Trent Whitfield, who had one point in 16 games last season, will likely miss all of 2010-11 with a torn Achilles tendon.

Bruins fans are all too familiar with the injury woes that surrounded their club in 2009-10. In fact, most get nauseous when recalling the turbulent season where the club lost 187 man-games to injury. With Marco Sturm‘s road to knee surgery recovery already testing the depth of the Bruins to begin the season, the depth of the depth will be tested with a likely season-ending injury to the Achilles tendon of  Providence Bruins captain and part-time Boston Bruin Trent Whitfield.

Originally signed by the club last off-season to replace the veteran presence left by Jeremy Reich‘s departure to the Islanders organization, the 33-year old Whitfield captained the AHL Bruins and posted 17 goals and 43 points in 43 points with Providence along with a point in 16 contests at the NHL level. Appearing in four playoff contests for Boston including a tremendous Game 6 against the Flyers in a losing effort, the loss of Whitfield has done more than hamper the Providence Bruins’ need of a captain on their squad.

Now while the contributions of Whitfield weren’t measured in goals, penalty-kills, or points for the club, the seven-season NHL veteran brought experience and bottom-six support that could be plugged into the line-up as a capable stopgap. While the club did bring Reich back to organization this past summer, the bigger concern for Boston could lead to the lack of a steady fill-in if and when injuries hit the club.

As Reich has proven at the NHL level, he’s merely a scrapper. He’s not going to kill penalties, and he’s not going to win face-offs. Ipso facto, the Bruins need an AHL center capable of logging some NHL time if need be.

In a pool teeming with fringe-level talent, a name down the middle that the P-Bruins should look into include but is not limited to Wyatt Smith. Still without league employment, the B’s certainly should seem to be in the market for a filler in the organization.

Smith, a ninth round draft choice back in ’97, spent last season with the Scranton-Wilkes Barre Penguins where he put up 48 points in 76 games. Standing at 5’11″, the 33-year old pivot has 211 games of NHL experience with 32 points, his latest taste of the bigs coming in 2007-08 where he played in 25 games for the Colorado Avalanche.

Certainly not going to make the difference between winning and losing a Stanley Cup, I personally don’t expect to see the B’s stand pat in terms of adding one of these fringe-players to even out their roster in the potentially rare event that last seasons injury concerns rear their head once again for the cap-strung Bruins.

—————————————————————————————————-

Say Hey In Under 140 Characters: Follow Ty on Twitter!

“I’ll Facebook You!”: Add the HockeyIndependent Bruins Facebook profile as a friend today!

Questions? Comments?: Send Ty your hate/love letters to TAndersonBruins@gmail.com

Providence Bruins goal-scorer Mikko Lehtonen is leaving North America to join the Swedish Elite League.

If we’re being honest here, Bruins fans didn’t get much of a look at Finnish forward and 2005 third round draft choice Mikko Lehtonen during his tenure with the organization. In fact if you weren’t paying attention to his 23 minutes and change of time-on-ice in just two NHL games, there’s a chance you’re reading this and pondering who the heck the guy is.

Taken by the B’s with the 83rd overall pick in ’05, Lehtonen arrived to Providence for his North American hockey debut after four seasons with his hometown club of the Blues in Espoo, Finland where he amassed 18 goals in 107 contests.

Immediately making an impact with the P-Bruins in 2008-09, Lehtonen would lead the club in goals with 28 goals throughout the regular season before making a brief cameo in Buffalo for his first career NHL game where he registered a single-shot on goal in 16 minutes of time-on-ice.

Doing more of the same in 2009-10 for the Bruins’ AHL-affiliate, scoring 23 goals and once again appearing in one game for the big club, failing to make a serious contribution in his only NHL contest of the season.

Entering the off-season as one of Boston’s several restricted free-agents, Lehtonen’s future with the club seemed to be rightfully in question. Considering the Bruins’ inking of forwards such as Jordan Caron and Joe Colborne to entry-level contracts, and a full season from Maxime Sauve along with his own inability to adjust to the rough around the edges style of play practiced in the NHL, the qualifying offer made to Lehtonen ended up being just that.

Unable to use his 6’3″ frame to his advantage towards NHL progression, Lehtonen heads back to Europe to join Skelleftea AIK of the Swedish Elite League. Joining fellow 2005 Bruins draftees Petr Kalus and Lukas Vantuch as Europeans to defect back across the pond after stints in North America.

————————————————————————————————–

Say Hey In Under 140 Characters: FOLLOW TY ON TWITTER

“I’ll Facebook You!”: ADD THE HOCKEYINDEPENDENT BRUINS FACEBOOK PROFILE AS A FRIEND TODAY!

Questions? Comments?: SEND TY YOUR HATE/LOVE LETTERS AT TANDERSONBRUINS@GMAIL.COM

After reports surfaced in December, it appears the NHL will actually investigate the Marc Savard deal.

Take one deep breath and join me as we recap the past year in the world of Marc Savard, won’t you?

After putting up a career-year in 2008-09 and following that up with a tremendous playoff run, you’re not welcomed to Team Canada’s Olympic summer camp while line-mate Milan Lucic is. Then your line-mate and winger that put up 36 goals the season prior is shipped off to your home-province of Ontario in the trade that eventually gets the Bruins Tyler Seguin (another center) after a turbulent regular season where you had no real scorers to dish the puck to. This coming after your clock was cleaned by an unpunished cheapshot from Matt Cooke only to have you play the role of the resilient hero in your first playoff game back and later become the goat in the final one, completing the impossible nightmare–a 3-0 series lead meltdown at the hands of the Flyers.

Not only that, but while you’re out trying to enjoy your off-season on the golf links in typical Savard fashion, your name becomes the subject of every trade rumor on the internet, including destinations ranging from Ottawa to Florida.

And you thought all those hours you’ve spent on Capgeek.com trying to make the 2010-’11 Bruins capable of icing a full-team was mentally taxing.

When the rumors came across the wire in December of 2009 that the National Hockey League was going to be “looking into” the seven-year extension given to the Bruins’ top-line center (along with a few others), the thought seemed laughable. The league that has been consistently bullied by its teams and star-players since the resumption of the lockout was going to do something?

However, it appears that Ilya Kovalchuk might have spoiled the party for all as the Devils’ perhaps-deliberate circumvention of the salary-cap has led to the NHL’s official launch of a cap-cheating investigation focusing in on players in Chicago, Philadelphia, Vancouver and yes–Boston.

Seemingly taking a page out of the aforementioned teams’ books when it came to keeping Savard a Boston Bruin, the Bruins’ seven-year pact with #91 assured that the club would be able to keep their pivot in town on a reasonable deal that included an under-35 buyout option along with a near league-minimum figure to boot in the event of the seemingly inevitable buyout.

For those who don’t seem to be fluent in the linguistics of the NHL’s CBA, it basically states the following:

When a player aged 35 or older signs a multi-year contract, his average salary is counted against the team’s salary cap during every year of the contract, even if the player retires before the contract is up.

Basically, we can look at this way; Savard turned 32 this off-season and likely wasn’t going to settle on a two-year extension so that his numbers would go down with age and have him lose out on his final major payday. Also, the Bruins weren’t going to run the risk of him putting together two more solid seasons only to sign him over the age of 35 and have the responsibility of signing him and being unable to buy him out with the average cap-hit still affecting the team while Savard’s at home or with another club.

So what did Boston do? They took the easy way out, appeasing both themselves and the Savard party with a seven-year extension that would by all means keep Savard a Bruin for at least four or five seasons. But now, Boston could once again be looking for the easy way out regarding Savard.

It was no secret that the B’s wanted to rid themselves of their playmaker-supreme this off-season. Be it for his lack of responsibility regarding the too-many-men call that doomed the Bruins in Game 7 or the surplus of centers within the organization, the B’s have continually failed to find a suitor for Savard.

Finding themselves in a true albatross with Savard and 2.1 million dollars over the salary cap, could the Bruins front-office be hoping that the league actually nullifies the deal and makes Savard a free-agent, axing out the need for any cap-magic in the Hub?

—————————————————————————————————————–

Say Hey In Under 140 Characters: Follow Ty Anderson on Twitter!

“I’ll Facebook You!”: Add the HockeyIndependent Facebook profile as a friend today!

Questions? Comments?: Send Ty your hate/love letters to TAndersonBruins@gmail.com

Doug Jarvis (left), pictured during his tenure with the Canadiens, has become Boston's newest assistant coach.

Working as the main director behind the Boston Bruins’ stellar penalty-killing unit along with the defensive unit upon his arrival in 2007, the B’s knew they had their work cut out for them in their effort to replace Boston assistant coach turned Thrashers head coach Craig Ramsay. Now, with training camp just over a month away, the Boston Bruins have apparently found their suitable replacement with this afternoons hiring of Doug Jarvis.

A decorated forward throughout a  playing career that included four Stanley Cup victories with the Montreal Canadiens, a Selke Trophy in 1984, and an NHL-record 964 consecutive games played, Jarvis’ coaching career began with the Minnesota/Dallas (North)Stars where he would eventually win a Stanley Cup as an assistant in the 1999 season.

Making the move back to the city of Montreal this time as a coach to join the Habs’ staff in 2005 under at-the-time Canadiens coach and current Bruins coach Claude Julien. While Julien’s tenure with the post-lockout Habs would be short-lived, Jarvis would stay with the Canadiens until the end of the 2008-09 season.

Under Jarvis, where he served a role similar to the departed Ramsay, the Habs’ penalty-kill had an average 83.2 kill percentage compared to the Bruins’ 82.4 percentage during Ramsay’s tenure.

While it’s unfair to compare those clubs directly as Jarvis and Ramsay simply specialized in coaching those units, one has to imagine that Boston’s penalty-kill unit led by 6’9″ behemoth Zdeno Chara may become even stronger under Jarvis.

Also have to figure that Jarvis is happy to be out of reach of Canadiens goaltender Carey Price.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Pow, right in the kisser.

————————————————————————————————————————-

Say Hey Under 140 Characters: Follow Ty on Twitter

“I’ll Facebook You!”: Add the HockeyIndependent Bruins Facebook profile as a friend today!

Questions? Comments?: Send your hate/love letters to TAndersonBruins@gmail.com

The Boston Bruins have officially agreed to terms on a contract with Tyler Seguin.

When the B’s accepted the arbitration award given to Blake Wheeler for a year at 2.2 million dollars, there was just one player that could majorly impact the 2010-’11 club that remained on the list of unsigned Bruins. Consider that list finish with the inking of second overall pick Tyler Seguin to a three-year entry-level deal today.

Taken by the Bruins within seconds of the clock starting for Boston in this past year’s draft, the 18-year old Seguin posted 173 points in 124 career games for the Plymouth Whalers of the Ontario Hockey League before coming to Boston for the Bruins’ annual rookie training and development camp.

Wowing the record-high crowds in the stands on every shift and drill throughout the week, the 18-year old spoke like a seasoned veteran time and time again with his adamant stance that he’s going to work and try to make the team, refusing to believe/indulge in the thought that he was a lock for the NHL in 2010.

However, pin it on a barren free-agent market, cap-space, or just his skill alone, Seguin will in fact be lacing up for the club on Causeway St this winter. Signing a three-year deal worth a potential 3.75 million dollars if Seguin meets his bonuses but will come with a base-salary of a reported 900,000 dollars, the hoopla in Boston besides apart from the obvious hype that comes with Seguin’s arrival.

Just how does Seguin fit into the cap-strung Bruins’ plans?

For now the Boston Bruins will be all set heading into the season with Marco Sturm‘s expected placement on the long-term injured-reserve while he recovers until at least late November from a torn ACL suffered in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, freeing up his 3.5 million dollar salary off the Bruins’ book until his return. Until then, the Boston Bruins must be hoping from a hot-start from either Michael Ryder or Tim Thomas to open up some trade possibilities come December.

But now with Seguin officially in the fold, the Boston Bruins’ opening-night line-up seems ready to go with the top-line featuring the rebounding Milan Lucic along with Marc Savard and newly-acquired Nathan Horton. It also seems likely that the Bruins will feature Seguin on the wing for center David Krejci and perhaps Michael Ryder on the right-side while the third line is expected to consist of Wheeler, Patrice Bergeron, and the 42-year old Mark Recchi. Also barring any moves the B’s will roll out a fourth line featuring penalty-killers Danny Paille and Gregory Campbell along with enforcer Shawn Thornton.

Things will certainly get interesting for the Bruins if an additional injury is to strike up front in the sense that with close to zero cap-space, the Bruins would be forced to call-up Adam McQuaid and potentially move Matt Hunwick to the forward position just to ice a full roster.

One thing’s for certain, you can’t say the Bruins aren’t already off to a fun start.

—————————————————————————————————–

Say Hey In Under 140 Characters: Follow Ty on Twitter!

I’ll Facebook You!: Add the HockeyIndependent Bruins Facebook profile as a friend today!

Questions? Comments?: Send Ty your hate/love letters to TAndersonBruins@gmail.com

Blake Wheeler was awarded 2.2 million dollars in his arbitration hearing, but will the Bruins keep him?

In the summer of 2008 when forward Blake Wheeler couldn’t/wouldn’t agree to terms with the Phoenix Coyotes, the 6’5″ forward hit the open market as an unrestricted free-agent and instantaneously became a marquee name among second-tier pool of free agents. Drawing interest from the Canadiens and Rangers along with the B’s, the Hub had every reason to be thrilled with Wheeler’s eventual decision to join the Black and Gold.

Arriving to Boston with the ever-so-hyped top-five name-tag, the fifth overall selection of the 2004 NHL Draft was finishing up a stellar career with the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers in hopes of instantly joining the NHL. Posting 96 points in 127 games of collegiate play, Wheeler arrived to Bruins development camp in 2008 and instantly impressed.

Playing with the poise of a pro and skill-set that projected the humble kid from Minnesota as “NHL-ready”, Wheeler’s demolition of his peers at camp and through the preseason brought him a spot on the Bruins’ opening-night roster for the 2008-09 season.

Beginning his NHL career on a positive note with his first goal in the league on his first shot on goal, Wheeler quickly took flight as a pivotal forward in Boston’s league-wide dominance in 2008-09. On the left wing on the infamous David Krejci line that also featured sharpshooter Michael Ryder, Wheeler netted a surprising 11 goals in his first 33 games including a hat trick against the Maple Leafs and this dandy of a shorthanded tally against the St. Louis Blues.

Click here to view the embedded video.

However, while the rookie would go on to win the Youngstars Game MVP along with finishing with the league’s best plus/minus rating, something was off once the calendar changed to 2009; The unseasoned Wheeler was running on empty. Still not prepared for the rigors of an 82-game schedule, Wheeler faded fast in the postseason for the Bruins before an eventual permanent benching happened as the Bruins fell in their second round series three games to one.

