The Bruins were in Detroit on Tuesday. They were shut out 2-0. They were shut out 1-0 on Sunday against the Rangers, a game that I was happy to miss. The Bruins lost two games in a row for the first time this season. They have been inconsistently consistent in their trend of winning one and losing one since the season started in October. If the trend continued, they would have won against the Red Wings. I was hoping for one of those late comebacks, like the won against the Senators.

Fluto put it best...

The Bruins can cry into their beers all they want about missing Marc Savard and Milan Lucic. But the Wings were without Johan Franzen, Valtteri Filppula, Brian Rafalski, and Jonathan Ericsson tonight, and still managed to tuck two pucks behind Tim Thomas to claim the 2-0 win.

Fans can do the same, whine about who's not in the lineup, but when it comes down to it, there are still 12 forwards in the line-up capable of putting pucks in the net. They have done it before. Maybe they have gotten a little snake bitten the last two games. It does happen to the best of teams. But to search for excuse after excuse why this team isn't scoring or winning two games in a row is a waste of time. It is up to whoever is on the ice to get the job done and that usually means more than one line has to have a strong game and step up.

Don't even get me started on the power play or I'll be here all night.

The Montreal Canadiens come to town on Thursday. If that doesn't get the players to step their games up, get their offensive juices going and put together a strong game, then I don't know what will.

News started trickling out a couple of hours ago that Phil Kessel, holdout and king of this summer's Bruins saga, was going to be traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs were the front runners again, taking the spot from the Nashville Predators.

The Bruins traded Kessel for what appears to be two first round draft picks and a second round draft pick. The draft picks break down like this: 2010 first round pick and 2010 second round pick, and 2011 first round pick.

Kessel reportedly signed with the Leafs at $27 million for five years. That means Phil the Thrill will be pocketing some $5.4 million per season.

The Bruins couldn't afford that and while GM Peter Chiarelli said time and time again he would make room under the salary cap for the sniper, it never seemed like it was going to happen. Kessel doesn't fit in the direction the Bruins want to go. The Bruins wants grit and toughness, something Kessel never really showed he was.

The Kessel saga has finally come to an official close.

The Bruins have their first preseason game at the TD Garden tomorrow at 4 against the New York Rangers.

Fenway Park is hosting the NHL's announcement for the 2010 Winter Classic. You can see photos from the NHL manager of communications on Twitpic. The announcement can be seen on NHL Network and NHL.com.

A mix of Winter Classic and Red Sox highlights open the Winter Classic announcement. Patrice Bergeron, Shawn Thornton, Marco Sturm, Aaron Ward and David Krejci are representing the Bruins. Peter Chiarelli, Cam Neely, Harry Sinden, Jeremy Jacobs and Charlie Jacobs are also there.

Gary Bettman is speaking. He is ending the speculation on the "worst kept secret" and announcing the 2010 Bridgestone Winter Classic will be played at Fenway Park. The Boston Bruins will host the Philadelphia Flyers on New Year's Day.

More Winter Classic highlights being shown on the Fenway Park video scoreboard to the song "Shipping up to Boston" by the Dropkick Murphy's.

Jeremy Jacobs and Charlie Jacobs spoke. Jeremy read his speech of a piece of paper, extending thanks from the Red Sox organization down to the NHL fans. Charlie is ad-libbing. He said he secured 1,000 tickets for youth hockey.

Mayor Tom Menino is next. He announced there will be two days of public skating at Fenway Park.

The Boston Bruins scouting department hardly ever gets enough credit during the NHL season, but it's a different story on a certain weekend in June. The scouting department is just as important to a NHL organization as the general manager, coach and its players. Their past track record only holds true to how important they are.

Current Bruins Mark Stuart, Patrice Bergeron and Byron Bitz were all picked in the 2003 draft.

Center David Krejci and defenseman Matt Hunwick were selected in 2004.

The second round seems to be the Bruins' draft strong point. Krejci and Bergeron were both selected in the second round. Milan Lucic joined the second round bunch in 2006.

Here's a recap of where the Bruins will be picking in the 2009 draft.

The numbered picks are as follows:

First Round
25

Second Round
(56 traded to NY Islanders)

Third Round
(81 is conditional to Boston from Philadelphia*)
86

Fourth Round
(112 is conditional to Boston from Philadelphia*)
(116 traded to Minnesota)

Fifth Round
(146 traded to Ottawa)

Sixth Round
176

Seventh Round
206

* Based on the conditions of the Andrew Alberts trade, the Flyers will send either Pick 81 or Pick 112 to the Bruins.

It's ironic the Bruins have no picks in the second round this year. I am positive the Bruins will somehow end up with more picks than listed here. I hope it turns out to be a strong draft for the Bruins. They always seem to turn out that way.

The first round airs tomorrow night on Versus. The rest of the draft will be on the NHL Network on Saturday.

