After the Bruins made a trade to bring in
Jason Pominville,
Milan Michalek and
Zbynek Michalek 22 games into the season, it was to
give the team a much needed spark. The record at the time was 11-7-4. In the 11 games since the trade, the team went 5-5-1 for a current record of 16-12-5. It just wasn't good enough and another change was needed.
With new management in Pittsburgh, both GM's were looking to make a deal and shake things up a bit. Although the Bruins were keen on keeping Pominville (34-14+13=27), it was evident he didn't provide the spark the team needed when he was brought in. Pominville had a respectable 3 goals and 3 assists for 6 points in the 11 games he played for the Bruins. Along with Milan Michalek (34-5+7=12), who also was part of the previous deal, and young up-and-coming d'man Nick Leddy (32-3+11=14), the three were dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins in return for wingers Troy Brouwer (35-18+8=26), Blake Comeau (no stats) and d'man Brent Seabrook (35-5+17=22).
The key addition was without a doubt Brent Seabrook who will upgrade our back end in all situations. Bruins management had been very high on him for a number of years and see him as a perfect fit for the Bruins organization. Although he's considered to be a very good player, we see him as one of the very best all-round d'men in the business. He not only brings leadership qualities, but also provides solid offensive numbers and a stellar defensive game.
One should not forget about the two wingers in the deal though. Troy Brouwer is a hard-working two-way forward who can easily put up 20, if not 30 goals in a top-six role. He should be a useful addition and work well with the rest of the forward group. As for Blake Comeau, he's a solid depth player who has good speed and can add some goals on a checking line.
We're confident this move will help our team in the right direction and hopefully the results will follow. At the same time we wish Jason (Pominville), Milan (Michalek) and Nick (Leddy) all the best in Pittsburgh and we're sure they'll help them as well. Nick Leddy has a bright future ahead of him and he's only going to get better. But at this point in time, we felt we wanted to add something that could help us more right now.
Finally, you could say that since we acquired Jason Pominville and Milan Michalek in the previous deal, we pretty much traded our 1st and 2nd round picks, Kyle Chipchura, Jordan Caron and Nick Leddy for Troy Brouwer, Blake Comeau and Brent Seabrook...