Revved up and raring to go after some much-needed off-season conditioning training, ‘Wheels’ returned to the Bruins with bigger expectations but failed to deliver in the same way 2008-09 did. Amassing 18 goals and finishing fifth on the club in points with a mild 38, Wheeler experienced the same struggles that hindered his play in the tail-end of 2008-09 with his struggles to properly utilize his size with just 70 hits and 24 giveaways on the year.

Despite Wheeler’s hair-pulling refusal to stay on-sides, the 6’5″ winger was once again a solid contributor to the Bruins’ near-league best penalty kill.

But after two seasons with the disappointing postseason results of one goal and five assists in 21 playoff games, what do the Bruins expect in what very well could be Blake’s last chance to prove his worth as a Bruin?

While the Bruins’ front-office is clearly a big fan of what Wheeler can potentially bring to the club, the gamble here on Boston’s part could certainly be stemming from the fact that Boston has experienced relatively strong success when it comes to their players approaching their third season with the club and in the league.

For Wheeler’s most frequent linemate, David Krejci, the third season in the NHL saw the playmaker thrive in the process of making himself Boston’s secret weapon. Participating in all 82 games (with an injured hip to boot), a 26 game increase from the season prior, Krejci put up 73 points at a .89 point per game pace compared to his .48 pace of 2007-08. And in perhaps the most comparable case to Wheeler, former Golden Gopher-teammate Phil Kessel finally found his game in his third and final season with the club in 2008-09.

Much like Wheeler, Kessel’s inconsistent play on various lines and subjection to becoming a healthy-scratch in the playoffs (a la Wheeler in his rookie season) made him seem like a never-will-be for Boston with his 19 goals and 37 points in 82 games in his sophomore season. Producing at a .45 point per game rate, Kessel would go on to tally 36 goals and 24 assists in 70 games the next season at an .85 rate.

Officially re-signed in Boston with the Bruins’ acceptance of the one-year deal worth 2.2 million dollar offer awarded by the arbitrator, B’s fans have to ask themselves if an 18-goal increase from his current production or a .40 point-per-game increase too far of a leap for Wheeler?

We’ll just have to wait and see.

——————————————————————————————————————-

Say Hey In Under 140 Characters: Follow Ty on Twitter!

“I’ll Facebook You!”: Add the HockeyIndependent Bruins Facebook profile as a friend today!

Questions? Comments?: Send Ty your hate/love mail to TAndersonBruins@gmail.com

Blake Wheeler has been awarded 2.2 million dollars through arbitration.

Heading into the arbitration process, it’s safe to assume most Bruins fans had no clue what to expect when it came to forward Blake Wheeler.

Potential is what led to him being drafted fifth overall by the Phoenix Coyotes in 2004, and it’s what led to him being targeted so highly by the Bruins in their successful courting of the former-Minnesota Golden Gopher back in the summer of 2008. In fact, that same potential is what the Bruins brass feared could drive the 23-year old out of Boston on account of an unreasonable price-tag.

Factor in some questionable rulings throughout the arbitration process when glancing at Thrashers’ Clarke MacArthur‘s 2.4 million dollar award and the Bruins fanbase were by all means prepping for the loss of #26. However, the worries in the Hub were eased when the arbitrator’s (albeit late) ruling awarded the winger a one-year deal worth 2.2 million dollars.

Experiencing a seven-plus hour delay in receiving word on Wheeler due to the arbitration hearing on Blackhawks Stanley Cup hero goaltender Antti Niemi, the Bruins now find themselves within the 48-hour window to either accept the tender, trade Wheeler, or let him walk as an unrestricted free-agent.

Regardless of their famed cap-struggles, multiple media outlets have reported that the Boston Bruins are in fact expected to accept the award and keep Wheeler for another year.

Noted primarily for his struggles within the physical aspect of the game despite his large 6’5″ frame along with a hair-pulling inability to stay on-sides, Wheeler is coming off a season where he finished third on the club in goals (18) and fifth on the club in points with 38.

It’s become very clear that there’s somebody within the Bruins front-office that is enamored with Wheeler’s skill-set and for that reason alone, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone when Wheeler is re-signed and given one more chance in Boston in hopes that the third year once again proves to be the breakthrough for yet another Bruins player.

——————————————————————————————

Say Hey In Under 140 Characters: Follow Ty on Twitter!

“I’ll Facebook You!”: Add the HockeyIndependent Facebook profile as a friend today!

Questions? Comments?: Send Ty your hate/love letters to TAndersonBruins@gmail.com

Bruins captain Zdeno Chara looks to rebound from a frustrating 2009-10 season.

Has there ever been a more frustrating follow-up season for a Norris Trophy winner than Zdeno Chara‘s 2009-10 season?

Rolling through 2008-09 on an unforgiving trail where he posted a career-high 19 goals and a +23 along with 28 points on the power-play, Chara led the Bruins to the Eastern Conference’s best record by example with every shift.

Proving himself among the NHL’s elite class of defensemen that mainly consists of Norris winners Nicklas Lidstrom and Chris Pronger, Chara seemed to officially establish himself as the leading force of the upswing Boston Bruins even to his fiercest doubters as the B’s headed towards the 2009-10 season.

Beginning the season with a new top-pairing partner with Aaron Ward’s departure to Carolina in favor of the more expensive yet offensively-capable Derek Morris, Chara didn’t begin the season with the same flair as the season prior and despite amassing 14 penalty-minutes in the Bruins’ 7-3 walloping of the Carolina Hurricanes in the second game of the season, the physical presence of the mammoth wearing #33 seemed to be ‘off’.

Failing to register a goal until the 16th game of the season with a power-play tally against Jhonas Enroth of the Buffalo Sabres, Chara took an unprecedented 37 shots on goal in 15 games before finally putting one by the undersized Enroth.

Totaling 24 points through 39 games by the end of December, the points were certainly there at an alarming rate but the physicality and tenacity Bruins fans were accustomed to witnessing on a nightly basis was lacking noticeably as January would prove to be Chara’s worst as a Bruin in a long time.

Regardless of blasting a bullet past Sharks netminder Evgeni Nabokov in the Bruins’ improbable shootout victory in San Jose, Chara had a goal and four assists in 14 January games but struggled in his own end as he finished with a -4 for the month. With struggles mounting as the Bruins would lose a season-high ten straight contests, the assumed injury concerns about Chara were revealed when the Bruins captain confirmed that he was and had been playing with a dislocated pinkie finger on his left hand since November.

Refusing to make excuses for his lackluster play, Chara would go on a good run after revealing word of his injury with four points in the final five games before the Olympic break. Participating in the 2010 Olympic games in Vancouver as Team Slovakia’s captain, Chara semeed to be learning how to play around the injury significantly well with his three assists in seven Olympic contests in route to the elder Slovaks finishing fourth in the tournament.

However, returning from the Olympic break and one loss to the Canadiens later, Chara had a new top-pairing partner with Dennis Seidenberg‘s arrival in Boston for Byron Bitz, Craig Weller and a 2010 second rounder. Bolstering the quality of Chara’s play from the onset of his arrival, Chara would have a minus rating in just three out of his 15 games with Seidenberg in the line-up while contributing two goals and four assists over that span. While Seidenberg’s time with the Bruins in 2009-10 was short-lived after a lacerated tendon in his arm put him on the injured-reserve for the rest of the season, Chara’s confidence seemed to be rejuvenated as the 6’9″ defensemen finished the season as the club leader in assists with 37 helpers and plus/minus with a +19, due largely to his post-Olympic +13.

Playoffs

As the Bruins locked down the sixth seed in the final days of the regular season, ‘redemption’ seemed to be a fitting word to describe Zdeno Chara’s anticipation to get back into the playoffs. Performing exceedingly poor in the Bruins second-round series loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2009 Playoffs, Chara was unable to contain ‘Canes offensive-juggernaut Eric Staal on the way to finishing the series with just two points as the Bruins bowed out in seven. With eyes locked on Boston’s captain with the pressure to perform in the playoffs mounting, Chara stepped up from the second the puck dropped against Buffalo in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.

Along with tallying an assist in Boston’s lone-goal in their Game 1 loss, Chara started what would be the first of many physical confrontations between the B’s and Sabres when he pasted Buffalo irritant Patrick Kaleta into the boards not once but twice behind Boston’s net.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Establishing his physical style of brute force while sporting a full-cage suffered from an Alex Semin high-stick during the regular season that broke his nose, Chara’s impact would come from the offensive standpoint in Game 2 with two goals including the game-winner in the Bruins’ 5-3 victory to knot the series up at a game a piece.

Turning out to be Chara’s only time trips to the score-sheet throughout the series, the biggest news around the Bruins’ top defensemen came with his snapping in Game 5 against Paul Gaustad in the waning seconds of Boston’s 4-1 loss to keep the Sabres alive. Dropping the gloves and exchanging shoves and punches with every Sabre on the ice (and probably Lindy Ruff if he inched any closer to the playing surface), Chara was slapped with an unjustified instigator penalty for reacting to Gaustad’s slash to his leg as he skated away.

As word of suspension began to grow per NHL rule 47.12 and 47.15 on fighting in the final five minutes of the game, the fears of any suspension were put to rest when word broke late that night that Chara would in fact be allowed to dress for Game 6, the eventual series-clincher for Chara’s Bruins.

Advancing to the Eastern Conference Semifinals for the second straight season, the captain in black was presented with a showdown of epic proportions (literally) with the Bruins matching up against 6’6″ defensemen Chris Pronger and the Philadelphia Flyers. Now without the cage on his face, Chara followed up his disastrous second-round debut in the spoked-B with a solid four points in seven games but was not able to contain the Flyers’ fast forwards as the Bruins collapsed and blew their three-games-to-none series lead.

Undoubtedly, the monumental collapse raised questions of Chara’s leadership in the dressing room and for good reason.

But more importantly, this was the second straight postseason where the defensemen wasn’t as good as the Bruins need him to be. With 13 points in 31 postseason games as a Bruin, has the issue been Chara’s inability to perform at his peak when the B’s ask for it or have nagging injuries been the case? Keep in mind Chara soldiered through shoulder problems in 2008, knee and groin issues in 2009, and a finger in 2010.

Highlights and Low-Lights of Season

Highlights

- Chara’s strong play against the Northeast Division continued in 2009-10 with his 16 points and +19 in 23 games.

- Against teams that made the playoffs in the Eastern Conference, Chara had a goal and 17 assists in 33 games.

- With Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, and Marc Savard all out of the line-up with varying injuries, Chara stepped up for the Bruins and toppled the San Jose Sharks in the shootout with a slapshot fired by Nabkov in round four.

- Chara finished the regular season strongly with nine points and a +10. It shouldn’t be shocking to anyone that the B’s went 6-3-1 over that span.

Low-lights

- Firing off 242 shots on goal throughout the season, Chara had just seven goals, giving him a .029 shooting percentage on the season. Yikes.

- Chara finished with a minus rating in 23 contests in the regular season, his second highest amount of games with a minus in four years with Boston.

- In the month of March, Chara went seven straight contests without registering a point.

Future Endeavors

Entering the final year of a five-year contract that came with a 7.5 million dollar annual cap-hit, the Bruins and Chara have reportedly begun talks on an extension to keep ‘Big Z’ in town for presumably the rest of his career. Without question a driving force on the Bruins back-end, Chara will skip surgery on the dislocated finger and head into 2010-11 sporting a crooked finger.

While the pain from the injury seems to have subsided in #33, the likelihood of Chara regaining his Norris-form could be bolstered by partner Dennis Seidenberg and his steady presence provided, giving Z the chance to expand upon his game and create some more offense. Certainly an underrated offensive provider given his remarkable defensive abilities, Chara’s legendary slap-shot brought 19 goals home to the B’s in 2008-09 and should become the main focus of his game again in 2010-11 because frankly, the Garden Faithful have no patience for that 60 MPH wrist-shot anymore.

————————————————————————————————————————–

Say Hey In Under 140 Characters: Follow Ty Anderson on Twitter!

“I’ll Facebook You!”: Add the HockeyIndependent Bruins Facebook profile as a friend today!

Questions? Comments?: Email Ty your hate/love letters at TAndersonBruins@gmail.com

Check Out Past TBYTW: Johnny Boychuk

Seemingly getting better with each game of the season, Johnny Boychuk is back in Boston for at least two more seasons.

When the Bruins called up Johnny Boychuk for a brief one-game stint with the club in 2008-09, it was unclear as to what Boychuk really was. Dominating the AHL as nearly a point-per-game defensemen, the blue-liner originally drafted by the Colorado Avalanche didn’t really do much of anything as a third-pairing in Boston. Perhaps buried by the career-years of virtually every other defensemen, Boychuk was quickly dismissed back to Providence for the rest of the season.

Closing out his season by winning the Eddie Shore Award, the AHL’s version of the Norris Trophy, Boychuk would join Boston as their 7th defensemen in 2009-10–a role that he would steadily expand from.

Getting his first taste of the 2009-10 season on October 12th in a Columbus Day matinee contest against the Colorado Avalanche, Boychuk finished the game with a +2 against his former club but his biggest contributions came with two big hits in the same play, a highlight that made pregame videos for the rest of the season. However, as injuries strike everywhere-but-the-blueline, Boychuk would participate in just two more games in the month of October, even getting into a fight against Paul Bissonnette of the Phoenix Coyotes.

Residing in the Bruins press-box for the next month, Boychuk was even sent back to Providence on a conditioning stint where he had a goal in two games with an unheard of 14 shots on goal before being called back to Boston to appear in Phil Kessel‘s first trip back to Boston since becoming a Maple Leaf.

Playing as a bat out of hell, Boychuk would seize the moment and go on to capture his first career NHL goal and point in the Bruins’ 7-3 demolition of the Leafs.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Racking up two more points in the next four games with a +2, Boychuk was beginning to establish himself as another physical presence on the Boston back-end when he committed an absolutely devastating hit on Leafs forward and Bruins punching-bag Matt Stajan as he was carelessly moving into the attacking zone. Finishing December rather quietly, Boychuk’s play would turn out to take flight once the calendar 2010 year began.

Putting up a season-high six assists in the month of January, Boychuk’s increasingly strong play was halted when he took a Mikael Samuelsson slap-shot to the (visor-less) face in one of the Bruins’ final games before the Olympic break. Silencing the Garden crowd in a sea of nervousness, the 26-year old Boychuk suffered a fractured orbital bone from the hit and would be sidelined until March’s post-Olympic resumption of NHL play.

Now sporting a visor, the resurgent Boychuk eased himself into the Boston defense and thrived for the rest of the season partially due to the addition of Dennis Seidenberg to the line-up after the trade deadline, making the B’s depth on defense significantly better.

Cooling off towards the tail-end of the season with six points in 20 games, Boychuk’s role heading into the 2010 playoffs was magnified when a lacerated tendon in Seidenberg’s hand shelved the German d-man for the entire postseason run and bumped #55 to Boston’s top-pairing partner for captain and defensive-anchor Zdeno Chara.