The Boston Bruins seemed to steal the show at the NHL Awards in Las Vegas on Thursday. The only award that wasn’t a surprise was the William Jennings Trophy that was set to go to the Bruins’ goaltenders. Former Bruins goaltenders Reggie Lemelin and Andy Moog presented the award to Tim Thomas and Manny Fernandez. Thomas and Fernandez combined for the fewest goals allowed during the regular season. Thomas appeared in 54 games and Fernandez appeared in 28. They edged out the Minnesota Wild by a difference of four goals. Thomas had one of the memorable lines of the night during the acceptance speech when he asked Fernandez if he wanted him to thank his wife too. It was Fernandez’s second Jennings Trophy of his career. His first was in 2007 with the Wild.

The Bruins were nominated for three individual awards, Jack Adams Trophy, James Norris Trophy and Vezina Trophy.

Head coach Claude Julien was nominated for the Adams Trophy along with Todd McLellan (Sharks) and Andy Murray (Blues). Former Bruins coach Pat Burns, a three-time Adams Trophy winner, was there to present the award to his good friend Julien. Julien led the Bruins to the Eastern Conference top record, 53-19-10 for 116 points, the third-highest total in franchise history. It was a 22-point increase over their 2007-2008 finish. The Bruins hit the 30-win mark in their 41st game of the season (30-7-4) on January 8th, the fastest they have reached 30 wins since 1929-30 (30-4-1). It was Julien’s first Adams Trophy win. Julien edged out McLellan by 89 points and received 35 first-place votes. Burns was the last Bruins coach to win the Adams Trophy in 1998.

Nominated for the Vezina Trophy were Thomas, Steve Mason and Nicklas Backstrom. Mason kicked off the Awards Ceremony when he won the Calder Trophy for rookie of the year. Thomas won his first Vezina Trophy. He was named on 29 of 30 ballots and collected 127 points. Mason, who finished second in the Vezina Trophy, had 33 points. Thomas led the NHL in goals against average (2.10) and save percentage (.933) while posting a career-high 36 wins. He won a career-best seven straight decisions from Dec. 4-30 and closed the regular season by winning his last six starts. Thomas gave a memorable and humble speech saying, “I've been more worried about getting my name on a roster than getting my name on the Vezina Trophy.”

Last but certainly not least was the Norris Trophy awarded to the defenseman demonstrating “the greatest all-around ability in the position.” Chara, Mike Green and Nicklas Lidstrom were nominated and Chara won the first Norris Trophy of his career. He finished runner-up in 2004 when Scott Niedermayer won, and third place in 2008 behind award winner Lidstrom and Dion Phaneuf. Chara received 68 of 133 first-place votes and 1,034 points to edge out Green, also nominated for the Calder Trophy, who received 58 first-place votes and 982 points. Chara ranked sixth in the NHL in average ice time (26:04), was 12th among all defensemen in scoring with 50 points (19 goals, 31 assists) and posted a +23 rating. Chara thanked his wife, Tatiana, in his acceptance speech saying, “After those bad games, when I come home, you are the one who has listen to me talk about how I could play the puck differently.”

Thomas and Chara finished 7th and 8th, respectively, in Hart Trophy voting. Thomas had 13 fifth-place votes and 100 points, and Chara had two first-place votes and 79 points. Marc Savard also made the list with one fifth-place vote.

Despite not being nominated, there were other Bruins players who earned points on individual awards. Dennis Wideman placed 11th in the Norris Trophy voting earning 24 points. He had two third-place votes. David Krejci was named in Frank Selke Trophy voting, holding 6th place with 109 points. Also in the Selke Trophy voting were P.J. Axelsson, Marc Savard, Blake Wheeler and Stephane Yelle. Axelsson had 17 points, Savard had one first-place vote and 12 points, Wheeler had one second-place vote and 11 points, and Yelle had one-fifth place vote for 1 point. Wheeler was voted 6th place in Calder Trophy voting with 157 points. Matt Hunwick, also in the Calder Trophy voting, had one fourth-place and one fifth-place vote for four points. In Lady Byng voting, Phil Kessel, Krejci, Patrice Bergeron, Axelsson, Mark Recchi and Michael Ryder are listed. Kessel had the higher ranking of the six with 49 points. Krejci had 21 points, Bergeron had seven points, Axelsson had six points, Recchi had one third-place vote for five points, and Ryder had one point.

Other Awards: Alex Ovechkin became the first repeat winner of the Hart Trophy as the Most Valuable Player in over a decade. Pavel Datsyuk was a multiple winner for the second consecutive year, capturing the Lady Byng Trophy and the Frank Selke Trophy. Evgeni Malkin won his first career Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's regular-season scoring leader.

First All-Star Team: Thomas, Chara, Green, Ovechkin, Malkin and Jarome Iginla
Second All-Star Team: Mason, Lidstrom, Dan Boyle, Datsyuk, Marian Hossa and Zach Parise
All-Rookie Team: Mason, Drew Doughty, Luke Schenn, Patrik Berglund, Bobby Ryan and Kris Versteeg