Now I get to feel what it's like on the other side for a bit, as we debut a new weekly feature here allowing the readers to ask me about Boston's professional hockey team. The Bruins Mailbag will be your opportunity to ask about anything that's going on with the Bruins, and feel free to ask about the prospects elsewhere in the system or the NHL in general as well.
I'd like to thank all the readers who sent in questions for this inaugural edition of the mailbag, and apologize in advance if I wasn't able to get to yours. Please keep submitting your questions and I'll get to as many of them as I can as we head down the home stretch of the season and hopefully on to a long and entertaining postseason run.
1. At the end of the day I feel this team is one or two solid players away from a Cup. Do you feel with Savard out possibly for the remainder of the season, Chiarelli will go after another offensive threat, possibly a center, or will he go after an offensive d-man like Kaberle in Toronto.
— Merrimack2014
(Stick taps to Eugene mannarino, bruinsfan33 and Andy Gregoire for similarly-themed questions)
Lots of questions this week about what the Bruins might do at the deadline. It's not surprising that's where the most interest would be with the trade deadline less than a month away and Marc Savard's status for the rest of the season in doubt after suffering another concussion. Despite the injury to Savard, I don't think adding another center will be a priority for the Bruins. Boston still has good depth down the middle with David Krejci, Patrice Bergeron, Greg Campbell and Tyler Seguin, plus Blake Wheeler is also capable of playing center, which he is actually doing now with Seguin moved back to the wing. Brad Marchand also was a center before moving to wing in the pros and Zach Hamill and Joe Colborne are coming along in Providence.
The Bruins' biggest need is for another puck-mover on defense. They have good depth on D already, as evidenced by Mark Stuart's status as a healthy scratch of late. But other than rookie Steven Kampfer, there's not a lot of mobility on the blue line. That's something Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli is definitely trying to address, but it's not easy as many teams would like to add an offensive defenseman and there are not many on the market. Tomas Kaberle is probably not an option either, as it would be difficult for Chiarelli to go back to the Brian Burke well again without seriously overpaying, and at this stage of his career I'm not convinced Kaberle is worth that kind of investment, especially as a rental with him due to be a free agent after the season.
The Bruins might not be able to pull off a blockbuster, and aren't necessarily even looking to risk disrupting the chemistry of the club with any major moves, but they should be active at the deadline in an attempt to add some depth both up front and on the blue line. And don't be surprised if you see some smaller deals with an eye toward the future, such as last year's under-the-radar acquisitions of Kampfer and Matt Bartkowski.
2. With Sid [Crosby] spending time on the shelf and Savvy out with another concussion, why hasn't the league mandated or at least suggested the use of Mark Messier's M11 helmet?
— Bryan
Mandating equipment changes isn't a quick or easy thing to do in the NHL. Look at how long it took to get helmets made mandatory and there's still no consensus on requiring players to wear visors (a separate and controversial issue for another day, though I will say that I do support the players' right to choose whether or not to wear one). Players are extremely sensitive to altering anything in their routine, particularly equipment. Some guys still have the same pads they wore in junior or use a model of skates long discontinued by the maker.
Still, finding a way to decrease concussions is one of the most important issues in the game today, and if improved helmets like the one Messier is marketing can help reduce the risk of concussions then I agree that it's something the league should encourage and the players themselves should try, but don't expect a mandate requiring those or any other specific helmets any time soon. Personally, I think if the NHL really wants to look at equipment changes to cut down on head injuries, the first thing they need to do is ban the hard plastic elbow and shoulder pads that inflict much of the damage on hits.
3. Hey Doug, now that we are going towards the stretch run, what do the B's do with the goaltending? Do they allow Thomas to play the bulk of the games and chase a possible Hart trophy but risk fatigue come playoff time, or do they give Rask the much needed minutes and approach the postseason with two fresh number 1's?
— Don
This is definitely going to be one of biggest issues facing Claude Julien down the stretch. With the way Tim Thomas is playing this season, putting up numbers that rival anything done in the modern era, it's understandable why Julien would want to ride the hot hand as much as possible, particularly with every game so important with the standings as tightly packed as they are. And it's those two points at stake every night that is the reason Julien is leaning so heavily on Thomas, not any potential run at the Hart. But the reality is Thomas will turn 37 in April and has had injury problems in the past, as he required hip surgery this past offseason. The Bruins can't afford to have the Tank on empty come playoff time.
Fortunately for them, they happen to have a guy who led the league in GAA and save percentage just a year ago backing up Thomas. Tuukka Rask hasn't been nearly as effective this year, no doubt in part because of the difficulty finding a rhythm with such sporadic playing time. Rask's save percentage is still a solid .923, but he's just 4-10-1 on the year. The Bruins haven't played well in front of him in many of those games, but Rask also needs to perform better. He's certainly capable of it, and if he can string a few wins together, Julien will feel a lot more comfortable distributing the workload more evenly between the two, which will benefit everyone in the long run.
