Stanley Cup of Chowder - Johnny Boychuk Traded to IslandersDavid Pastrnak is legend.https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/11233/stanley-fave.jpg2014-10-06T10:48:39-04:00http://www.stanleycupofchowder.com/rss/stream/66818522014-10-06T10:48:39-04:002014-10-06T10:48:39-04:00Nope nope nope nope nope nope nope<h3 class="link-title"><a rel="nofollow" href="/rss/stream/6681852">Nope&nbsp;nope nope nope nope nope nope</a></h3>
<div class="description"><p><p>Nope.</p></p></div>
https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com/2014/10/6/6918565/nope-nope-nope-nope-nope-nope-nopeDan.Ryan2014-10-06T09:43:00-04:002014-10-06T09:43:00-04:00ALL THE FEELS<h3 class="link-title"><a rel="nofollow" href="/rss/stream/6681852">ALL THE&nbsp;FEELS</a></h3>
<div class="description"><p><p>This makes me very uncomfortable.</p></p></div>
https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com/2014/10/6/6918197/all-the-feelsDan.Ryan2014-10-06T09:00:04-04:002014-10-06T09:00:04-04:00The Bruins Said It Themselves: "We Got Worse"
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<figcaption>Paul Bereswill</figcaption>
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<p>Peter Chiarelli admitted that the team is in worse shape following the trade of Johnny Boychuk. So, what now?</p> <p>Two things about the Boyhcuk trade on Saturday were infuriating. We'll get to those in a second.</p>
<p>But if you hadn't heard, Boston traded <span>Johnny Boychuk</span> to the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.lighthousehockey.com/">New York Islanders</a>, bringing back two 2nd round picks, and a conditional 3rd pick that only applies if the Isles flip JB55 to another team in the Eastern Conference by the end of the season. Essentially, the Isles would have to be sellers by the trade deadline, and with the moves that Garth Snow has made this offseason, it's looking more and more unlikely, as the Islanders are fringe playoff teams for many NHL reporters and analysts.</p>
<div class="pullquote">Johnny would be better off here, and the Bruins would be better off having him on the roster.</div>
<p>Now what's maddening about the trade, number one, is that it was assumed dead last week, when <span>Reilly Smith</span> and <span>Torey Krug</span> signed team-friendly 1-year, $1.4M deals to help the team fit under the salary cap. (I'd love to have seen their faces when the news broke). Boychuk went from being gone for sure, to probably on the team. And the "need to trade Boychuk" rumors turned into "need to trade <i>someone</i>." Could've been McQuaid. Could've been Campbell. Dumping Caron. A number of moves were available to get some wiggle room in terms of cap space. They no longer needed to shed $3.367M. They were in good shape.</p>
<p>Boychuk would go into the 2014-15 season as a year-long rental. They <i>knew </i>they wouldn't be able to keep him--we'll get back to this point later--but they were happy with him anchoring the 2nd D pairing and putting in solid minutes for a full season. He's the type of player the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com/">Bruins</a> would trade <i>for</i> at a deadline, only better. And they would now have him for a full season, not just six weeks and a playoff run. They would keep him for one more season, knowing he'd be on his way out, but hoping he'd also put up good numbers in a contract year and help the team thrive. Johnny Rocket would be better off here, and the Bruins would be better off having him on the roster this season. Both sides were happy. Or, so we thought.</p>
<p>So when the news broke around 1:50pm Saturday afternoon, it came to everyone as a shock. Not Adam McQuaid, not <span>Gregory Campbell</span>, not <span>Kevan Miller</span> or <span>David Warsofsky</span> or Chris Kelly. Boychuk was traded. Matt Bartkowski--who by the way is <i>also</i> in a contract year--immediately got slotted into that 4th D-man spot, and is likely to share ice with Seidenberg for the majority of the season. And what's done is done.</p>
<p>Now, while the return is reasonable for a player of Boychuk's caliber, and I don't necessarily dislike the trade in a vacuum, I was disappointed at the reasons, and absolutely livid at Chiarelli's comments during his press conference later that afternoon. If you didn't catch any of it, here's the full video.</p>
<p><iframe src="http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/embed?playlist=636990&site=bruins" height="417" width="675" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>If you don't want to listen to the entire press conference, here were some solid highlights from Peter himself.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I feel like we got very valuable return. Those are real viable picks that can be used to draft players or acquire players.</p>
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<blockquote>
<p>Arguably this doesn’t make us better now, obviously, but it’s something that when I look at it in a series of steps it’s the right move.</p>
