Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Questions About The Boston Bruins

09/11/2014 at 6:28am EDT

Joe Haggerty of CSNNE answered a few questions from the fans....

What does your gut tell you about Boychuk? He staying or going?

JH: My head tells me that he’s going, and my gut tells me that he’s staying with the Bruins. Make of that what you will, but I’ve maintained for a while now that trading away Boychuk makes them worse in the short term when they have legitimate Cup aspirations headed into the season.

Bruins staff watch Patriots O-Line w/out Veteran presence, Mankins? Don't trade a reliable Vet. Boychuck.

JH: This was my favorite tweet of the day on Wednesday. I’ve been thinking a lot about the Logan Mankins/Johnny Boychuk parallel over the last couple of days, and it was pretty stark watching the Patriots offensive line flounder in Miami last weekend. Making tough decisions with veteran players is always part of reality in a cap situation, and oftentimes you don’t truly miss – or value -- something until it’s gone.

It’s hard to say what would happen to the Bruins if they traded away Boychuk, but a top four defensemen group of Zdeno Chara/Dougie Hamilton and Dennis Seidenberg/Johnny Boychuk is a pretty good place to start. Teams with legit championship aspirations sometimes have to simply watch a valuable guy play out his contract, and then watch him walk away when they can’t afford him.

You simply can’t cast off key veteran players when you’re the prohibitive favorite in a still weak Eastern Conference, or at least you can’t do it unless you’re getting likeminded value in return. If there’s a young, affordable stud forward (Yakupov, Jurco, Silfverberg) coming back in exchange for Boychuk then that’s something the Bruins might have to think long and hard about.

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

From breaking news to in-depth stories around the league, KK Hockey is updated with fresh stories all day long and will bring you the latest news as quickly as possible.

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