The Bruins don’t have “it” right now, and they probably can’t get it in a trade.

Given all the B’s have going on, fans have every right to be at the edge of their seats waiting to hear who’s coming to save the team. All the pieces are there.

Every other game (or more often) of late has seemed to be a contest to determine which players who rode the duck boats in June are serving as passengers on a midseason ride to Mediocreville. As a bonus, it’s February. Between the struggles, the injuries (Rich Peverley and Nathan Horton are both out for the foreseeable future, with Peverley missing the next 4-6 weeks with an MCL sprain) and the fact that it’s February, all signs point to one easy solution: Make a trade, Mr. Chiarelli. 

Given the injuries to Peverley and Horton, the B’s clearly need to add a body or two up front. Plus, they are in a funk, and have been in one for quite some time (7-8-1 over their last 16 games). We know that, but we may be starting to learn that now the Bruins’ struggles might not be a third-line forward away from being fixed. 

The symptoms of the Bruins’ ugly play of late haven’t been limited to needs in certain areas. Yes, the team would benefit from adding a Teemu Selanne to the first-line mix rather than giving serious minutes to Benoit Pouliot, but the holes in the roster left by Peverley and Horton haven’t been the sole cause of their recent losses. Whenever Chiarelli does add a piece (he has tried to be active in trade talks, though the lack of defined sellers has made it difficult), that player won’t suddenly fix everything. The Bruins will need to snap out of it themselves. 

Take this week’s games, for example. With all due respect to Shawn Thornton, a fourth-line energy player should not tie for the team lead with three shots on goal Friday in Winnipeg. Milan Lucic, playing on the first line, should be able to manage more than one shot on goal over the last two games.

Now take a step back and consider that when David Krejci tied the game early in the third period Friday night, he registered his first point this month. Krejci showed up to play Friday, but his struggles in February have been glaring, and he’s got negative ratings in five straight games to show for it. 

Defensively is where it probably gets the most mind-boggling, because here’s a question that’s probably never needed asking: What’s wrong with Zdeno Chara? 

We’re biased here in Boston because we see the guy play 82 games a year, but Chara is, pound for pound, the best defenseman in the NHL. If you want to sound uninformed, argue something to the contrary. Playing with a far lesser partner in Johnny Boychuk (nothing against Boychuk, but he’s clearly the John Oates of the pairing -- nothing against John Oates), Chara routinely shuts down star forwards and keeps top lines quiet. He eats minutes, keeps the other team off the board and helps out in the offensive zone.

Yet recently Chara hasn’t been himself. He has been a horrid minus-3 twice in the last five games (prior to last Wednesday’s loss to the Sabres, he had yet to register such a poor rating), and he’s had a negative rating in four of the Bruins’ last five games.

With that being said, plus/minus can be a deceiving, inconsistent stat. To better see the uncharacteristic play of the top pairing, look at Friday night, when Chara and Boychuk were on the ice for three of Winnipeg’s four goals. Early in the second period, Chara backed off Alex Burmistrov, letting him fire a wrister that Tuukka Rask either didn’t see (Chara may have been screening him) or didn’t think would be taken. The result was the Jets’ first goal of the night. On the Jets’ third goal, Boychuk was soft on Blake Wheeler down low in the Boston zone, allowing the former Bruin to maneuver around him and hit Bryan Little in front with a pass to set up the Jets’ fourth tally of the evening.

The defensive struggles haven’t been limited to Chara and Boychuk, but especially in the case of Chara, they’ve been the most surprising. The blueline blunders also go a long way in explaining why Tim Thomas' and Rask’s numbers have taken a dip. Thomas has allowed three goals in his last four games (including three in two periods in relief of Rask in Buffalo). Rask has allowed at least three in his last five games, and has not won since Jan. 16 (0-4-1 over his last five games). Neither one has been on top of his game in quite some time, but just like the Bruins’ superb defense often helps Rask’s and Thomas’ stats, a team struggling defensively yields uglier numbers for the goaltenders. 

How about special teams? The Bruins have two power-play goals this month on 20 opportunities, good for a 10 percent clip (thank you, mental math). Those struggles began three games after Horton started missing time, but they also happened with Peverley out there. 

Every team in the league knows that the Bruins need to make a move, and that should only make it harder for Chiarelli to pull something off. Once that player (or two) arrives, the Bruins’ issues won’t immediately be fixed. Their struggles are too widespread right now, and it’s the guys already on the roster that will be solution.