Bruins Make Minor Deal, Roster Set

The Boston Bruins continued to be busy making their fifth deal in the off-season. This time only a minor deal as Chicago's 3rd round pick (acquired in the Johnny Boychuk deal) was shipped to St. Louis for checking center Tim Brent. The Bruins were in the market for a 4th line/spare center to fill a hole in their roster. Considering our scouts didn't see much they liked that late in the draft, to get this player was pretty much what we had hoped for when making the pick available.

With this deal the Bruins roster is now set for the start of the new season. There could still be more deals before the season kicks off, but so far we've done what we were hoping to do at this point. Obviously there's always something you're looking to improve and we'll continue to explore every opportunity to bring more interesting players to Boston. We have a strong, winning tradition here with three championships and we want to get back to those winning ways in the near future. We've decided to be active in order to get there.

In the five deals so far, the Bruins have acquired center Paul Stastny, center Tim Brent, winger Cal Clutterbuck, defenseman Michael Del Zotto, defenseman Johnny Boychuk and drafted defenseman Mark Fayne. As well as having picked up wingers Nathan Gerbe, Daniel Paille and goaltender Al Montoya in the dispersal draft.

Leaving the club in those five deals was center Mike Santorelli, winger Justin Williams, defenseman Rostislav Klesla, defenseman Jordan Hendry and goaltender Andrew Raycroft, along with a couple of picks. And losing center Blair Betts, winger Torrey Mitchell and defenseman Adam McQuaid in the dispersal draft.

Bruin of the Day - Tim Brent

STATUS: 4th line center

VALUE: Checking line forward

JERSEY #: 47

ACQUIRED: Trade (Season 9) from St. Louis for Chi's 3rd round pick (Aaron Volpatti)

FUTURE: A hard-working center who should be a useful member for the Bruins. Plays a sound defensive game and has good energy at both ends of the ice. Can be used in penalty killing situations if needed.

Bruins Trade, Make Their First Pick

The Bruins continued to be active in the trade department acquiring the first pick in the 2nd round from the Philadelphia Flyers. To obtain the pick, the Bruins gave up defenseman Jordan Hendry, goaltender Andrew Raycroft and Phoenix' 3rd round pick. After trading the 1st round pick in the Clutterbuck deal, this became the first pick for the Bruins who went out and made their pick as soon as the deal had been confirmed.

We decided to draft rookie defenseman Mark Fayne who we feel can step right into our top six at the back. Since the Bruins had to trade one of their three goalies (due to league rules), Andrew Raycroft was the odd man out and became eligible. And since the Flyers needed to add players to their roster, the deal made sense for both clubs. A bonus for us is that Fayne can play in all games this season.

Bruin of the Day - Mark Fayne

STATUS: Rookie defenseman

VALUE: 6th defenseman

JERSEY #: 29

ACQUIRED: Rookie Draft (Season 9) after acquiring the 2nd round pick from Philadelphia for Jordan Hendry, Andrew Raycroft and Phx' 3rd round pick (Steven Kampfer)

FUTURE: A solid, young defenseman who has a good all-round game and can put some points on the board from the back end. Has time to develop his game and should be a regular for the club.

Bruins Swap Defensemen, Picks

After having talks with the Chicago Blackhawks for some time regarding a potential blockbuster deal, it was finally decided to just make a smaller deal. As Joe Corvo had attracted interest from the Chicago GM and the Bruins willingness to move him, it didn't take long to see a deal both sides felt good about. The Bruins moved puck-moving defensemen Joe Corvo along with Calgary's 2nd round pick (previously acquired in the Clutterbuck deal) for Johnny Boychuk and Chicago's 3rd round pick.

Boychuk had been on our radar for a long time so we're ecstatic to have finally been able to add him to the black-and-gold. We feel he'll improve our defense now and for the future, and especially like the physical aspect to his game that he brings to the back end. Boychuk himself held a brief news conference stating he had enjoyed playing for the successful Blackhawks, but that he already felt at home with the Bruins. "A perfect fit" and "A dream come true" were some of his words when he spoke to the press for the first time about his move to Boston.

Bruin of the Day - Johnny Boychuk

STATUS: Steady, physical defenseman

VALUE: Top 4 defenseman

JERSEY #: 55

ACQUIRED: Trade (Season 9) from Chicago with Chi's 3rd round pick (Aaron Volpatti, picked by Stl) for Joe Corvo and Cal's 2nd round pick (Ty Wishart)

FUTURE: A true Bruin who always battles hard and makes his presence felt with his physical play. Also possesses a hard slapshot and can be used in all situations if needed. His game will only improve as he gains more experience.