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<p>We could have kept him and—you know if we keep him were not trading him at the deadline. We keep him were using him so that played into the fact. You can see what you could have gotten at the deadline but I don’t weigh that as one of the factors here.</p>
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<p>And, while not in the press conference transcript, my favorite...</p>
<blockquote lang="en" class="twitter-tweet">
<p>Chiarelli says he did not try to sign Boychuk. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Bruins?src=hash">#Bruins</a></p>
— DJ Bean (@DJ_Bean) <a href="https://twitter.com/DJ_Bean/status/518500673722527746">October 4, 2014</a>
</blockquote>
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<p>First off, slow clap to my man PC. Picks are how you win Cups when your core is at its peak.</p>
<p>While its true that those picks can be used to draft of acquire players, why are you trading a defenseman away for picks, if you're going to turn around and flip those picks again in five months? Because if we turn around an trade half of Boychuk's pull for Meszaros 2.0 to add some defensive depth, I'm going to disown this team.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<div class="pullquote">You want to stay in Boston, Johnny? Let's test that out.</div>
<p>It's also nice that he admitted to making the team worse going into this season. I understand that there's a bottleneck of defensemen trying to squeeze onto the 23-man roster, but have you forgotten who your players are Peter? When was the last season where a defenseman <i>didn't</i> go down via injury for 6 to 8 weeks? There will be plenty of time for the Warsofskys and Trotmans and Morrows to come up and prove themselves. You don't have to make room when the room will make itself.</p>
<p>It should also be addressed that Peter <i>could've</i> reassessed Boychuk's value leading up to the deadline. He chose not to. And he chose to go with a weaker Top 4 out of the gate despite to real leading candidate coming out of Providence. Yes, the Bruins have tons of defensmen that could play at the NHL level for some teams. But there's no Spooner or Subban, who has broken away from the pack and distinguished themself as <i>the</i> next guy.</p>
<p>Finally, thank you DJ for that golden nugget of information. Because it's one thing to lowball someone. But it's another thing entirely to not discuss extending a player for amount of term, for any amount of salary, when he's expressed on several occasions <i>how much he wants to be here</i>. You want to stay in Boston, Johnny? Let's test that out. You know our cap situation. Torey and Reilly certaintly did. How much would it take to keep you here for a year, for two years? Because we both know, we're better as a team with you on the 2nd pairing. At least this year.</p>
<p>But no. You didn't even try, Peter. Ya did the damn thing. Way to weigh all the options before dealing away your (probably) 3rd-best lock-down defenseman. Just don't expect me to be doing cartwheels when you land <span>Keith Ballard</span> for <i>only</i> a 3rd and a conditional 4th.</p>
https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com/2014/10/6/6914255/the-bruins-we-got-worseThisIsntLeonard2014-10-04T13:55:30-04:002014-10-04T13:55:30-04:00Report: Johnny Boychuk Traded to Islanders
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<figcaption>Amber Searls-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>#Dadchuk to the Island for picks</p> <p>Well guys, it happened.</p>
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<p>Breaking: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Isles?src=hash">#Isles</a> have acquired D Johnny Boychuk from the Bruins for a 2015 2nd, a 2016 2nd and a conditional 2015 3rd round pick.</p>
— Arthur Staple (@StapeNewsday) <a href="https://twitter.com/StapeNewsday/status/518458099330740224">October 4, 2014</a>
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https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com/2014/10/4/6907859/report-johnny-boychuk-traded-to-islandersKristian Limas2014-09-18T09:00:03-04:002014-09-18T09:00:03-04:00Trade Talks: The Big Boychukski
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<figcaption>Jared Wickerham</figcaption>
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<p>Jackie Treehorn stopped feeding Chiarelli money, and now JB55 is going to get traded. I'm gonna go find a cash machine.</p> <p>Way out West there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Johnny Boychuk. At least, that was the handle his loving parents gave him. But he never had much use for it himself. This Boychuk, he was called "Rocket." Now, Rocket, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about Rocket that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me.</p>
<p> </p>
<div class="pullquote">That's why Johnny Boychuk has played his last game in a Bruins uniform.</div>
