Chris Kelly/By S. Bradley
While the Bruins were completely off Wednesday– no game and no practice — they still made news, even if Wes Welker and the new pope buried them on the airwaves.
Center Chris Kelly, who collided awkwardly with Ottawa’s Chris Neil Monday night and missed Boston’s loss in Pittsburgh Tuesday, was diagnosed with a broken left tibia.
General manager Peter Chiarelli had said on the radio Wednesday morning that he didn’t think there was damage to Kelly’s knee. So he was right. The Bruins declared Kelly out indefinitely, so you have to figure he’s at least done for the remainder of the regular season.
There are several options for Chiarelli to fill in Kelly’s spot going forward. But three weeks from the trade deadline, it’s too early to panic. That’s what I wrote about for CBSBostonSports.com last night.
•The Bruins host Florida at TD Garden Thursday night. The Panthers are last in the Eastern Conference and have lost four in a row.
Bruins 16,
I like Pandolfo on the 4th line. He hasn’t been spectacular, but he’s a reasonable body who doesn’t suck the life out of his line. That makes his a reasonable injury replacement in my mind in the same way I view Aaron Johnson. He’s not my first choice for a starting roster, but as injury replacements go he doesn’t detract from his line by his presence, but he also doesn’t contribute a ton. I also haven’t seen all of his games, and am not basing this on a sample size of about 3. I do have to admit, when not actively looking for him he was noticeable a few times for good hits, but not for any really terrible plays.
It looks like we may see Soderberg in a week or two, based on the fact he will likely be suspended for a crosscheck to the head, and as he is the leading scorer for his team AND they lost that game where he delivered the crosscheck 6-0…well, that playoff run doesn’t look like it will go so well…good for us at least, and he is a center.
David
I agree, I’d like to see Spooner get a chance. I am little surprised with your assessment with Pandolfo; he has appeared to me as slow and not being very tough to play against. CJ rotates his lines fairly evenly, so I would leave Paille, with Campell, since the two of them seem to have more chemistry lately than they did all last year.
I agree there’s no time to panic and getting an old overpaid guy isn’t the answer. The third line was playing with a guy that couldn’t play in the AHL. That’s tough on the other two guys. The Second line could use some competition or some kind of motivating factor. The second line of course is the former first line.
I’d love to see Spooner to get a call up at some point soon, because I’d like to see how he plays on his 4th line, but also to keep the merlot line together. That said, Paille on the 3rd line is still a reasonable option and I like what I’ve seen of MacDermid and Pandolfo, but it would be nice to know what kind of offensive depth we have at our disposal.
@TheBruinsBlog Panic would only lead to a bad trade, which Chiarelli will not do regardless of who is or isn t in the line-up.