Do the Bruins REALLY need a defenseman?

Lots of scuttlebutt today surrounding the Bruins, who seem very likely to make a move before noon tomorrow. Most of the chatter concerns the following:

- Left wingers - Erik Cole, Keith Tkachuk
- Defensemen - Chris Pronger, Jordan Leopold, Tomas Kaberle, Ruslan Salei, Derek Morris, Pavel Kubina

The consensus seems to be that the Bruins will trade for a puck-moving defenseman (if the sheer volume of rumors is meaningful).

Here's what the Bruins are currently sporting at D:
1st pairing
Chara - Norris candidate, projects to set a career high in goal scoring.
Ward - Perhaps playing a role outside his ability, but he's one of the more reliable vets on the team.

2nd pairing
Wideman - Already working on a career high in scoring, top-10 in the league.
Ference - Despite injury troubles, has matured as a puck-mover and scored 1/2 ppg.

3rd pairing
Stuart - Has scored a career-high 5 goals so far, despite being a shutdown guy.
Hnidy - Adds a lot of grit at the back end of the lineup, not something to be taken for granted.

In addition, Claude Julien has the option of activating any of the following to fill holes along the blue line:
Hunwick - A natural defenseman who at one point was the team's most productive blueliner.
Axelsson and Bergeron - Forwards who play the point on the man-advantage.
Lashoff and Boychuk - Prospects currently in Providence, both having spent time in Boston recently.

So, what's missing here? The Bruins blueline corps features two top-quality point men, several hulking defensive defensemen, and plenty of sandpaper. Julien can pair Chara and Wideman for an All-Star quality offensive duo, or put out Chara and Stuart in a "prevent" situtation. For speed he can pair Hunwick with Ference. If things get rough he can rely on The Sherriff and Mental Ward.

This isn't to say the Boston blueline (see what I did there?) can't be upgraded -- Pronger and Kaberle could step right into that top pairing with Chara and look pretty scary. But how much would that improve the Bruins as a team? Chara and Pronger are 30 min/game players, and Wideman is highly productive at 25 per game... meaning there would be 35 minutes of total ice time remaining for Ference, Ward and Stuart.

It made sense at the beginning of the season for the Bruins to trade for a defenseman, but standout seasons from the majority of the defensive corps have eliminated the need for any drastic moves. Considering the sacrifice it would take to acquire an All-Star defenseman at the trade deadline (surely a productive roster player or high draft pick), the Bruins could be much more productive by acquiring a forward to provide scoring depth and veteran leadership. Going after a defenseman at this stage would be soooo 2008.

Colborne for Cole: Pass or Fail?

Less than a week to go until the trade deadline... time to start sifting through the rumors and see what sticks.

We've known for nearly a month that the Bruins have a serious interest in Erik Cole. Oilers scout Dave Semenko has been spotted at numerous Bruins games, which lends this rumor a bit of weight. According to the rumor mill, the Oilers will want either Vladimir Sobotka, Matt Hunwick or Matt Lashoff in return for Cole. However, the Oilers are already loaded with defensemen and to be honest Sobotka is a borderline NHL'er and not much help in a rebuild.

The name that is beginning to emerge is that of Joe Colborne, the Bruins' first-round pick (#16 overall) in the 2008 draft.

So the hypothetical trade would be:

Erik Cole
6'2", 205lb, age 30
144g, 161a, 205p, 469 PIM, +9 in 478 career games

for

Joe Colborne
6'5", 195lb, age 19
6g, 15a, 21p in 27 games for Denver (NCAA)

Pass or Fail?

My take: Colborne is a steep price to pay for a rental player. But with the stars aligning for a long playoff run this season, Cole could be a difference-maker for the Bruins. Imagine a Cole-Savard-Kessel first line, and a Lucic-Bergeron-Kobasew third line in the third or fourth round.

The Trade Deadline: A Plea For Sanity

My, what a difference a season can make.

This time last year, Peter Chiarelli played a conservative hand at the trade deadline -- no moves were made, as the team's biggest concern was to dump veteran salaries and make space for young talent.

Early this season, on the heels of an unexpected playoff berth, Bruins fans were talking about the possibility of making a long playoff run within 2-3 seasons. This year was to be a bridge between the past and future, and another road-ice playoff berth was the optimisitic outlook.

Now here we are reading articles speculating on the possibility that Chiarelli could make a blockbuster move for Chris Pronger, Keith Tkachuk or Erik Cole. All of these rumors assume that he would be willing to let go of promising young talent or high draft picks, and that the end-game would be a Stanley Cup run this spring.

Maybe it's time to stop and take a deep breath. We're moving a bit too fast, aren't we?

Some perspective: Phil Kessel (21), David Krecji (22) and Matt Hunwick (23) are all coming up for contract renewal this summer. The size and length of those contracts will set the landscape for the Chiarelli-era Bruins -- presumably for the next 3-5 years. At the same time, the Bruins will likely dump or cut the salaries of veterans Stephane Yelle, P.J. Axelsson and Shane Hnidy. And of course, in the process they'll work out a plan of succession for the goaltending position -- which is complicated by the fact that Tuukka Rask's contract is finished after next season.

Perhaps more importantly, next summer the Bruins will renegotiate contracts with Marc Savard, Milan Lucic, Blake Wheeler, Andrew Ference, Aaron Ward, Mark Stuart, Shawn Thornton and Petteri Nokelainen.

All of this means that the Bruins are, effectively, still in the middle of the rebuilding process. As good as they may be at present, only a handful of players are locked up through next summer. It would be unwise to move prospects or draft picks under the assumption that they're expendable, without knowing for certain whether key players such as Savard and Kessel will be around for much longer.

Of course, it's difficult not to see this season as a now-or-never opportunity to bring home the Cup, with the Bruins playing their best hockey in 35 years. But let's take a lesson from last year's Pens -- today's rental player is tomorrow's lost scoring depth. For a team that's got such a bright future, that might be the difference between a dynasty and a bunch of 8th-place finishes.