Pressing the Panic Button

I wasn't that surprised about the B's start this season. They play like a team that spent the summer reading their own press releases. They seem to have their sights on the playoffs, something that is clearly a bit premature in October. A great game here, a great period there, a solid shift from time to time. But not much in between. But as I said I sort of expected it. They'd either get their acts together or they wouldn't, and if they didn't it would likely be at the cost of the coach's job.

What I didn't expect is what happened on Sunday with the Kobasew trade. I mean, WTF? Kobasew is a solid 20 goal scorer who plays strong in the corners. We were, after all, led to conclude that the main reason that Kessel was let go was so that we could keep guys like Chuck on the roster. I was at the game in Phoenix on Saturday and it seemed to me that Kobasew was playing hard. Sure, his line with Bergeron and Rechhi is snake bit in the scoring department, but I figured they would work through it. I have now read something like five articles claiming that Chiarelli pulled the trigger on this trade to shake the B's up. Yet when somebody actually asked him about it he said that wasn't why he did it. In fact, he said that this was a trade that had been in the making for some time. So I say again, WTF? Chiarelli has replaced a proven 20-goal scorer in Kobasew with a big under acheving kid named Daniel Paille. This guy only managed 12 goals last season and he was basically given away for a song by Buffalo. Either Chiarelli is a genius, he knows something we don't, or he's completely lost it.

We're just seven games into the season. Going into the game tonight against the Preds I don't know who this team is anymore. Savy and Looch are injured--likely for a while. I miss PJ on the PK. Dennis Wideman is still out on defense. Bergeron works so hard in the corners, yet often gets double teamed off the puck because he gets no support (maybe that will change). Both goaltenders are playing "ok" when we need them to stand on their heads. Blake Wheeler is so slow that when he breaks into open ice with the puck he usually gets caught from behind before he can get a shot off. Krejci starts his nifty moves only to have the puck poke checked away. The PK is just plain pathetic and the PP is almost as bad. Worst of all--half the time nobody seems to remember how to check. Big and Bad my ass!