BRIGHTON, Mass. -- The Bruins had big hopes for this trade deadline, but fell short of those aspirations with the trade deadline come and gone.
Certainly they shored up their third-line issues by paying a big price for Charlie Coyle last week, but they fell short of hopes when they landed New Jersey Devils winger Marcus Johansson for a 2019 second round pick and a fourth round pick in 2020. Instead of a bona fide star right winger in Mark Stone or a power forward with some bite like Wayne Simmonds, the Bruins had to settle for Plan C with a player who's got 12 goals and 27 points and is a minus-15 in 48 games for the Devils.
Those kinds of stats aren’t all that much better than the disappointing season that Danton Heinen has had with the B’s, though Johansson has been better as of late with six goals and 12 points in his last 13 games.
And he’s topped 20 goals a couple of times in his NHL career, with those coming while he was riding shotgun with Alex Ovechkin during his Washington Capitals days. Maybe he can tap into some of that offensive magic skating with a playmaker in David Krejci who’s having a sneakily excellent offensive season.
BRUINS AT THE TRADE DEADLINE
Don Sweeney indicated that the Bruins liked Johansson’s flexibility in that he can play either wing, and that he gives them some insurance as they wait for David Pastrnak to begin his return to the lineup a couple of weeks from now.
Boston Bruins
“Marcus represents a lot of versatility and production in a top-9 role. It was something that we felt coming down the stretch we could still use that,” Sweeney said. “The coaching staff, the meetings and all we talked about as a group, we had a hell of a [road] trip and I’m proud of our guys. Those are tough teams on the road. We come back in decent position, but we’ve got a long way to go.
“Adding to the depth is not really an [indictment] of either Peter Cehlarik or Karson Kuhlman, for roster flexibility they’ve done a great of becoming a big part of our group. But I think overall we all acknowledged internally we could use a little more depth especially knowing that Pastrnak will be out for two more weeks.”
But Johansson is much more of a finesse player than either Stone or Simmonds, and is more of a left winger than the pure right-shot right wing that Boston was looking for to fit on the line with Krejci.
Certainly he won’t be confused with somebody that’s hard to play against, and those are the kinds of players that Sweeney should have been on the lookout for this month.
Beyond that, there’s also the old bitterness after Johansson was clobbered with a Brad Marchand elbow to the head last season that knocked him out for most of the year with the head injury. Sweeney said that Johansson was okay with it during his initial phone call with the newest Bruins winger on Monday afternoon, and it’s true that hockey players are usually quick to forgive past issues when they become teammates.
MORE BRUINS
The bottom line with the acquisition of Coyle and Johansson is that it makes the Bruins a better, deeper hockey team, but it doesn’t really move the needle enough with Toronto and Tampa Bay in their playoff bracket. Coyle was a fine addition as a third-line center, but both players register as a Plan C kind of move to bring in a top-6 goal-scoring wing for Boston’s second line.
It certainly doesn’t feel like the Bruins are going to last any more than the five games they managed against the Lightning last season, should history repeat itself in the later rounds of the playoffs.
Sweeney kind of sidestepped the question when asked if the pre-deadline moves will push them past Toronto and Tampa in the playoffs.
“They do understand what their identity as a group is and I don’t think they’re going to deviate from that,” said Sweeney. “I think we’ve complemented that, maybe we’ve given them a little bit of a buffer by bringing in some players that can produce certainly in 5-on-5 play. We’ve got tough teams ahead of us both down the stretch and [in the playoffs] if we’re fortunate enough to get in. Don’t make the mistake in thinking you want to pick your opponent because every team is a quality opponent.”
And adding Johansson and Coyle certainly pales in comparison to the Leafs adding John Tavares and Jake Muzzin to a Toronto team that pushed the B’s all the way to seven games last season.
And Plan C kind of moves don’t win Cups when teams like Vegas are going all in for Mark Stone, and an already stacked Nashville team lands a snarling power forward like Simmonds at the deadline. Instead the Bruins paid secondary prices for secondary players while avoiding giving up a first-round pick or a top prospect, and that’s going to lead to lukewarm acquisitions at the NHL trade deadline.
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