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Kobasew trade sends message to remaining Bruins 10.19.09 at 2:47 pm ET
By Joe Haggerty
Kobasew will be a missed leadership presence in the B's dressing room after getting traded to the Wild

Kobasew will be a missed leadership presence in the B's dressing room after getting traded to the Wild

WILMINGTON — Chuck Kobasew was a beloved member of the Bruins, and if trading him to the Minnesota Wild Sunday was a message of dissatisfaction from management — as it was articulated by both general manager and coach in its aftermath – well, then the cannon ball shot was received loud and clear by the players on Monday morning.

The 27-year-old Kobasew stumbled out of the gate this season with only a single assist in seven games, and seemed to be an unwitting victim of a hibernating Bruins unit unable to snap out of their prolonged .500 slumber. The hard-nosed veteran and 20-goal scorer was traded for both salary cap reasons and a little bit of good-old fashioned message-sending from B’s GM Peter Chiarelli.

The B’s top decision-maker hopes that the addition of some young P-Bruins blood in Vladimir Sobotka and Brad Marchand can spark a team that’s been the very definition of lethargic for far too long this autumn. The Black and Gold have been unable to shake a funk of inconsistency to start the season, and have flashed little passion or anger in their game — aside from a revenge special against the Carolina Hurricanes. Chiarelli felt it was time to make things a tad bit uncomfortable in the B’s dressing room. Judging from the reaction of the players at practice and after the session was over, it was mission accomplished.

The B’s executive also admitted that he couldn’t have summoned Marchand and Sobotka from Providence without jettisoning Kobasew and effectively unlocking the salary cap handcuffs wrapped around the team. The reports that the team had $1.6 million in cap space prior to the deal appear to have been greatly exaggerated. The B’s couldn’t even afford to keep Sobotka in Boston to begin the season, which spurred his demotion to Providence.

“It’s a combination of a number of factors. Certainly our play has been on and off and that was part of it,” said Chiarelli, who had been in discussions with several clubs for a period two weeks. “The two guys we brought up have been playing pretty well in Providence. It also gives us a little of salary cap flexibility for this year and for next year, so it was a good time for all those things. But it was primarily based on our play.

“The fellows we brought up our young, energetic and enthusiastic, and I thought that we needed an injection of that into our lineup. It’s a little bit of [frustration]. It’s not a complete reactionary move. It’s something that addresses a lot of things. I’m not satisfied with our start. Friday night,  I thought we a terrific game in all areas and then it was disappointing to see Saturday. Work is being done and we’re turning the corner a bit, but in large part on a game-to-game basis I don’t see the passion that I saw before. We have to get that back.”

Tim Thomas was a little more succinct.

“My gut feeling tells me that [the trade] is a shot across the bow. Wake up or else changes will be made,” said Thomas. “My first reaction was surprise. I guess I hadn’t been thinking along those lines of any trades at all. It’s a funny business where a guy can be a teammate for going on three years, and then he’s gone.”

The deal obviously clears Kobasew’s $2.3 million from the books both this year and next year — which could become a factor in extension talks with Marc Savard — and allows Boston much more financial flexibility moving forward. Kobasew’s cap hit was something of a luxury for a third-line grinder in this brave, new world of salary cap era hockey.

All that being said, Kobasew is another veteran leader in the B’s dressing room that has now moved on, and joins a leadership exodus that included Aaron Ward, Stephane Yelle, P.J. Axelsson, Shane Hnidy and now the veteran right winger.

The move perhaps hit closest with 23-year-old Patrice Bergeron, who has watched several great friends move on from Boston after the two-way center developed close relationships with them. First it was Marty Lapointe that mentored Bergeron and allowed the rookie to live with his family during his first NHL season. Then it was Brad Boyes after Bergeron had formed into a dynamic scoring tandem with the natural goal-scorer before his trade to the St. Louis Blues. Now it’s Bergeron’s roommate during road trips, Kobasew, that has been shipped off to a different NHL locale.

It’s all part of the pro sports business, but the move should certainly shake up the B’s locker room’s comfort level. In the view of the decision-makers, the players still seems to be daydreaming about the Stanley Cup rather than rolling up their sleeves and working toward it. Bergeron said he spoke with Kobasew on Sunday following the deal, and the gritty forward was understandably reluctant to leave his home for the last three seasons in Boston.

“You never worried about his work ethic. He was my roommate on the road too. It’s always hard to see somebody go, but it happens. It’s tough, but at the same time it’s a business,” said Bergeron. “I really wish him the best. He’s such a good guy. The type of guy you always want on your team. But with the way things were going, that’s something that’s going to happen. We just have to deal with this as a team when somebody like that has to go because of the situation.”

The Bruins have now paid a price for their sluggish seven-game start to a season filled with sky-high expectations. It’s up to the remaining Black and Gold skaters to heed the unmistakable message and act on it.

Read More: Chuck Kobasew, Patrice Bergeron, Peter Chiarelli, Print  |  Email   | Bark It Up!  |  Digg It
  • mark

    Wow!! Kessel then Kobasew…Who’s next Krejci?? Wake up boys before we have a team up from Providence!!

  • Brian

    Tough to be excited by this move as a fan. Looking at the line up today at practice, the 2nd and 3rd forward lines leave a lot to be desired (Yes Lucic is hurt). Perhaps Marchand and Sobotka will surprise, but this will probably take more time for them to gel.

    Personally, I think a lot of the Bruins problems are related to Krejci coming back from injury. He is such a key cog in this offensive wheel and it’s been a slow start, which I get. This is regular season and what really matters is that the Bruins make the playoffs and start playing well down the stretch when it counts. It’s ingrained in hockey history where many top teams have a mediocre October and November but rebound in December/January (Pittsburgh, Chicago and Carolina last year, the Edmonton dynasty in the 80′s).

