FanHouse Peter Chiarelli

Now that Phil Kessel is officially a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Boston Bruins can move forward. They knew that Kessel would be tough to bring back, especially given their salary cap issues. What general manager Peter Chiarelli wasn't necessarily prepared to hear was that Kessel didn't want to return under any circumstances.

Enter Toronto general manager Brian Burke, who gave up two first-round picks, along with a second-rounder, for the right to pay Kessel some $27 million for the next five years.

While fans eagerly await the start of the 2009-2010 NHL season, there is one high-profile player who still doesn't know what team he will spend it with.

Phil Kessel had a breakout season in 2008-2009, scoring 36 goals and picking up an impressive plus-23 rating. He was solid on the power play and dangerous in the clutch, finishing second on his team with six game-winning goals. That team, the Boston Bruins, doesn't have enough cap room to sign Kessel, and it sounds like the fourth-year pro is tired of waiting around.

BOSTON -- The Bruins were one of the best storylines in the NHL last year, until the Hurricanes ended Boston's season with a thud.

After taking the top spot in the conference, however, the Bruins haven't required much tinkering this offseason. Boston general manager Peter Chiarelli told FanHouse on Wednesday that adding defenseman Derek Morris after sending Aaron Ward to Carolina was a "subtle move," one that he hopes will help the Bruins come crunch time.

"We felt when push came to shove in the playoffs that if we could improve our power play, that might put us over the edge," Chiarelli said by phone. "Oftentimes, that's the key facet in the playoffs -- specialty teams and the power play. We gave up something to get something but we feel it's a net benefit at the end of the day."

The NHL's decision to rescind Scott Walker's mandatory one-game suspension as a result of his altercation with Aaron Ward on Sunday night was confusing to say the least. Walker's explanation as to why he punched Ward in the face is simply off the charts.

According to Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald, Walker was under the assumption that Ward actually threw the first punch. Seriously.

In the days and weeks leading up to Wednesday's trade deadline, the Boston Bruins were rumored to be in the mix for defensemen Chris Pronger and Tomas Kaberle, potentially giving the Bruins an intimidating blue line that few teams could match. Instead of selling the farm for such prized assets, general manager Peter Chiarelli opted to bring in the steady veteran hand of Mark Recchi.

After failing to show up on the score sheet in his Boston debut on Thursday, Recchi picked up his first two Bruins goals in Saturday's 5-3 win over Chicago.

The Boston Bruins are currently the best team in the NHL, and with the trade deadline less than 72 hours away, they're apparently looking to make a blockbuster deal to solidify their status as the odds on Stanley Cup favorite.

On Saturday, a report surfaced that the Bruins were close to a deal for Anaheim Ducks defenseman Chris Pronger. On Sunday, the rumors continued as the Boston Herald reported the Bruins made an offer for Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Tomas Kaberle. NESN picked up on this rumor and called it a "monster" offer.

Every Monday morning The Ice Sheet will take a close look at everything that's happened in the NHL since Friday night at 5:00 p.m. -- or if need be, anything else the author wants to bleat about. To read them all, click here.

No, that is not a misprint in today's edition of the NHL standings. Indeed, the Boston Bruins are alone on top of the Eastern Conference with 40 points, with preseason favorites like New York, Montreal and Washington all filling space in their rear view mirror.

All of this begs a question: Can this really be the same franchise that a little more than three years ago traded Joe Thornton to the San Jose Sharks, a man who would go on to win the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP only a few months later?

There were three pretty significant injuries in the NHL over the past week, as Francois Beauchemin (Ducks), Andrew Ference (Bruins) and Andy McDonald (Blues) all suffered major leg injuries that will keep them out of their respective lineups for extended periods of time.

A quick look at each injury, and the impact they will have on each team.

First, for the Ducks, Beauchemin suffered a torn ACL in Anaheim's 4-3 loss to Nashville on Thursday night, and is expected to miss the next six months. The 28-year old defenseman has been a steady 25-minute per game player for the Ducks since being acquired in a trade with Columbus during the 2005-06 campaign.

Aside from being second on the team in ice-time, Beauchemin was also one of the team's best shot blockers and penalty killers. His injury, combined with the early season trade of Mathieu Schneider to Atlanta (for salary cap purposes) has left the Ducks once vaunted defensive unit rather depleted. Let's face it, no disrespect to Kent Huskins and Bret Hedican intended, but it's not exactly the unit that hoisted the Stanley Cup two years ago.

If you're looking for a positive for the Ducks, Beauchemin's injury and ensuing placement on the long-term injury list has cleared enough space under the league's salary cap for the team to bring up top prospect Bobby Ryan. Ryan, a former No. 2 overall pick, had registered 19 points in 14 games for the Iowa Chops of the American Hockey League.

Last week the Boston Globe's Kevin Dupont wrote the kind of article that makes most non-Bostonians wish that he covered their home team while at the same time thank their lucky stars that that team isn't the Boston Bruins.

Dupont started by alluding to the widely-held assumption that Bruins bench boss Dave Lewis will be made the scapegoat for the team's failings (and there are many), whether he's given a pink slip next Monday or next November, but then shifted the focus of his dissection from Lewis to general manager Peter Chiarelli.

It was Chiarelli, after all, who signed Zdeno Chara and Marc Savard to enormous deals last summer, leaving little flexibility to address needs elsewhere in the lineup, regardless of how productive they would be.

It was Chiarelli, after all, who brought in Brandon Bochenski, Andrew Ference, Chuck Kobasew, Aaron Ward and Dennis Wideman to try to right the ship and salvage a playoff run that will see the Bruins finish the season closer to 14th place in the Conference than to 8th.

And the players Chiarelli sent away?

[M]any of the exiting players have shown considerable upticks. Defenseman Milan Jurcina, flipped to Washington for a fourth-round pick, averaged but 10 minutes 42 seconds in ice time under Lewis and was minus-5 in 40 games. In Washington, he has turned into a minutes monster, averaging 23:08 and a plus-5. Brad Boyes has 4 goals and 11 points in 14 games with the Blues. Stuart, his game painfully disintegrating by the hour in Boston, was a minus-22 in Black and Gold this season. He is plus-10 with Calgary. Paul Mara, a minus-22 in 59 games with his hometown Bruins, stood a plus-5 in 14 games with the Rangers. [Stats through last Thursday]

At the end of the day, as the saying goes, you can't fire the whole team, so it's the coach who usually takes the fall when things go south. But in Boston, there's plenty of blame to go around.