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Chiarelli On Toucher & Rich: Finding The Balance In Marchand's Game

BOSTON (CBS) - Boston Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli joined 98.5 The Sports Hub's Toucher & Rich on Wednesday to discuss the season so far, interesting comments out of Brad Marchand, and decreased ice time for Zdeno Chara.

Claude Julien moved Brad Marchand to third line over the weekend and thinks the forward just needs time to get back on track. Marchand admitted that, since his five-game suspension in 2012, he's had to try to find a balance between his roles as agitator and goal-scorer and Chiarelli agrees with his player.

"I've often said he's got to find the balance between playing an aggressive role and being a top six forward, so that's a challenge he faces."

It's an obstacle the player will need to overcome and it may be happening already from what Chiarelli is seeing, "I liked his game on Monday and to me he looks more confident, like he's starting to make some more plays and getting shots off."

They moved on to discuss the playing time of Zdeno Chara, which so far has be cut a bit from previous seasons. Is the team seeing something or is it a case of trying to rest him early on so that he'll be more rested late in the season?

"It's solely by design," said Chiarelli. "He's certainly capable of playing 26, 27, 28 minutes. We'd rather have that in the chamber for later on, so we've been doing that by design."

The B's visit the Florida Panthers on Thursday night and could see a familiar face in net. After his year off from hockey, former Bruins goalie Tim Thomas signed a contract with the Panthers, and if healhty, could get the start against his former squad.

What does Chiarelli think of this possibility, and what is his relationship with Thomas? Did Chiarelli receive any calls from other general managers asking about Thomas when he announced his intention to return to the NHL?

Peter Chiarelli On Toucher & Rich

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