The impending return of injured Boston Bruins forwards Marc Savard and Marco Sturm has Bruins management on the phone calling around in hopes of making a potential salary dumping move or two to clear space for the eventual return of both players.

It’s widely assumed veteran winger Michael Ryder and his $4 million salary could be buried in the minors should GM Peter Chiarelli fail to find a trade partner for him but that won’t be enough to free up sufficient cap space to absorb the combined $7 million plus of the salaries of Savard and Sturm.

Naturally that’s led to assumptions Chiarelli will have to trade one or two players in addition to moving Ryder to become cap compliant.

While much of the focus of speculation is upon forwards Blake Wheeler, Daniel Paille and defenseman Matt Hunwick, Gacksports.com suggested forward David Krejci could also be a trade possibility, perhaps in a deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs:

Leafs GM Brian Burke would undoubtedly love to land Krejci, a versatile forward who can play both center and wing. As would the other 28 NHL general managers.

Krejci netted 73 points in 2008-09 and is currently centering the Bruins first line, where in his first eight games he has two goals and nine points as the set-up man for wingers Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton.

It’s precisely because of Krejci’s versatility and play-making skills however the Bruins are highly unlikely to shop him.

Granted, dealing away his $3.75 million per season salary would certainly help to clear cap space along with a demotion or trade of Ryder, but the 24-year-old Krejci is simply too valuable for the Bruins to move.

Savard and Sturm have lengthy injury histories and are both now susceptible to concussion and knee injuries respectively. There’s simply no guarantee they’ll be able to get through this season without suffering similar injuries again.

You can bet if Krejci were being shopped a deal would’ve gone down by now, especially since the Bruins cannot take salary back in the trade and would be forced to accept draft picks and/or prospects in return.

Trading away Krejci simply to become cap compliant when there are better trade/demotion options available to them would weaken their roster depth, doing more harm over the long run than good.

Lyle Richardson

SpectorsHockey.net

twitter.com/spectorshockey

Earlier this week there was plenty of speculation out of Boston and Toronto suggesting the Bruins might attempt to make a salary-dumping deal with the Phoenix Coyotes.

Several names have been bandied about as potential trade bait for the Bruins, including Blake Wheeler, Michael Ryder, David Krejci and Matt Hunwick.

“Eklund” of Hockeybuzz.com however claimed he’d heard from three to four sources (using his rating system of “E’s” – this one being “E3-E4”) the Coyotes “may be close to acquiring Marc Savard”.

Now I realize “Eklund” is merely passing along what he claims sources are telling him but not even his followers believe this rumor. From the comments section:

“Why would Savard waive his NTC to go to Phoenix? Lol”

“Why would any team acquire an injured player…?”

“mr. eklund. you know what a huge fan i am of your work but this is an insult to any hockey fan with an i.q. above 50…..(i know, there aren’t many around here) why would anyone trade for a damaged goods, concussed player at the front end of a 7 year deal at about 4.2 mil a year? you want us to believe that there are actually 3-4 “sources” who stand by this?”

“Doubt this happens. Savard’s kids all live outside Toronto. That’s why he wanted to go to Ottawa or Toronto. The guy isn’t waiving his NTC to go all the way to Phoenix.

And why would a team bleeding money like Phoenix want to get a guy who has serious concussion issues and is under contract for 6 more years after this one?”

“Wow. Brutal “rumor”.

1.Savard has said he would only agree to a trade to an Ontario team to be close to family.

3.Savard is locked into a 7 year contract with a no trade clause and is on the wrong side of 30.”

“EK=FAIL! savard will not be traded if anything sturm will be the one traded bruins will hold him on LTIR and make him waive his NTC so he can play for his contract year. savy is remaining a bruins he would only go to a team in canada to be close to home he wants to remain in boston”

“If the yotes want a player with problem resulting from concusions, they can have Tim Connoly for a cold cup of coffee.”

“Doesn’t make sense that a team with no real owner yet, and zero cash flow would want an injured player with a longterm contract. Pointless.”