Bruins Trade 1st Round Pick, Get Younger

Bruins management were very active looking for a deal to ship our 1st round pick (#24). It looked like the Bruins would go ahead and pick the last player believed to be on their shortlist, but when that player was taken, a number of GM's were contacted in order to try and get something else of interest instead.

After some intense negotiations with the Calgary Flames, a deal was finally struck. The deal saw the Bruins send steady d'man Rostislav Klesla, checking forward Eric Nystrom, a 1st round pick (#24, previously acquired from the Edmonton Oilers for Jaroslav Spacek) and a 2nd round pick (#15) in exchange for rugged winger Cal Clutterbuck, young offensive d'man Michael Del Zotto and a 2nd round pick (#30).

In Clutterbuck we get a hardworking, physical winger who can put the puck in the net and give the team energy at any given moment. Being the NHL hit leader for three straight years, his physical presence cannot be underestimated. And as he's yet to hit his prime, we're confident he'll soon become a fan favorite. We're very excited about adding him to our squad and feel he'll fit right in to the Bruins style of hockey.

With Del Zotto we add a young d'man with an offensive arsenal that can lead to very special things in the near future. Has time to develop and has the tools to become a dangerous offensive d'man in the league for years to come.

The Bruins are believed not to be done trading and more activity could very well occur shortly. There are still some positions that need re-tooling with a number of players that could be on the move, at all positions. The Bruins would also like to take this opportunity to thank Rostislav Klesla for his contribution over the years, most notably being on two AHL Cup championship winning teams.

Bruin of the Day - Cal Clutterbuck

STATUS: Physical, rugged winger

VALUE: Top 9 forward

JERSEY #: 22

ACQUIRED: Trade (Season 9) from Calgary with Michael Del Zotto and Cal's 2nd round pick (Ty Wishart, picked by Chi) for Rostislav Klesla, Eric Nystrom, Edm's 1st round pick (Yannick Weber) and Bos' 2nd round pick (Brandon McMillan, picked by Dal)

FUTURE: NHL hit leader three seasons in a row tells a lot about his physical style of play. Also scores some important goals and brings a lot of energy to the team at all times.

Bruin of the Day - Michael Del Zotto

STATUS: Offensive d'man

VALUE: Top 4

JERSEY #: 4

ACQUIRED: Trade (Season 9) from Calgary with Cal Clutterbuck and Cal's 2nd round pick (Ty Wishart, picked by Chi) for Rostislav Klesla, Eric Nystrom, Edm's 1st round pick (Yannick Weber) and Bos' 2nd round pick (Brandon McMillan, picked by Dal)

FUTURE: Young and offensive d'man with a lot of potential and bright future ahead of him. Is starting to become an impact player and is especially getting better in his own zone.

Trade Alert - Bruins Acquire #26

The Boston Bruins today traded center Mike Santorelli and winger Justin Williams to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for center Paul Stastny. The Bruins were aggressive in the off-season trying to deal both Santorelli and Williams to bring in another offensive piece for their top six. This means the Bruins have three excellent centers in Bergeron, Couture and now Stastny. Does this mean one of them will be traded ? Not at all says management. All three are players we'd like to keep and possibly have in the top six.

In Paul Stastny we get a two-way center who just like his father has great vision, good hands, is good in the faceoff circle and makes players around him better. And the best part is, he's still young and has every chance to get even better. The fans have already expressed their delight at seeing their latest Bruin putting on the black-and-gold sweater with #26.

This will give the Bruins a lot of flexibility for the top six, as we expect to have two good scoring lines. The deal was finalized in quick fashion as both GM's saw something they liked. Stastny is a former 1st round pick by the Tampa Bay Lightning while Williams was picked up by the Bruins in the Dispersal Draft (Season 7) and Santorelli at the Entry Draft (Season 8).

Bruin of the Day - Paul Stastny

STATUS: 1st line center

VALUE: Star

JERSEY #: 26

ACQUIRED: Trade (Season 9) from Tampa Bay for Justin Williams and Mike Santorelli

FUTURE: The son of former great Peter Stastny has all the tools to be a dominant player for the club for many years to come. His vision makes his linemates better and should be a point per game producer.