Playoffs

As the Bruins faced off against the division-rival Sabres, it didn’t take long for Boychuk to assume the role of number-one villain in the city of Buffalo after a slash to the leg sidelined Sabres scoring-threat-supreme Thomas Vanek and ultimately seemed to kill Buffalo’s chances in the series. After taking out Vanek, Boychuk followed that up with a series-sidelining hit to Matt Ellis.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Scoring Boston’s only goal in their Game 5 loss in Buffalo, Boychuk returned to Boston and had a quiet Game 6 in the win but followed that up with an assist in Game 1 and a quick goal off the draw in Game 2 as Boston cruised to a 2-0 series lead over the Flyers. However, as most players seemed to do in the second-round after Game 3, Boychuk basically disappeared as the Bruins went on to lose four-straight contests.

Future Endeavors

When the Bruins began their off-season planning, it seemed as if Boychuk was destined to test the open-market as an unrestricted free-agent after the Bruins’ four-year extension to Dennis Seidenberg began to fill up spots on the blue-line depth chart. These thoughts seemed to be enforced by his strong postseason presence and top-four defensemen potential on Boston’s shrinking budget.

Despite the worries of Bruins fans, Peter Chiarelli and crew made the right call when Boychuk was re-signed with a modest two-year deal worth 3.75 million dollars and a 1.85 million dollar cap-hit.

With defensemen Dennis Wideman making the move towards Florida in the trade that nabbed winger Nathan Horton, Boychuk will arrive to the Bruins in 2010-11 with the anticipations of becoming Boston’s #3 defensemen and establish himself as a excellent two-way blue-liner with a flair for power-play theatrics.

——————————————————————————————

Say Hey In Under 140 Characters: Follow Ty on Twitter!

“I’ll Facebook You!”: Add the HockeyIndependent Bruins Facebook profile as a friend today!

Questions? Comments?: Send Ty your hate/love e-mails to TAndersonBruins@gmail.com

Check Out Past “TBYTW”: Patrice Bergeron

Adam McQuaid had a goal and 21 penalty minutes in 19 regular-season contests for Boston last season.

As cap-space dwindles for the Boston Bruins, the B’s have begun their Houdini-like escape out of salary-cap hell with the re-signing of four of their bundle of remaining restricted free-agents. With a focus on retaining depth players and fringe-NHLers with their signings, the Bruins have officially announced the signings of forwards Gregory Campbell and Jeff LoVecchio along with blue-liners Andrew Bodnarchuk and Adam McQuaid.

Regarded as the Bruins’ 2010-11 fourth line pivot after the trade that sent Vladimir Sobotka to St. Louis and non-signing of Steve Begin, the biggest name coming to Boston out of the group is Campbell, who spent six years with the Florida Panthers.

Acquired as a part of the deal that sent Nathan Horton to Boston, Campbell posted 17 points for the Panthers last season but his biggest boost for the B’s is expected to be on the penalty-kill. Logging an average of 2:26 short-handed time-on-ice per game, and racking up a Panthers-leading 158 hits in 60 games, Campbell brings those depth-player-must intangibles to the Bruins–intangibles apparently worth a 1.1 million dollar cap-hit.

The son of NHL front-office executive Colin Campbell, the 26-year old grinder has displayed some offensive spark as well as being a defensive-based bottom sixer, posting 32 points in 2008-09, but still received quite a bump in pay in comparison to what Begin made in 2009-10 (850,000) and certainly didn’t help the cap-concerns of the Bruins.

In addition to Campbell, the Bruins also brought NHLer Adam McQuaid back into the fold with a two-year deal that includes a two-way deal for 2010-11 and one-way in the second season.

McQuaid certainly brought toughness to the Boston line-up when called upon this past season, and participated in nine playoff games for the B’s before a knee-injury ended his post-season run. However, while cap concerns may put the 23-year old defensemen in Providence to begin the season, McQuaid could fill the role similar to Shane Hnidy‘s as Boston’s physical seventh d-man to fill in for injuries and suit up against highly physical teams.

Rounding out the roster down on the farm in Rhode Island, the Bruins also agreed to terms with forward Jeff LoVecchio and Andrew Bodnardchuk.

Spending all of 2009-10 in Providence, LoVecchio had 15 goals along with nine assists and 32 penalty-minutes in 65 games. Undoubtedly showing some upside in his first full-season in the AHL, LoVecchio brings energy and a lefty-shot to the Bruins system, a quality often sought by Chiarelli and company. In the case of Bodnarchuk, the P-Bruins are perhaps simply rounding out their depth-less defensive core in the organization with a guy who barely tasted the NHL last season.

In the big scheme of things, these signings push the Bruins towards the cap-ceiling even further, and basically assures fans that a move must be made if forwards Tyler Seguin and Blake Wheeler are to be Bruins this upcoming season.

Yikes, Bruins fans, yikes.

Follow Ty Anderson on Twitter @_TyAnderson!

Tyler Seguin participates in drills during training camp.

When the Bruins’ fourth-installment of their rookie training and development camp kicked off on Wednesday, there were no places to park outside and there were no places to sit inside the chilly confines of the Wilmington-based training facility. It was jam-packed, full of fans both young and old all with their eyes peeled for the biggest-Bruins prospect to arrive to town since the days of Joe Thornton. And while their pronunciations of his name varied, the 18-year old Tyler Seguin was and has been the center of focus and awe from the eager-for-hockey fans over the opening two days of camp.

Arriving to Boston with the second overall pick in the 2010 NHL Draft, Seguin has already made an impression on those in attendance after just two full-days of drills.

Aggressive in one-on-one battles, crafty in the two-on-one drills, and flat-out dazzling in the Bruins’ post-practice shootouts, Seguin had all the tools you seek from a top-two draft choice and more. Also appearing to be very endearing to his camp-mates throughout the week, Seguin would smile and follow that up with some murmuring cusses–be it at himself for slipping or for missing a shot.

With an estimated 2,000 in attendance on Saturday’s finale of camp to get a final glimpse of Seguin before October, what should Bruins fans expect out of their presumed future in 2010-11? For starters, I don’t think there’s any doubt that he’ll be on the big club this season. The Bruins simply can’t afford to leave this guy in the Ontario Hockey League for another season based on skill and expectations from the public-relations standpoint alone.

So besides Seguin, how did the camp develop for the rest of the Bruins’ rookies?

Forwards

Tyler Brenner: Coming into the Bruins’ camp as the only non-roster forward to be invited, Brenner has spent two seasons at the Rochester Institute of Technology where he’s put up 61 points in 71 games. Virtually unknown to everyone, Brenner used his 6’2″ frame and executed great hustle in all the drills throughout the week. Undoubtedly Brenner’s best quality, his determination on the puck and fore-check were impressive while he failed to check in on the offensive department during many of the drills.

Jordan Caron: Drafted by the Bruins with the 25th overall pick in the 2009 NHL Draft, Caron rebounded from a collarbone-smashing hit by Colten Teubert last summer during Team Canada’s World Juniors camp and put together a strong finale in the QJMHL where he posted 53 points in 43 regular-season games. With 18 points in 11 playoff games this past season, Caron arrived to Wilmington this summer with NHL-ready potential written all over him.

Caron undoubtedly failed to disappoint, excelling in every drill, scrimmage, and you-name-it. Using his quick speed and even stronger release, Caron made mincemeat of the camps four goaltenders, ringing shots in the top corners from all angles. Cap-space provided, Caron could perhaps be Boston’s version of the Flyers’ Claude Giroux if he’s given a shot with the big club after some minor AHL-seasoning this year.

Joe Colborne: Arriving into camp as a towering 6’5″ (Boston’s tallest forward within the organization), Colborne’s biggest need to be addressed over time has been his size in terms of muscle. Coming into 2010′s festivities over the 200 pound marker, Colborne put together yet another strong-showing this season. During his first camp in 2008, the big center-turned-winger worked wonders alongside fellow big-man Blake Wheeler. Then in 2009 he teamed up with Caron as they decimated goaltenders, and in 2010 the 20-year old skated beside Tyler Seguin for virtually the entire camp.

Getting his first taste of professional hockey with the Providence Bruins at the tail end of 2009-10 where he had two points in six games, Colborne’s biggest strength seemed to be smooth skating and shot given his size. However, an area for improvement could be his skills in the defensive aspect of the game and his puck-possession.

Craig Cunningham: A teammate of Milan Lucic on the Memorial Cup winning 2007 Vancouver Giants, Cunningham was working out with his old teammate when Boston’s #17 cracked that Cunningham would be drafted by the club. Eventually drafted by the Bruins in the fourth round of this year’s draft as Lucic played Nostradamus, Cunningham brought four years of WHL experience to Wilmington for development camp.

Standing at an under-sized 5’9″, Cunningham has amassed 177 points in four seasons with the Giants but tallied 97 of those this past season, but came into Bruins camp as the team’s smallest forward.

Playing on the camp’s “fourth line” with Brenner and Ryan Spooner, Cunningham seemed to establish himself as an aggressive player with quick hands and crafty moves from the onslaught of camp. Perhaps his best move, Cunningham’s quick cut-move when driving towards the net made containing him tough for most of the Bruins’ hulking-defensemen-of-tomorrow.

Alex Fallstrom: Acquired as a throw-in along with Craig Weller from Minnesota in the deal that made Chuck Kobasew a member of the Wild, Fallstrom had an adjustment to North American hockey during his first season with the Harvard Crimson of HockeyEast (NCAA). Netting just four goals and eight assists in 32 games for Harvard in 2009-10, Fallstrom came into camp as a wild-card of sorts.

Standing at 6’2″, Fallstrom demonstrated soft hands and great skating abilities as most European players do, but in the same sense his defense was very suspect and at times invisible. He was knocked off the puck in battles for the puck along the boards quite easily and his stick-handling would either result with a great move being pulled off or a turnover.

Certainly showing some offensive potential, Fallstrom will be enter his sophomore season with Harvard in 2010 and it’ll be interesting to see how his first development camp with the B’s changes him.

Justin Florek: Drafted by Boston in the closing rounds of this year’s draft, Justin Florek brings a 6’4″ frame and is a part of a trend by the Bruins in terms of prospects and their new-found love of the NCAA. Going strong for Northern Michigan University at a near point-per-game pace (35 points in 41 contests), Florek was teamed up beside Colborne and Fallstrom for much of the drills throughout the camp and showed some great usage of his size with a flare of offense.

Mark Goggin: I didn’t see him on the ice, so if he was there pretty much tells you all you’d need to know.

Jared Knight: Perhaps the most interesting story of training camp, the Battle Creek, Michigan native 18-year old Jared Knight came into Wilmington this season as a player whose size at 5’10″ has been easy to overcome compared to his daily battle with diabetes. Despite his smaller frame, Knight plays a hard-nosed game based off rewarding hard work with favorable scoring chances.

Putting up 36 goals with the London Knights of the OHL, Knight’s aggressiveness can sometimes work against him as it did in the drills. While his chippy-effort would create chances, that same aggression would cause Knight to over-shoot passes, put too much behind shots, and over-skate the play.

However, the strengths certainly outweigh the weaknesses in terms of potential and his junior-year in the OHL should be the breakout one for Knight if history tells us anything.

Tyler Randell: Selected by Boston with the 176th pick in the 2009 Draft, Randell brings a solid frame to the Bruins camp and while the 6’1″ forward seems bigger from his style of play, his camp was a solid one that included a near-injury during a crash with the goal-post.

Maxime Sauve: The biggest thing I remember about Maxime Sauve was the fact that he was a colossal disappointment at the 2008 rookie training camps. He looked lost, confused, and purely out of his element. However, an extremely strong showing in 2009 made me turn the corner on this guy and realize that he had some serious potential, factor in a brief stint with Providence to close out his 2009-10 season and we had a budding star in the making.

However, fans were unable to get a good look at Sauve, who didn’t participate in team drills due to an injury, but the French prospect still made new Bruins draft-choice Zane Gothberg look silly in the crease during some 1-on-1 shooting drills.

Ben Sexton: An interesting player with a bundle of speed, Sexton and fellow forward/line-mate Nick Tremblay used their lack of size to an advantage against players in drills, but failed to really light the lamp.

Ryan Spooner: Taken by the Bruins in the second round of this past Draft along with Knight, Spooner instantly made some new fans upon arrival with his dazzling speed and quickly deceptive moves when driving towards the net. Both he and Cunningham formed a hell-on-wheels duo for defensemen to contain during scrimmages and drills with their new-NHL-suited style of play.

Nick Tremblay: See: thoughts on Ben Sexton.

—————————————————————————————————–

Say Hey In Under 140 Characters: Follow Ty on Twitter!

“I’ll Facebook You!”: Add the HockeyIndependent Bruins Facebook profile as a friend today!

Haggle Me To Make More YouTube Videos: Subscribe to Ty’s YouTube channel!

Questions? Comments?: Send your hate/love notes to Ty at TAndersonBruins@gmail.com

Mark Stuart has signed a one-year deal to remain a Boston Bruin.

When the Boston Bruins notified the media that forwards Gregory Campbell and Blake Wheeler had in fact both filed for arbitration, you had a feeling that a contract-extension for fellow restricted free-agent and bruising defensemen Mark Stuart was in the midst of becoming official.

Just two days since the news of Boston’s NHL-quality ‘restricted’  forwards broke, the Bruins have reportedly made things official with Stuart, signing the defensemen to a one-year extension worth 1.675 million dollars.

Drafted by the Bruins in the first round of the 2003 NHL Draft with the 21st overall pick, Stuart has become a model of consistency on the Boston back-end since becoming a full-time member of the squad in 2007.

Playing in a remarkable 214 consecutive games for the B’s until a broken sternum shattered his streak in mid-January of this past season, Stuart experienced a rare and turbulent injury-riddled season in 2009-10 that limited him to a tame 56 contests. However, when healthy, Stuart was successfully relied upon as the Bruins’ steady top-four presence and managed to finish second among B’s blue-liners in hits with 103 hits.

Never bringing much to the table as an offensive-defensemen, the Bruins’ loss of Dennis Wideman in the trade that brought Nathan Horton to town, the departure of Stuart was something the club simply couldn’t afford to handle considering their shoddy depth at the NHL (and AHL) level from the point.

Putting up just seven points this season, Stuart’s reputation as a leader at just 26-years old within the locker room along with his no-nonsense attitude towards every shift made this signing an easy one for the B’s–in theory. While the Bruins (surprisingly) underpaid for another character guy in their organization, Stuart’s modest cap-hit for this upcoming season leaves the Bruins with a measly two-million dollars to spend on their roster barring any trades and that’s without the inclusion of Campbell, Wheeler, or potential NHLer in 2010-11 Jordan Caron.

