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Some days are over before they even begin. That’s probably how most fans of the Boston Bruins look at May 14th every year. Or at least they should. ‘Cause it’s this date that has constantly, at least during this era of Boston hockey, without fail, been the date of the downfall of the Black and Gold.
Scott Walker and the Carolina Hurricanes eliminated the Bruins from the second-round of the playoffs on this date in 2009. (Weird sidenote about that game: I was a senior in high school that year, had a half-season ticket package with the club, and was in attendance for that game. I was so upset I skipped school the next day, and called out of work for the entire weekend. Easily the most devastating loss of my life. What's yours?)
Simon Gagne and the Philadelphia Flyers, once in an 0-3 hole in both the series and Game 7, did the same a year later in 2010. (Another sidenote: Still a season-ticket holder then, I left the building laughing that night. What a fitting way for that team to go down. Yikes.) And, of course, last year’s second-round exit at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens came on this date, too.
It’s a pretty awful day, really.
The date has always been the same, and they’ve all been Game 7s played at TD Garden, but each time, the Hub has felt their hearts ripped out of their stomachs in unique-but-varying fashions.
But it’s only been 2010’s defeat to the Flyers that really prompted serious change. At the same time, though, you could make the case that the cap-strung 2009 B’s could not afford to make the changes they wanted to -- and even then, they still tried to when they ditched Aaron Ward and signed Derek Morris -- the following summer. But with a year gone by since the B’s exit to the Habs, and with a crippling bonus overages from
Dougie Hamilton,
Jarome Iginla, and
Torey Krug’s 2013-14 seasons set to come off their salary cap this summer, many have been quick to the point to this as another offseason where the Black and Gold attempt to make a major splash.
In 2010, that meant trading for Florida top-six talent
Nathan Horton (and drafting
Tyler Seguin with the No. 2 overall pick). That trade -- with Horton scoring two game-winning Game 7 goals en route to Boston’s first Stanley Cup in 39 years -- obviously paid off.
What exactly does that mean this time around?
The general belief around the league is that you could and will see some bigger names moving out of familiar cities this summer.
Patrick Sharp is by all means a goner in Chicago after this postseason. Some feel that former Bruins GM
Peter Chiarelli will make his mark on the Oilers by trading one of their younger forwards, especially with
Connor McDavid falling into their laps. There’s a need for change in a city like San Jose, with rumors forever circling the Sharks’ Marleau and Thornton. And then there’s the Maple Leafs, who will be selling pieces left and right this summer.
A trade like the one the Bruins made for Horton -- which sent Dennis Wideman and the club’s 2010 first-round pick to Florida for Horton (and Gregory Campbell) -- is certainly doable.
There’s a certain cautious nature when it comes to making trades like this, though, too.
During that same summer, the Bruins were
very close to moving
Tim Thomas, who was an absolute disaster in 2009-10, just one year after his Vezina season, out of Boston. They could have moved Thomas to Philadelphia, but when the two sides couldn’t agree to a fair return -- the Bruins wanted a Jeff Carter while the Flyers were offering up Gagne -- the deal fell apart.
That non-trade will likely go down as the biggest one in B’s history, too, as Thomas put forth the most astonishing from start-to-finish single-season performance the Hub has ever seen.
So maybe the Bruins
do exercise some of that thinking when they opt not to move a
Dennis Seidenberg,
Brad Marchand, or
Milan Lucic this summer. But I can’t help but feel that the Black and Gold braintrust know that a significant trade does indeed have to be made if this club is serious about competing against a team like Montreal and Tampa Bay in the Atlantic, and even the New Yorks, and Washington Capitals of the Metropolitan Division next season.
‘Significant’ is a broad term here, too, when talking about a trade, I suppose. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the Bruins
have to acquire a Taylor Hall or Phil Kessel -- although hey, that would be pretty nice -- but it has to be a skill guy that you could see the B’s plugging into their top six. A guy like Toronto’s
Joffrey Lupul or
James van Riemsdyk (I always feel to need to note that this is mere speculation on my behalf at this point), for example, would fit this bill for the Bruins. Both are experienced top-six talents, and have played in meaningful hockey games outside of Toronto’s 2013 first-round series against the Bruins, and would come with the name and resume you could sell to your audience. Their price, and that’s a huge underlying component for any trade the Bruins, who still need to re-sign top-pairing defenseman
Dougie Hamilton, wouldn’t blow your mind, either.
Is it a grand slam that instantly puts the Bruins back at the front of the pack in the East? Probably not. But it’s a move that would confirm the idea that the organization has realized that the conference is getting better, and that they cannot afford to become a faceless club stuck in neutral.
And you didn’t even need a Game 7 loss on May 14th to realize that this time around.
Ty Anderson has been covering the Boston Bruins for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, is a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • 
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