By all indications, the transactions that have been rumored for days now have been completed. Defenseman Tomas Kaberle is Boston-bound after the Leafs sent him to the Bruins in exchange for Joe Colborne, Boston's first rounder (not Toronto's pick) in the upcoming draft, and a conditional draft selection. To make cap room for this deal, the Bruins made a secondary trade that ships forward Blake Wheeler (11 goals, 16 assists) to the Atlanta Thrashers along with defenseman Mark Stuart. Returning to the Bruins from Atlanta are forward Rich Peverley (14 goal, 20 assists) and minor-league defenseman Boris Valabik. Both transactions are reportedly finalized, and NHL.com's top story gives it further credibility.
For those of you wondering, this absolutely makes the Bruins more equipped as Stanley Cup contenders this season. After stockpiling so much youth and draft ammunition, Peter Chiarelli finally cashed some of his winnings in for a chance at a championship this season. By and large, analysts of the NHL have believed that the Bruins were just one elite defenseman away from being legitimate contenders. They got that piece, and they may have even upgraded their forward groups as well.
The acquisitions of Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley likely outweigh the loss of Blake Wheeler in a positive fashion. Now, the Bruins have even more options than they did before. Peverley has solid numbers this season and would be tied with Michael Ryder in sixth place on the Bruins point-scoring sheet this season (34 points). Additionally, he's a great faceoff man and has versatility -- two things that can also be said on behalf of Chris Kelly from the Ottawa Senators, who has 12 goals and 11 assists this season. Whether it means giving Tyler Seguin some additional healthy scratches, bumping a newcomer to the fourth line and strengthening that unit's offensive prowess, or juggling things entirely, Claude Julien has a myriad of options with the forward additions. But let's not kid ourselves -- the big catch is Kaberle.
There is no word yet as of this afternoon whether or not Kaberle and Peverley will be available in tonight's contest with the Ottawa Senators. Since Kaberle is coming from Toronto, there may be a chance he could make it, but that's pure speculation on my part. Chris Kelly is expected to be in the lineup tonight against his former team, and if the other new guys are absent, it is expected that Kelly will center Michael Ryder and Tyler Seguin. Moving forward, it should be exciting to see the combinations that arise and the ways that Julien utilizes his new tools.
Okay, i've been giving this hockey nonsense a try, (been feeling lonely since the Pats let me down) but one thing I don't get is that leading up to this Kaberle trade, all i'd hear on the radio, during the games, and from anyone else talking about the Bruins is how they need a "puck moving defenseman."
ReplyDeleteWhich brings up a few questions.
1. What the hell does that mean? No one ever really explains it.
2. I've heard Kaberle is supposed to make the powerplay a whole lot better. But if he's so great at "puck moving" why the hell isn't he a forward/center?
Please excuse me being so naive.
I completely understand your sentiments from a non-hockey fan's standpoint and I will do my best to explain them.
ReplyDeleteWhen they say a "puck-moving defenseman," they are referring to an offensive minded defenseman who has more puck skills in the most general fashion. More specifically, the Bruins have been looking for a defenseman who does a better job moving the puck from the back end to the forwards up the ice. The better your defensemen can move the puck, the less your forwards have to generate in their own defensive zone and the more they can move up ice. It's somewhat of a difficult concept to explain, but he's not a forward because he's a defenseman, he just makes a great first pass breaking out of the defensive zone. Additionally, he's a great puck mover from the blue line on the power play. The Bruins have been using forwards at the point on the power play this year, and that takes away the impact they can have up front as forwards. Most of the Bruins defenseman are strong as bulls and rock solid defensively -- they lacked the offensive minded guy who can help the offense in addition to the defense. It's a choppy explanation, but hopefully you can sortof understand what I'm getting at.
I think you'd see a little bit of what I'm saying if you watched some games and paid particular attention to the passes our defenseman make from within their own blue line. Kaberle is a guy who makes a very good pass through the neutral zone to the forwards and that's where the offense starts. You don't tend to think about it, but next time you're watching a game, with the idea in mind, you'll realize that it is very rarely the forwards alone who generate the play that results in a goal. The defensemen need to get the play started, and the Bruins were looking for a guy who specializes in that area of the game.
Ok, so I was watching Kaberle on the power play, and he just kind of hangs at the blue line and doesn't really do anything. I mean he cotrols the puck at "the point" (?) and tosses it over to Chara or one of the wingers, but they seem to be moderately easy passes. It doesn't seem like the hardest job in the world. But after the 1st period Milbury was having an orgasm over what seemed to me to be pretty normal passes. So his effectiveness there I don't really understand, but if every hockey expert says it's important, i'm probably (definatly) wrong on that one.
ReplyDeleteBut I completely understand what you're saying about starting breaks and pushing the puck. I can clearly see the difference between Kaberle handling the puck compared to big retard Chara.
Truthfully I missed the game last night and didn't see Kaberle on the power play, but I can imagine what you mean. It probably did look very simple, and it probably was. What they were likely jizzing over was his poise and smoothness with those passes. With Kaberle at the point there, it does a few things. First, it gives you a guy who can do a lot more with the puck if the penalty killers aggressively send a guy in pursuit. When Mark Recchi is out there at the point (using a forward) and a player pursues him, he's in very unfamiliar territory being the last line of defense and needing to make a play to an open guy. The hope is that Kaberle will make teams pay for pursuing him, because he will be able to move the puck to another player and, if you think about what happens when a player pursues to the blue line on that defenseman, he can create a 4-on-3 if he can get the puck to Chara or Bergeron or whoever is on the side of the umbrella. I think you'll notice it more and more on the power play, that it's more just his presence and ability to "quarterback" the unit, which we have lacked all season. Chara sets up for that 1-timer bomb and he's great at it, but we usually needed to use a guy like Bergeron or Krejci at the point who was skilled enough moving the puck so that they could feed him that 1-timer pass. A 1-timer pass needs to be perfectly on point if Chara's going to blast a 105 mph shot directly off it. The Bruins feel Kaberle gives them all the things they needed in that area, on top of the fact that he's a natural defenseman who is comfortable in the situation.
ReplyDeleteLike I said I didn't actually see it, but it makes sense that analysts were loving it. I was actually having Keeman give me updates on how the new players looked, and he said at one point, "an alright period, it'll probably take some time for everyone to adjust but kaberle looked great on the PP." So it seems to be a general consensus haha.
Alright it makes alot sense now. We'll have to watch a bruins game together sometime because I hate watching and not understanding everything. Lots of ?'s.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely. Even though our last playoff game gathering at your house was a bitter experience, I don't believe in superstition, so we will tentatively designate your house as the place to go. And / or we could get tickets sometime which at least me and Goodwin and probably Keeman are already planning to do for at least 1 playoff game.
ReplyDelete