Bruin of the Day - Daniel Paille

STATUS: Checking line forward

VALUE: 4th line forward

JERSEY #: 12

ACQUIRED: Dispersal Draft (Season 12)

FUTURE: Speedy forward who brings energy and an up-tempo game to a checking line. Is very sound defensively and can contribute on offense as well.

Bruin of the Day - Al Montoya

STATUS: Potential starter

VALUE: Splitting starter

JERSEY #: 35

ACQUIRED: Dispersal Draft (Season 9)

FUTURE: Is still fairly young and will get every chance to show his worth. Will be used to the maximum during the season and hopefully will be able to put in good performances for the club.

Bruin of the Day - Nathan Gerbe

STATUS: Top 9 forward

VALUE: Secondary scoring, energizer

JERSEY #: 24

ACQUIRED: Dispersal Draft (Season 9)

FUTURE: Brought in to give the Bruins some secondary scoring with Zach Parise sidelined for most of the season due to injury. Will need to prove his worth to be part of the teams long term plans.

Dispersal Draft - How It Went

The Dispersal Draft was held with the Bruins losing two forwards and a defenseman. We thank longtime serving center Blair Betts, checking forward Torrey Mitchell and physical d'man Adam McQuaid. We knew Betts would be picked up in the draft, but we we're hoping we could hang on to McQuaid who we would've wanted to keep if possible.

The Bruins decided to draft undersized, but hardworking winger Nathan Gerbe in the first round. With Zach Parise being limited to under 1/4 of the AHL season, Gerbe will bring some offensive qualities to the club.

In the second round we opted to draft goaltender Al Montoya who should give some stability in net for 40% of the games this season. He's a fairly young goalie who allows us to deal one of our other goalies as well.

And to finish the draft the Bruins decided to pick up a familiar face in ex-Bruin Daniel Paille who was picked up in the third round. This was a pick we were very happy with considering it was so late in the draft with very limited options. He brings energy and will be used in a checking role.

The New Season Is Here

The new season is upon us and management will have a couple of tough decisions to make for the upcoming Dispersal Draft. A couple of players haven't progressed as we would have liked while a couple of veterans have impressed making things more difficult than we first thought when thinking about our protection list.

It seems to be a busy off season for the Bruins as only a handful of players will be safe from the trading blocks. We wouldn't be surprised to see a couple of deals get done even before the Entry Draft takes place. At the moment we have no news on who could be available, but as soon as the Dispersal Draft is over we'll have more news for you.

In the meantime, here's a look at the current roster and who's going to be protected:
(this list could of course change before a final decision has to be made)

CENTER:
Patrice BERGERON
Logan COUTURE
Mike SANTORELLI
Dominic MOORE

Blair BETTS

WING:
Zach PARISE
Rick NASH

Shane DOAN
Justin WILLIAMS

Torrey MITCHELL

Shawn THORNTON
Eric NYSTROM
Tom PYATT
George PARROS

DEFENSE:
John CARLSON
Andrej MESZAROS
Matt CARLE
Rostislav KLESLA
Joe CORVO

Adam MCQUAID

Mike COMMODORE
Brent SOPEL
Jordan HENDRY

GOALIES:
Mathieu GARON
Andrew RAYCROFT

Season Over For Bruins As Pens Win In Six

GAME 5

With the series tied at two apiece, the Bruins had some hope to cause the upset. But the Pens came out hungry on home ice and scored an early goal at 03:09 to get the crowd going. Martin Erat, who had an impressive 42 goals for the Pens during the regular season, was the one putting them 1-0 up. But before the game was over, he had recorded a hat-trick in the 5-2 win. The game was closer than that thought as the Bruins had an impressive second period in which they outshot the Pens 11-4 while scoring two goals by Rick Nash and Dominic Moore. But at the end of the day penalties killed the Bruins who gave up nine power play opportunities on which the Pens went 3-for-9. With the score close, the Bruins pulled Mathieu Garon with just over a minute to play. But with Mike Commodore in the penalty box, the Bruins weren't able to put much pressure on the Pens who could add not one, but two empty netters for the final score of 5-2. The Pens outshot the Bruins 28-24.

