Peter Chiarelli

What the Bruins Need to Be Successful

The Boston Bruins are having a strange season. Strange in the sense that they’re considered a “struggling” team even with a top-five record in the NHL and strange in the sense that their once-sound defensive game is suddenly filled with cracks.

In conversations, columns and general musings, it has been difficult to classify this team. The Bruins have yet to really dominate a game but in the same breath, they haven’t exactly been bowled over either. They’ve made some pretty incredible comebacks but yet can’t hold a third period lead at times. Some players have looked elite at times while managing to disappear completely during stretches as well. We’ve been waiting for the team to take it to the next gear and finally break through for 30 games now. They haven’t.

It’s bad but it’s also not bad. Strange, right?

With the trade deadline less than two weeks away, it’s imperative that Peter Chiarelli add to the Bruins roster because the current team isn’t going to do much in the playoffs. But what does the team need to be successful? Glad you asked.

Boston Bruins: Does Andrew Ference Deserve a Contract Extension?

This all seems too familiar.

It will be three years next month when I originally wrote a column on what a mistake it was extending Andrew Ference. And at the time, it sort of was. Ference finished the 2009-10 season playing in only 51 games, recording eight assists and no goals. He was even worse in the postseason after his contract extension. He never played in a game in which he could be considered a “plus” player and finished those 13 games with a -9.

The stats weren’t pretty, but Boston Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli must have saw something in the oft-injured defenseman that warranted an $850,000 raise that bumped Ference’s annual salary to $2.25 million. Turns out Chiarelli was right all along.

Nathan Horton Back to Being Captain Clutch

Nathan Horton knows about being clutch. You’ve heard this narrative before.

Perhaps the most poignant part of any Bruins Stanley Cup montage came when Tim Thomas congratulated Horton after Boston clinched the Eastern Conference Championship.

“You did it again! I can’t believe it,” said Thomas.

Horton did it again on Tuesday night.

In the team’s sixth game of the season against the New Jersey Devils, Horton scored the game-tying goal with less than five minutes remaining in the third period, sending the game to overtime and an eventual 2-1 Bruins win.

How the East Has Fared Post-Lockout

As fans CONTINUE to patiently wait for the NHL and NHLPA to negotiate a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), many are reminded of a time just eight years ago when…

Could a Shortened NHL Season Benefit the Boston Bruins?

On Thursday, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman explained that the league and its owners would be prepared to lockout its players if a new Collective Bargaining Agreement wasn’t settled upon by September 15. Considering just how far apart the two sides are currently, it seems likely that a lockout—yes, another one—is looming. While it may not have the same implications or length as the last NHL lockout during the 2004-05 season, the effects could still be devastating…at least for the most part.

It’s not farfetched to believe that teams will suffer if there is a shortened NHL season, but could there be some teams that would benefit from one? Possibly—and the Boston Bruins might be one of those teams.