Trade Deadline ’09: Chiarelli fine tunes with Recchi, Montador

Chiarelli

BOSTON — Even though Boston Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli didn’t complete a blockbuster trade before today’s 3 p.m. trade deadline, it wasn’t for lack of trying.

Chiarelli, who admitted he was “pretty close” to landing a type-A star, sighted the competitiveness of some teams that are still close in the standings and reluctant to become sellers, as well as salary-cap restrictions, for the added difficulty in getting such deals done. He said that the resistance this year from other general managers was the most he could remember since coming to Boston and even before when he was with Ottawa.

“I guess at the end of the day it takes two to tango and … at the end of the day we were working on two — and I guess three with that other housekeeping deal to create some (cap) space — it didn’t happen for whatever reason. The offers were exchanged and sooner or later I had to pull the plug on it,” he explained late this afternoon once he was done with his dealing.

Instead of landing a big dog, Chiarelli added a couple loyal, hard-working labradors to his pack with the acquistion of forward Mark Recchi from Tampa Bay and defenseman Steve Montador from Anaheim. He surrendered just one roster player, the recovering Petteri Nokelainen, plus two prospects (Matt Lashoff and Martins Karsums), and even managed to pry a second-round draft pick away from Tampa Bay.

But the addition without subtraction means the Bruins now have eight defensemen on their roster to go with13 forwards. Things could get sticky on the ice during practice and in head coach Claude Julien’s office when it comes time to make out a line-up sheet.

“There’s going to be some competition for ice time now,” Chiarelli admitted. “One of the things about adding depth is you’re going to have more than a bare roster. So it’s something that we’ve talked about and we’re prepared to manage and there’s probably going to be some moody guys because they’re going to miss here and there. But you know what? They’re part of the organization, they’ve done well for us to this point.”

While Chiarelli didn’t address the specifics of the playing-time issue, it’s expected that Byron Bitz, Shawn Thornton and P.J. Axelsson might be in danger of sitting from among the group of forwards, while defensemen Shane Hnidy, Matt Hunwick and Mark Stuart might find themselves in the press box a time or two.

The added depth makes the first-place Bruins an even bigger threat to win the Eastern Conference this season, especially in light of their closest pursuers not doing anything at the deadline. New Jersey sat still after its minor deal for Niclas Havelid Monday, and Montreal and Washington did absolutely nothing.

“I guess it could be considered that we’ve taken a half step, full step ahead,” said Chiarelli. “They’re still tough teams those teams. I like the fact that we’ve increased our depth, I really do. And I expect our players to respond. There’s going to be a little more competition for ice time. I think that’s healthy. And I look forward to seeing the new additions in the line-up.”