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BHN Daily: Is A Shakeup Coming For Bruins Before NHL Trade Deadline?

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Boston Bruins

The Boston Bruins clearly look like a team that is waiting for General Manager Don Sweeney to make a trade to rescue them before the April 12 NHL Trade Deadline.

As my partner-in-crime Joe Haggerty wrote prior to another loss to the New York Islanders Thursday night, the onus is on Sweeney to bring in scoring help for one of the worst five-on-five scoring teams in the NHL but by all accounts, Bruins Head Coach Bruce Cassidy is tired of his players waiting for Sweeney.

“They played winning hockey better in the third period than we did,” Cassidy told reporters after the game. “Guys we rely on and leaders that I’ve praised for years here. Disappointed in not just grinding it out & changing when you’re supposed to…keep the momentum.” 

To the Bruins’ credit, losing Tuukka Rask after the first period and Jaro Halak continuing his mediocre play at best, didn’t help but the team as a whole seemed to give up as the game went on. This is not the first time that’s happened and it’s not the first time Cassidy has called out that leadership group he referenced above. Remember the postgame presser following the Bruins’ 4-0 stinker to the New York Rangers?

“We were well down the alphabet from our ‘A’ and ‘B’ games tonight and it would be nice if we could at least bring our damn C or even D games!” Cassidy said after that game. 

So now after a second tongue-lashing, one has to wonder, is Sweeney preparing to move say, an unrestricted free-agent-to-be David Krejci, before the NHL Trade deadline to shake up the core and foundation of this team, or is Cassidy the one that could be on the way out because the room has potentially given up on him?

One thing’s for sure, it’s going to be an interesting next two weeks leading into the deadline.

Now onto the rest of the BHN Daily Links:

 

Besides almost every Stanley Cup contender being up against the flattened $81.5 million salary cap, mish-mash lineups thanks to COVID and the upcoming NHL expansion draft, one of the reasons for the clogged NHL Trade market has been Canadian Quarantine restrictions. Well, thankfully the Canadian Federal Government has reduced the 14-day quarantine for players traded from a US-based team from 14 days to seven days which should hopefully allow more Canadian contenders to become more active before the April 12 NHL Trade Deadline. (TSN)

Well, it didn’t take long for one contender to jump into the NHL Trade market as the Montreal Canadiens acquired one-time Stanley Cup champion Eric Staal from the Buffalo Sabres on Friday to build their center depth for the playoffs. (Montreal Canadiens)

Staal’s former team, the Carolina Hurricanes are willing to trade one of their three goalies before the NHL Trade Deadline to acquire a defenseman. (NHL)

The Bruins confirmed Friday that Rask will miss at least the next two games against the Sabres tomorrow and the New Jersey Devils on Sunday. (Boston Hockey Now)

Things are brutal for the Philadelphia Flyers right now but at least defenseman/forward Samuel Morin did the rest of the East Division a favor and put a beat down on Rangers pest Brendan Lemieux. Beers on Trent Frederic next time Morin is in Boston! (Philly Hockey Now)

 

 

Another good story out of Philly is that Oskar Lindblom is still cancer-free! (Philly Hockey Now)

The Florida Panthers are surely missing Sasha Barkov right now but don’t underscore the absence of Patric Hornqvist writes FOBHN George Richards (Florida Hockey Now)

Will the embarrassing loss to the Colorado Avalanche Thursday wake up the Vegas Golden Knights? (Vegas Hockey Now)

Finally for Murph’s Music Pick Of The Day, with my alma mater UMass playing Lake Superior State tonight in the opening round of the NCAA Hockey tournament: 

 

Go U! Go U! Go U! Go UMass!

 

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