Bringing up the question of just who seems to be on the move out of Boston before the end of this scorching summer?

An easy choice seems to be Marc Savard, but limited trade options present themselves given Savard’s no-trade clause. However a deal could be worked out given #91′s rumored desire to leave Boston after a rumor-filled off-season has perhaps left Savard feeling unwanted in the Hub. Another trade pipe-dream for Boston could be moving the contract of Tim Thomas but with limited options within the Bruins’ system and NHL free-agent pool along with a short list of suitors seem to indicate that Thomas will be a Bruin until at least the trading deadline.

Leaving nearly realistic options for Boston in the trade market, a buyout of Michael Ryder seems all the more appealing if you’re Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli. Despite beginning his off-season by stating the B’s would not be buying any of their players out, and regardless of Ryder’s 18 goals on an offensively-challenged club, the 30-year old will earn four-million dollars this upcoming season in the final year of a three-year contract with Boston. A favorite of Bruins coach Claude Julien, the Bruins may have to glance at this scenario from a pure business perspective as a Ryder buyout could free up 2.7 million dollars and allow the Bruins to retain Wheeler while integrating young players with bonus-laden contracts such as Caron and/or Joe Colborne into the big-club in Boston.

Certainly a risky move in terms of moving a proven NHL-quality scorer for touted prospects with little AHL experience, a swap of Ryder for Caron or Colborne could prove dangerous for Boston but in the same sense could prove to be a cheaper alternative for a player whose inconsistency and frequent missing-in-actions drove fans crazy.

Either way, with Stuart back in the fold officially, the time for crunching in the Hub is officially on.

—————————————————————————————————————————-

Say Hey In Under 140 Characters: Follow Ty on Twitter!

“I’ll Facebook You!”: Add the HockeyIndependent Bruins Facebook profile as a friend today!

Questions? Comments?: Send Ty your hate/love notes at TAndersonBruins@gmail.com

Jeremy Reich has signed a deal to return to the Boston Bruins organization.

When the NHL’s free-agency market officially opened up for business at noon yesterday, not much was expected from the Boston Bruins and for good reason. The B’s came into the day with the highest cap-total of any team not named the Chicago Blackhawks and with a plethora of restricted free-agents to keep in black-and-gold not much was expected of Peter Chiarelli on a day where the contracts typically vary from crazy to downright reckless.

Bruins Extend Paille for Two Years at 2.15 Million

No shock here folks, the Bruins keep their ace penalty-killer and P.J Axelsson replacement of 2009-10 Daniel Paille in town on a two-year deal worth 2.15 million dollars in total. Acquired from Buffalo in mid-October in exchange for a draft pick, Paille quickly relieved a woeful penalty-kill upon arrival, helping establish a solid top-unit alongside center Steve Begin.

Scoring just 10 goals in 74 games for Boston, Paille’s biggest contributions come from the fact that he’s an aggressive forward who rarely gives up on a shift. He’s not overly physical, but his tenacity in battles for the puck made him a solid asset to Boston’s fourth line. He along with projected fourth-line center and fellow restricted free-agent Gregory Campbell seem to the be early favorites to become Boston’s number one penalty killing tandem and look to keep the B’s in the elite class of the NHL’s P.K-units, who finished with the 3rd best kill in the league last season.

Struggling to pot goals on his dozens of breakaways throughout the season, the deal for Paille is undoubtedly a fair one and in fact is cheaper than Paille arrived with, a rare occurrence from the B’s front office.

Bruins Bring Back Jeremy Reich

When the Bruins cut ties with enforcer Jeremy Reich at the end of the 2008-09 season, there seemed to simply be no room for the brute in Boston. There certainly wasn’t any room for him with the NHL club during the season for that matter and while Reich captained the Providence Bruins with 34 points in 76 games, the Bruins’ biggest enforcer from 2006 to 2008 was destined to dawn a new color in 2009-10.

Signing with the New York Islanders and seemingly a lock for the role of enforcer on the NHL roster, Reich’s hopes were broken (literally) when he suffered a fractured wrist in the Isles’ pre-season finale, landing him on the shelf and limiting him to just 33 games for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the AHL, where the 31-year old had 12 goals and 8 assists.

Returning to Boson with familiarity within the organization and the system played by both the AHL and NHL club, Reich will add an element of toughness that seems to generate into success at the AHL level but in all sincerity, if fans see Reich up with the big club at any point this season–you know the team is in some big trouble.

Bruins Lose Sabourin, Begin and Satan Hit Open Market

In more Providence-related news, the Boston Bruins lost goaltender Dany Sabourin to free-agency yesterday when he signed a one-year deal to join the Washington Capitals for just over 500,000 dollars. Sabourin, who signed with Boston last summer, had 28 wins and 27 losses for the P-Bruins in 2009-10 and made a brief bench-cameo for the NHL-Bruins but didn’t see any ice-time.

Given Sabourin’s departure along with no tender being offered to Providence back-up and former-UNH standout Kevin Regan, the Providence Bruins seem likely to roll with a tandem of Adam Courchaine and Michael Hutchinson next season. Both goaltenders spent last season in the Ontario Hockey League and had a combined record of 52-36-4 with a .915SV%. However, don’t count out the possibility of former Bemidji State University goaltender and part-time P-Bruin of 2009-10 Matt Dalton sliding into the equation at some point if either is to falter.

On another potential loss to free-agency, B’s GM Peter Chiarelli confirmed that he notified the agents of both Steve Begin and Miroslav Satan yesterday and told them that they will not be offered contracts in the immediate future for the Bruins. Expected by all means, but it wouldn’t shock me if either are to come back to Boston if they’re still seeking employment come September.

YouTube Becomes TyTube: I Started Video-Blogging

In this crazy world of social-networking, you have to be one-step ahead of each other or simply try to keep up with the times. That being said, I’ve finally taken the leap and joined the world of video-blogging. And while I’m still getting used to it, I have to admit it’s a pretty fun beginning and I’ll certainly be posting related-videos into all of my HockeyIndependent blogs. Hope you enjoy!

Click here to view the embedded video.

What’s Next?

Expect the Boston Bruins to sit tight in terms of the free-agent market but watch for the club to lock-up restricted-free-agents Greg Campbell, Mark Stuart, and Blake Wheeler sometime within the next 10 days. It’s hard to picture all three of these players exiting Boston given the praises they’ve heard from the Bruins’ front-office along with their still unmet-potential (looking at you, Wheeler).

————————————————————————————————

Say Hey In Under 140 Characters: Follow Ty on Twitter!

“I’ll Facebook You!”: Add the HockeyIndependent Bruins Facebook profile as a friend today!

Spring My Form: Ask Ty a question on Formspring!

Don’t Change My Channel, Subscribe: Subscribe to Ty’s YouTube account.

Questions? Comments?: Email Ty your love/hate notes to TAndersonBruins@gmail.com

Ray Whitney could be the veteran winger the Bruins need, but can't afford.

It was a rainy day in March when the Bruins disappointed their fans by failing to pull the trigger on a trade that would’ve brought some much needed scoring up front to bolster a pedestrian offense. Despite a near-run to the Eastern Conference Finals amidst this lack of scoring, the B’s would once again come up short on home-ice and begin to look towards next season in hopes of ending an approaching-40 year long Stanley Cup drought. Perhaps the last straw in what’s now become a midlife crisis in search of Lord Stanley, the changes came swift and with no delay in Boston.

The Bruins began by promoting Vice-President and Bruins legend Cam Neely to President of the club and later traded their fan-appointed scapegoat Dennis Wideman to Florida in exchange for former-30-goal scorer Nathan Horton and bruising fourth-liner Greg Campbell. Then, as rumors regarding essentially any Boston Bruins player not named Tuukka Rask began to swirl, the NHL Draft came and went with the Bruins nabbing Tyler Seguin while standing pat on the trade front outside of Vladimir Sobotka‘s departure for St. Louis.

Six days later, no much in Boston has changed. With an echoing silence presenting itself on both the Marc Savard and Tim Thomas fronts after a busy weekend in Los Angeles, the Boston Bruins will once again head into the vast sea of free-agency tomorrow with little money to spare with a lot of holes to plug.

Starting up front the B’s have 10 forwards signed to the club for 2010-11 if you include Providence Bruins forward and part-time NHLer Brad Marchand, perhaps a lock as the 13th skater this upcoming season. Even with the acquisition of Horton and the currently albeit unsigned but likely 2010-11 B’s Campbell and Seguin, the Bruins will need to find bodies to replace unrestricted free-agents to be Steve Begin and Miroslav Satan. With Begin already likely to be replaced by Campbell, the scoring void from the expected departure of Satan could provide the need for a short-term and low-risk veteran in the Hub.

Striking out during the trade deadline in their efforts to get Ray Whitney out of Carolina in March, Whitney, who turns 39 next May, could present a best-case -scenario for the Bruins’ search for some help on the wings. Scoring 21 goals in 80 games for the Hurricanes this past season, Whitney’s domino is likely fall once the market is set for that left-winger named Kovalchuk along with fellow goal-scorers such as Alexander Frolov, who could also be eyed by the Bruins if available.

Evidently testing the market, it appears that Bill Guerin‘s days as a Pittsburgh Penguin are near an end. Scoring four goals and finishing with nine points in 11 playoff games for the Pens, Guerin could be pursued by Boston as the veteran winger 42-year old Mark Recchi has been asking for to join him in Boston. Guerin spent two seasons in Boston where the Massachusetts-native put up 129 points in 142 games, including 69 goals. While his best days are certainly behind him, there’s no doubt that the soon-to-be 40-year old could provide some leadership and goal-scoring touch the 2009-10 Boston Bruins seemed to lack.

However, given the Bruins’ lack of cap-space and currently-jumbled cast of restricted-free-agents awaiting new deals, expect Boston’s immediate impact (if any) to be on the blue-line.

Currently without defensive-anchor Mark Stuart signed to a new deal, the Bruins’ defense is weak at best and in serious need of a bottom-pairing bolstering. In a jam-packed crop of defensemen in this year’s pool, a few names to keep an eye could ring a bell from years past such as Nick Boynton, Paul Mara, and even defensemen-turned-part-time-announcer Aaron Ward–all of whom head into today’s festivities without a team to call their home. Regardless of familiarity with the city and organization, it shouldn’t come as a surprise if Chiarelli and the B’s elect to go younger and more mobile with their choice if they are to sign a player at any point this week.

So as teams prepare for bidding wars and get their chips ready, just where do the Bruins stand?

Well let’s picture a big party where everyone is throwing money around, and even using it to lit their cigars, the cigars of course being a ‘puck-moving defensemen’ in this instance. Now look at them, and then see the guy on the ground trying to piece the burning money back together? That guy is the Boston Bruins. Still without a suitor for the five-million dollar man known as Timmy, and still without a trade-partner for that play-making center who wears #91, the Bruins are essentially handcuffed by their own contracts and impending free-agents, all of whom have yet to sign tenders offered to them for a new deal.

Now the B’s could make a minor move and sign someone such as New Hampshire’s own Freddy Meyer from the Islanders to be their seventh defensemen for near league-minimum, or they could wait until September in hopes that names such as Maxim Afinogenov, Pavol Demitra, Ruslan Fedotenko, or even Alex Tanguay remain in the NHL’s unemployment office, but in that instance wouldn’t you just prefer somebody like Jordan Caron or Joe Colborne step into the NHL?

Either way, the B’s will head into the free-agency period as the patient team, the play-it-safe team, and that’s not by choice. And while that’s not always been a bad thing for the Bruins, if you’re hoping to reel in that big fish when the clock strikes 12 tomorrow, I’d have to question the bait you’re using.

——————————————————————————————-

Say Hey In Under 140 Characters: Follow Ty on Twitter!

“I’ll Facebook You!”: Add the HockeyIndependent Bruins Facebook profile as a friend today!

Spring My Form: Anonymously ask Ty a question!

Questions? Comments?: Send Ty an email at TAndersonBruins@gmail.com

Olli Jokinen is one of the few "accomplished" centers in this year's market.

Just at the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, I got an e-vite to a special pool if you will set up by Bruins blogger Puck Sage of (you guessed it) PuckSage.com. The rules were very simple, pick the first three dominoes to fall at each position–forward, defense, and in net. Then the fun part came with your creation of a cap-friendly team with realistic contracts and a solid team. Also in this challenge we had to name the team we thought would hang out the worst contract in free-agency, and finally make our prediction as to where the crown jewel of free-agency Ilya Kovalchuk would end up.

Thrilled to be apart of such a cool concept, here is my entry in the contest.

The First Dominoes

Forward: In a barren market down the middle, the market for Matt Lombardi will undoubtedly be big. However, I’m going to go with Olli Jokinen being the first one off the board. Putting up just 50 points in 82 games between the Flames and Rangers in 2009-10, Jokinen will cash in based off his reputation alone and sign a four-year deal worth 16-million dollars with a team desperate for a ‘top-tier’ center.

Defense: Ottawa Senators defensemen Anton Volchenkov seemed to come into this year’s free-agency period as the most highly touted blue-liner after his strong NHL Playoffs performance. However, with the recent trade(s) of Dan Hamhuis‘ rights tell you how important teams are viewing this guy. I’m betting on Hamhuis being on the first plane to Vancouver to join the Northwest-winning Canucks.

Goaltending: With the uncertainty surrounding Evgeni Nabokov, I’m going to go with the second strongest netminder available this summer–Marty Turco. This will be the last big contract for Turco and with half a dozen teams in need of a legitimate number one goaltender, I’m picking Turco to end up in Washington with the Capitals.

2010 Free Agent Team

LW: Ilya Kovalchuk (72M over 8yrs) [Cap Hit: 9.0M]
LW: Alexander Frolov (13M over 4yrs) [Cap Hit: 3.25M]
LW:  Alex Tanguay (2.2M over 2yrs) [Cap Hit: 1.1M]
LW: Steve Begin (2.44M over 2yrs) [Cap Hit: 1.22M)

C: Matthew Lombardi (11.5M over 3yrs) [Cap Hit: 3.83M]
C: Olli Jokinen (16M over 4yrs) [Cap-Hit 4M]
C:  Saku Koivu (11M over 3yrs) [Cap Hit: 3.66M]
C: Glen Metropolit (4M over 3yrs) [Cap Hit: 1.33M]

RW: Lee Stempniak (15M over 4yrs) [Cap Hit: 2.6M]
RW: Miroslav Satan (4.5M over 2yrs) [Cap Hit: 2.25M]
RW: Scott Walker (4.5 over 3yrs) [Cap Hit: 1.5M]
RW: Aaron Asham (3.3M over 3yrs) [Cap Hit: 1.1M]

Extra Skater: Adam Burish (1.8M over 3yrs) [Cap Hit: .600M]

D: Dan Hamhuis (15M over 4yrs) [Cap Hit: 3.75M]
D: Sergei Gonchar (13M over 3yrs) [Cap Hit: 4.33M]
D: Andy Sutton (10M over 3yrs) [Cap Hit: 3.3M]
D: Jordan Leopold (6.3M over 3yrs) [Cap Hit: 2.1M]
D: Aaron Ward (1.5M over 1yr) [Cap-Hit: 1.5M]
D: Jay McKee (2.8M over 3yrs) [Cap Hit: .933M]

G: Marty Turco (15M over 4yrs) [Cap Hit: 3.75M]
G: Antero Niittymaki (3.3M over 2yrs) [Cap Hit: 1.65M]

Total Cap Hit: 56.753 million dollars.

