With Krug and Smith Finally Signed, There Was No Reason to Trade Johnny Boychuk

For most of the offseason, the Bruins needed to move a defenseman, and then they didn’t. With their head right up against the salary cap ceiling, and without the services of Torey Krug and Reilly Smith, moving one of their many blue liners to free up the necessary dollars to facilitate those deals seemed like the logical play.

But then Peter Chiarelli found another way to re-sign both Krug and Smith.

With training camp and the preseason well under way, Chiarelli was able to get in both players on one-year, $1.4 million deals. The problem was solved, and even with a plethora of defensemen, the need to move a player carrying a larger cap hit was alleviated.

Yet the Bruins went through with that, anyway.

On Saturday, Boston shipped Johnny Boychuk to the Islanders for a trio of draft picks. The logjam on the depth chart among defensemen may be cleared a bit, but in losing Boychuk, Boston concedes one of its more veteran defenseman, and a player capable of both driving possession and eating up minutes.

The return? Three draft picks is nothing to laugh at, especially with two second-rounders coming back, but after signing Krug and Smith to deals to avoid this salary cap conundrum, why move Boychuk at all?

The Bruins have, through their very recent successful stretch of hockey, been incredibly deep and talented at the blue line. Another hallmark of Claude Julien’s system, especially as it pertains to the personnel, has been finding players who can thrive in certain roles, and keeping them there. Adam McQuaid, who has been a member of the team one year shorter than Boychuk, has always been a third pairing defenseman. Even when there were injuries, and spots that needed to be filled, Julien was steadfast in keeping players like McQuaid in the situations where they could best succeed.

McQuaid, or perhaps Torey Krug, is likely going to see a promotion. Krug, like McQuaid, is much better served in a third pairing role, and the duties that come with it. But now, one of those two will most likely play next to Dennis Seidenberg, or perhaps Dougie Hamilton on the team’s second pairing.

If it’s Seidenberg, the Bruins second pairing could turn into a possession sieve. Playing against those top tier teams like Pittsburgh, or Los Angeles, or Chicago, the ability to match up against two lethal lines—one centered by the likes of Sidney Crosby, and a second Evgeni Malkin—requires having the depth to do so. Zdeno Chara may be one of the league’s top blue liners, but he can’t be called upon to shadow every good player on one of those Cup contenders.

This move doesn’t make the Bruins less competitive in the regular season. This is a team that should still win the Atlantic Division, or at the very least, be one of the top point-getters in the East. This isn’t a move that drops them out of playoff contention, or even among the top-tier of teams in the conference. But where this move hurts the Bruins is in those later playoff rounds, where they hope to and should be matching up against those elite teams. The thought of a pairing of McQuaid and Seidenberg trying to shut down Mike Richards and Marian Gaborik should elicit fear in the minds of Bruins fans.

From the periphery, the rallying-cry when Chiarelli managed to bring in Krug and Smith at such low numbers was “keeping the band together.” These seemed like sacrifices from the players, and a pact from the team that a year from now, with the salary cap set to increase, the deals would be waiting for them, hopefully following another very successful season with the same cast of characters.

But the band just lost one of its key players, and the question now becomes who can take over Boychuk’s duties. And unless there’s a subsequent move to be made, and another tweak to the blue line, the on-ice product isn’t going to be as strong.