OEL has been absolutely terrible the last couple of seasons. Bad turnovers, lazy defensive play, stupid penalties, you name it. His contract looked a bit worrying. However, he had a lot going on. His mother passed away a few years back, which hit him very hard and he dealt with some injuries in the time frame. He also did not mix at all with Rick Tocchet's style and never got along with him. He struggled in the captain's role, though Shane Doan is impossible to follow up. He is far too quiet and reserved for that position. I don't think his skills have diminished, I just don't think his head has been in the right place lately.
I really think he can thrive with a change of scenery, and the bitterness of being in trade talks over the past year hopefully lit a fire under his ass. He seems like a great case of a player that just needs to get out of a little rut. We shall see, I guess but I was hoping the Bruins would take a flyer on the OEL and Garland package.
I loved watching Garland. He came over to Tucson after his time in the Q was up and I got to see him blossom into a legitimate NHL player. He was a bit of a brat at first but has matured considerably over the years. When first watching him I thought he'd never sniff the NHL because of how easily he would get pushed off the puck. In Tucson he gained enough strength, developed a tenacious forechecking style and he is an absolute dog on the puck. He has some slick moves as well and his passing has improved greatly. Now he'll never win the majority of physical battles and he's awful in his own end so he needs to be sheltered but he's a great weapon to have on the power play and a player you can look to if you need a big goal. Hopefully the Canucks have some guys that can back him up because he does get picked on a lot.
Coyotes are blowing the whole thing up and starting from scratch so it'll be a tough couple of years (at least) ahead.
As for the Bruins, I'm quite happy with the Hall contract. Boston is where he's wanted to be all along and he got to steal some money from Buffalo first before it happened.
Still need some help on defense and they're putting a lot of trust in the young goalies while Tuukka spends the first half+ of the season recovering from surgery (if he doesn't retire). Hopefully some more moves are coming as Krejci is also a question mark to return and some more center depth would be helpful anyway.