"Peter Chiarelli has been one of the more patient and deliberative general managers in the National Hockey League, not a fellow prone to knee-jerk reactions and hasty decisions — a proponent of the notion that often the best trades are the ones you do not make.

He has maintained faith in the Bruins, and why not? When the B's are good, they're very good. But the problem Chiarelli & Co. have faced for some time now is that the B's aren't very good. Mediocre has been more like it these last dozen or so games."