After sniffing around for a day, Bruins GM Bryce Shuck was presented with the exact type of offer he was looking for. Nedved was dealt to Long Island in exchange for rock solid defenseman Karlis Skrastins, Shifty rookie Tony Salmelainen and the Islanders 4th round pick.
We really like Petr, and this does leave us with a hole at center, but, we couldn't pass up getting one of the best defensive defensemen in the league. Skrastins is a great defensive player, and will be instrumental in the growth of our blueline. Although it isn't out of teh question that he coudl be dealt this season to bring in more youth.
With 8 defensemen over 70 overall, the Bruins are amongst the deepest in the league at that position, while Tom Poti is readily available, the rest of the dmen on the roster are highly valued by GM Shuck, and not nessecarily on the block.
The Bruins have done surprisingly well this season, but eyes are not straying from the main goal, which is building a long term powerhouse team. With a great young blueline and goaltending, the pieces are in place there. Now it's just waiting for the forwards to develop and with the good NHL starts of Joff Lupul, Milan Michalek, Wojtek Wolski and others, the Bruins appear to be taking on the vision that Shuck had planned for them.
Wow hefty price to pay for the Islanders. They could badly use a shakeup though, so I like this move if Nedved can continue to play well. Looks like they have a logjam upfront now, hmm, I could use some Sillinger Vanny.
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To NYIslander: Daniel Tjarnqvist, Duvie Westcott, Ilja Bryzgalov, Pat Rissmiller, Tom Poti, Bjorn Melin, Karri Ramo, Tom Gilbert
To Boston: Chris Pronger, Doug Murray, Jocelyn Thibault, Ken Klee, Wade Brookbank, Denis Istomin, Viktor Dovgan
Nedved is expected to rejuvenate the limpy second line, probably with Rucinsky and Sillinger as wingers and a woefully underperforming Scott Niedermayer on defense. Skrastins was expendable on the most defensive blueline in the league especially after Witt was recently acquired. Salmalainen is a big loss in terms of organization expectations but he is still a risk, and could possibly not make the jump despite glowing reports by the team's own scouting dep't.
The next 5 to 10 games or so will be a good indication if the deal was worth it from an Isles perspective. If the team makes the playoffs and Salmalainen doesn't break through this year then the deal was definitely worth it.