Worst Contract

It’d be too easy for me to say the New York Rangers, who reinvent the word bad nearly every off-season. It’s also too easy to name the Chicago Blackhawks considering the fact that any signing they make is bad because it’s bumping them closer to the cap. For the worst contract, I’ll have to go with the Coyotes, who will fall in love with one of their guys too much and hand out big money for a semi-proven player.

Where’s Ilya?

I don’t care what they say about Ilya Kovalchuk and his desire to win, or how he wants to be set for life with his family–the Los Angeles Kings present the perfect situation to Kovy in the long run. Building with key pieces, the Kings will have a spot to slide Kovalchuk right in with the presumed departure of Alex Frolov and the cap space to make a monster long-term deal work with the club. I’m counting on a cheat deal from Lombardi and the Kings on July 1st.

—————————————————————————————

Say Hey In Under 140 Characters: Follow Ty on Twitter!

“I’ll Facebook You!”: Add the HockeyIndependent Bruins Facebook profile as a friend today!

Questions/Comments?: Email Ty your hate/love notes at TAndersonBruins@gmail.com

The Bruins have officially signed Mark Recchi to a one-year extension.

There’s not much left for winger Mark Recchi to accomplish in his Hall of Fame career, but that didn’t stop the 42-year old ‘Recching Ball’ from coming back for a third round with the Boston Bruins. Signing of a one-year extension worth one million dollars with nearly a half-million more in various incentive, Recchi’s return to the club in Boston shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone in the Hub.

Originally acquired from the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2009 for Providence Bruin Martins Karsums along with former-highly-touted blue-line prospect Matt Lashoff, Recchi’s tenure in Boston was supposed to be a brief run to provide some Cup experience to a team lacking in playoff experience up front.

Recchi would make an instant impression on Bruins fans when he scored two goals against the Chicago Blackhawks in his second game as a Bruin on March 7th, 2009 and would exemplify the qualities of a natural leader while helping B’s center Patrice Bergeron regain his offensive swagger in the process. Finishing with 22 points in 29 games including the playoffs and playing in Game 7 against Carolina a night after having surgery to remove kidney-stones, Recchi’s regained energy resulted in the winger returning to Boston for what he deemed a “final-go” at hoisting Lord Stanley.

Returning to Boston and becoming a staple as an alternate-captain for the B’s, the vocal Recchi was never short of a quote or a swift-kick in the rear for his teammates as the team bumbled for most of the season while the ageless Recchi put up 43 points in 81 games and passed Habs legend Guy LaFleur for 21st all time on the NHL’s goals list. Finishing the season tops among Bruins wingers in points and assists, Recchi headed towards his potential final Stanley Cup Playoff run.

Playing as the Bruins’ most-productive performer in the playoffs with six goals in 13 contests, Recchi realized more than anybody else just how close the Bruins were to the Eastern Conference Finals before slipping in four straight contests.

“It’s up there [the loss].” Recchi said following Game 7. “I’ve had some Game 7s losing in the semifinals, but this one hurts. You don’t get too many chances to get to the third round. We had an opportunity to go to the Stanley Cup, and if we had taken that step, it would have been huge. That’s what we play for.”

Despite the morale-crushing loss, Recchi remained adamant on his desire to return in black-and-gold and continue to aid the Bruins in their attempt to end a 38-year Cup drought. Recchi still believes that the Bruins have the chance to compete for Lord Stanley next season and was quoted as saying the poise of goaltender Tuukka Rask reminds him of the same style of Cam Ward, who Recchi won a Cup with in 2006.

So just what does Recchi bring to the table that makes this deal so good for Boston?

For starters, Recchi is still a valuable contributor to any teams top-nine. He still plays with the spark of a rookie with his hustle and drive to the net, and can be a nuisance to any goaltenders field of vision on the power-play with his screens and redirects. Also providing some much needed veteran leadership on a team desperate for a killer-instinct, something Recchi attributed to their epic collapse in May, Recchi third go-round in the Hub is sure to help the newest Bruin Tyler Seguin adapt to the NHL and perhaps teach fellow undersized winger Brad Marchand a thing or two about how to use his lack of size.

While Recchi will be turning 43-years old next season, the positives of retaining Recchi’s veteran presence outweigh the negatives.

———————————————————————————————-

Chat It Up In Under 140 Characters: Follow Ty on Twitter!

“I’ll Facebook You!”: Add the HockeyIndependent Bruins Facebook profile as a friend today!

Questions? Comments?: Send Ty your hate/love mail at TAndersonBruins@Gmail.com

The Bruins drafted center/winger Jared Knight with the 32nd overall pick in the 2010 NHL Draft.

On day one of the 2010 NHL Draft in Los Angeles the Boston Bruins wasted no time in drafting the most-coveted center in this year’s crop of young talent when they called Plymouth Whaler Tyler Seguin up to the stage and adding another pivot to their arsenal down the middle. Done for the night with arguably the crown-jewel of the first round, just 15 hours later the B’s would take to the floor of the Staples Center with a projected focus on shoring up their depth on the wings and the point.

That projection for Boston turned out to be just that–a projection.

32nd Overall: Jared Knight (Center/Right-Wing)

Kicking off day two of the draft, with big defensemen such as American-born Jon Merrill still on the board, it seemed that Chiarelli and company would go for the hulking defensemen to strengthen the core of their prospect core from the point. Pointing towards Providence and seeing the development of defensemen such as Adam McQuaid and Jeff Penner struggle in a transition into the NHL, the blue-line of tomorrow in Boston certainly seems to have its questions that need to addressed.

However, the B’s would go for more help up front with their selection of forward Jared Knight of the Ontario Hockey League.

Spending his season straight season with the London Knights, Knight posted 36 goals in 63 games this past season and followed that up with a 17 point effort in 12 playoff games.

A change from many Bruins forwards, standing at an undersized 5’11″, Knight is known as a player who drives towards the net and in excels in the grittier parts of the game. Perhaps even best used as an energy player, Knight seems like a player who could expand his role as a skillful agitator in the Bruins system much like the way Alex Burrows has been utilized by the Vancouver Canucks.

45th Overall: Ryan Spooner (Center)

In their final pick of the second-round, Boston once again went down with the middle by drafting 5’10″ center Ryan Spooner. A left-handed shot from Kanata, Ontario, Spooner has spent the past two seasons with the Peterborough Petes of the OHL and has posted 112 points in 109 games over that span. In a season cut short by a broken collarbone in 2009-10, Spooner was named with the “Best Sportsmanship” in the entire league this past season and has accumulated just twenty minutes in penalties over two full seasons.

During an interview with HockeysFuture.com Spooner compares his style of play to Flyers’ forward Danny Briere and his coaches believe that in an NHL where smaller guys such as Patrick Kane thrive that Spooner could experience similar results with the proper experience.

Adding their third center in three picks, Spooner best attribute seems to be his one-on-one ability in the offensive zone.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Beautiful.

97th Overall: Craig Cunningham (Left-Wing)

When Vancouver Giants winger Craig Cunningham was working out with former-Giant and current Bruin bruiser Milan Lucic before the Draft, the younger Giant surely thought #17 was kidding when he told him that the Bruins were going to draft him. However, Lucic’s apparent ESP turned out to be evident when the B’s selected the WHL “veteran” with their first pick in the fourth round.

Cunningham, a 19-year old winger, has spent four straight seasons with the Giants but has yet to experience a breakout year like the one he had in 2009-10. Putting up 97 points in 72 games, a 47-point increase from the season prior in as many games, Cunningham’s success despite his size (5’9″) gives you an idea as to the Bruins’ goal for their winger of the future.

They want speed, grit, and heart. Qualities scouts believe Cunningham brings to every shift.

Despite his production in 2009-10, one has to wonder if Cunningham’s success came with the eventual mastery of the WHL in his fourth full-season in the league.

135th Overall: Justin Florek (Left-Wing)

“Wait a minute, so Cam Neely takes over as the President of the Bruins and not a single mammoth power-forward winger has been drafted yet?”

Insert Michigan-native Justin Florek. Listed at a towering 6’4″, Florek has spent the past two seasons at Northern Michigan University where he’s posted 21 goals and 52 points in 81 games. Listed as a skater with great hands and an excellent shot for a person of his size, the Bruins will have to progress with the 20-year old in hopes that he doesn’t succumb to Blake Wheeler syndrome and let his size become a deterrent on the way to NHL success.

165th Overall: Zane Gothberg (Goaltender)

Let’s be honest, when you heard that the Bruins drafted Zane Gothberg you thought that he was a villainous member of the Icelandic hockey team in the Mighty Ducks movie. However, Gothberg has quickly became a top-tier high-school goaltender in the hockey hotbed of Minnesota over the past two seasons. Gothberg, who dominated his region with a 20-5-2 record with sub 1.60 goals-against-average in 2008-09 for Thief River Falls, duplicated that season with a 2009-10 follow-up of 18-8-1 with a .925SV%.

Gothberg also became the second goaltender drafted by the club since 2008, Michael Hutchinson being the other. In total, the Bruins have acquired four prospect goaltenders since 2007, Adam Courchaine (2007) and Matt Dalton (2009) being two undrafted netminders added to the B’s system via free agency. Must hurt to be Kevin Regan, who has been in the Bruins’ organization since 2003 but has yet to emerge as anything more than a back-up with the Providence Bruins of the AHL.

One of the youngest goaltenders in the entire NHL Draft, Gothberg will turn 18 in August and has committed to playing for the North Dakota Fighting Sioux when eligible.

195th Overall: Maxim Chudinov (Defensemen)

Under Peter Chiarelli, the Bruins have drafted just one Russian-born player, and it had been four years since the Bruins last did that. Taking defensemen Yuri Alexandrov in the second round of the 2006 draft, the B’s unofficial stance against selecting the oft-KHL-swayed Russian players was thrown to the back-burner with the drafting of blue-liner Maxim Chudinov in the 7th round.

Going without registering a point in his first three seasons with Cherepovets Severstal of the KHL in 46 total games, Chudinov experienced a breakout year on the same club as Alexandrov with six goals and 13 points in 47 games.

Known as a physical defensemen despite standing at just 5’10″, Chudinov’s biggest moment among North American hockey fans came in 2007 when he laid current Flyers forward Claude Giroux out with a post-whistle hit.

Click here to view the embedded video.

With Alexandrov committed to coming to America this season to play for the Providence Bruins and vie for a spot with the big club in 2010-11, it appears that the Bruins’ front-office is beginning to invest some trust in Russian prospects and were assured by Chudinov that he will in fact follow Alexandrov’s path and come across the pond in two years when his KHL contract runs up.

And while a 7th round selection is nothing to do cartwheels over, the more trust the B’s put into this teeming stream of talent from the Russian market, the better the results could be for Boston.

210th Overall: Zach Trotman (Defensemen)

Acquiring the Chicago Blackhawks’ 7th round selection, the B’s took Lake Superior State University blue-liner and 2010′s Mr. Irrelevant Zach Trotman. Posting eight points in 36 games for Lake Superior, Trotman is projected to be a defensemen with some puck-moving capabilities–an (overvalued) quality by the Boston Bruins.

Bruins Trade Sobotka to Blues for B.U Defensemen David Warsofsky

While the Bruins fanbase constantly refreshed their Twitter homepages in anticipation of a Marc Savard trade, the B’s saw a center of a different capacity get traded when the Bruins sent Czech-born little-big-man Vladimir Sobotka to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Boston University defensemen David Warsofsky. Playing his best hockey of the season during the playoffs in lieu of Savard, Sobotka stepped up in the physicality department during the Bruins’ six-game romp of the Buffalo Sabres in the first round before a reduced role with the return of #91 in round two seemed to take some of the sizzle away from Sobotka’s game.

Entering this off-season as one of Boston’s plethora of restriced free-agents, Sobotka’s role became in serious question when the B’s acquired Gregory Campbell as part of the Nathan Horton deal. A fellow center, Campbell registered 158 hits for tops among Panthers players, and averaged 2:26 minutes of shorthanded time-on-ice a night–also leading Panthers forwards. With these numbers and prior NHL success to back up his reputation (32 points in 2008-09), the acquisition of Campbell undoubtedly showed the door to Sobotka, who had failed to make a sustainable impression during his multiple stints with the Bruins from 2007 through 2010.

Not only essentially assuring that Campbell is in the Bruins’ plans, the B’s also nabbed Marshfield, Mass. native and Terriers defensemen David Warsofsky in the deal. A 20-year old soon-to-be-junior at BU, Warsofsky is coming off a great season for the red-and-white where he potted 12 goals in 34 games including this Bobby Orr-like shorty at the 2010 Beanpot.

Click here to view the embedded video.

———————————————————————————————————

Chat It Up In Under 140 Characters: Follow Ty on Twitter!

“I’ll Facebook You!”: Add the HockeyIndependent Bruins Facebook profile as a friend today!

Questions? Comments?: Send Ty your hate/love mail to TAndersonBruins@Gmail.com

Tyler Seguin was selected by the Bruins with the second overall pick.

Taylor or Tyler?

That was the talk among fans the moment the Bruins found themselves out of the playoffs on May 14th. It was almost a relief that the end to a season that put B’s fans through more misery than their suddenly-winning-hearts could handle would present the club with the luxury of picking second overall in the 2010 NHL Draft without having to go through the rigors of a non-playoff contending season.

For Boston, while the pre-draft chatter was engaging, informative, and chock full of (unrealistic) rumors, the debates and reports drawn up and argued relentlessly as to why X was better than Y were quickly silenced when the Oilers selected Taylor Hall after months of speculation, making Boston’s choice an automatic to grab 18-year old forward Tyler Seguin.

Tying with Hall for the OHL’s lead in points with 106 in 2009-10, Seguin, who was in just his second season in the league, is likely to instantaneously join the forward-depleted Bruins in 2009-10 as a center. Despite Pierre McGuire‘s belief that Seguin isn’t ready for the NHL (this best sums up my response to that notion), both GM Peter Chiarelli and newly-appointed President Cam Neely believe that Seguin will be one of the 23 suiting them up at the TD Garden this upcoming season.

And for good reason.

Seguin had involvement of 47% of his club’s goal production in 2009-10 and on a team starved for offense like the Boston Bruins, another year in the OHL could be a potential year wasted for a team that could win in the present.

