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This past weekend
in Pittsburgh, the B's selected a new crop of young players, all of
whom hope to be NHL stars for the Bruins in the near future.
The B's selected five new players, and also traded the rights to RFA
Benoit Pouliot to Tampa Bay. Here's a recap of what went down this
weekend, along with some comments as to what each move means.
- B’s draft Malcolm Subban My immediate reaction (and also that
of my father who was watching with me) to the pick was laughter. Really?
Drafting the little brother of Bruins’ fans most-hated player? Awesome troll
move, Peter Chiarelli. A+. From a non-trolling standpoint, the move puzzled me
a bit at first. Sure, Subban comes highly touted, considered one of the top two
goalies in the draft along with Andrei Vasilevski, who went 19th
overall to Tampa Bay. But did the B’s really need to take
a goalie with their first pick? Most draft pundits agreed that there was a
significant drop-off in talent after the middle of the first round, so maybe
the B’s just decided to take who they thought was the best player available.
There
 were a couple of pretty highly-ranked defensemen available, but the B’s
elected to take Subban. The move says a few things about the B’s and their
organizational strength (more on that later), and also illustrates the team’s
desire to solidify their future between the pipes. Sadly, Tim Thomas is the
past, and Tuukka Rask is the present (no knock on Rask, I just like Thomas and wish
things had ended differently for him). It’s a bit strange to me to consider
Rask, the “goalie of the future” since being traded here in exchange for Andrew
Raycroft in 2006, the goalie of the “present,” but I also find it strange when
little kids at my work tell me they were born in 2006. Whoa. Subban is a
project pick, as are most goaltenders. But what the pick does is give the B’s
another blue-chipper in the goalie pipeline. Right now, Rask is the starter,
and Anton Khudobin is the back-up. But who’s after that? Michael Hutchinson?
Adam Morrison? Marty Turco!? The B’s did sign Swedish goaltending prospect
Niklas Svedberg a couple of weeks ago, but as you can see, there’s a
significant drop-off after Rask. Drafting Subban ensures that the B’s have a
“goalie of the future” again. Plus, it’ll make future match-ups with Montreal that much more
fun.
- Stronger than expected? By passing on a defenseman like Brady
Skjei and instead selecting more “project” defensemen (Grzelcyk and Benning) in
later rounds, the B’s appear to be fairly satisfied with their organizational
depth on the blue line. They’ve got five solid NHL blueliners in Zdeno Chara,
Dennis Seidenberg, Andrew Ference, Johnny Boychuk, and Adam McQuaid; they’ve
also got two players expected to compete for the sixth spot this year in phenom
Dougie Hamilton and Torey Krug, a late-season collegiate free agent signing.
Further down the line, they’ve got Colby Cohen, David Warsofsky, Tommy Cross,
and Ryan Button, along with RFA’s Matt Bartkowski and Andrew Bodnarchuk. I’ve
thought for a while now that the B’s biggest organizational weakness was on the
blue line, but a closer look actually surprised me. There aren’t many spots to
be had on the Bruin back end, and it seems like there are enough decent
prospects to fill the necessary spots in case of injury or trade. When Malcolm
Subban’s name was announced, I was at first puzzled as to why the B’s didn’t
address the lack of defense prospects; a closer look showed that PC and Co.
knew what they were doing after all.
- The rest of the guys Malcolm Subban wasn’t the only Bruin
drafted this weekend, as Matt Grzelcyk, Seth Griffith, Cody Payne, Matt
Benning, and Colton Hargrove also had their names called by members of the B’s
organization. Of those selected, Griffith and Grzelcyk are the most intriguing
to me. I’m not going to write off Benning, Hargrove, or Payne already, but they
seem to be more long-shots than sure things. Grzelcyk is great because of his
local roots and his dad working as a member of the Garden bull gang for over
four decades, but he’s also a solid player. I’ve been reading regular updates
on him in the New England Hockey Journal, and he appears to be something the
B’s need: a mobile, smart defenseman who doesn’t make many mistakes and can
move the puck. He’ll spend at least a couple of years at BU, but should get
solid coaching from Jack Parker and Company. Griffith seems to have tremendous upside: he
put up 85 points in 68 OHL games for the London Knights this past season, and
tacked on 23 more in 19 playoff games. 104 points in 91 games gets my
attention. Griffith
probably benefited from playing on a talent-laden Knights roster, but a
point-per-game average in a league like the OHL is nothing to dismiss. Griffith is probably two
or three years away as well, but his development will be interesting to watch.
- Bye bye Benny And so, with a whimper, the Benoit Pouliot Era in
Boston ended on Saturday, as Benny (or, more specifically, Benny’s rights) was
sent to Tampa Bay in exchange for UFA-to-be (read: salary dump) Michel Ouellet
and a fifth-round pick that the B’s used to select Griffith. I’m a bit
disappointed, but not surprised. Pouliot didn’t exactly set the world on fire
here, and save for a couple of memorable moments his tenure was pretty
standard. He didn’t take the second (third?) chance and run with it as I had hoped,
nor did he fail spectacularly. His time here was…meh. I don’t think we’ll see
Ouellet in Boston,
and think his inclusion in the deal may have been some kind of tagging issue
similar to the one that’s holding up the Chris Kelly extension. Pouliot may
flourish on the lower lines in Tampa
(like Teddy Purcell or Sean Bergenheim), or he may be “meh” again. I don’t
think Pouliot’s time here was a failure, but it wasn’t a success either. Pouliot’s
departure likely opens up a spot for Jordan Caron, who I’m not sold on at all. I
wouldn’t mind seeing the B’s grab another bottom-six winger from free agency,
someone like Ryan Smyth, Niklas Hagman, or Mikael Samuelsson. While I believe
Caron should be given every chance to play, he should also have to earn a spot.
Having another capable winger waiting in the wings (pun intended) will increase
competition and should make everyone better. Good luck in Tampa, Benny.
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