Off the ice, the news has been a little better. Marc Savard is finally close to returning, and the Bruins cleared enough cap space to activate him by dealing Matt Hunwick to Colorado for prospect Colby Cohen.
With so much going on, there's bound to be a few things that you may have missed. So in the latest installment of Bruins Shootout, we'll take a look at a half-dozen items that may have otherwise slipped through the cracks during the past week.
1. Far too many of the Bruins are slumping at the same time. The top line that was so dominant early in the season has gone dormant, with Nathan Horton going seven games without a goal and five without a point. Milan Lucic hasn't scored since his hat trick against Florida, going five games without a goal and providing little in the way of his trademark physical presence. He's had no hits in three of his last seven games and just one hit on six occasions this year. Lucic has also gone 16 games without dropping the gloves after fighting twice in the first six games of the season.
2. The Bruins could use Savard in the middle, as their current crop of centers is also struggling to produce offensively. David Krejci missed Sunday's game with the flu, but had no goals in the four games since he returned from a concussion, while Patrice Bergeron, who replaced him on the top line, has no points in his last four games. Even rookie Tyler Seguin has just scored just once in 14 games.
3. Give new Bruin Colby Cohen high marks for honesty, even if he may have trouble at customs the next time he travels to Canada. His reaction to being traded to Boston, where he played his college hockey at Boston University: "When the Colorado GM called me and he’s like 'We just traded you,' I was praying. I had a few cities in mind, but I was praying it wasn't Edmonton, and when he said Boston, I was like, 'Wow, this couldn't be any better!'" Looks like there might be another subplot to future Bruins-Oilers showdowns beyond the Tyler Seguin-Taylor Hall comparisons.
4. Hunwick's final game as a Bruin was at least a memorable one, as he had a rare fight with Atlanta's Evander Kane. It helped spark a brief rally in the second period for the Bruins, but Hunwick didn't get to see Boston cut into the Thrashers' lead as he was busy getting his own cut stitched up. How many stitches did he need? "I don't know, six, seven, eight?" said Hunwick. "I've had enough stitches in my career that I don't need to keep counting." These stitches will be a memento he can take to Colorado. And guess who the Avalanche play on Tuesday night? None other than Kane and the Thrashers. If Hunwick makes it to Denver on time, he could get a shot at a rematch, though he might want to wait for these stitches to come out before trying his hand at the sweet science again.
5. The Bruins picking up a college-trained defenseman in Cohen should come as no surprise. Peter Chiarelli has focused on bolstering the blue-line depth in the organization by acquiring players with college backgrounds. Last year, he traded for Steve Kampfer (Michigan), Matt Bartkowski (Ohio State) and Cody Wild (Providence College) at the deadline and David Warsofsky (Boston University) at the draft. They join Mark Stuart (Colorado College), Jeff Penner (Alaska-Fairbanks), Tommy Cross (Boston College) and Mark Goggin (Dartmouth) as college defensemen in the Bruins system.
"It's not a coincidence," said Chiarelli. "It's a place that we've focused on over the last few years, really for the reason that for a defenseman it takes a little longer to develop. So you've got the time spent in a good college programs that have developed them and they're generally 21, 22, 23, so you're a certain way up the development curve. You know more what you're getting and with respect to that position, it takes a little longer to get up to speed."
6. Adam McQuaid has been spending extra time after practice working on battle drills with Savard, helping the injured center improve his strength and conditioning to get into game shape. Little did McQuaid know that Savard would be the key to getting McQuaid back into the lineup as well. But with Hunwick traded to create the cap space needed to activate Savard from long-term injured reserve, McQuaid will now see regular action again on defense in Hunwick's place.
