Lucic is having a good year and [Nathan] Horton is improving, but Krejci is absent and that line is starting to suffer. Do you think the Bruins will move a guy like Rich Peverley onto that line, or wait for Krejci to pick up his game? I say give Peverley a chance.
— Katie O’Donnell, Winchester, Mass.
Everyone has heard the rumors of Krejci being shipped out of town due to the potential logjam at the center position in the next few seasons. Realistically, what type of trade, if any, do you see the Bruins making that would move David Krejci?
— Jeff, Marion, Mass.
That last question about the team's disappointments segues nicely into the most popular topic in this week's questions: What to do with David Krejci? These two questions provide a fair representation of the bulk of those inquiries, which alternated between looking for reasons and/or solutions for his struggles and exploring the possibility of dealing him away. As to the latter point, I do not see anything imminent happening on the trade front with Krejci. The team is doing too well right now to mess with the chemistry by making a major move like that.
There's also the fact that with Krejci's slow start, Peter Chiarelli would be selling low on him and probably wouldn't get the kind of return that Krejci should command at this point. If he is traded, it would be more likely to come in the offseason if the Bruins don't think they can re-sign him at a price they would find acceptable, or perhaps later in the season if the club is struggling again and in need of a shakeup. Personally, I hope neither of those scenarios comes to fruition. Despite his slow start this season, I still think he's the kind of core player you build around. He comes up biggest when it matters most. Just look at what happened to the offense when he went down against Philadelphia two years ago, then look at what he meant to the club's Cup run last spring. Do you really want to get rid of that guy?
As for the first question, I think changing the lines is a more reasonable suggestion to try before exploring trade options for Krejci. I'm not sure my first option would be to just switch Krejci and Peverley though. I think I'd actually prefer seeing those two play together, with either Peverley moving up into Horton's spot to add some speed to get Krejci going while still keeping Lucic to provide some size on that line, or possibly a short-term switch with the red-hot Chris Kelly moving between Lucic and Horton and Krejci playing with Peverley and Pouliot on the third line for a couple games. I wouldn't mess with the Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron-Tyler Seguin combination and the fourth line remains rock solid, but there are still some options among the other six forward spots that Julien can tinker with to try to get Krejci going.
Doug, the Bruins seem pretty solid throughout the lineup with an abundance of young third-line types like [Jordan] Caron, [Zach] Hamill and [Max] Sauve in the minors or as healthy scratches. Do you see them packaging up a few with draft picks and making a play for a Shea Weber type? [Jared] Knight and [Ryan] Spooner should be able to move up the depth charts to alleviate the losses. Also, do you follow the Russian league at all? How are our picks doing there and do we still have [Yury] Alexandrov's rights and what are his chances of returning to North America after having a poor showing last year?
— Mark Lightfoot, Niagara Falls, Canada
First, for your trade proposal, it would take far, far more than a package of mid-level prospects and draft picks to even get Nashville to consider parting with Weber. The Bruins would have to give up some major core pieces (Nashville probably starts by asking for Seguin) and even if you could land Weber, you'd likely have to part with even more key components of the current team to re-sign him (he's making $7.5 million this year and is a restricted free agent after the season). I think the Bruins have to worry about signing their own guys (Krejci, Tuukka Rask, Seguin, Lucic, Horton and Marchand are among the players with contracts up this summer or next) rather than chase a pipe dream of a blue line with both Chara and Weber on it.
The Bruins do still retain Alexandrov's NHL rights, though at this point I couldn't hazard a guess about his future plans to return to North America. It's certainly possible. The fact he came over last year to play in the AHL is a positive sign that he does harbor hopes of playing in the NHL, but his return to the KHL this year makes another trip stateside a little less certain. I can't give you much of a scouting report as I have not seen him play in the KHL this year, but his numbers are modest with 0-1-1 totals in 13 games, though he is a plus-6.
Hi Doug. Thanks for the invitation to ask questions and make comments. Whenever I hear a trade rumor about [Jarome] Iginla I say, "Hmmm… Iggy as a B?" He seems to have the heart of a Bruin. What are the chances, if any of this possibility?
— Stewart-Allen Clark
Like Weber, Iginla would look nice in a Bruins uniform, but that would also seem a little unlikely at this point. The first hurdle is getting him to waive his no-movement clause, which thus far he has not been willing to do. Then you'd need the Flames to be willing to part with him. It might make hockey sense to do so to hasten their rebuilding, but he is still the face of the franchise and trading him wouldn't be an easy decision.
From the Bruins prospective, the cost may be too prohibitive anyway. Last year, Dustin Penner commanded a premium of a first-round pick, a well-regarded prospect in Colten Teubert and a conditional second rounder, and Penner is nowhere near the class of Iginla, even at this stage of Iginla's career. It's always possible the Flames could be fleeced as they were in the Dion Phaneuf deal (getting back just Matt Stajan, Ian White, Nicklas Hagman and Jamal Mayers while also giving up Keith Aulie), but it's more likely the Bruins would have to overpay even more than they did for Tomas Kaberle. And that's without considering the impact on Boston's cap. Iginla has a $7-million cap hit for this year and next. Boston has the ability to absorb that this season, but next year could get tricky with Krejci and Rask looking for new deals and the cap possibly shrinking with the new CBA.
Leave your questions for Douglas Flynn's mailbag in the comments section below, send them to him via Twitter at @douglasflynn or send them here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week. Be sure to check back to see if your question was answered.
