Kalman: Stempniak's Return To New Jersey Puts Differing Philosophies -- And Two Points -- In The Spotlight
WILMINGTON (CBS) -- Lee Stempniak's plan for Monday night was dinner with his former New Jersey and Calgary teammate Mike Cammalleri.
The Bruins forward's relationship with Cammalleri, who is out for the season, will then be on hold Tuesday when the Bruins meet the Devils with two crucial points on the line in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
The Bruins' visit to New Jersey isn't just a chance for Stempniak to face his former team. It's an opportunity for the Bruins to follow up their 3-1 win against last-place Toronto with another victory against a team outside of the playoff structure (the Devils are five points back of the second wild card with six to play and three teams ahead of them). And the Bruins get to see what could've been had general manager Don Sweeney taken a different tact at the NHL trade deadline last month.
When the Devils traded Stempniak to the Bruins on Feb. 29, they were five points back of the second wild card with two teams ahead of them. But with Cammalleri and Patrik Elias out with long-term injuries, the Devils decided the odds were against making the playoffs. They traded defenseman Eric Gelinas to Colorado and dealt Stempniak to the Bruins for a 2017 second-round pick and a 2016 fourth-round pick at the trade deadline.
Stempniak, who had made the Devils as a tryout and then scored 16 goals in 63 games, was granted a new life in terms of the pursuit of the playoffs.
"I guess it's just the business of it. I went there on a tryout and am really proud of how I played there and earned a spot and earned a big role on the team," he said after practice Monday at Ristuccia Arena. "But it's never easy being traded, but to come to the Bruins is great. We were sort of right in the wild-card hunt [with the Devils] and then fell out at the end. And now to come to the Bruins, we're a team that's looking to win the Stanley Cup and it's exciting to be here."
Despite their best efforts to sink in the standings, the Devils haven't fared poorly since trading Stempniak. They're mathematically alive for the postseason with two weeks to go. If goaltender Cory Schneider, who hasn't played since March 4, hadn't gotten injured, the Devils might've had a real shot to qualify for the playoffs. They've gone 5-5-1 without Schneider. Had they hung on to Stempniak and Gelinas, and maybe added help, this Bruins-Devils game might've had more meaning for both clubs.
But Devils general manager Ray Shero, who twice was a candidate to be the Bruins GM, opted to maximize his assets. Whereas the Bruins held on to forward Loui Eriksson and defenseman Kevan Miller, who are both scheduled to be unrestricted free agents this summer, Shero traded Stempniak, who's having a career year.
Unfortunately for the Bruins, their five-game losing streak cancelled out the gains they made during their 5-0-2 stretch and now they're not in much of a different position than they were on deadline day. Back then they were fourth in the Atlantic Division and in possession of the first wild card. Now they're third in the Atlantic Division, three points ahead of Detroit (with the Red Wings playing their game in hand Monday). They're also three points ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers, who have two games in hand. The relatively healthy Bruins haven't been much better than the injury-riddled, post-Stempniak-trade Devils.
Regardless of what you want to believe about what general manager Don Sweeney was or wasn't offered for Eriksson, you have to agree that the Bruins would've been better off getting assets for Eriksson rather than risking losing him for nothing. Without Eriksson, the flawed Bruins would probably be in the same spot in the standings at this point. They could've filled in for Eriksson with rookie Frank Vatrano. They even could've dealt Eriksson for a rich package and then still acquired Stempniak to make up for Eriksson's loss on the ice. If the Devils were able to find a team to trade a second and a fourth for Stempniak, the Bruins had to have had a chance to get more than that for Eriksson.
But the fear of not making the playoffs, combined with a lack of faith in the current team's depth, turned the Bruins into buyers at the deadline. And here they are in the middle of the pack, where we expected them to be, with or without Eriksson.
Like the Maple Leafs, the stripped-down Devils should give the Bruins a hard time Tuesday. So the Bruins are going to have to duplicate the 40 minutes they played in the second and third periods in Toronto on Saturday.
"They always play really hard," Stempniak said. "That was the one thing we talked about there was no one gave us much credit and you had to play really well and play hard and prove everyone wrong. So that's been their mentality all year."
The Devils are a mildly competitive team in the East that has a few extra draft picks. The Bruins are barely better in the standings but with not as many picks in their stocks. The two franchises decided to take different roads and it'll be interesting to see which one fares better in the seasons ahead.
With the Bruins in playoffs-or-bust mode right now, they can take the early lead in the competition against Stempniak's old team by earning two points Tuesday.
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.
