Set to change on the fly?
One bad week does not a fire sale make. But it does - or at least it probably will - warm up the trade rumors here on Causeway Street with only two weeks to go before the NHL's wheel-'n'-deal deadline.
The Bruins remained in their slump last night with a 4-1 loss to Philadelphia, and they've now gone O for the Islanders (a tie) and Hurricanes and Sabres and Flyers since returning to work after the Olympic break. Who knew that an extinguished flame in Salt Lake would turn things colder than the back side of the moon here in the Hub of Hockey?
''Right now, we are a frustrated hockey team,'' said No. 1 netminder Byron Dafoe. ''But it's not from lack of effort.''
Actually, what ails the Bruins most right now is a lack of bodies, both healthy and otherwise. Joe Thornton has one game to go on his three-game suspension for cross-checking Rod Brind'Amour. And then there's a long list of wounded, some walking (Martin Lapointe, Rob Zamuner, P.J. Stock), and some otherwise (Kyle McLaren). Get that bunch all back on the ice, wave the wand of wellness over them, and March probably doesn't look so menacing this morning.
''Having Joe helps,'' said veteran defenseman Sean O'Donnell. ''I mean, look at Colorado without [Peter] Forsberg - and look at us at the start of the year, before we had [Jozef] Stumpel and [Glen] Murray.''
The issue at hand now, however, is what happens to the Bruins in their half-dozen games leading up to the March 19 trade deadline. If their three weeks since Salt Lake read something like 2-7-1, and suddenly they are slotted as the fifth or sixth playoff seed in the East, then general manager Mike O'Connell will be forced to do something, anything, to get his club back playing the way it did for the 31/2 months (forget ugly October) leading up to mid-February.
As of the Olympic break, both Bill Guerin and Dafoe were considered fait accompli to finish out the season here. The club was hot. The W-L balance sheet was healthy. Even if they are both to walk as unrestricted free agents as of July 1, prevailing wisdom had it that the Bruins were better to keep them here, try to win a couple of playoff rounds, and suffer the potential consequences of their departure in the dead of summer. A lively spring was more important.
But now? Things are a little different.
The Bruins have little choice but to go the route with Dafoe. Without a No. 1 goaltender as of the eve of March 19, guess what? There may be no playoffs. Dafoe is a hold. In fact, unless he sets his price above, say, $6 million a year this summer, there is still a chance he could come back this fall with a new two- or three-year deal. That's not to say the Bruins would just toss him $6 million a year, but after enough mudslinging, name-calling, and wrestling in Big Dig debris, it's conceivable the battered and bloodied sides could strike a deal around $6 million. All in the name of good will and harmony. Of course.
Now Guerin is shaping up as something much different. He is already making slightly north of $5 million a year, and that's looking almost priceline.com-ish (you paid how much for your leading scorer?) in light of the fact that he potted his 34th goal last night - pulling him temporarily within two of Calgary's Jarome Iginla for the league lead.
If Guerin came in over the summer looking for a bump to $6 million, over three or four years, then it would be the easiest $6 million signing in the history of the francise. It also would be the only $6 million signing in the history of the franchise. Not even Ray Bourque, watching from the ninth floor last night and treated to a standing ovation when his smiling face was flashed on the message board, ever got into Jeremy Jacobs's deep pockets for $6 million per annum.
But the latest word around the water cooler - take the buzz around the bubbler for what it's worth - is that Guerin, on target to be the goal-scoringest unrestricted free agent on the market, will be looking for upwards of $45 million over five years. It's the same $9 million a year that John LeClair pocketed from the Flyers last summer, except LeClair's deal was for four years. In a world of comparable pricing, it fits.
Now, that sound you just heard? Probably the rolling echo of laughter emanating from the Delaware North Companies home office in Buffalo.
It takes exactly 1.8 million hot dogs, at $5 apiece, to cover one man's $9 million wage. Not going to happen. Not here. Not now. And likely not to happen until hot dogs sell for $10 apiece (bun included, of course) and the lower-bowl loge seats are running about $125 a pop and garage parking is edging toward $50. Another 7-8 years, max, just as Guerin is about to turn 40.
What all this means, here in the thick of a four-game malaise, is that Guerin is not the lock he was three weeks ago to stay here for the rest of the season. Every bad game gone by right now, with March 19 approaching, will be one more reason for O'Connell and his top player-personnel adviser, Sean Coady, to consider in earnest whatever a club like Colorado or St. Louis or Detroit tosses their way for Guerin.
Just as winning often masks all ills, losing changes everything. The Bruins are not bad, but they're playing that way right now, for a variety of reaasons.
Factor in, say, a clunker in Montreal (tomorrow), the standard stinker in Atlanta (Friday), and a stubbed toe here Saturday when the Flames are in town, and there will be that many more than the already existing 9 million reasons to consider going another way with Guerin. In this economy, folks, the line changes can be fast and furious.
