The Brains Behind the Bruins

In less than six years the NHL's best General Manager, Boston's Peter Chiarelli, has drafted, signed or acquired all but three of the 23 active players on his roster

When Peter Chiarelli was hired by the Bruins in May of 2006, he inherited a team that seemed to be going nowhere after it traded a dollar (Joe Thornton) for three quarters (Brad Stuart, Marco Sturm, Wayne Primeau) and finished 13th in the East.

Knowing the team had lost it's identity, Chiarelli immediately capitalized on a brutal mistake when the team he had just left, the Ottawa Senators, chose to re-sign Wade Redden over Zdeno Chara. That allowed Chara to hit the open market, and Chiarelli snapped him up with a five year deal that made the towering defenceman the NHL's highest paid rearguard ($7.5 million/year) and the new face of the Bruins.

That same summer Chiarelli also added free-agent Marc Savard, drafted Phil Kessel (5th), Milan Lucic (50th), and Brad Marchand (71st), and traded former Calder trophy winning goalie Andrew Raycroft to Toronto for Tuuka Rask. Even though Boston improved by only 2 points in the standings during Chiarelli's first season (06-07), the foundation for an elite team was quickly being put in place.

The next year (07-08) the Bruins returned to the playoffs, and as an eighth seed forced a game seven before losing in the opening round. They advanced to the second round the following two years (08-09 and 09-10) before becoming the Stanley Cup champions in 2010-11. That culminated a pretty good run.

Or so we thought.

Improbably, they've actually improved upon that form and have been steamrolling the NHL since Halloween. Boston is currently on a 24-4-1 run that has included a pair of 6-0 triumphs, as well as 7, 8, and 9 nothing games in their favour. They lead in goals scored and goals against, have the league's best road record, are the only team not to have allowed a shorthanded goal, and could have as many as 11 players score 15 or more goals.

Chiarelli has assembled hockey's deepest and most complete line-up and his Bruins are the odds-on favourite to become only the second team in the last 20 seasons to successfully defend their championship (Detroit in 96-97 and 97-98).

In addition to the moves outlined earlier, Chiarelli has made a number of shrewd high profile deals (Kessel for draft picks that became Tyler Seguin and Dougie Hamilton; Brad Boyes for Dennis Wideman, who eventually turned into Nathan Horton and Gregory Campbell), was rewarded for staying patient with holdover young talent (Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci), and identified and acquired the right veteran pieces to help short-term (Mark Recchi) and long (Rich Peverley, Chris Kelly, Andrew Ference, Dennis Seidenberg, Johnny Boychuk).

Even the goaltending situation, which not that long ago was a potential area of concern, appears to be working itself out beautifully for Chiarelli. After Tim Thomas provided exceptional value during his first three and a half years in Boston, Chiarelli signed the goalie to a four year $20 million contract extension that kicked in for the 09-10 season and would see Thomas through to his 40th birthday. As that season unfolded Thomas struggled and Rask emerged, and it looked like the Bruins might be stuck with a potentially crippling $5 million cap hit for an aging back-up goalie.

Instead, Thomas bounced back with a Vezina and Conn Smythe-winning performance last year, has posted nearly identical numbers again this year, and now has only one more very cap manageable season left on that extension. Meanwhile Rask has gained plenty of experience, and will be looking to increase his workload and salary at a time that should fit perfectly into Chiarelli's plans.

Which evidently include more Stanley Cup parades in Boston.

*Bergeron, Krejci, and Thomas were the only three players Chiarelli didn't bring to Boston.

NHL Trade Deadline 2009

As trades roll in throughout the day the CSJ will provide updated commentary in live blog format, so check back in for continuing analysis--or sarcasm and ridicule, depending on the nature of the deals.

But before I get started dissecting all of the trade deadline movement, I wanted to address the current landscape of the league. Most of the hype surrounding the NHL season has focused on three teams who have compiled incredible records: Boston, San Jose and Detroit and rightfully so. Those teams have been atop the standings all year long and have each had lengthy streaks of near-perfect hockey and have positioned themselves as the overwhelming favorites heading into the playoffs.

The Bruins went 39-8-6 through February 5th and could end up with as many as seven 20 goal scorers up front and another two defencemen with 15 or more goals. The Sharks played 21 home games before they finally lost in regulation on January 15th and were an astonishing 36-6-5 through their first 47 games. They are blessed with two of the top 10 scorers in the game, an All-Star goalie, and a big, mean, talented supporting cast that leaves no holes in their line-up.

However both squads may have peaked too soon. Boston has won only 3 of their last 11 games while San Jose lost 6 of 7 in early February and neither is a sure bet to regain their form with only a fifth of the season remaining.

The defending champion Red Wings have finished with at least 108 points every year since 1998-99 and are well on their way to topping that total again this season, but Chris Osgood has been brutal in net and although the Wings have proven they don't necessarily need elite goaltending to win the Cup, asking Ty Conklin to front the load may be too much. Also working against the Wings is the fact that no NHL team has been able to repeat as champions in more than a decade.

In my opinion, that leaves the New Jersey Devils as the team to beat. Zach Parise is playing superstar level hockey, carrying his team at times while consistently putting up numbers and scoring crucial, game-changing goals. Jamie Langenbrunner and Travis Zajac are having career years, and Patrik Elias is on track to top 30 goals and a point-per-game for the first time in five years. Brian Gionta has rebounded following two disappointing campaigns, Brian Rolston is a known quantity, and Brendan Shanahan provides depth scoring and Stanley Cup experience. And their glue guys, the Maddens, Pandolfos and Holiks are close to the best in the business.

As a whole the defence doesn't have a lot of sizzle because there aren't those big-name players they've had in the past: no Stevens, Niedermayer or Rafalski, but the entire unit is confident, dependable and comfortable with their roles. Colin White (in his 9th season with the Devils) and Paul Martin (his fifth) set the tone and both have developed into solid players who rarely give an inconsistent effort. Johnny Oduya, the 27 year-old Swede who arrived two years ago, is another beautiful find for the NHL's best GM Lou Lamoriello, while Andy Green, Mike Mottau, and the newly acquired Niclas Havelid round out a group that shouldn't be taken lightly.

And then there is a certain star goalie who is about to become the all-time winningest netminder in NHL history and just surpassed 100 career shutouts. After missing four months with a shoulder injury Martin Brodeur will be fresh heading into the playoffs for the first time in...well, ever. With three Stanley Cup wins already to his credit, that is positively terrifying news to the rest of the league.

When you add in the superior coaching of the unheralded (or ignored?) Brent Sutter, who should be a final candidate for the 2010 Canadian Olympic team, and the upward trajectory the Devils find themselves on, New Jersey now finds themselves in the pole position.