4. Where is Jordan Caron? I think I would rather see him get time than Paille. Paille is fast and gets open often, but he consistently shoots the puck at the goalie's chest. Caron had a good start and I expected to see him come back up after playing in the AHL for a bit. Is he even playing down in Providence right now? I didn't see him on the roster.
— Brian
Jordan Caron is playing in Providence and playing well. He got off to a slow start when he was first sent down, with no goals and just three assists in his first nine games, but he's really turned it on of late. In January, he put up 6-7-13 totals in 15 games, with four of those goals coming on the power play. And that is why he is in the AHL right now. The Bruins want him logging lots of minutes and playing in every situation, rather than playing fourth-line minutes or being a healthy scratch in Boston.
While it's easy to look at a player like Daniel Paille who has struggled this season and think the Bruins should replace him with a promising prospect like Caron, the comparison isn't between the skill sets of Paille and Caron. It's between the roles they would be used in. Paille is what he is. He's a solid fourth-liner with speed who contributes on the penalty kill, and while his speed will create chances, he doesn't have the finishing ability to be a big-time scorer. Caron showed early in the season that he can perform on the PK as well, but the Bruins don't want to stunt his growth by using him in such a limited role in his first pro season. If injuries or trades open up a spot in the top nine, then Caron is in line for another call-up and he'll almost certainly be up with the big club for the playoffs, even if just as a Black Ace to soak up the atmosphere of a pressure-packed postseason run, but for now he's better served being groomed for a larger long-term role down in Providence.
5. Is it just me or has Jeff Penner dropped down the depth chart? Can you enlighten me on his progress? His numbers seem solid. Does he have a future here or anywhere in the NHL?
— nevin in beantown
Jeff Penner has put up decent numbers this year. In fact, he leads P-Bruins defensemen with 5-12-17 totals and the entire team in plus/minus at plus-12, no small feat for a team that's been outscored 146-118. Still, Penner is undersized at 5-foot-10, 185 pounds and has been passed by several of the newer additions to the organization on defense with higher upside. Kampfer has already made an impact at the NHL level and Bartkowski has gotten a taste as well. Yury Alexandrov hasn't played as well this year as he makes the adjustment to the North American game, but Alexandrov has the potential to play a much bigger role in the future. Add in Colby Cohen, who was acquired in the Matt Hunwick deal, David Warsofsky still in school at Boston University, and even Andrew Bodnarchuk, a similarly-sized defender at 5-foot-11, 185 pounds but one who plays with a lot more grit and tenacity, and you get an idea of the uphill struggle Penner faces to make it up to the NHL in this organization.
Penner appears destined to follow in the footsteps of a number of offensive-minded defensemen who have put up good numbers in Providence but struggled to make the leap to the NHL in the past decade, and like Brandon Smith, Rich Brennan, Kevin Dallman, Jonathan Sigalet, Matt Lashoff and Brett Skinner, Penner will likely have a tough time earning more than a cup of coffee in the show unless he falls into the right situation. With the Bruins' depth on defense, that situation isn't likely to come in Boston.
6. How do we avoid the Habs in the playoffs?
— Bugs
Assuming they make the playoffs, which looks like a safe assumption with the way they've played so far, the Bruins won't have much control over who they would potentially match up with. The Canadiens would be a tough matchup because of their speed up front, but I'm not sure why the Bruins would be so desperate to avoid them even if they could. Sure, historically Montreal has ended many a promising spring for the Bruins, but Boston did sweep the Habs in their last playoff meeting two years ago. To get where they want to go, which is finally past the second round and ideally all the way to the Cup, they're going to have to play some very good teams. And considering the excitement and interest another playoff clash between these ancient rivals would bring, why not add another postseason chapter to this storied rivalry? I would personally love to experience the electric atmosphere of a Boston-Montreal series again this spring.
7. Realistically, can this team, as is, win the Stanley Cup this year?
— Tuffguy
Can they? Absolutely. There is no one dominant team that is a prohibitive favorite this year. It's a wide-open race with at least 8-10 teams that could legitimately make a run at the Cup and the Bruins are definitely in that group. Will they? If I could tell you that today I'd be in Vegas getting rich off my ability to see into the future. As for the "as is" caveat to your question, the team you see won't be the same one you see this spring in the playoffs. That goes for every team in the league, as every roster in constantly in flux. There will be trades, whether they're blockbusters or minor tweaks. There will be injuries and call-ups. There will be players who develop and players who regress. I do believe that the Bruins have a nucleus in place that is capable of winning a Cup, but it is still up to them to actually go out and do it.
Thanks again to all of you for the questions. I look forward to answering even more in the coming weeks, so keep them coming.
To submit a question to Douglas Flynn for future mailbags, click here or contact him on twitter at @douglasflynn.
