Could it be the case of the Sports Illustrated curse?

Ever since the Bruins were made the popular pick to reach the Stanley Cup Finals, their season has been a rocky road thus far.

Win a game.

Lose a game.

They are a far cry of the team that finished number one in the Eastern Conference last year.

And management has had enough.

I love Peter Chiarelli.

He is like the Bill Belichick of the Bruins. He is not afraid to send a message(Hello Adalius Thomas!).

And he did just that.

He shipped popular forward Chuck Kobasew to Minnesota.

Tim Thomas said of the trade, “It was a shot across our bow.”

The Bruins were in need of a major wake up call and the panic button has already been pushed in late October.

To make matters even worse for the Black and Gold, gritty forward Milan Lucic and sniper Marc Savard have BOTH been lost for 4-6 weeks due to injury.

Well the writing is now on the cave wall for the Hub of Hockey’s squad.

Put up or shut up.

Management will no longer tolerate inconsistency and lackluster efforts.

Everyone must do their job (Bill Belichick’s top commandment and now Chiarelli’s).

The Bruins now find themselves without two of their best players for at least a month. It will be up to Bergeron and Krejci to pickup the offensive slack. Providence call ups, Vladimir Sobotka and Brad Marchand will need to score goals. Newly acquired forward, Daniel Paille needs to be a contributing component in the Boston hockey machine.

Chara and the defensive corps need to be sound. The forwards must create scoring opportunities. Rask and Thomas must keep the puck out of the net.

These are not Mike O’Connell's Bruins or even Harry Sinden’s team at the end of his tenure.

The Jacobs family finally has the right management and coaching staff in place.

This is Peter Chiarelli’s team. This is Cam Neely’s team(Don't Mess with Sea Bass!). This is Claude Julien’s team.

Now the players need to respond and quick.

Or they may find themselves packing up their locker and heading out of town.

Joe Gill is a featured blogger for Boston Sports Then and Now, Rootzoo.com and Trufan.com

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