Bill Greene for Boston.com

Maybe the question shouldn’t be whether or not the Boston Bruins can hold onto the second wild card spot in the NHL playoff picture, but if indeed the Tampa Bay Lightning can beat out the Montreal Canadiens for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.

After all, if the status quo remains into April, and the Bruins end up facing the Habs in the quarterfinal round, what was the point of all the consternation over making it to the postseason in the first place?

Of course, Bruins fans could point to 2008 as a means of inspiration. That was the last time the Canadiens swept a season series from their rivals, who returned the favor later that spring by forcing the top-seeded Habs to a Game 7 in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Boston still lost, but at least there’s…well, that.


The more tangible reality dictates that the superiorly-talented Canadiens would smoke the Bruins.

This is precisely why the Bruins, and more directly, general manager Peter Chiarelli, sit in the mire of their current situation with no easy answers as the NHL trading deadline approaches on Monday. If this group is still to be considered a playoff team, then should Chiarelli have the freedom to add the pieces he deems fit for an improbable Cup run? And if that’s the case, what level of return might we be talking about?

Are the pipe dreams of landing either T.J. Oshie or Taylor Hall (both linked to the Bruins in one way or another in recent months) little more than laughable scenarios? Will the Bruins simply, finally acquire Buffalo’s Chris Stewart so we can just all shut up about the immortal trade rumor of the season? How soon would it take head coach Claude Julien’s head to explode if Chiarelli re-acquired old friend Jaromir Jagr, and he was forced to play him alongside Ryan Spooner?

This is a big week for the Bruins. Despite a dazzling month of January, played in the wake of owner Charlie Jacobs’ veiled threats, the Bruins are just 2-6-2 in their last 10 games, not exactly the results the team’s hierarchy is looking for with a trip to the playoffs – along with Chiarelli’s and Julien’s jobs – in question.


That’s probably a stretch for Julien, what with a new contract extension in tow, but could be a possibility as far as the general manager is concerned, not for the product that he delivered (or, as some might opine, failed to deliver) this season, but for putting the Bruins in a salary cap situation that has them up against the wall at knifepoint. Chiarelli understands this, telling the Globe’s Fluto Shinzawa that he knows his time in Boston could be nearing its end if the team doesn’t bounce back from what was a disastrous 1-2-2 road trip.

“We’re having a down year,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that we’re under review for one year. But I understand. We’ve got to make things better.”

Sunday’s 6-2 surprise victory over the Chicago Blackhawks was a step. Tuesday’s loss to the Canucks also showed it might have been nothing more than an outlier.

Yet, despite a trip that saw the Bruins stumble in embarrassing fashion in outposts such as Vancouver, Calgary, St. Louis, and (yuck) Edmonton, where the Oilers are the Western Conference’s equivalent to losing to Buffalo, Boston lost all of a point in the standings to the Florida Panthers, who, as of Thursday, were only two points in back of the Bruins’ positioning, followed closely by the Philadelphia Flyers, only four points behind. The Bruins and Panthers also face each other three more times this season, but not until March 21, almost a month from now.


Frankly, those games should be of no concern, not if this Bruins team had managed to play to its capability in the weeks leading up to next week’s National Canadian Holiday. But they still need scoring help, the player they needed since last July when Jarome Iginla smelled the green burning all the from Colorado. The fact that few have any faith in Chiarelli to be able to make those pivotal moves at the trading deadline is just as indicting as the long-term financial mess he’s shoehorned the team into. That’s a view exacerbated by David Krejci missing up to six weeks with a partially-torn MCL in his left knee, putting rival GMs in the sense that Chiarelli may be desperate to overpay for a return, not to mention keep his job.

Krejci has yet to be placed on long-term injured reserve, which would mean he wouldn’t be eligible to return until the potential first round of the postseason. But such a move would also give the team flexibility when it came to the trade deadline. There’s no cap in the playoffs, so sidelining Krejci before then would essentially give the Bruins maneuverability in terms of the caliber of player Chiarelli could acquire for the remainder of the regular season. Krejci’s cap hit is $3.3 million.

On that note, team president Cam Neely hinted that the Bruins probably wouldn’t be willing circumvent that particular rule though.”You can’t manipulate anything,” he told The Sports Hub’s “Felger and Mazz” this week. “It’s something that the teams know that the league has made comments on. You can’t manipulate the cap.”

Yet, there was NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, holding court at the TD Garden on Tuesday night, seemingly giving the Bruins the green light to take advantage of the situation.

“We frown upon the use of loopholes, but I don’t think an injury was sustained in order to create a loophole,” Bettman said. “You can only ice a certain number of skaters, and the fact of the matter is, who’s to say how severely the injury will impact his play longer term, what kind of shape he’s been in?”

That’s also precisely why the Bruins are hesitant to place Krejci on long-term though, especially if they need him to make a playoff push during the final week of the regular season. But by acquiring enough vital pieces on Monday, they could also make those final few games afterthoughts in their postseason preparation.

But maybe the team’s reluctance to jump through salary cap hoops isn’t so much about perturbing the league, but a refusal to add salary to a team that Chiarelli has already maxed out. Perhaps it’s a message to the beleaguered GM, a call to fix the mess, yet under the parameters he’s managed to create for himself.

Will the Bruins even allow center Antoine Vermette to get back on the Arizona charter when the Coyotes play here Saturday afternoon? Or does Chiarelli have something potentially jaw-dropping under his sleeve, ready to unveil on Monday? I’d say re-acquiring Phil Kessel might do the trick. And then some.

Then again, does any of it really matter as much as what the Lightning are able to land next week?

After all, what’s the point of shopping fervently for the feast when you’re only going to end up as the main course?

This is Chiarelli’s last gasp with a dubious fan base waiting for the inevitable bit piece, even as the door has opened for the team to do something big.

Don’t hold your breath.