The Bruins Year That Was: Steve Begin

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.

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.

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