With regular 60 point scorer, Mark Stone on the move to the Vegas Golden Knights, the Boston Bruins laid another Trade Deadline egg yesterday afternoon.
Having been in the conversation to acquire Stone for upwards of two weeks, Donny Sweeney couldn’t get it done….again. Much like Hossa and Kovalchuk from 2008-2011 (that was Chiarelli but still, John Tavares, and Kovalchuk again this past summer. Most reported the Bruins were pushing hard for the Superstar Winger. Stone was unable to negotiate a contract extension with the Senators, which made him available to contenders.
Once again Donny failed. This might be criminal case of failure. How do you have an aging Bergeron, Marchand, Chara, Rask, and Krejci on your team, and not put all your resources you possibly could into maximizing their window? Instead they trade for Marcus Johansson who is simply not good enough. I shouldn’t be surprised, this is the Bruins “MO”. You’ll always find the Bruins associated with the biggest available trade targets, or Free Agents. They never have the balls to pull the trigger. This team had a chance to be something special, had Sweeney invested future assets. He was a afraid to trade a First Round Pick, because last year he pissed one away on the corpse of Rick Nash. Mark Stone is 26. They would be all sorts of dangerous adding a 60 point winger in his prime, but instead they add two guys who combine for 55. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. Marcus Johansson is a pretty crafty player, loads of skill especially with the puck on his stick. More of a pass first player, I would think he’d be on the second line with Krejci and DeBrusk. Problem with MoJo is he took a cheap shot from Brad Marchand just last season:
The guy hasn’t been the same since, not many would be after taking that Bush League shot. We’ll see how he contributes, but I don’t think he and Coyle is enough to match Tampa. Not even close. The Bruins just don’t have the stones (no pun intended) to maximize their ever slimming Stanley Cup window. People will say, “They didn’t mortgage their future!”. To that I say, there is no fucking future. This is it, the next 2-4 years is about as long as Bruins fans can expect to compete with the aging roster. One more bonafide stud, and they woulda been a real threat. Instead, we’ll have to pray they go in some magical run with a string of upsets.
B’s take on San Jose today at TD Garden, where MoJo will make his Bruins debut. Put up or shut up time with just over a month left.
Office Chatter 