One bad week does not a fire sale make. But it does - or at least it probably will - warm up the trade rumors here on Causeway Street with only two weeks to go before the NHL's wheel-'n'-deal deadline.
The Bruins remained in their slump last night with a 4-1 loss to Philadelphia, and they've now gone O for the Islanders (a tie) and Hurricanes and Sabres and Flyers since returning to work after the Olympic break. Who knew that an extinguished flame in Salt Lake would turn things colder than the back side of the moon here in the Hub of Hockey?
''Right now, we are a frustrated hockey team,'' said No. 1 netminder Byron Dafoe. ''But it's not from lack of effort.''
Actually, what ails the Bruins most right now is a lack of bodies, both healthy and otherwise. Joe Thornton has one game to go on his three-game suspension for cross-checking Rod Brind'Amour. And then there's a long list of wounded, some walking (Martin Lapointe, Rob Zamuner, P.J. Stock), and some otherwise (Kyle McLaren). Get that bunch all back on the ice, wave the wand of wellness over them, and March probably doesn't look so menacing this morning.
''Having Joe helps,'' said veteran defenseman Sean O'Donnell. ''I mean, look at Colorado without [Peter] Forsberg - and look at us at the start of the year, before we had [Jozef] Stumpel and [Glen] Murray.''
The issue at hand now, however, is what happens to the Bruins in their half-dozen games leading up to the March 19 trade deadline. If their three weeks since Salt Lake read something like 2-7-1, and suddenly they are slotted as the fifth or sixth playoff seed in the East, then general manager Mike O'Connell will be forced to do something, anything, to get his club back playing the way it did for the 31/2 months (forget ugly October) leading up to mid-February.
As of the Olympic break, both Bill Guerin and Dafoe were considered fait accompli to finish out the season here. The club was hot. The W-L balance sheet was healthy. Even if they are both to walk as unrestricted free agents as of July 1, prevailing wisdom had it that the Bruins were better to keep them here, try to win a couple of playoff rounds, and suffer the potential consequences of their departure in the dead of summer. A lively spring was more important.
But now? Things are a little different.
The Bruins have little choice but to go the route with Dafoe. Without a No. 1 goaltender as of the eve of March 19, guess what? There may be no playoffs. Dafoe is a hold. In fact, unless he sets his price above, say, $6 million a year this summer, there is still a chance he could come back this fall with a new two- or three-year deal. That's not to say the Bruins would just toss him $6 million a year, but after enough mudslinging, name-calling, and wrestling in Big Dig debris, it's conceivable the battered and bloodied sides could strike a deal around $6 million. All in the name of good will and harmony. Of course.
Now Guerin is shaping up as something much different. He is already making slightly north of $5 million a year, and that's looking almost priceline.com-ish (you paid how much for your leading scorer?) in light of the fact that he potted his 34th goal last night - pulling him temporarily within two of Calgary's Jarome Iginla for the league lead.
If Guerin came in over the summer looking for a bump to $6 million, over three or four years, then it would be the easiest $6 million signing in the history of the francise. It also would be the only $6 million signing in the history of the franchise. Not even Ray Bourque, watching from the ninth floor last night and treated to a standing ovation when his smiling face was flashed on the message board, ever got into Jeremy Jacobs's deep pockets for $6 million per annum.
But the latest word around the water cooler - take the buzz around the bubbler for what it's worth - is that Guerin, on target to be the goal-scoringest unrestricted free agent on the market, will be looking for upwards of $45 million over five years. It's the same $9 million a year that John LeClair pocketed from the Flyers last summer, except LeClair's deal was for four years. In a world of comparable pricing, it fits.
Now, that sound you just heard? Probably the rolling echo of laughter emanating from the Delaware North Companies home office in Buffalo.
It takes exactly 1.8 million hot dogs, at $5 apiece, to cover one man's $9 million wage. Not going to happen. Not here. Not now. And likely not to happen until hot dogs sell for $10 apiece (bun included, of course) and the lower-bowl loge seats are running about $125 a pop and garage parking is edging toward $50. Another 7-8 years, max, just as Guerin is about to turn 40.
What all this means, here in the thick of a four-game malaise, is that Guerin is not the lock he was three weeks ago to stay here for the rest of the season. Every bad game gone by right now, with March 19 approaching, will be one more reason for O'Connell and his top player-personnel adviser, Sean Coady, to consider in earnest whatever a club like Colorado or St. Louis or Detroit tosses their way for Guerin.
Just as winning often masks all ills, losing changes everything. The Bruins are not bad, but they're playing that way right now, for a variety of reaasons.
Factor in, say, a clunker in Montreal (tomorrow), the standard stinker in Atlanta (Friday), and a stubbed toe here Saturday when the Flames are in town, and there will be that many more than the already existing 9 million reasons to consider going another way with Guerin. In this economy, folks, the line changes can be fast and furious.
