Flyers @ Bruins - 01/03/07
The Boston Bruins will be taking on the suddenly revamped Philadelphia Flyers tomorrow night in Boston. In a surprise move Philly traded a second round pick for goaltender Martin Biron. While this is a no-brainer move for most teams with poor goaltending, Philly has been virtually eliminated from the playoffs and Biron is set for free agency this summer. I would have to believe that the Flyers will be pushing hard to resign Biron before June, otherwise they will be right back to where they were.
The Bruins were also busy yesterday picking up two new defencemen, Ward and Wideman. Most people are happy to see Mara go but the jury is still out on the Boyes-Wideman deal. I see a lot of potential in Wideman, but Boyes may have been just having a bad year. I don't envy PC though, you have to make tough decisions as a GM and this was his first big one. As our great friend from WFS pointed out Wideman has had his problems. Now if I could draw your attention away from his finesse game, I would like to show you a better video. Wideman's not the only one with good fists, as you will see in exhibit B. Enough of the fluff though!
Tomorrow's game might be tough as Biron has beaten the Bruins in his last five starts. Yeah it is only Philly, but the last game (Boston won 6-3) was closer than the score would indicate. I would expect Timmy Thomas will be in nets for Boston, and hopefully the new look Boston defence will stand tall in front of him. I might update this post after lunch tomorrow when I know more about the projected line-up.
I just took a look at one of my comments yesterday and noticed that my link to a spreadsheet I made did not paste in correctly. Here are some numbers I did up quickly for the players involved in yesterday's trade deadline.
The Bruins were also busy yesterday picking up two new defencemen, Ward and Wideman. Most people are happy to see Mara go but the jury is still out on the Boyes-Wideman deal. I see a lot of potential in Wideman, but Boyes may have been just having a bad year. I don't envy PC though, you have to make tough decisions as a GM and this was his first big one. As our great friend from WFS pointed out Wideman has had his problems. Now if I could draw your attention away from his finesse game, I would like to show you a better video. Wideman's not the only one with good fists, as you will see in exhibit B. Enough of the fluff though!
Tomorrow's game might be tough as Biron has beaten the Bruins in his last five starts. Yeah it is only Philly, but the last game (Boston won 6-3) was closer than the score would indicate. I would expect Timmy Thomas will be in nets for Boston, and hopefully the new look Boston defence will stand tall in front of him. I might update this post after lunch tomorrow when I know more about the projected line-up.
I just took a look at one of my comments yesterday and noticed that my link to a spreadsheet I made did not paste in correctly. Here are some numbers I did up quickly for the players involved in yesterday's trade deadline.
Labels: Aaron Ward, Dennis Wideman, General, Pre-Game, Trade
posted by TreeBob at Wednesday, February 28, 2007
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4 Comments:
I hope the B's come out strong in this game. I think we're going to be seeing TT every game for the rest of the season, so I hope he gets in his naps every day to prolong the inevitable crash.
Given a few days to look at stats, projections, read comments, etc. I'm a lot better now with the Mara deal. He wasn't being used properly in Boston, so away he went. Ward is a capable guy, I'm just worried about him being used as a potential Top 4 on a consistent basis. He definitely adds more grit and dirt to the blue line though, along with Ference.
Wideman I think will take a bit longer to see if that's a good deal or not. He's put up OK numbers on a crappy St Louis squad. I just don't understand grabbing him if guys like M-Stu and Lashoff are ready to make the jump. If the Boyes who got traded continues to be the Boyes from this season, then I'm OK with the deal. But if this season was the anomaly, and Boyes is a consistent 65-70 point guy, yeah I'll be bummed.
I am glad you have come back down Russ; this is the clear thinking guy I remember! I love the Mara trade (because Mara has sucked) and I think the original Boynton for Mara swap was genius. Nobody could have predicted Mara would fail so miserably. Whether Lewis "misused" him or not, a good hockey player learns and adjusts, Mara never really did.
Now onto Wideman, I am with you as I am unsure of this deal. I am not unhappy that we traded Boyes for him; it is just that Wideman has lots of potential but he could still go to pot if he is not handled right. He like Mara is a PP guy and should not be put into intense defensive positions. At least not yet; I think he should be eased into that on 5 on 5 and then some spot duty on the PK. With Ference and Ward here hopefully Chara will not be needed on the PK as much and he will come down to 25-27 minutes of ice time.
"With Ference and Ward here hopefully Chara will not be needed on the PK as much and he will come down to 25-27 minutes of ice time."
Me too. I think maybe his game has suffered some due to his ice time.
I think if Wideman gets paired with Chara, we could see a nice jump up in performance like we saw with Alberts this year. I have no problem with "offensive defensemen" as long as they get used properly (on the PP for instance) and as long as they get paired with someone like a Chara or a Ward who have the experience to know when to cover back. Mara, being stuck in more of a pure defensive role, had his shortcomings come to the forefront. I wish him well, I remember the day he was drafted by TB, and I also was thrilled we got him for Boynton.
We can disagree on the reasons why he didn't have a good season, and I'll be the first to admit that I was on his case for his poor plus/minus, I just think the return could have been a bit higher, or Ward could have been had for a lower cost.
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