<p>Now this story I'm about to unfold took place starting back in 2009, just about the time of our conflict with Montreal and the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.broadstreethockey.com/">Flyers</a>. I only mention it 'cause sometimes there's a man<span>—</span>I won't say hero, 'cause what's a hero<span>—</span>but sometimes, there's a man. And I'm talking about The Rocket here.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><i>(continue only if you're not into the whole brevity thing)</i></p>
<p>With the preseason starting next week, and RFAs Reilly Smith and <span>Torey Krug</span> not attending camp and team outings because they are <i>still</i> unsigned (not <i>holding out</i>, <a href="http://www.stanleycupofchowder.com/2014/9/17/6345165/its-impossible-to-holdout-without-a-contract-torey-krug-reilly-smith">there's a difference</a>), the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com/">Bruins</a> need to clear cap space somehow to fill their 23-man roster. Peter Chiarelli (he fixes the cable) and crew only have $3.218mil in cap space left, and that's <i>after</i> Marc Savard's LTIR is applied. They don't have the necessary means for a necessary means for another pair of contracts. Multiple RFAs, limited money, trade-worthy assets, playing one side against the other, in bed with everybody<span>—</span>just fabulous stuff.</p>
<p>One plan would be to dump several defensemen. The Bruins have a long list of blue liners they deem to be "NHL ready". But between <span>Zach Trotman</span>, <span>Kevan Miller</span>, <span>Matt Bartkowski</span>, <span>David Warsofsky</span>, Joe Morrow, and <span>Adam McQuaid</span>, they have plenty of firepower to fill that final spot on the third pairing. About half of them are up next year as RFAs, the others a couple years out, and unless there's massive turnover on the Boston roster, the majority won't find a spot with the NHL club before their deals run out anyway.</p>
<p>But the other, and more commonly accepted plan (by nihilists, mostly), would be to find a single defenseman with an expired No-Trade Clause making upwards of $3mil in the final year of his deal, and get something for him before he hits the open market and signs a $5+mil contract, which is ample.</p>
<p><b>That's why <span>Johnny Boychuk</span> has played his last game in a Bruins uniform.</b></p>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><b>'09-'10 - '13-'14</b></td>
<td><b>G</b></td>
<td><b>A</b></td>
<td><b>P</b></td>
<td><b>+/-</b></td>
<td><b>PIM</b></td>
<td><b>Hits</b></td>
<td><b>Bks</b></td>
<td><b>5v5 ZS Adj. CF%</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><b>J. Boychuk</b></td>
<td>19</td>
<td>56</td>
<td>75</td>
<td>88</td>
<td>198</td>
<td>603</td>
<td>546</td>
<td>54.7</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><img src="http://cdn2.vox-cdn.com/imported_assets/2385540/giphy.gif"></p>
<p>This is painful on two levels.</p>
<p>First being that Peter could've locked up Boychuk for a little longer, for arguably the same money. Peter is a good man, and thorough. But he treats objects like women, man. In February of 2012, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/2012/2/14/2798139/johnny-boychuk-contract-extension-boston-bruins">Boychuk signed a 3-year extension for $10.08 million</a> during what was (at the time) his best year with the Bruins. While extending a guy long term isn't necessarily a good thing<span>, </span><span></span>it is Chiarelli's MO. Andrew Ference, <span>Dennis Seidenberg</span>, <span>Tyler Seguin</span>, <span>Milan Lucic</span>, <span>Patrice Bergeron</span>, and the latest, <span>David Krejci</span>, are core players that were extended for several years before they hit free agency. The shortest term, aside from Boychuk's, was Ference's. But at the time, Ference was already 31 years old, and <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/2010/3/24/2314482/boston-bruins-sign-andrew-ference-to-3-year-6-75-million-contract/in/1152336">the extension was for an AAV of just $2.25mil</a>. Boychuk was only 28 when he signed his extension. Even if you were to give Boychuk two years of Ference's deal at the same overall price, you'd have him on a 5-year deal with the same exact AAV he has currently, but have him locked up through 2016-17 when he's only 33 going on 34.</p>
<p>Am I wrong? <i>Am I wrong</i>? Okay then.</p>
<p>Secondly, shipping out Johnny Boychuk as a cap move is <img alt="OVER THE LINE" src="http://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/imported_assets/2385546/tumblr_lublgdQPHK1qea5mgo1_500.gif"></p>
<p>The team would intentionally take a step back defensively. Instead, they would opt to bank on several young defensemen, of which only a handful have a projected ceiling that <i>Boychuk is already at</i>. With Chara turning 38 next spring, do you really want to build for the future? Do you really want to risk losing your Creedence tapes?</p>
<p><a href="http://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/assets/5027986/chart.png" target="_blank"><img alt="JB55_goalratio" class="photo" src="http://cdn2.vox-cdn.com/assets/5027986/chart.png" height="438" width="650"></a> <br id="1410978203193"></p>
