Cherry: Boychuk trade ‘is the reason Chiarelli got fired'

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Those looking for reasons behind the Bruins’ firing of GM Peter Chiarelli need look no further than the New York Islanders/Washington Capitals playoff series, according to colorful Hockey Night in Canada analyst Don Cherry.

The former Boston Bruins head coach used part of last weekend’s Coach’s Corner segment to pay some big compliments toward Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk, who neutralized Alex Ovechkin in Sunday’s Isles win and has become an “elite defenseman” in the words of Cherry.

The dapper analyst also said that gut punch Boychuk trade away from the Bruins just prior to the season was also the final false move that Chiarelli made before getting the ax from B’s President Cam Neely and CEO Charlie Jacobs.

Chiarelli famously said. “He was upset, I was upset . . . I’m still upset” in the hours following the trade, and Jacobs distanced the rest of the B’s front office away from the move in announcing the GM’s firing.

“[The Jarome Iginla contract] put us in a tough and sticky situation come September, but there were a number of options that were sort of flown by the group of ‘How do we get compliant?’ " said Jacobs. "I left the decision to Peter and his group. That’s to imply that I wouldn’t have to vet it. I didn’t and it was, to say, what [the front office] thinks is best.”

It was a salary cap move designed to solve Boston’s problems for this season in one fell swoop, and Cherry correctly felt it was just one big miscalculation.

"The reason that Chiarelli got fired in Boston, and why they're out of the playoffs, is getting rid of Boychuk," said Cherry in the first intermission of Game 3 between the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators. "You want to get the cap down, but you should have taken somebody else. (Islanders GM) Garth Snow took an awful lot of heat, and he's laughing now. [Boychuk] is one of the best defensemen in the league.”

Clearly the Boychuk trade wasn’t the only factor that took the Bruins from a President’s Trophy winning group last season, and dropped them out of the Stanley Cup playoffs completely despite 96 points in 2014-15.

But it was a big factor on and off the ice for a B’s hockey club that played with little of the heart, toughness and spirit Boychuk brought to the table, and a huge factor in the 22 point improvement for the Isles while watching No. 55 turn into a No. 1 defenseman. The Islanders signed Boychuk to a seven year, $42 million that will keep him in New York for likely the rest of his career, and the Bruins alternately too old and too young relying on Zdeno Chara, Dennis Seidenberg and Dougie Hamilton as their top three blueliners.

The 31-year-old Boychuk set career highs with nine goals, 26 assists and 35 points while averaging a career-best 21:41 of ice time in his 72 games on Long Island.

 

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