Boston Bruins Report #8

"...two steps back"
In this, our penultimate look at the 2006-07 Boston Bruins, the team has dropped like the proverbial lead balloon. In the course of the last ten days, Bruins went 1-4, having been outscored by a margin of 16-6 Since Glen Murray went out of the lineup on March 8th, the Bruins have gone 3-7, having scored a grand total of nineteen goals. To date they’ve allowed 63 more goals than scored. P.J. Axelsson’s broken wrist didn’t help much, either.

After Sunday’s utterly humiliating 5-0 defeat at Pittsburgh, it was pretty clear how far the Bruins are from contending. Coach Lewis responded by putting the lads through 45 minutes of gassers. The team came out the following night and played tremendous at Ottawa, winning 3-2, led by backup goalie Joey MacDonald, who turned in his second straight fine performance. Petr Kalus also scored his first NHL goal. The third period of the Senators’ game was about as terrific a twenty minutes’ of hockey as the team’s played all year.

There are only a handful of games remaining before this year’s edition of the B’s head for the golf courses and watch Playoffs on the tv. All that’s left to play for is pride and to demonstrate to the front office and coaching staff who really cares about playing hard until the end. At the beginning of the year, had anyone predicted that the Bruins would’ve finished 7th or 8th in the East, most fans would’ve been happy. People should consider this team for what it is, a rebuilding team with many holes remaining to be filled. If that’s not good enough, well, there’s always room for more front runners on the Red Sox’ and Patriots’ bandwagons.

Bruins fans (the ones who have been around since the pre-Orr ‘60’s) became conditioned to success. From 68-96, the team made Playoffs every year, and having players like Orr, Esposito, Bucyk, Cheevers, Park, Bourque and Neely (Hall of Famers, all) to cheer for was great. When ownership cleaned out the old management crew and brought in Chiarelli to run the show, most fans looked at the change as welcome breath of fresh air (notwithstanding the fact that Harry Sinden will always receive high grades for guiding this team so successfully for so long. Forget the argument about no Cups since ’72, that’s more the fault of owners who kept expanding and diluting the talent pool. When the B’s last won the Cup there were 14 teams, now there are 30).

The new management team went out and made a big splash in free agency, signing D Zdeno Chara to a max-cap ($7.5MM) deal and Marc Savard to a big-time ($5MM) contract. Patrice Bergeron was re-upped at five million, so fans couldn’t complain that the Bruins weren’t being their typical parsimonious selves. Even though the team was in rebuilding mode, fans’ expectations were high. They traded Nick Boynton to Phoenix for “offensive” defenseman Paul “Minus 26” Mara. The trade was a failure. Mara didn’t fit in Lewis’ scheme, and the B’s missed the efforts of a player who had always shown up ready to give it his all.

No one can fault Tim Thomas, who was overworked and overused. Thomas is an amazing story of perseverance; no one can knock his heart or his fortitude. He’d be the perfect compliment to a #1 guy on a competitive team, he was never meant to be the workhorse. The “plan” was to have Hannu Toivenen ready to handle at least 50% of the starts this year. Hannu’s never been the same following his leg injury last January. In the few starts he made, his confidence seemed as if it was shot and he was returned to Providence for further grooming. In his place came a carousel of minor leaguers who were not NHL material.

The other problem involved Brad Stuart, who made it abundantly clear that he wasn’t staying at the end of the year. Bruins’ fans are simply in denial over the devastating impact of trading away Joe Thornton for three guys whose contracts expired at the end of this season. The trade was a cataclysmic blunder that probably set the Bruins’ development back by five years. Chiarelli did a wonderful job bringing in Ference and Kobasew in exchange for Stuart and Primeau. Marco Sturm’s play picked up around the trade deadline, and he was rewarded with a contract extension.

As far as the Coach, it only took one year for veteran hockey watchers to conclude that he’s just not the right guy for the job. It’s hard to recall a Coach or Manager in this town who’s been as universally disliked as Lewis (maybe Rod Rust, Patriots’ fans?). Since he’s got three years remaining on his contract, perhaps he ought to be moved to another post in the orgainization, maybe “Food and Beverage Director”, like “Ace Rosthein” (Robert DeNiro) in “Casino”.

Lewis’ style of play directly affected the freewheeling performances of Patrice Bergeron and Brad Boyes (who was dealt at the deadline to St. Louis for D Dennis Wideman). Both guys looked out of place in the new system. Note to the coach: you don’t pay a stud $5 million a year to be stifled in a box. Chiarelli made a nice move picking up Brandon Bochenski from Chicago for a minor leaguer, but appears to have blundered in his acquisition of career underachiever Svatislav Chistov from Anaheim for a draft pick. Promising defenseman Milan Jurcina was also dumped to Washington for a draft pick. He’s now taking a regular shift with the Caps.

There have been too many occasions this year where the Bruins quit during games. “Bruins quit” is the ultimate non sequitur. It is not possible that a team with the pride and tradition of Boston’s can “quit”, yet among the more egregious instances of playing with no “heart” include:

12/30 L at Nashville, 0-5
1/01 L at Toronto, 1-5
1/04 L vs Toronto, 2-10
1/29 L vs NY Rangers, 1-6
1/30 L at Buffalo, 1-7
2/24 L at Florida, 2-7
3/17 L at NY Rangers, 0-7
3/25 L at Pittsburgh, 0-5

Every team will have a stinker now and then, but eight? The list above doesn’t even take into consideration the games where the offense slept through sixty minutes of hockey.

The only player who’s performed up to lofty expectations has been Marc Savard. Chara has been, on the whole, a disappointment. For $7.5M, fans had every right to expect that he would perform as advertised, a dominant, punishing force on the blue line. So far, he hasn’t performed up to that level, nor has he provided the level of leadership required by any player who carries the mantle of “Captain of the Bruins.”

Glen “One-Timer” Murray is a goal scorer, but at $4MM, he’s burning a hole through the salary cap. It’s probably 50/50 that he would’ve been dealt at the deadline, but his groin injury kept him with the team. On a balanced team, he’d be a great asset; on a rebuilding one, he’s a millstone of a liability. For all the goals he’s scored over his great career, he’s not part of the future in Boston.

The future is (1) keeping Bergeron off the point in the power play, (2) continuing to develop young players like Kessel, Kalus, Krejci, Mark Stuart and Matt Lashoff; and (3)Allow Toivonen and Tuuka Rask to grow into major league goaltenders. It will take time, but the B’s have the nucleus of a good team. They just need to find their own identity.

See you next time in “Hockey Falls Gazette”