<p>Boychuk proved last year with Seidenberg out that he's Top 2 caliber. He really tied the D together. Over the last three years, Johnny has the 2nd best iCorsi/60 numbers on the team, behind only Torey Krug. And defensively, he helped prohibit scoring chances more than he was given credit for. Lucic, Krejci, Bergeron, Marchand, Smith, Eriksson, Chara<span>—</span>all had better Corsi Against numbers skating <i>with</i> Boychuk than without him. Obviously, they are not golfers.</p>
<div class="pullquote">Chia won't roll on shabbos.</div>
<p>Even if Trotman turns into what Johnny Rocket is (or more) in 2-3 years, that's still 2-3 years your team is not at your best when your core players are in their prime. And there's no guarantee that'll happen anyway. Hamilton was a 1st-rounder, Krug was an undrafted gift, Morrow and Bart were acquired via trade. But what defenseman have the Bruins <i>really</i> drafted <i>and </i>developed the last few seasons? What stud has come out of Providence to be a solid (not "serviceable") blue liner since... Boychuk in 2009? <span>Mark Stuart</span> and <span>Matt Hunwick</span> were pre-Chiarelli. Everyone else has been a free agent or a trade. Why do we trust that <span>Linus Arnesson</span> will turn into something when <span>Tommy Cross</span>, <span>Ryan Button</span>, the vast majority of Bruins' D men drafted by Chiarelli haven't?</p>
<p>The god damn plane has crashed into the mountain! This aggression will not stand. Man.</p>
<p><iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/WPjJ5XwlQGs?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" height="360" width="640"></iframe> <br id="1410984033761"></p>
<p>There are a handful of teams that have the cap space & roster space to take on Boychuk for the final season of his current deal. While the big rumor was Edmonton, they have 23 men signed to their roster, and only $4.1mil in cap space. Teams with a roster spot, money to spend, and an In-N-Out Burger down the street include the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.jacketscannon.com/">Blue Jackets</a>, <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/">New Jersey Devils</a>, <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.canescountry.com/">Carolina Hurricanes</a>, and <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.defendingbigd.com/">Dallas Stars</a>. If the Bruins <i>have</i> to go this route, the least they could do is get a 1st round pick or high-value prospect that'll count towards the AHL salary. Shoosh. Wherever he ends up, I sure hope he makes the Finals.</p>
<p>This is what happens, Peter, when you <i>GIVE. SEIDENBERG. FOUR YEARS.</i></p>
<p><img src="http://cdn2.vox-cdn.com/imported_assets/2385564/you-see-what-happens-larry-o.gif"></p>
<p>This isn't an argument to sign Boychuk to an extension until he's 37. This isn't an argument saying to trade the farm. This isn't an argument to claim that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwNYRvfdq9k">Destroychuk </a>is a Doughty or a Subban or a Suter. But a Top 4 with Chara, Dougie, Seidenberg, and Johnny? Fuckin' A, that's solid. And when you face Cup-cailber teams with multiple offensive lines, you want <i>two</i> lock-down pairings, not just one. I could do without McQuaid, and if need be Bartkowski to keep Boychuk for <i>just </i>this season. Krug and Miller would still be your 3rd pairing, and Wars or Trotman could be your scratch.</p>
<p>But it won't happen. Chia won't roll on shabbos. One year of one 4th defenseman isn't worth one year of two 6ths. Not in Peter's eyes. So all we can do is hope that Bartkowski and Seidenberg are solid enough to go up against a <span>Jeff Carter</span> & <span>Dustin Brown</span> line, a <span>Brad Richards</span> & <span>Marian Hossa</span>, an <span>Alexander Semin</span> and White Russian, or another dangerous 2nd line and hold their own.</p>
<p>Nevertheless... Johnny was a good hockey player, and a good man. He was one of us. He was a man who loved the outdoors, and hockey. And as a defenseman he explored the ice at TD Garden, from the top shelf of the oppositions' net, to the half-wall where he delivered so many hip checks, and... up to Pismo. He'll be traded, like so many young men of his generation, he'll be traded before his contract is up. And you'll take him, Peter. You'll take him as you took so many bright flowering young men like <span>Joe Colborne</span>, like Matt Hunwick, like Tyler Seguin. These young men gave it their all for 9 months out of the year. And so would Johnny. Johnny who loved hockey. And so, Johnathan Paul Boychuk, in accordance with what we think your wishes might well have been, we commit your final Stanley Cup of Chowder post to the bosom of our front page, which you... probably didn't know existed.</p>
<p>Good night, sweet prince.</p>
<p><img src="http://cdn1.vox-cdn.com/imported_assets/2385552/tumblr_lhq3ldk6d21qaxbm5o1_r1_400.gif"></p>
https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com/2014/9/18/6349655/trade-talks-the-big-boychukskiThisIsntLeonard