On the Boston Bruins …
Joe Haggerty of NBS Sports: With Tuukka Rask as their No. 1 goaltender the “Bruins will never win a Stanley Cup with Rask as their No. 1 goaltender, and that should become a real issue in the next few years as the Bruins build back up to contender status.”
Rask numbers have declined in a past few years and he has four years left on his deal at a $7 million cap hit. Anton Khudobin has started their past three games, but the Bruins need to play Rask to increase his value if they hope to trade him at some point.
The Bruins still need to find their goalie of the future for when they are ready to seriously contend in a couple years.
Haggerty notes: “Rask proved he wasn’t good enough to carry a talented Bruins team over the top when he crumbled at the end of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final against the Blackhawks, and he’s been spotty, and oft-times unreliable, in big games ever since. It’s time for the Bruins to begin the search process for a goalie that can take them on a Cup run when they’re ready for it.
After nine seasons, Rask has proven he isn’t that guy.”
On the Edmonton Oilers …
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Pierre LeBrun was on TSN 1040 talking about the Edmonton Oilers yesterday morning talking about the Edmonton Oilers. LeBrun notes how it’s hard for teams now to make big changes mid-season, how they it is more likely to happen in June.
“No question Peter Chiarelli is working the phones hard, from what we can gather. I think he’d like to add on his blueline. Clearly the team’s defensive play is suspect right now.
“But it goes beyond that. I mean, Cam Talbot hasn’t been good in goal at all after having two excellent years. So you’d have to imagine he’s going to get out of this. But yanked last night. Save percentage way down. He’s not making key saves and from there, the defensive play. They’ve had a bunch of core defensemen who have not played up to standard. They look slow at times. And at the end of the day, is there enough leadership there around Connor McDavid to help this young man pull this thing out.
“So I think there’s lots of things to look at there and I don’t know that there’s an easy fix.”