Ranked number one overall by Central Scouting’s final rankings regardless of Hall’s selection, the answer as to whether or not the Bruins got the better player will remain to be answered until at least October but here are a few things to take away from Seguin’s drafting into the Hub.

Firstly, the 18-year old beat out Hall for the Player of the Year honors this past season and has wowed scouts and players alike with his unpredictable yet dynamic offensive skill-set. Known as a stronger two-way player than Hall, Seguin has been known to try and model his game after his childhood hero, Steve Yzerman–a player known for his heart and willingness to get his hands dirty for the sake of his teams success.

Another potentially beneficial gain for Seguin’s growth will be the fact that he’s coming into Boston, a team loaded with NHL-capable centers, likely lessening the pressure he will face upon arrival. However, that could all change with one potential trade.

Over-crowded down the middle, the Bruins’ front-office is reportedly looking to move one of their NHL-proven centers.

With the automatic untouchable being Czech-born pivot David Krejci, an extension likely for the resurgent Patrice Bergeron, the addition of Gregory Campbell, and the still-fresh trade of Vladimir Sobotka to the St. Louis Blues, the B’s will likely look to move three-time team top-point guy Marc Savard.

Savard, who suffered a grade-two concussion in early March only to come back and score the game-winning goal in Game 1 of the second round before vanishing again, seems to be on the outs among Bruins front-office heads and rumored to be even willing to waive his no-trade clause if the right trade does in fact present itself. Rumored to be willing to go to just three teams, one of which being in salary-cap hell (Blackhawks), and other two being within the Northeast Division (Ottawa and Toronto), are the Bruins best suited by hanging out to “Savy” or pulling the trigger on a trade?

While progress remains to be seen on the Bruins’ attempt to move Savard, looking at things in the big picture seems to tell us that Seguin will in fact be relied upon as a player of value to the Boston Bruins next season.

I’ll have more draft notes, Sobotka trade talk, and rumor-mongering later on.

——————————————————————————————–

Say Hey In Under 140 Characters: Follow Ty on Twitter!

“Facebook Us!”: Add the HockeyIndependent Bruins Facebook profile as a friend today!

Will Taylor Hall slip to the Bruins at #2 overall?

It’s hard to contest that the Boston Bruins have had a draft pick as important as this one since 1997 when the club selected center and future Art Ross winner (albeit not completely with Boston) Joe Thornton with the first overall pick. Now, 13 years later, the B’s find themselves in possession of the NHL’s second overall pick tonight with the choice to pick either winger Taylor Hall or center Tyler Seguin.

The B’s are taking one of the two forwards, and they’re not trading the pick–that much we know. But what else is to be known if you’re a B’s enthusiast in the Hub? If you want to know the quick answer as to who they’re taking, the answer is whoever Edmonton passes up on.

For starters, this pick is a franchise changer. Originally acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs in September in the trade that sent Phil Kessel, the 5th overall pick by Boston in 2006, packing up to Ontaro, there’s no doubting that the Bruins knew they’d be acquiring a top-half pick, but a top-two left even the biggest Bruins homer with a gleeful surprise.

Assisted greatly by the Leafs’ horrendous start to the 2009-10 season and somehow spared by their polar-opposite finish to the season with help from the rest of the Eastern Conference, the Bruins did feel the pain from Kessel’s departure during the regular season when they mustered up the fewest goals in the entire NHL while Kessel potted 30 in 70 games for the last-place Leafs. Now, as the B’s make their first step to officially move on from the bitter-aftertaste of blowing a three games to none lead in the playoffs, the chance to find a new franchise-face goal-scoring phenom could present itself.

Slated as a toss-up, the Bruins’ target could be Hall, or it could be Seguin. According to most, this draft presents the Oilers and Bruins with a 1A and 1B type of situation. How’s that for close?

However, thanks to the advent of YouTube and the highlight-reel goal craze that has ensued, the flashy pick seems to be the winger from the Windsor Spitfires Taylor Hall. In his third year of competition in the OHL, Hall led the Spitfires to their second straight Memorial Cup Championship victory and won the tournament MVP honors for the second straight year, becoming the first player in league history to do so. Posting a remarkable 17 goals and 35 points in 19 playoff games, Hall’s internet-sensationalizing goal gave onlookers a brief idea of the craftsmanship with the puck that the 18-year old dominated the Ontario Hockey League with.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Complemented with a great supporting cast in Windsor without a doubt, the Bruins’ likely choice at number two Tyler Seguin is no slouch as many have treated him. Scoring 48 goals and 106 points this past season for the Plymouth Whalers, the same totals as Hall, Seguin’s accomplishments in just his second year have been massively overlooked if you ask this guy. Considered more as a Jonathan Toews type given his style of play, noted strong two-way play by scouts, and complete play on a less skilled club, Seguin could be a better fit for Boston’s style of play regardless of the depth at center in the Hub.

Seguin, who was noted as saying he’d feel fine with going second overall to a team that “wants him more”, will likely find himself in that exact situation tonight.

Let’s face it–you can never have too much at a certain position if you’re the Boston Bruins. As injuries have continually haunted the club, the Bruins’ depth has been tested time and time again and despite the lack of success the woes have created for Boston in the NHL Playoffs since 2007-08, the old NHL adage of it being easier to make a center a winger than it is a winger to become a center may benefit for Boston and play itself out once again as it did in 2006 with Kessel.

If you remember, Kessel was originally drafted as a center by the club from the University of Minnesota but didn’t experience consistent NHL success until his move to the right wing alongside Marc Savard.

So just what does happen tonight in La-La Land for the Boston Bruins?

Despite your wishes as Boston fans, I firmly believe that Hall will end up going first to the Edmonton Oilers, a team in dire need of a franchise forward. Regardless of their “need for centers”, it’s hard to picture the Oilers’ front office selling Seguin as the better fit after the CHL-demolition by Hall and crew during the playoffs.

And while Boston will have to ‘suffer’ with the addition of yet another center, the B’s may find themselves with the better and more complete player down the road while Brian Burke clenches his fists and grinds his teeth to their gums in bitterness for years to come.

———————————————————————————————-

Say Hey In Under 140 Characters: Follow Ty on Twitter!

“I’ll Facebook You!”: Add the HockeyIndependent Bruins Facebook profile as a friend today!

Questions? Comments?: Email Ty your hate/love mail at TAndersonBruins@Gmail.com

Will Tim Thomas be a Bruin in 2010-11?

At this time last season, a teary-eyed Tim Thomas was accepting the 2009 Vezina Trophy. Now, just a turbulent year later, the 36-year old goaltender could be shopping for a new home.

In a season of career-highs in 2008-09 where Thomas led the league in goals-against-average and save percentage for the Northeast Division-winning Bruins, the former-European league MVP was on top of the world with a brand spankin’ new four year deal worth 20 million dollars to remain in the Hub. Considered an over-payment by most standards, it’s a horribly kept secret among NHL sources that the Bruins are in fact making a trade of Thomas and that same contract their top priority in this hectic NHL Draft week, and for seemingly obvious reasons.

Besides the glaring five-million dollars Thomas takes up on the Bruins’ roster, the wild-styled netminder was dethroned from the Boston crease by rookie-phenom Tuukka Rask midway through the 2009-10 season. Rask, who inked a two-year extension in the beginning of the season, would go on to give his best Thomas circa 2008-09 impression with a regular-season league-leading 1.97 goals against average and .931 save percentage. Eventually leading the B’s in their improbably promising-then-crushing push in the 2010 Playoffs, Rask’s performance and play gave B’s fans a preview of the future they longed for.

However, somewhere along the lines, Tuukka-Time was solved.

Posting an uncharacteristically low .874SV% in Games 4 through 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, where the B’s became just the fourth team in NHL history to blow a 3-0 series lead, Rask stopped just 104 of 119 Philly shots. The swagger and confidence of the Finnish rookie that propelled Boston past Buffalo and nearly through Philadelphia in four straight was replaced with soft goals and an apparent fatigue that ultimately killed the Bruins. All the while the arguable unsung hero of the 2009 Playoffs Thomas sat on the bench and watched helplessly.

Despite going through his NHL growing pains in his first full season with Boston in the playoffs, the minor clamoring of the veteran presence of Thomas to man the pipes was significantly noticed. But should the Bruins prepare to trade that presence away given Rask’s sandcastle-like collapse?

As it stands now, Boston will head into the 2010-11 season with 6.25 million devoted to their goaltending tandem, less than three current NHL clubs (Carolina Hurricanes, New York Rangers, New York Islanders) with two teams in Buffalo and Calgary nearly guaranteed to exceed the 6.25 marker with their presumed back-up’s salaries. However with just seven forwards signed to the roster in 2011-12, and three of which being centers and just four million in change for cap-space, it’s evident that a B’s trade of Thomas seems unavoidable and probable by the end of the week or by summer’s end.

Now, just what preparations could or should Boston make in the event of a trade of Thomas? Firstly–let’s look at the potential suitors.

A mere overtime goal away from a winner-take-all Game 7 date with Chicago, the Philadelphia Flyers’ mid-season struggles could be summed up by their lack of strong goaltending depth within their organization and while Michael Leighton presents a good story, the likelihood of Leighton leading the Flyers to a Stanley Cup in 2011 seems far-fetched. Also faced with cap issues, straight Simon Gagne to Boston for Thomas swap could make sense with one-year left on Gagne’s current 5.2 million dollar deal. Gagne, who burnt the Bruins at will in the later half of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, put together a 40 point season in 58 games this past year but has demonstrated a severe inability to remain healthy.

Presiding in the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference, two suitors for #30 are presented by the Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals.

In the market for a goaltender by all means, and perhaps shopping a goal-scoring winger not named Ovechkin, the needs of the Caps and B’s could be met with a Alexander Semin to Boston deal. Semin, who seems intent on hitting the open market as a free-agent next summer, is entering the final year of a contract that’ll pay him six-million dollars in 2010-11. Scoring 40 goals in 73 games this season for Washington, the oft-considered lazy winger could duplicate those stats in Boston for the goal-starved Bruins alongside David Krejci or Marc Savard while Thomas’ contract easily slides into the Caps’ payroll. Plus, the guy has Winter Classic experience. That’s worth something, right?

Then there’s the rising Tampa Bay Lightning. Clearly intent on winning under G.M Steve Yzerman, a move to replace the fiery-tempered Mike Smith and streaky Antero Niittymaki with ole’ reliable Timmy could make the difference between the Bolts being a bubble team and a legitimate contender within their own division but also in the Eastern Conference. But who’s on the trade market for Tampa? It appears that the only do-able move for either club may involve American-born right-winger Ryan Malone, who had 21 goals and 47 points in 69 games this past season.

Besides the gritty game and goal-scoring touch Malone could bring to the Bruins’ top-six, a potentially unfortunate situation for Boston could arise with Malone’s cap-hit coming in at 4.5 million dollars annually until the end of the 2014-15 season.

Out West, it seems that Thomas’ best fits resides in Northern California with the San Jose Sharks. Potentially and likely losing Evgeni Nabokov to free-agency with contracts due for young-studs Joe Pavelski and Devin Setoguchi along with the resurgent Patrick Marleau could force Sharks G.M Doug Wilson to send a player such as Ryan Clowe packing his bags out of town. Clowe, much like Gagne and Malone, would provide a certain boost on the wings of the Bruins but would come at a cheaper cost, checking in at just under four-million dollars.

Now regardless of what Boston does to address their needs via a trade of Thomas, the back-up goaltender situation becomes downright scary as a firm believer in sophomore slumps for NHL goaltenders. As Carey Price and Steve Mason have shown, it’s often the sophomore year that presents the most trouble for budding Vezina-hopefuls and after a demoralizing playoff defeat (similar to the one’s that haunted Mason and Price), the concerns for Rask are relevant for good reason.

If Rask is to falter or struggle, there’s no way that Providence goaltenders Kevin Regan (11-11-0 with a 2.54GAA) or Dany Sabourin (30-27-0 with a 2.67GAA) are considered reliable back-up’s or potential platoon-partners on the Bruins’ bench, leaving a deep free-agent market left to be searched by Peter Chiarelli and crew.

Right off the bat, let’s dismiss the thought of belch-inducing stopgaps like Martin Biron, Andrew Raycroft, or Vesa Toskala being worthy or real interest from the Bruins. All three of these guys would in fact perhaps do nothing but harm the Bruins when in net, considering their combined record of 27-31-9 between their respective clubs. In fact, outside of two suitable career-long platoon men, the market for Boston may be thin. Those two guys? former-Bruin Alex Auld and current Nashville Predator Dan Ellis.

Auld, who will turn 30 next season, spent a brief portion of the 2007-08 season with the Boston Bruins and served as the club’s back-up during the 2008 Playoffs. Posting a 9-7-3 record between Dallas and the Rangers last season, Auld provides a steady back-up with familiarity in the Julien-system in Boston. On the other hand, Dan Ellis, a 15-game winner in 2009-10, could be more appealing to Boston with his 16.x average wins a season since 2007-08.

Admittedly so, it’s a crazy week ahead for the Boston Bruins and the rest of the NHL–which leads me to believe that things will remain the way they are right now. Young goaltenders are unpredictable, and Rask is no exception.

At the end of the day, all the pennies saved by the Bruins trading Thomas won’t make up for the loss of a stabilizing goaltender if Tuukka succumbs to the perhaps inevitable struggles that the rigorous sophomore season brings.

——————————————————————————————————

Say Hey In Under 140 Characters: Follow Ty on Twitter!

“I’ll Facebook You!”: Add the HockeyIndependent Bruins Facebook profile as a friend today!

Questions? Comments?: Send your love and hate mail to TAndersonBruins@gmail.com

Cam Neely has become the eighth President in Bruins history.

It’s been an interesting and eventful week in Boston, but the Boston Celtics and the trade (and ensuing riot via social-networking) of Jaroslav Halak to St. Louis by the Montreal Canadiens has really buried the Bruins’ headline-sweeping ability. However, with the temperatures approaching 90 degrees in the city of Boston, it’s probably the only time I can seize the chance to dip into the pool of these rumors (along with that expression).

Neely Named 8th President In B’s History

Wearing number eight in black for ten seasons in the Hub, winger Cam Neely was a player known for his tenacity, edge, and heart. Heck, ask Jeff Daniels, he wasn’t someone you wanted to mess with. A respected member of the club’s tradition long after his premature retirement in 1996, and a Hockey Hall of Famer by 2005, Neely’s introduction into Boston’s front-office in 2007 came across to most as a public-relations move for a team seeking to change their image.

Subsequently becoming more than just a ‘looming figure’ in the press-box each night, Neely’s gradual involvement with the club to this point shows us that the Bruins’ relationship with Cam isn’t just something to recall the glory days of the Boston Bruins. Admittedly a player who “hates losing more than he likes winning”, Neely’s role will give the former 50-goal scorer more control with the brand of hockey the Bruins will put on the ice for years to come. Also holding more responsibilities within the business aspect of the organization, it’s likely that Neely will begin to cementing the Bruins’ make-up moving forward in the 2010-11 season.

