When they traded ference,Horton,boychuck,iginla...they traded away like half the guys who love a good fight or a good scrum. That team literally won alot of games via just being nasty and mean and not ever giving anyone a free pass on anything.
If they're not gonna be the big bad bruins, they need to be something else, they can't just be a team with no identity, which is what they've turned into.
Sorry to say this current team isn't gonna be outskilling anyone, so they need to make a move one way or another, either go for skill or that defensive/mean team we used to be.