Boston Bruins' Latest Loss Proves They Direly Need A Trade

The Boston Bruins are four weeks removed from their last set of consecutive winning efforts. Even more time—at least one extra week—separates them from their last back-to-back pair of commendable winning efforts.

The few (but very much existent) universally understandable aspects of physics need to come into play here. The Bruins are too likely to stay on this unsavory course unless someone takes action from outside the boards.

It is on general manager Peter Chiarelli to enact that outside force, in the form of at least one trade, to transfuse new elements into the system.

Right now, their flux must improve to merely get back to the competitive level that they showed in a come-from-behind, 5-3 win over the Winnipeg Jets, followed by a 2-1 squeaker against Montreal on Jan. 10 and 12, respectively. But based on how they measured up with those welterweight adversaries, Boston could not rightly have been satisfied with that week.

The Bruins’ last legitimate high point was the two-night period between Jan. 4 and 5, when they throttled the New Jersey Devils and Calgary Flames by a cumulative score of 15-1. Since their statistically season-best 9-0 triumph over Calgary, they have gone 7-7-1, and most recently endured their worst margin of defeat to date on Wednesday night with a 6-0 nosedive in Buffalo.

And this is coming right on the heels of one refreshing redress of a 4-1 victory over the Washington Capitals three days prior. Had they simply brought a duplicate or even a replica effort into First Niagara Center, the bear trap of mediocrity would be all but officially shed by now.

Instead, they were shut out for the second time in four outings after being blanked only twice in their previous 48 games. They let two first-period dents to their cage and a controversial washout on a would-be equalizer at the 8:20 mark muss up their psyche.

They let Sabres’ pest Patrick Kaleta tug them out of focus, most notoriously when Zdeno Chara went out of his way to avenge an unappreciated bump in front of his own net and took an interference minor at center ice. They forced head coach Claude Julien to fork out goaltender Tuukka Rask with 1:52 gone in the second period in an effort to wake them up.

And, perhaps clouded by all of the aforementioned mishaps, the Bruins failed to draw themselves a single power play Wednesday night. True enough, they are 0-for-7 with the man advantage through four games this calendar month, but the Sabres’ so-so penalty-killing brigade would have made an ideal launch pad to renew their groove.

Wednesday’s matchup, a divisional bout with a starving, scrappy squad, presented copious opportunities for the Bruins to build upon the Washington game and replenish their elite persona. Yet they regressed with little hesitation and plunged into a single-night nadir, thereby prolonging a lull that has haunted them for the better part of their schedule since around New Year’s.

Julien already made a shrewd move to restore order when he shuffled two of the top three lines prior to the Washington game, but there is only so much more the bench boss can do for a long-term cure.

It has been 126 days, 18 weeks and 52 games since the 2011-12 season commenced. In all that time, the Bruins have not made a single external transaction, choosing instead to rely on the same set of 20 established NHL regulars, plus up-and-down youngsters Matt Bartkowski, Jordan Caron, Zach Hamill and Steven Kampfer.

Everything about Wednesday night propped up the red flag to signal that the 24-man roster, in its exact form, has grown dangerously stale. At least one personality needs to be sacrificed and at least one specimen of new blood needs to be imported and injected in a hurry.

With games coming in greater waves of frequency for the remainder of the season than in the season's first four months, any time for physical or mental recuperation is negligible, at best. The Bruins need to recharge their game brains by means of stimulation, and the addition of one or two hungry, capable skaters is the way to go.

Chiarelli could make the out-of-game equivalent of Julien’s Wednesday night goalie swap and cast away one of his top 18 skaters—possibly someone along the lines of defenseman Johnny Boychuk or forward Benoit Pouliot.

Either that, or he could give the same basic chemistry formula that fueled a hot November and December a chance to work again in April, May and June by relinquishing Bartkowski, Hamill, etc. in exchange for a seasoned spare forward and/or a depth defenseman.

The latter scenario, though preferable, will be a little tougher to pull off now in the wake of Hamill being waived for the purpose of reassignment and going unclaimed. But this is literally an at-all-costs situation.

Whether it is a three-to-four rental or a returnee for 2012-13 and maybe beyond, Chiarelli has to mix somebody in. And he should make it happen within the next week, before the Bruins have delved too deeply into their upcoming six-game road trip.