“My job right now is to do the best I can with what we’ve got here,’’ Julien said. “If something gets done, you insert this player in and make the most of it. But I certainly won’t hang my coat on that and say, ‘OK, let’s just work through this until we can get some help.’ I don’t think anybody in that dressing room expects it. Neither do I. We’re a good enough team to be way better than we are. We’ve seen it. A couple injuries happen. Then we lost our rhythm and pace of our game. We’ve just got to find it back again. Every year, we’ve gone through it. Every year, we’ve gotten out of it. It’s not about assuming we’ll get out of it. It’s about working our way out of it.’’
Chiarelli doesn’t have the ammunition he wielded last year. The Bruins had Joe Colborne, a potential top-two center, developing in Providence. Chiarelli had two 2011 first-rounders and two second-round picks. The Bruins sent one of their first-rounders to Toronto with Colborne as part of the Tomas Kaberle trade. They swapped one of their second-rounders to Ottawa for Chris Kelly.
This year, there is nobody in Providence who projects to be a top-six forward or top-four defenseman. The Bruins lost their 2012 second-rounder as a condition of the Kaberle trade. The Bruins are not willing to give up Dougie Hamilton, their ace blue line prospect.
So that’s why Julien isn’t depending on his GM to provide the players he needs. Instead, he’ll adjust his lines, like he did against Minnesota Sunday. In the third period of the 2-0 loss, David Krejci moved to right wing to make room for Kelly. Krejci, Kelly, and Milan Lucic responded by creating better looks on Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom.
“I thought they responded well,’’ Julien said. “I thought they did some good things. There’s a good chance we may go back with that. We’ve got a couple days to look at things here and make those decisions.’’
Chemistry lessons
For most of the last two seasons, the Bruins have been blessed with sturdy bones, sound heads, and taut muscles. Lately, they haven’t been as lucky.