No Buyouts In Boston

Just when you think the Bruins finally should pull the trigger on a buyout, General Manager Peter Chiarelli puts any talk of a nearly routine summer-buyout to rest by confirming that none of the Bruins’ 13-signed players for next season will be bought out by the club.

Chiarelli, who bought out aging forward Glen Murray in the summer of 2008 and followed that up with the axing of forwards Patrick Eaves and Petr Schaefer last summer, remarked that none of his current roster will be bought out and in fact told reporters that initial offers have been made to some of the Bruins’ restricted free-agents.  Seemingly primed for a buyout, Michael Ryder will apparently be apart of the Bruins next season to finish his three-year contract worth 12-million dollars barring a trade.

Finishing the season with a meager 18 goals in 82 games, a buyout of Ryder’s contract would’ve freed up 2.7 million dollars towards next season’s cap, but also likely would have put the B’s in the difficult position of finding a player who can put up similar numbers for the same price. Like it or not, Ryder’s shot and skillset can be extremely valuable–when on. The only problem? Ryder’s game was so off this season that #73 was invisible on most nights.

Soderberg Staying In Sweden

Remember in the summer of 2007 when the Bruins traded former-promising goaltender Hannu Toivonen to the St. Louis Blues but it was OK because the Bruins were getting Swedish-prospect Carl Soderberg in return? The 49th overall selection in the 2004 NHL Draft, Soderberg’s big frame (6’3″) and supposed strong two-way abilities made him an ideal fit for the Boston Bruins. However, since the trade Soderberg has yet to cross the Atlantic for a single summer-development camp, a training camp, a preseason game, or even spend some time in the American Hockey League.

With just six forwards signed to the B’s club in 2010-11, perhaps Soderberg’s best chance at making the NHL could’ve been had this summer but as Chiarelli confirmed via press-conference, it appears that Soderberg will once again not be joining the B’s for any of their workouts or camps this season.

Playing as a point-per-game player in 2010-11 for hometown Malmo of the Swedish Allsvenskan league with 20 goals and 51 points in 51 games, there’s no doubting Soderberg’s mastery of the lower-leagues of his home country. However, after three years of no-show’s from this guy it may be time to officially chalk Soderberg up as a player who simply enjoys being a big fish in his hometown pond.

Spezza To Boston?: “No Talks With Murray,” Says Chiarelli

Just how did the silly and unbelievable (literally) rumor of Jason Spezza being traded to the Boston Bruins start? Well, I do know, but that’s another tale. However, as if the Boston Globe and their Bruins Blog didn’t do a strong enough dismantling of the rumor, Chiarelli did confirm that no, the Bruins and the Sens aren’t talking about a Spezza to Boston for the number two overall pick swap.

Personally, this was such a ridiculous thought for two reasons. One? Spezza makes seven-million dollars from here until 2015. In what possible world do the Bruins fit another center in the books at that price-tag? They already have 13.5 and change committed to the pivot along next season between three guys who are all more than capable and two? Spezza’s best days came between the C.A.S.H Line of the 2006-07 Sens when he was centering Daniel Alfredsson and Dany Heatley in their prime.

Chiarelli did however, remark that he’s seen more chatter between teams than ever before.

Taylor or Tyler?

Forget the rumors, forget what you’ve heard–the Bruins are standing pat at number two and nobody is knocking their socks off to change their mind. That being said, it’s becoming apparent that the Bruins will obvious take whoever’s available at number two–either Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin. In fact, they’re the only two players Boston has focused on since the official start of the off-season. Meeting with Hall and Seguin’s parties both in Boston and at their homes in Canada, just who will the Bruins end up with?

It seems likely that Tyler Seguin will be taken by the Bruins at #2 overall.

For me, it’s an easy call for me to say that the Oilers will in fact go with OHL-scoring phenom and two-time Memorial Cup MVP Taylor Hall. Despite Boston’s attempted ‘Edmonton needs a center’ self-convincing, Hall’s performance this season and in the playoffs with an alleged back and knee injury tell you that this kid is everything you seek in a franchise player. He can score, and he can make it look pretty.

That being said, Seguin may fit the Bruins’ mold perfectly despite his strength at center. No slouch in the goal-scoring department himself with 48 goals this past season, Seguin may develop with a smoother better transition into Boston’s style of play. It’s also worth noting that Phil Kessel was originally drafted as a center for the Bruins and that Patrice Bergeron was equally as effective on the wing during the NHL Playoffs.

Savard & Wheeler To Columbus? Don’t Hold Your Breath

It’s not secret that the Bruins would like to add another pick to their arsenal in the top 10 this season, but this one–well this one made me laugh. Somehow, someway, a story developed and quickly folded about a potential trade between the Boston Bruins and Columbus Blue Jackets where the Jackets would send their 4th overall selection in next Friday’s draft to Boston in exchange for center Marc Savard and Blake Wheeler along with the Bruins’ 15th overall pick.

Certainly in the market for a top-tier center to support left-winger Rick Nash, the rumor-inventor may have just shot a tad too high with the assumption that Savard is being shopped by the Bruins. It’s easy to shut this one down in the sense that if Savard wanted to move, he wouldn’t have signed a seven-year extension to remain a Bruin. Wheeler on the other hand could definitely be shopped while the Bruins certainly have interest in nabbing another pick in perhaps even the top five to increase their chances of landing one of the two stud defensemen in this year’s class with either Cam Fowler or Erik Gudbranson.

I do believe the Bruins try to pull of a deal with Columbus or another team in the top 10, but any notions that Savard is on the open market are simply wrong.

Nathan Horton To Boston? Don’t Hold Your Breath II

Just when you can’t get enough rumors around Boston, Florida Panthers under-achiever Nathan Horton comes into the picture. As reported by James Murphy of NESN, sources tell NESN that the B’s could be closing in on a deal for the Panthers winger who put together a medicore season with 20 goals and 57 points in 2009-10. Horton still has three years left on a deal that pays him an annual salary of four-million dollars including a cap-deadly no-movement-clause, the last thing the Bruins need is another winger who doesn’t know how to use his size.

My Personal Rumor

Vladimir Sobotka and the Bruins will agree to an extension by this time next week, perhaps sooner while a rumor about Joe Thornton coming to Boston in exchange for Zdeno Chara is tweeted–then retweeted, spreading the madness.

————————————————————————————————

Say Hey In Under 140 Characters: Follow Ty on Twitter!

Facebook Us!: Add the HockeyIndependent Bruins Facebook profile as a friend today!

Questions? Comments?: Send Ty your hate/love mail at TAndersonBruins@gmail.com

Patrice Bergeron carried the momentum of his strong 2008-09 finish through the 2009-10 season.

Career-changing, franchise-changing, and even life-changing.

Those were some of the changes the hockey world thought the concussion woes of Patrice Bergeron would bring to the 24-year old forward and the Boston Bruins organization. After suffering his second major cocussion in just under 14 months, the concerns as to the well-being of the Bruins’ alternate-captain grew before recovery would unexpectedly-quickly play its role. Concluding his turbulent year with a strong resurgence at the tail-end of the regular season which included his first career NHL fight (in the playoffs no less), B’s fans couldn’t help but hope and pray that #37 had turned the corner that had haunted his career for two straight seasons.

The rumblings that Bergeron was ‘back’ were solidified when the longest-tenured Bruin forward scored Boston’s lone goal on a breakaway against Jose Theodore in opening night’s 4-1 loss at the TD Garden. Displaying a positive sign and a change from the season prior, where it took Bergeron seven games to score his first goal of the campaign, it would only be the beginning of the season for who would turn out to be Boston’s most consistent scorer.

Playing with Mark Recchi on his wing for nearly the entire season, the oft-considered-tame vocal presence of the Bruins, Bergeron led by example for the lethargic 2009-10 Boston Bruins. Never going more than five contests without registering a point, Bergeron started off the first two months of the year with 18 points in 26 games, the best start through two months of play in his short career.

Considered a premier-face-off man, Bergeron led the Bruins in virtually every offensive category throughout the season, the battles at the dot being no exception. Winning a total 778 out of 1342 face-off’s on the season, Bergeron’s 58% was tops on the roster and 3.7% percent better than the full-time Bruins center in line (Vladimir Sobotka). Continuing his Selke-worthy season from the defensive stand-point, Bergeron led all B’s forwards with 45 blocked shots and a staggering 55 takeaways.

These numbers and hustle-points if you will didn’t go unnoticed by Team Canada assembler Steve Yzerman, who named Bergeron, a non-invitee to Canada’s summer camp, to the 2010 Olympic squad. Originally slated on the wing of superstars Sidney Crosby and Jarome Iginla, Bergeron quickly found himself bumped down and relegated to fourth line duty for Team Canada in their eventual capture of a Gold medal in Vancouver. Despite cries from the Bruins-faithful regarding Mike Babcock‘s use (or lack of) of #37 during the Olympics, the achievement of Bergeron, who missed six games prior to the team selection with a broken thumb, was still outstanding considering the personal health of the kid from Quebec just a short year and change ago.

However, as quickly as our smiles for Bergeron’s Gold were evident, the alternate-captain found himself in the fires of leading his club to the NHL playoffs. As the B’s began to fade without Marc Savard in the line-up, when a real winger failed to arrive in Boston during the trade deadline, the strong-willed Bergeron suited up and put together a near point-per-game month of March. Spared from Savard-less doom by the stellar finishes of Bergeron and David Krejci, Bergeron’s best moment and perhaps most telling moment of what he meant to this club came in the home-finale of the season.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Clinging to their lives of a once 3-0 lead against the Carolina Hurricanes, a clear by Boston in the offensive end on a delayed penalty let a puck fly toward the Bruins’ empty-net with Bergeron in hot pursuit. Skating with reckless aggression, Bergeron somehow someway gets the blade of his stick on the puck and pulls it off the line, ultimately saving the Bruins’ lead and perhaps their season.

Playoffs

Assuming the role of the Bruins’ top-line center, Bergeron came into the postseason as perhaps Boston’s most successful performer against the Buffalo Sabres with 16 points in 29 career contests, seven of which coming on the power-play. Sure enough, those numbers would be a sign of things to come in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.

Held to just one assist in the opening two games of the series in Buffalo, Bergeron and the B’s headed back to Boston looking to grab a beyond pivotal lead in the series that pitted strength against strength. In typical fashion in 2009-10 for the Bruins, a late dump-in where Recchi knocked rookie Tim Kennedy off the puck and fed it to Bergeron who potted his first playoff goal of the season to give the Bruins the eventual game-winning goal in the closing half of the third period. Registering two more points in the Bruins’ double-overtime win in Game 4, Bergeron finished the series with an assist in Boston’s series-clinching Game 6 win.

With Bergeron performing exceedingly well on the power-play between Recchi and David Krejci, the Bruins’ special teams propelled the club into the second round for the second straight year for a match-up with the Philadelphia Flyers. Bolstered by the return of Marc Savard in round two, the Bergeron line quickly did their job in easing the burden of the rest of the lines by scoring two quick goals in first period of the Bruins’ Game 1 OT victory, with #37 getting an assist along with a tip-in goal in the contest.

Scoring points in both games 2 and 3 as the Bruins widened their lead to a seemingly concrete 3-0 in the series, Bergeron’s dramatic two points in Game 4 wouldn’t be enough as Simon Gagne and the Flyers staved off elimination on home-ice in overtime. Then, Bergeron, like most of the Bruins, was suddenly neutralized by a defense that fully believed in what was considered hockey’s version of mission impossible.

Held off the scoreboard in the proceeding three contests, Bergeron, who came into the year with a bang went out a whimper of a game in Game 7, putting just one shot on goal and finishing with a -1.

Highlights of the Season

* Bergeron finished with the most even-strength goals among any Bruin on the season with 18.

* Finshing the season with 1:56 minutes of shorthanded time-on-ice per game, Bergeron still finished the season with 52 points, tied for the team lead with David Krejci.

* Deking around fellow Team Canada member Chris Pronger in route to a goal, Bergeron pulled off his “move” of the year.

Low-lights of the Season

* While Patrice was relied upon in nearly every other facet of the game, he struggled in the shootout for Boston, going 3-for-13 on the season.

* On November 16th, Bergeron had arguably the worst game of his career against the New York Islanders. Logging 21 minute of time-on-ice and registering a lone shot on goal, Bergeron finished with a -4 on the night.

Future Endeavors

It’s entirely possible that Bergeron was the only Bruin who lived up to his expectations in 2009-10, and will be entering the final year of a contract that pays him 4.75 million in 2010-11. With a no-trade clause that kicks in on July 1st this year, the 24-year old center has found himself the subject of trade rumors regarding the Bruins and their number two overall pick in this month’s draft. Following along with the idea that the Oilers are going to end up taking Taylor Hall, the thought process among some has been that the Bruins will trade Bergeron in the event of that in order to make room for center Tyler Seguin, the equally talented prospect in terms of skill with Hall. However, given Bergeron’s past season and the friendly entry-level deal that Seguin would arrive to Boston with for three years, a trade of #37 seems as unlikely as it is reckless for the B’s.

Don’t be shocked if the Bruins and Bergeron hammer out an extension during the regular season.

——————————————————————————————————————

Say Hi in Under 140 Characters: Follow Ty on Twitter!

“I’ll Facebook You!”: Add the HockeyIndependent Bruins Facebook profile as a friend today!

Questions? Comments?: Send Ty an e-mail at TAndersonBruins@gmail.com

Will Steve Begin just end up continuing the revolving door of fourth line centers in Boston?

(This is the first off-season installment featuring a review of every Bruins player chronicling the highs and lows of their season. Hope you enjoy it because hey, it’s better than reading about blowing a three-game series lead all-summer long)

When the Bruins finished the 2008-09 regular season with the sixth best penalty-kill in the Eastern Conference but bolstered up to second in the NHL during the playoffs, the concerns began to mount about the future of the penalty-killing unit. With expiring contracts to longtime Bruin and Swedish-forward P.J Axelsson and veteran center Stephane Yelle, it appeared that cap-crunching would leave both guys on the outside looking in for Boston’s plans in 2009-10.

While Yelle’s tenure was acknowledged to be done with on July 1st during a media conference with Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli, the B’s remained active in the market with their signing of “agitating” center Steve Begin. Please note the quotations around the word agitating.

A player who can play left-wing along with center, Begin’s introduction to Boston on a one-year deal worth 850,000 also lessened the eventual loss of Axelsson, who’d eventually leave Boston in favor of his hometown club, Frolunda HC of the Swedish Elite League.

