Boston Bruins: Peter Chiarelli Should Set Own Trade Deadline for Feb. 16

Head coach Claude Julien got the Boston Bruins back on the winning track Sunday afternoon by realigning the fragments of his depth chart to the best, most necessary extent of his power.

The time is fast approaching for Julien’s higher-up, general manager Peter Chiarelli, to do the same with the full scope of his lineup.

With a six-game road trip starting a week from Wednesday, Chiarelli has a chance to rerun his act from last season, when he changed the Bruins’ lineup on the fly more than a week before the NHL trade deadline.

Last year’s deadline was Feb. 28. But it was Feb. 18, between a set of back-to-back game nights against the New York Islanders and Ottawa Senators, that the Bruins confirmed the acquisitions of Tomas Kaberle, Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley.

That visit to Uniondale was the first installment of a six-game road swing and Blake Wheeler’s final appearance in a Boston uniform. The next night in the Canadian capital marked the Bruins’ debuts of Kelly and Kaberle.

The Bruins slept four more times and traveled over two time zones and some 1,800 miles before they played again. By then, Peverley was ready to break into the lineup in a bout with the Calgary Flames.

In the midst of gelling with their imports, the Bruins made a symmetrical pivot throughout western Canada and back to Ottawa for the last of their 12 days away from home and 11 days north of the border.

Did anyone mention they swept that entire trip and then extended their winning streak to seven games March 3 with a 2-1 triumph over Tampa Bay at TD Garden? Or that Peverley had already put three Bruins’ games on his transcript before the Feb. 28 trade deadline? Or that Boston had been going through a 1-4-0 lull before Chiarelli went to work Feb. 17?

Well, it’s all true, and even if all of the numbers are not quite identical, Chiarelli could initiate something similar this season if he acts in a timely fashion.

Starting next Wednesday, the Bruins will go without a home game for a full two weeks, cramming six consecutive road dates into a cluster of 11 nights. They will start Feb. 15 in Montreal and promptly proceed to Winnipeg for a Feb. 17 visit, the first of three straight games in the Central Time Zone.

If any new faces are to be integrated before the homestretch—and at least one new personality should be—it might as well happen during a protracted period away from home.

Granted, after a month of efforts that could be described as iffy at best, the Bruins thoroughly replenished their ideal form in Sunday’s 4-1 triumph over the Washington Capitals. But with their current arrangement, it is tough to envision them subsisting the same way for the balance of the season.

Nathan Horton’s long-term condition and competence, in particular, are all but impossible to project. A lack of health or a lack of comfort on his part or Julien’s could keep Horton out or put him back among the scratches at any time.

In that event, the last thing the Bruins want to do is resort to Jordan Caron or Zach Hamill for an indefinite stretch when the meaning of each game is exponentially elevated. Caron would make a suitable No. 1 Black Ace in the playoffs, but Horton or no Horton, the Bruins want a better 13th forward than Hamill.

The simple fact is that Hamill, who is pointless with 11 shots on goal and a minus-one rating over his last 13 appearances with the parent club, needs a change of environment. He needs someplace where he might have the opportunity to share a common thread with a franchise that is starting fresh.

He appeared to have that very opportunity in Boston when Chiarelli drafted him seventh overall nearly five years ago. But false starts have since stunted the 23-year-old’s ascension and therefore barred him from a significant role in the Bruins’ rise from playoff no-shows to championship contenders.

There is little sense in casting away any of the club’s established NHLers, but padding on another one could be a refreshing perk-up for the defending champions.

The best way to get the Bruins to readopt the consistent hunger they need to bring their best game against all adversaries and thus continue to compete for the most favorable playoff spot is to incorporate a performer with fewer fulfillments on his resume.

The Carolina Hurricanes’ recent re-signing of Tim Gleason instantly limited Chiarelli’s endeavor to add an extra layer of defense, but it also reduces his dilemma in terms of expending current players.

If Hamill can be dealt to a floundering franchise, such as Carolina, Anaheim, Edmonton or Phoenix, in exchange for a Tuomo Ruutu, Teemu Selanne, Ryan Smyth or Ray Whitney, that ought to suffice.

But the best time to get the deal done in within the next 10 days, preferably while the Bruins are in the midst of preparing for their visit to Montreal or departing that city en route to Winnipeg.

Let them make their final tweaks while they are all together on an hour-to-hour basis for several days, then bring their revised roster back to their fans with 40 days and 22 games left in the regular season.