The last time Boston left the ice without a point, a 5-3 loss to the Washington Capitals last Monday, nobody played less than defensemen
Steve Kampfer. Not B’s enforcer
Shawn Thornton, and not even Capitals fourth liner
Jay Beagle. The 23-year-old Kampfer, who tallied his second assist of the year in the loss, played a meager eight minutes and 16 seconds in just his fourth game since the start of December.
While that wouldn't be the case in last night's victory against the Sens, Kampfer logging more time-on-ice than all three components of the Bruins' fourth line, the point remains. Kampfer, a skater with just 48 games of NHL experience, is your go-to defensemen in the event of an injury. Or anything for that matter.
Creating a road that the Bruins likely don't want to go down, Kampfer's inexperience isn't a knock to him by any stretch of the imagination, but rarely a slight to the depth (or lack thereof) on the Boston blue-line.
The Bruins were by all means lucky during last year's run to the Cup when it came to the health of their defense. They lost one of their six defensemen for just one game -
Zdeno Chara's infamous dehydration costing the 6-foot-9 rock Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals - and were able to (appropriately) keep seventh defensemen
Shane Hnidy in the press-box as a healthy scratch for the other 24 playoff contests.
However, the luck of last year shouldn't be taken as more than that as the Bruins enter the stretch run of the 2011-12 season. Evident by their struggles as of late and the trickle-down effect the suspension to
Andrew Ference had on the D, make no mistake about it, the Bruins need help on defense. And entering the final month before the trade deadline, the Bruins are a team with a bundle of assets and cash to play with.
Sitting atop the Northeast Division, with a six point lead along with five games in hand over the second place Senators, the Bruins have about seven million dollars in cap space ready to be spent for any additions they choose to make to their line-up.
In short, this means that anything is possible for this Bruins club in terms of where they go when it comes to addressing their weaknesses, so just where do they go?
The obvious big-fish of the trade deadline from the point reside in Nashville, where both
Ryan Suter and
Shea Weber skate in the final year of their deals with the Predators organization. The duo, perhaps the best in the league in terms of any club's one-two, will certainly cost a fortune if it comes to plucking them out of Smashville. But standing in Boston's way is a slew of teams whose need for defense is significantly more dire than that of the Bruins, including clubs such as the sans
Chris Pronger Flyers and shake-up-looking Buffalo Sabres. However, that's just if we're assuming that
one of them is made available by a Preds club that's not going away anytime soon...
Then comes the 'second tier' of the trade market - a market teeming with what seem like seamless fits for the Black-and-Gold. Teams like Edmonton, Montreal and even the Tampa Bay Lightning can present Boston with its options for cheap yet effective blue-line help.
In Edmonton, a bruising defensemen like
Andy Sutton could boost Boston's physical presence from the point and toughen up a blue-line that looked gassed against an equally aggressive New York Rangers attack. Or perhaps Tampa Bay blue-liners varying from
Marc-Andre Bergeron to
Pavel Kubina could bring Boston the offensive boost that's been lacking from its point. Yet, the best solution may play in Montreal.
History tells us that it's typically unlikely for these bitter rivals to make deals, but Montreal possesses two blue-liners that may in fact bring Boston their best and most fitting return in
Chris Campoli and former Bruin
Hal Gill. While the 27-year-old Campoli missed 27 games this year with a leg injury, the Ontario-born defensemen has become the subject of rumors from the onset of his return to the Montreal line-up in December. Despite tallying just one goal and an assist in 13 games with the Habs this year, Campoli is less than a year removed from sliding into the Blackhawks' line-up where he had seven points in 19 games as an effective depth presence.
Meanwhile, Gill, known as the face of the Bruins suckiness throughout the disastrous 2005-06 season, could be the best among the group of potential defensive rentals. Seriously.
No, really, he just may be. Gill, who turns 37 in April, has skated in 69 playoff games since the 2008 playoffs and has a Cup on his resume thanks to
Max Talbot and the rest of the 2008-09 Pittsburgh Penguins. Now in his third season with a Habs club that seems unlikely to make a serious push towards the playoffs given the hole they're in, the Massachusetts-born Gill has built upon a reputation as one of the Canadiens more vocal locker-room presences, but a change of scenery may be imminent given the culture shift on its way to Montreal.
But no matter what route the Bruins choose to go in when it comes to making a move, if they even opt to make a move, the bottom line is that the Bruins have options. Lots of 'em, in fact.
Given the aforementioned cap-space and potential suitors, the Bruins' uncertainty within their own personnel could make the difference between browsing or pursuing aggressively. Both
Johnny Boychuk (1.875M) and
Joe Corvo (2.25M) are in the last year of their deals with the B's, and with
Dougie Hamilton (likely) set to contend for a spot on the Boston roster next season, just about all bets are off when it comes to the future of No. 14 and 55.
Then again, in the rapidly shifting NHL, nobody's future is certain.
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