The Bruins traded Matt Hunwick? What?!? The Bruins certainly did trade Hunwick but it is more of a money dump than a trade. Hunwick was shipped out to Colorado in order to make cap space in anticipation for Marc Savard’s return. But why Hunwick? You’re telling me that Paille is worth more to this team than Hunwick? That’s funny….what type of worth are we talking about? Worth could mean two totally different things. Hunwick is worth more in two ways – his cap hit is bigger and his play is worth more. Then again Paille is worth more because his cap hit is smaller and thus more valuable to the team in preparation for Savard’s return.
Either way, Hunwick will not be on the ice when the Bruins take on the Flyers and neither will Paille since Krejci and Caron should be back from their bouts with the flu. The dumping on Hunwick to open up cap space for Savard has to make you think what will happen when Marco Sturm returns to the active roster. Who will be the unfortunate person to be dumped then? Will it finally be Paille? Is his cap hit enough to cover Sturm’s return? If/when the Bruins ship someone else out, what happens if Sturm blows his knee again or suffers some other injury? Sturm’s a great player but I think his time in Boston may have run its course and the Bruins may be stuck if they dump another player and then Sturm goes down again.
Let’s not think about that too much now. We need to concentrate on the Bruins play right now which is not pretty at all. The last two games have been ugly, a 3-0 loss to Carolina and a 4-1 loss to Atlanta. In those two games, Boston scored on ZERO of nine powerplays. That’s a nice 0.00 percent conversion on the powerplay, what a beautiful number. Not converting on the powerplay is nothing really new for this team but while their powerplay has suffered usually the penalty kill has picked up the slack. Not the case…three powerplay goals for Carolina and one for Atlanta. Luckily, the PK still stands at a solid 86.2 percent for the season. Unfortunately, the PP stands at an abysmal 15.8 percent.
With a horrible powerplay, most people believe that Marc Savard will be the savior for this team. Do I think Savard will help this team out? Sure, how could he not? But do I think he will solve all of Boston problems? Doubtful. It certainly is not going to hurt the team. This team needs something right now and Savard is certainly something. Let’s hope for an instant impact whenever he does return to the lineup.
And I don’t get the hype over the game against the Flyers. Yeah, I understand the Flyers kicked the Bruins out of the playoffs last year. (Trust me, I remember. I was there.) But it is one game in the regular season so how is it revenge? It’s not going to change how last year ended and it’s not going to put money back in my pocket nor is it going to change the fact that the Bruins still did not raise theirs sticks to thank the fans after the game. (Am I bitter? Ha! Definitely.) Anyways, back to the game. Revenge or not, the Bruins need to come out and play their game. They do this and they should win. So let’s go!
Kristin Carbone,
Pierce Arrow Blogger