TORONTO -- In 2011, when Peter Chiarelli bolstered the Bruins for a Stanley Cup run, he made his deadline deals with plenty of time to spare. He acquired Chris Kelly on Feb. 15 and both Tomas Kaberle and Rich Peverley on Feb. 18. By the time the Feb. 28 trade deadline came, the new Bruins were already getting acclimated with the team.
"As the playoffs started and into the playoffs, you could see them start to get comfortable," Chiarelli said on Wednesday.
By contrast, he's not sure last season's trade deadline additions -- Brian Rolston, Greg Zanon and Mike Mottau -- ever got comfortable with the team. Those three were added at the buzzer on deadline day.
"I don't even know if they were acclimated when the playoffs started," Chiarelli said.
There's added value when the players you acquire for the stretch run have time to get settled before the postseason. This season it could be even more pronounced.
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- Senior NHL writer for ESPN The Magazine
- Wrote for Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- Wrote for The Sporting News
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Craig Custance
Craig Custance joined ESPN in September 2011 as an NHL reporter for ESPN the Magazine, ESPN Insider and ESPN.com. A graduate of Michigan State University, he lived for nearly a decade in Georgia working for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution where he spent time covering the late Atlanta Thrashers. He was the only Thrashers beat writer to get the team to the playoffs.
From 2008-11 he was the national hockey writer for the Sporting News, writing regularly in print and online. A member of the PHWA, he's a proud voter for the major NHL awards and can occasionally defend his selections.
Like hockey, he left Atlanta to return north where he currently lives in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, with his wife Cassie and their three kids.
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