Spelling mistakes aside, I don’t think I can improve upon these critiques. Suffice to say, Savard won’t be traded to Phoenix.

Lyle Richardson

SpectorsHockey.net

twitter.com/spectorshockey

A successful team makes their own luck.  Tonight in Boston, the Bruins forced the puck to bounce their way.  An aggressive forecheck in the third period forced Nashville to play on their heels and turn the puck over and, with the assistance of the referee being in Shea Weber’s path to the puck, Boston capitalized on the turnover to score the game winning goal.

It was that kind of night for Nashville.

Nashville got off to a strong start in the first period with aggressive play from David Legwand as he drove the net 1 on 4.  Jared Smithson capitalized by following Legwand to the net and knocking the loose puck past Tim Thomas for the 1-0 lead.  Nashville received noticeably strong play from the top line of Steve Sullivan, Cal O’Reilly and J.P. Dumont as well as the entire blueline.

Nashville’s tendency to lose their edge in the second period reared its head again.  It all began 26 seconds into the period when Michael Ryder of the Bruins capitalized on the puck getting tied up in the linesman’s skates allowing him to grab the puck and race past Ryan Suter to tie the game at 1.  Nashville temporarily pulled back ahead 2-1 when Patric Hornqvist continued his strong play by driving hard to the net pulling Thomas to the edge of the crease.  Colin Wilson trailed on the play and smartly stopped right in front of the net allowing him to tap home the rebound into an empty net.  Then, at 12:38 into the period, Boston’s Patrice Bergeron scored from the side of the net when Chara’s shot wasn’t cleared tying the game again at 2 all.  That score remained knotted at 2 after the second period.

The third period saw Boston assert itself on the forecheck and do a great job at keeping the puck in the Nashville end.  At 8:33 into the third Boston’s hard forechecking harassed Weber and Francis Bouillon into a turnover that Steve Begin converted into a 3-2 lead.  That lead would hold up for the win.

What I Liked

Patric Hornqvist continued to show why he’s one of Nashville’s top forwards to this point.  He was all over the ice, battled hard in the corners and consistently put pressure on Tim Thomas by driving to the net.

I liked seeing both David Legwand and Colin Wilson contributing on the score sheet tonight.  Both points were created by their driving the net.  Wilson plays well with Patric Hornqvist.  Legwand had a really good game with the exception of the face offs.

I thought that Alexander Sulzer played a solid game, veteran-like game for his first game this season at the NHL level.

I liked seeing Ryan Suter with the third “A” tonight.

The effort and chances generated on the first two power play opportunities are what this team needs.  If they can consistently do that along with continually putting shots actually on net, they’ll begin to show some effectiveness on the power play.

Legwand is this teams best penalty killer- by far.

Great job by Jared Smithson following Legwand to the net and making all their hard work pay off.  Great to see him score one with his stick instead of his backside.

I liked Crispy’s breakdown showing Suter communicating with the forwards on the ice.  In truth, I wish they would do a little bit more of that kind of analysis.

What I Didn’t Like

I didn’t like the Sullivan, O’Reilly, and Dumont line at even strength.  They started really strong and had a great first period.  As the game wore on, however, they began to be hemmed in to the Nashville end and were on the ice for two of the goals that Boston scored.  They are too small to consistently be effective.

Cody Franson had a decent game, but he did take a step back tonight from the last game.  His skating difficulties were on display several times.  He even had a small stretch where he was having difficulty staying on his skates with little contact.

Martin Erat continues to play poor hockey.  I don’t think I can be more candid.  Right now, he’s a detriment on the ice.  He has the talent to turn it around, has had some success with Wilson and Ward.

Marcel Goc was just invisible tonight.  However, I think a fourth line of Scatchard, Goc, and Tootoo would be really interesting to watch.

That third power play opportunity was beyond bad.

Steve Sullivan needs to have someone else bring the puck up the ice.  Too many times, he’ll enter the zone with speed and get caught at the point only to turn the puck over.

Nashville continues their road trip tomorrow night in Ottawa.