GAME 6

In this must-win situtation, the Bruins put their top line of Patrice Bergeron-Zach Parise-Rick Nash back together and also doubleshifted them on the third line to try and put pressure on the Pens D. But after the game 5 win, the Pens had their defensive game all set after only dressing 5 d'men to give their top defensive guys more ice-time. The Bruins were able to outshot the Pens on this day by 31-24, but Jonas Hiller was able to get the shutout after playing his best game of the series. Antti Miettinen grabbed the first two goals of the game while Simon Gagne finished the Bruins off late in the third to make it 3-0, which also was the final score.

SERIES OVER

All in all, the Bruins exceeded expectations just making it to the playoffs when considering the team was around the bottom 5 in the league before pulling off the Zach Parise blockbuster deal. We're a proud organization and making the playoffs is great for our fans. The Pens were too strong though and we never had any illusions, we knew we didn't have a team to compete for a long Cup run, but it was fun while it lasted.

Here's a look at some playoff numbers for the Bruins:

Most Points: Patrice Bergeron and Rick Nash (6)
Most Goals: Patrice Bergeron and Logan Couture (3)
Most Assists: Rick Nash (4)
Playoff Team MVP: Patrice Bergeron (3 goals, 3 assists, 6 points, 17.6 Sh% and 68.6 FO%)

And here's a look at some regular season numbers:

Most Points: Rick Nash (107)
Most Goals: Zach Parise (53)
Most Assists: Patrice Bergeron (70)
Top Goaltender: Andrew Raycroft (32 GP, 15-12-5, 2.67 GAA, .921 Sv%, 2 SO)
Regular Season MVP: Rick Nash (43 goals, 64 assists, 107 points, +34, 9PP, 2SH, 7GW)

Bruins Won't Go Away Just Yet

GAME 3

After splitting the first two road games at Pittsburgh, the Bruins had some momentum going into their own building. But the Penguins brought their A game in their defensive zone and only allowed the Bruins 20 shots at Jonas Hiller while putting 29 on Mathieu Garon. The Bruins kept it close though as the score was tied 1-1 after two periods. Simon Gagne, netting his second goal of the series, made it 1-0 for the Pens before Andrej Meszaros tied it up with just 17 seconds to go in the second. But on this day the Pens wore down the Bruins and eventually got the game winner a little over three minutes into the third period after Garon gave the puck away behind the net to Brad Richards who made no mistake with the empty net. Final score 2-1 Pens.

CHANGING THINGS UP... AGAIN

After not getting enough offense in game 3, the Bruins decided to mix things up, splitting the top line to try and get more lines and players involved. Zach Parise was moved to the second line which was centered by Logan Couture and with Justin Williams on the right wing, who was moved up from the third line. Patrice Bergeron and Rick Nash stayed on the top line, but got Shane Doan on the left side to give them a bit more space with Doan going to the net more. The defense was kept intact from the previous game.

GAME 4

The Bruins got the result they were seeking with the line juggling, getting a 5-3 win to pull even at 2-2 in the series with the Pens. The Bruins went up 3-1 early in the second period after goals by the big three - Bergeron, Nash and Parise. But the Pens wouldn't go away that easily after goals by Antti Miettinen (with his second of the game) and Simon Gagne tied it to make it 3-3 midway through the second period.

With the Pens on the power play with Justin Williams in the penalty box, the Pens looked for the go ahead goal for the first time in the game. Instead Nash and Bergeron came 2-on-1 and after some nice passing, that saw Chris Pronger loose his footing, Bergeron slammed the puck into the net for the shorthanded goal and eventual game winner. With just over five-and-a-half minutes to go in the third, Logan Couture put the game away with his third of the series on the power play. With two power play goals and one shorthanded, the Bruins had elevated their special teams at the right time. Outshooting the Pens 30-22 was evidence enough that the Bruins were on top of their game. Bergeron, Parise and Nash all had three points each to lead the way.

Bruins Split First Two Away Games

GAME 1

The Bruins entered the first round of the AHL playoff series with the Pittsburgh Penguins with hopes to give the Penguins a hard fought series. But in game 1 the Penguins showed why they were the #2 seed in the Eastern Conference by quickly making it 1-0 on a Marc Methot wrister from the point that hit Bruin d'man Rostislav Klesla before finding the back of the net 03:11 into the first period. The Penguins outshot the Bruins 14-8 in the first period and added two late goals from Antti Miettinen and Martin Erat to make it 3-0.

