Bruins Shake Up Roster

GM Arcesi stated earlier last week that changes would be coming to Boston, and sure enough, he held his end to be true.  The most significant change came in the form of trading all-star defenseman Duncan Keith to divisional rivals, the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for what some people may call, not enough.  The trade sees Keith go to the Sabres in exchange for Tyler Toffoli, Riley Smith and a 2^nd round pick.  GM Arcesi weighed in on this trade with the following:

“We fielded many offers from teams around the league for Duncan’s services, and although some teams may have felt that they had a “better offer”, we as an organization felt otherwise.  The reason we made the trade with Buffalo over any other team was simply that they had two players we absolutely wanted as Bruins…Tyler Toffoli and Riley Smith.  I have been after Sabres GM Blanchard since the inaugural season of this league to get Toffoli from him but could never pry him away.  But the minute that Blanchard expressed interest in Keith, well, I knew that the only way he was going to get him was to be including Tyler in that deal.  We wanted to draft Tyler in the inaugural draft, but Blanchard took him in the exact round I was going to take him in, and unfortunately, he sniped him away from me.  We have VERY high expectations of Tyler and of Riley for that matter.  We see Tyler as going to be a top two line player in this league in the next few years and we also see Smith as a very valued 3^rd liner.  As for the 2^nd round pick that we also acquired, well, we were able to use that pick in a deal with Dallas to pick up Rotislav Klesla to give us some depth that we were lacking on defense, especially since we moved Keith for the young up and comers.  By doing this, we were still able to use a few other draft picks/prospect and Hal Gill to go out and get Brad Stuart to further fill a defensive void.  Yes, we lost Duncan Keith, a great player…but we attained two very talented youngsters along with added depth on our blue line.  In all honesty, I feel that as a team, we are better off now than we were with Duncan in the line-up.  Yes, he will be missed, but now we are a deeper defensive team and a younger team offensively.  I’ve already spoken with Riley and Tyler about their expected roles and they are both excited and thankful for the opportunity that they are being given and they know that we gave up a great player to attain their services and will not let us down.  We’re so excited to have them in the line-up that we are going to have them in the line-up tonight playing alongside Gabriel Bourque.  It will be an extremely young 4^th line, and yes, we expect them to make mistakes, but we want them all to gain valuable experience.  The three may stay in Boston for the remainder of the season, or they may also make it down to help out the Baby Bruins, but one thing is for sure…they will be in the NHL sooner rather than later, and they will make an impact for us.  We have not given up on our playoff hunt.  We have a stacked and talented team and should not be at the bottom of the standings, and we will do whatever we can to get this ship set back on course.  If we can sneak into a playoff spot of 7^th or 8^th position, then I pity the team we will play as we will give them a fight to remember!”

Will this trade be enough to get the Bruins back on their winning ways, or will this trade weaken them and keep them at the bottom of the league…only time will tell.  One thing is for sure, we know that Arcesi may not be done making moves if his team does not start winning.

Let’s go Bruins!!!