    While I get the need to create some space to allow call ups to be made for the every day aches and pains, this seems more like a knee jerk reaction. I am holding out hope that this deal and the picks acquired in the Toronto and Minne trades is more of a pre-cursor to something bigger later on (Kovalchuck).

  • Joe

    I’m wondering. How is it the Penguins can afford all the talent they have with Croby. And Washington with the Russian, We have what? and we need to dump Salery? SOMETHING STINKS… Harry here again ??

  • Mike

    You mean other than the best defenseman in the league?

  • Anguillaman

    YUP…the kessel deal , the ward deal, the non-signing of yell and axelson..and now this deal sure does send a message..a clear one…we don’t care if we win the cup..but we do care if we make $$$ and screw the fans…that’s the message. We all might as well watch Hockey East.

  • Anguillaman

    Again, lets all drop the B from the name…they are the RUINS

  • Anguillaman

    UNDER the Cap….what are they now how many millions under the cap…a JOKE.

  • RyanPatrick

    I see nothing but positives in this deal.
    -Clearing cap space for this year to bring young and hungry guys up from Providence. They barely had space to carry an extra forward.
    -Cap space for next year when Savard, Wheeler, Rask etc need to be signed.
    -Getting another draft pick and prospect.

    Kobasew is a decent player but is expendable making 2.4 million a season. I think the drop-off from Kobasew to Marchand or Sobotka will be insignificant.

    Some seriously uninformed opinions on here. People don’t seem to understand the salary cap world if they think this is in any way Jacobs related.

  • http://bigbadblog.weei.com Joe Haggerty

    Agreed RyanPatrick…people don’t realize how bad a situation the Bruins are in salary cap-wise, but they have themselves to blame a bit by being coy about how much room they actually have. They were going around intimating they had more room under the cap than they actually did, at least IMHO. It’s a sound strategy to steer away from dealing from a position of weakness, but it’s going to leave the fans up in arms.

    Bottom line is that the Bruins are spending up to the cap. Are they spending wisely up to the cap (Thomas contract, buying out Schaeffer etc)? That’s a different story.

    –Haggs

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  • Christopher F Las Vegas

    Hey, I don’t like the move at all. But, someone was going to pay sooner or later! After tha( not so smart contract they gave Thomas, he might be the next to go, I know someone will. This isn’t the end of contract dumps buy any stretch! The Thomas deal is a bad deal for the Bruins. He’s locked up for 4 years at 5 mill, and has a no trade clause in the 1st 3B so be alaert, the next player to need a jumpstart is going to get about 2 periods and then he’s gone also! The bottom line is for the last 20 some years, no organization has dropped as many or messed up so many players in the league. If you sit back and really take a look at players that were either a Bruin at one time, or Boston had a real great cyance in getting them, it just seams that nothing works in this Organization. Look at Robert Lang. The years that he was scoring 40 plus goals, he was a Bruin. It was for about 18 hours, but he was a Bruin. Came via trade, everyone in the hockey world loved his upswing, and laughed at Boston when we let him go.Bur sure enough, the years we have him and let him go, he scores 40 plus for 3 seasponsB and the real killer was his contract was nothing! The real kick is we had him twice and cut him both times! Look at Steve Staos. Bruins let him goN he ends up being a C in Van or Edm for years and has a great career as a tough, stay at home D man that every team loves to have! Another guy that wasn’t making huge money either! Another playerN Sammy Phaulson, gave him away, stanley cup winner! Teams were knocking on the Ducks door last year to get him at the dealine because he was a real good grinding 3rd liner that could score! Here is another player that still hurts us, and I still have no idea to this day why these idiots let him walk, Mike Knuble! Should have been a Bruin for life! Big, rugged, left winger that never gets moved from the crease, and still scores 25-35 a year! Charelli could have had him this year also, but didn’t even give the guy a sniff, washington has him, and he has over 25 already! They love him there, just like we diud when he played here! Never wanted to leave, but Boston never offered him a contract! What a freeken jhoike! This team gets 30 plus goal scores, let’s them walk, the new team loves the player and gives him the monay we should have ginen him, players gets better, wiuns playoffs, cups,always scores against old team, and we then scream every trade dealine that we need a sniper! Let’s keep one orf our scorers for once! Let’s pay a Kessel a little more, he won 4 games last year on his backj during shootouts, and yesn he isn’t gpoing to do squat up north for a few uears, but io can tell you this, if he were still here, we would have another 7-10 points right now. Ill take that to the bank! If we still have him this year,we would have 4-5 more wins right now, and he has at least 25 at thius time. Savard would be 25 more points and probably would not have beejn hurt as much because he would have been playing a little different! I just cringe when I listen year after year, everyone saying we need a sniper, a scorer, someone that can put the puck in the net! Guys, we have had these players, time and time again, and when we get another, we will let him walk also, just like Chara next year! Wait and see, that Thomas ciontract really messed this teams cap space up bigtime and for the next 4 years to come! ILove Tim Thoimas,but why so much for so long, when you have a deffinate star that’s ready now? He’s going to deamnd monay also! Its a joke.Get used to it folks. Do you ever find yourself asking why can’t the Bruins make a trade like New Jersey did to get the sniper? Or do you ever sit back and watch 2 west coast teams play a late game, and you see all the players really working hard,hitting hard, forchecking, makeing others pay the proce when someone takes a cheap shot, and then you askl yourself, Why don’t the Briuins ever play like this? I find myself doing that all the time! When I watch Boston, it looks like a ballet, not a hockey game! No hitting, nobody paying the price. Nothing! Its a freekin Joke! Just watch a west coast game one night and you will see what oi mean within the first 3 minutes! Have fun everyone! I’m sick of this organization! I wish Jacobs would just get out!

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