The Bruins got a tough break even before the 2nd period began as Eric Nystrom was called for unsportsmanlike conduct at 00:00. Exactly what happened wasn't caught by cameras, but it's believed that Nystrom "accidentally" took one of the refs whistles. Troy Brouwer and Antti Miettinen, with his second goal of the game, made it 5-0 even before the half way mark of the second period. The Bruins were a beaten team, but did outshoot the Penguins in the last two periods by 23-15 and won the 3rd period with the lone goal scored by Logan Couture who was skating on the 4th line in this game.

CHANGES AHEAD

With Andrej Meszaros and Rostislav Klesla posting a -4 for the Bruins while Chris Pronger and Brad Stuart had +4 for the Penguins in game 1, the Bruins made a couple of changes for the second game of the series. First of all Meszaros was paired with Mike Commodore, while Klesla was paired with Matt Carle. An extra player was dressed for game 2 as John Carlson was brought in to give the Bruins a bit more speed and puck movement at the back end for the Power Play. And finally Logan Couture, who was one of the best Bruins in game 1, was moved up to the 2nd line while Justin Williams moved down to the 3rd line.

GAME 2

The result was the same as in game 1 though as the Penguins came out flying and went 2-0 up just 02:35 into the game with Simon Gagne and Martin Erat putting the puck past Mathieu Garon. The Bruins called a time-out after this and started to get under the skin of a number of Pens. But it wasn't until 01:58 of the second period when Eric Nystrom crashed the net and deflected a Justin Williams shot-pass past Jonas Hiller in the Pens net that we had a game on our hands. Before the period was over the Bruins had scored a total of four unanswered goals with Patrice Bergeron, Shane Doan and Zach Parise getting the last three.

The Bruins had been outshot 16-9 in the second period, but Garon played his best period so far in the playoff stopping all 16 shots. The Bruins were ahead 4-2 heading into the third period. David Legwand cut the lead to just one when he scored 01:20 into the third. But just over a minute later, Logan Couture once again got the last goal, this time in a winning effort as the Bruins were able to hold on to win 5-3 in a crucial game for the Bruins. The Pens outshot the Bruins by 37-22, in large part due to having four more power plays. Giving up too many power plays won't help the Bruins chances, but the penalty kill has been perfect so far with 10 straight kills.

End of Regular Season and Start of Playoffs

The Bruins had a tough and difficult time at the end of regular season. This had a lot to do with the fact the Bruins couldn't skate all their best players due to league restrictions. Not being able to use our best players we found ourselves in a major slump which meant we had to fight for a playoff spot to the end. At a point during the second half of the season we had our sights set at the #3 spot (which was held by division rivals Montreal Canadiens). But with new GM Ricky Maillee joining the league right after the trade deadline, the Canadiens cruised away and held on to the #3 spot.

The Bruins were able to finish with a three game winning streak with two of the wins versus the New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils, the #6 and #8 seed in the Eastern Conference. With this, the Bruins ended up as the #7 seed, a spot we had at the trade deadline. So even with a tough last quarter or so of the season the Bruins were able to hold their ground and get into the postseason.

vs.

In the first round the Bruins will face #2 seed the Pittsburgh Penguins which we all know will be a difficult task. GM Don Brooks has a very compact team with a league leading defense that impressed with 15 less goals allowed than the second best defensive team in the league. However, the Bruins did have a better offense during the regular season, scoring 29 more goals than the Penguins. This was in large part thanks to the top line of Bergeron-Parise-Nash that carried much of the workload for the Bruins.

A look at some of the offensive numbers for our Bruins reveals that Captain Rick Nash lead the way with 107 points (43+64) good for 7th spot in the scoring race. Zach Parise was 8th in goals and lead the Bruins with 53 (while adding 42 assists for 95 points). Patrice Bergeron was 7th in assists with 70 (and added 22 goals for 92 points). All three categories were won by Sidney Crosby of the Calgary Flames who had a "sick season" where he put up an amazing 179 points (81+98).

We were happy with our secondary scoring from our 2nd line by Shane Doan (27 goals and 41 assists for 68 points), Dominic Moore (20+39 for 59 points) and Justin Williams (20+36 for 56 points) all getting over twenty goals. And rookie Logan Couture had an impressive 18 goals in just 38 games. At defense, Matt Carle, acquired with Parise during the season, lead all defensemen with 8 goals and 25 assists for a respectable 33 points. Andrej Meszaros had 5+19 for 24 points while Rusty Klesla (3+13 for 16 points) and rookie John Carlson (5+10 for 15 points) had solid numbers in limited number of games playing in just 39 and 33 games respectively.