Familiar with the Bruins through his days with the Montreal Canadiens, where his nuisance like behavior and hard-nosed physicality made him a hit, Begin became the third in what has been a revolving door of fourth-line centers in the Hub. Starting out with Glen Metropolit in 2007-08 and followed by Yelle in the next season, Begin noted joining Boston as “finally being on the right side of the rivalry”.

Besides his opening words upon entering the Hub, Begin quickly endeared himself to fans with a fight in the first preseason game of the season at the TD Garden against Dane Byers of the New York Rangers. Stepping in for P-Bruins defensemen Drew Fata in the incident, Begin’s preseason play gave us the idea that his impact would in fact be that of a true antagonist for the Bruins’ opponents on a nightly basis.

However, that image would quickly disintegrate during the regular season.

Scoring four points in his first four games of the season, a career-first and best for Begin, the 31-year old Quebec-native would be heavily relied upon on the Bruins’ revamped penalty-kill. However, the Bruins would surrender nine goals in their first 30 stints on the man-disadvantage and Begin’s presence on the kill went virtually unnoticed until the acquisition of Daniel Paille, greatly complementing and cementing the duo as the Bruins’ best penalty-killing unit throughout the rest of the regular season.

Displaying a model of consistency that earned the grinder the ‘A’ on his jersey for much of the 2009 calendar year, Begin finished the season playing in 77 games for the Bruins, a career-high for a player who’s knack for playing on the edge often resulted in trips to the injured-reserve.

Playoffs

Suiting up in the playoffs for the first time since 2007-08, where he had three points in 12 games for the Montreal Canadiens, Begin came into the postseason as one half of what was potentially Boston’s best strength–their penalty kill. Thought of as needing to be the stopper against the Ryan Miller led Buffalo Sabres, Begin and company did that just. Killing off all 22 of the Sabres’ power-play opportunities on their way to advancing to the second round for the second year in a row.

With Marco Sturm injuring himself on the first shift of the series just 45 seconds in, Begin found himself bumped up to the left-wing on the Patrice Bergeron and Mark Recchi line in the opening minutes of Game 1. Seizing the opportunity, Begin connected and put the puck by Brian Boucher just two minutes and 39 seconds into the series for his first career NHL playoff goal.

However, that would be the last positive impact Begin would bring to Boston. Staying off the score-sheet and earning a -4 in the proceeding six games, it would turn out to be a power-play goal by Simon Gagne that damned the Bruins in their Game 7 loss at the TD Garden.

High-Lights of the Season

* Two of Steve Begin’s five goals on the season qualified as game-winners.

* Begin scored one of the three NHL-record-setting shorthanded goals against the Carolina Hurricanes on April 10th.

* Showing his physicality, Begin gave the B’s crowd their first two-for-one deal of the season with his hit on Vinny Prospal.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Low-Lights of the Season

* Begin played 7.25% of his even-strength time on ice for the season alongside Marc Savard and Marco Sturm and only mustered up 14 points on the season.

* The -7 Begin had on the regular season was good for second worst among Bruins forwards.

* Signed as the Bruins’ version of a pest, Begin seemed to be neutered by the Julien system of playing smart hockey.

Future Endeavors

Just where does Begin fit into Boston’s off-season plans? Regardless of him leading the team in hits with 184, it’s more than fair to say that Begin wasn’t what was sold to Bruins fans. The instigating, irritating, and downright villainous Hab they hated for seasons seemed to be more calm and at times was even mild looking. However, Begin played considerably expectant as the Bruins’ fourth-line center and lessened the loss of Yelle and Axelsson. That being said, the strong physical presence brought to the line-up by Vladimir Sobotka in the 2010 Playoffs along with the re-signing of Shawn Thornton leads us to believe that Begin’s tenure in the Hub is over.

Prediction? Begin heads back to Montreal if Glen Metropolit leaves via free agency.

—————————————————————————————————-

Say Hey In Under 140 Characters: Follow Ty on Twitter

“I’ll Facebook You!”: Add the HockeyIndependent Bruins Facebook profile as a friend today!

Questions? Hate Mail? Love Notes?: Send Ty an e-mail at TAndersonBruins@gmail.com

Shawn Thornton has signed a two-year extension to remain a Bruin.

In an upcoming off-season where the Bruins will need to add, cut, replace, or retain up to 11 NHL-quality players from the 2009-10 season, B’s General Manager Peter Chiarelli wasted no time in keeping a fan favorite in town with the late-night signing of fourth-line enforcer Shawn Thornton to a two-year extension worth an annual cap-hit of 812,000.

Originally brought to Boston in the summer of 2007 to address the lack of toughness that hindered the Bruins in 2006-07, Thornton has quickly become a fan-favorite in the Hub for his flare for dropping the gloves and outspoken approach to the game.

Appearing in 211 regular season contests since arriving in Boston, Thornton has amassed 338 minutes in penalties along with 28 points in black-and-gold, including 50 fighting majors over that span.

Engaging in a career-high 21 fights this season, Thornton’s role in Boston has remained steady as the team’s lone enforcer and follower of “The Code”, the NHL’s widely recognized yet unspoken code of conduct that players and enforcers have among each other as to what is and isn’t tolerated within the physical aspects of the game. Following that same code, Thornton’s biggest moment came on March 18th, where #22 in black dropped the gloves with Pittsburgh-villain Matt Cooke in an attempt for retribution for his hit on Marc Savard a few weeks prior.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In a league where the formerly famed-enforcer has been nearly outsourced entirely by pests and rookie call-up’s from the AHL, the extension to Thornton has raised a few eyebrows to the non-casual fan. It’s no secret that the NHL is unintentionally ousting their fighters with the instigator rule and with players such as Donald Brashear and Georges Laraque, famed tough-guys of their time, currently sitting at home with their contracts bought out by their respective clubs, where does the logic in Boston’s front-office stand with their 33% raise to Thornton?

Looking at this realistically, it appears that the dollar-strained Bruins have once again left their fan-base up in arms with a potential over-payment to a player who doesn’t kill penalties, doesn’t score, and logs just nine minutes of time-on-ice per game.

To put Thornton’s cap-hit in NHL-wide perspective, the soon-to-be 33-year old winger will hit the Bruins’ books for 812,000 dollars this upcoming season. That’s just under the salary of Anaheim slugger George Parros (875,000) and a mere 100,000 and change more than the earnings of Zack Stortini in Edmonton, who earned 700,000 in 2009-10. However, while Bruins fans are allowed to take brief comfort in the fact that Thornton will still make less than the likes of fellow Northeast Division adversaries Chris Neil and Colton Orr, the real crux of the issue could stem from the fact that the Bruins could have potentially replaced Thornton with a younger and more importantly cheaper forward from Providence in an effort to pinch every possible penny.

Undoubtedly the best candidate for a replacement on Boston’s fourth line would’ve come from Lane MacDermid. A winger taken in the fourth round of last June’s draft, MacDermid had five points in 65 games for the P-Bruins in 2009-10 with 155 minutes in penalties. More importantly, the 20-year old could have stepped into Boston in the second year of an entry-level deal that comes with a cap-hit of just under 567,000 dollars.

I’m no banker, but that’s a 245,000 dollar savings. Say it with me, Boston.

—————————————————————————————————————

Follow Me If You Want To Live: Follow Ty on Twitter!

“I’ll Facebook You!”: Add the HockeyIndependent Bruins Facebook profile as a friend!

Get It Off Your Chest: Send Ty your hate/love letters to TAndersonBruins@Gmail.com

The Bruins became the third team in NHL history to blow a 3-0 series lead.

I suppose I could leave this entry blank and it’d say just as many words as there are. Nothing. Not a single word can be used to describe the events that transpired last Friday night at the TD Garden. For days it was impossible to even look at a box score, never mind gaze at the photos. Was this all just a terrible dream for B’s fans? A sick, cruel, nightmare?

Holding a three games to none series lead at one point, and holding a 3-0 lead in Game 7 in Boston, the Bruins would go on blow both right in front of 17,565 of their home fans. Making history in becoming the third team in NHL history to blow such a lead, only the fourth team in sports history to do so, just what was it that haunted the Bruins in their bid for an Eastern Conference Finals trip since 1992?

The answer is just what haunted them throughout the entire season—the lack of a killer instinct.

In an off-season that brought Boston a major roster overhaul in terms of leadership-turnover with departures of veterans P.J Axelsson, Shane Hnidy, Aaron Ward, and Stephane Yelle, the biggest loss in the Hub was that of Phil Kessel. The team’s leading goal scorer in 2008-09, a season where Boston locked down their first Northeast title since 2004, Kessel tallied 36 goals alongside Marc Savard but was unable to reach an agreement to remain in black-and-gold. Eventually traded away to the Toronto Maple Leafs for two first rounders and a second.

While that pick has gladly given the Bruins the second overall pick in June’s upcoming draft, there was no immediate return for the loss of your best offensive weapon if you’re B’s coach Claude Julien.

Sold to us was that a medley of secondary scorers such as Patrice Bergeron, Chuck Kobasew, Marco Sturm, and Blake Wheeler would fill in the absence left by Kessel. Instead, Bergeron led the team in points with a mild 52, Kobasew was moved to Minnesota by the middle of October while Sturm and Wheeler were invisible on most nights. Factor in a multitude of injuries and the Bruins were forced to sign guys such as Miroslav Satan to round out their roster up front.

However, the Bruins would battle their way through, eventually landing with the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference where they surprisingly knocked off the Buffalo Sabres in six games to move on to the Eastern Conference Semifinals for the second year in a row. Then, just as the B’s coast to a 3-0 series lead, it was the loss of two-way center and playmaking wizard David Krejci factored in with the return of Simon Gagne for the Flyers that would ultimately kill the Boston Bruins.

Finding themselves on the cusp of the Conference Finals, needing just a single overtime goal to advance for the second year in a row, just what happened? Simply put, the Bruins let the Flyers claw their way back into it. Taking your foot off the gas, having no heart, or whatever you may call it, it was an issue that the Bruins had all through the season.

Coming into this season with a near flawless record when leading after two periods, the Boston Bruins finished the 2009-10 season with the NHL’s fifth worst winning percentage when leading after two periods of play and had 14 one-goal losses, good for second most in the NHL. The B’s also finished the regular season with just 59 third period goals, 28th in the league.

To be kind, the B’s had their difficulties burying games in their favor, a difficulty that has left the Bruins on their couch in the Eastern Conference Finals. Presented with an opportunity to have home-ice advantage as a six seed against the Andrei Markov-less Montreal Canadiens for a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals, something that’s been missing for so long that it’s considered a myth in the city of Boston, the Bruins fell on their face and out of the fold because of their reappearing complacency.

Outside of the Boston blame-game that has been going strong since about 10PM last Friday, what is done moving forward?

The Bruins need to return to their roots, which is easier said than done. While Peter Chiarelli’s final press-conference of the season told Bruins fans nothing besides a pathetic appeasement to the sickened fans of the Hub by telling us ‘Hey, well we were one of five teams to make it to the second round for two years in a row’, the ball is in Chiarelli’s court this off-season. Possessing the second overall pick in this year’s draft, the B’s anticipate to nab either Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin, an instant boost to the projected top-six complexion of an offensively-starved club.

Among the crop of restricted free-agents, forwards Daniel Paille and Vladimir Sobotka should both find themselves with slight raises and back in black-and-gold along with defensemen Mark Stuart. Beleaguered by injuries during the regular season and most of the playoffs, Stuart’s par-to-sub-par play could be beneficial to the Bruins in locking him up long-term at a reasonable cost. Rounding out the list of RFA’s, the enigma that is Blake Wheeler heads into this off-season as Boston’s biggest question mark.

Despite often appearing disengaged, lazy, and hindered by his own inability to stay on-sides, Wheeler finished fifth on the team in points with 38. Tallying 18 goals, three of which coming the power-play, Wheeler could either be gearing up for the famed third-year-breakout or he could continue to fizzle as a player who’s derailed by his own play. Does Chiarelli reward the young forward with a long-term contract, assuring his trust in his ability, is he retained on a one-year tender, or is he simply let go for the draft picks?

To be truthful, your guess is as good as mine.

With veterans headlining the list of unrestricted free agents, two must-keeps for the Boston Bruins have to be the elder-statesmen of the B’s, Mark Recchi and Miroslav Satan. Arguably Boston’s best two forwards throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Recchi and Satan both proved that they in fact still have plenty more in the tank to contribute in the NHL. Given Satan’s highly successful connection with center David Krejci and Recchi’s leadership both on and off the ice, this may be the easiest decision Chiarelli will have to make this off-season.

Confirming what Bruins fans hoped and anticipated, Dennis Seidenberg will likely be back for another go-round with the club while fourth-liners Steve Begin and Shawn Thornton are likely to be on the outs.

Despite the addition of Hall or Seguin, you can’t bank on rookies being instant game-changers, putting the pressure on Chiarelli and crew to grab a true finisher for the 2010-11 Boston Bruins. In a barren free-agent market headlined by Ilya Kovalchuk and Patrick Marleau, an aforementioned abundance of expiring contracts and dwindling cap-space may force the Bruins to look for options in the trade market.

Up front, overpaid forward Michael Ryder could find himself on the outs in 2010-11. Ryder, who turns 31 next season, will be in the final year of a contract that pays him four million a season and with his discouraging 18 goals. Finishing with just three goals in the final 22 games of the regular season, Ryder didn’t exactly vindicate himself during the postseason with four goals and five points in 13 playoff games.

Undoubtedly seizing the number one goaltending job during the regular season and playoffs, Tuukka Rask is projected to be the Bruins’ number-one goaltender in 2010-11 and rightfully so, putting 2009 Vezina Trophy winner Tim Thomas in an unfavorable position.

Thomas, who’s making five million a season through the next three seasons, could present an interesting trade target for some. Teams such as Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington, who all suffer from well-known goaltending issues may have just what the Bruins need. Trying to help their own cap-concerns, both the Blackhawks and Flyers could find themselves knocking on Boston’s door in a bad contract-swap of sorts. For Philadelphia, names such as Simon Gagne (5.25 million through 2010-11) and Scott Hartnell (4.25 million through 2012-13) could be tossed around in talks for the Bruins while Chicago could be looking to move someone like Kris Versteeg (3 million through 2011-12) or Patrick Sharp (3.9 million through 2011-12).

Of course, any move in contingent on Thomas waiving his no-movement clause.

With so many questions and the shame of blowing a 3-0 series lead looming over the building on Causeway Street, there’s one thing Bruins fans can take some comfort in–the Bruins aren’t repeating last season’s events and sitting pat this off-season.

———————————————————————————————————————

Follow Me If You Want To Live: Follow Ty on Twitter!

“I’ll Facebook You!”: Add the HockeyIndependent Bruins Facebook profile as a friend!

Spring My Form: Ask Ty a question on Formspring!

Questions? Comments? Love Notes?: Email Ty at TAndersonBruins@gmail.com