This is more that I was talking about. The void that Kessel left when he went to Toronto has not been filled. Also, Marco Sturm has never scored more than 28 goals in a season and I don't see him coming close to scoring 30 goals in this line up. The aging Mark Recchi isn't going to score 20 goals at his current pace, he will be lucky to break 10 or 15 goals this season. Of course there is alway the bright side, the Bruins got a slew of draft choices they can use.
Nobody in Boston wants to hear this, but these Bruins sure could use Kessel. Somebody in the Bruins dressing room mentioned Kessel's stats from the Toronto game and it was met with an ugly look from one of the Boston players. The look was clear. Kessel is gone; nobody here wants to know how he's helping another team.
Julien said as much on Monday, even before his team turned in another zero.
"We made a deal and we've moved on," Julien said. "We've got guys who have moved in and done a pretty good job with (replacing Kessel). It is what it is. Phil Kessel has moved on and we've moved on."
If only the part about replacing Kessel were true. It's not easy to replace 36 goals. The hope was that a healthy Marco Sturm would help.
"We replaced one (30-goal scorer) with another," Mark Recchi said.
Sturm has two goals. Another potential 30-goal scorer, Michael Ryder, has three. David Krejci has one. Recchi has two.
Not the goal totals of players jumping in to pick up scoring production that left with Kessel.
"When you replace people, it takes a little time," Recchi said. "We've got guys who can do what he was doing. Right now, it's just not happening. Eventually it will." [Sporting News]
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