If anyone is wondering why I didn’t post yesterday, it was due to unexpected time constraints. I didn’t have much to write out anyways. I did watch the Super Series game six but my notes looked pretty much identical to my game five ones other than the fact that the Russians came out looking a little (and I stress little) more alive than in game five. Hamill picked up two assists and continues to look more comfortable with every passing game. Really that’s about it though. Lucic was still used in a checking/puck possession role etc…
My blog today is the next instalment in opinions about what to expect from the Bruins this coming season. I hesitate to call myself an expert but this is my blog and so I get to give my opinions too. Plus, if I may say so, I make for an excellent interview.
GB: In what area do you think the team will be most improved next season?
GB: Well I know everyone else has said in goal but I just don’t see it. I think we would’ve been just as well off, or better off, with Hannu and Tim in net. Hannu was shaky to start last year but recovered nicely as the year went on and ended up looking quite solid. After seeing what he was capable of before he was injured when we brought him up to the NHL the first time, I believe that is the real Hannu Toivonen and not the one we saw last year. I think Hannu’s poor performance was mainly due to rink rust. He hadn’t played in a very long time and was expected to compete for the number one job. I’m of the opinion that St. Louis got themselves a heck of a goaltender and we will see that next year.
I very much hope that Manny Fernandez looks as he did two years ago but I am wary about his knee injury and the fact that he is not used to taking a shelling or dealing with poor defence and offensively gifted teams like the Sens, Sabres and Leafs eight times a year each.
That being said, I think positionally we’ve improved our forwards the most. Thornton will bring a nice energy game and Schaefer gives us another defensively responsible wing option. We are going to have Bochenski for a whole year this time and Kobasew will be healthy. Ditto for Bergeron. Not to mention, we’ve finally had a low turnover so these guys will be more used to one another and Phil Kessel has his rookie year out of the way. I’m very excited to see this speedy group of forwards gel under Coach Julien.
I think the attribute they’ve most improved in is aggression and toughness. This is partially be re-signing Reich and Thornton (that would be the toughness part) but mostly by picking up Claude Julien who does not play a wait and see type of game. Our forwards and defenders will constantly bring the attack to the enemy defensively and offensively just as we saw from him in Montreal.
I do believe Julien will trap but not in the same way we saw Dave Lewis set our guys up. Lewis had the Bruins cave into the defensive zone too easily and he didn’t really allow our d-men to step up and challenge the forwards. That “better safe than sorry” attitude lost us more than a couple games last year and I’m excited to see a team that will take more risks and really force the other team to beat the Bruins. The Bruins were far too passive last year and often kind of beat themselves.
GB: For some reason, I completely agree with you. So how do you think our defence looks?
GB: I think our defence will look slightly better than average only if Julien and Chiarelli are willing to tell some of the older guys that their minutes will be cut in favour of Wideman, Stuart and Lashoff. Do I think they’ll be willing to say that to the vets? Probably not. I think Julien would be willing to do that but I’m not sure that Chiarelli would.
Chara will be great if he sticks to patrolling our blue line and not the other team’s. I would like to see him stay back as much as possible and be a stay at home guy almost entirely.
He did not make his name on offensive play so why are we treating him like he’s Gonchar? I remember when Chara was developing here in Ottawa, he had a slap-shot that almost never hit the net. Am I to really believe that, as improved as he is, he is a natural offensive defenseman? No. I think he’s a very good player and I’m happy to have him on the team but he should be the penalty killing, body checking, stay at home guy that we need. After all, we did trade Brad Boyes for Wideman and Wideman’s numbers are impressive in the minors. What would happen if we paired the two? Chara could take care of Wideman’s defensive mistakes and Wideman could get to work showing us that he is a true offensive d-man and he was worth Brad Boyes. Let’s take some risks. Who knows, it might even be fun to watch!
Everyone on our blue line needs to find a role. Ference and Ward should be the guys that would “jump on a hand grenade” to save the team. They should be the shot blocking energy guys. Alberts should be like Chara junior. He has enormous size and hitting ability so let’s see him get paired with an offensive guy like Lashoff, or even give Allen a shot, and see if that can work. Julien will be good at finding jobs for everyone and setting up a decent defensive system, of that I have no doubt.
That said, I don’t think we will be seeing a ton of ice time for the youngsters at the expense of TOI for vets. Call it a hunch.
GB: Has anyone ever told you it’s difficult to concentrate while interviewing you due to your stunningly handsome appearance?
GB: Frequently.
GB: Moving on. If anyone, who will have a breakout year?
GB: Without a doubt, the number one candidate for breakout year is Brandon Bochenski. This guy is simply a goal scorer and he’s proven it at every level in my opinion. He has the quick release you need to have to be a finisher and he finds open space.
Brandon has his detractors about his defensive play and some nonsense about his skating. We saw him play 31 games with the Bruins last year and I have to say I could not see the defensive holes people love to apply to him anymore than I could see them in anyone else. In fact, he was a +3 for us in those games and showed a real ability to score 5 on 5. I don’t believe for a second that his 11 goals in 31 games was a fluke and I think if he is paired with Bergeron (who will be healthy this time) then Brandon could pot 30 next year and I wouldn’t be surprised at all.
Brandon has basically fallen into the hockey version of being typecast. The Sens trade him away in a raw deal and all of a sudden everyone says something like “oh well he wasn’t good defensively anyways”. I remember listening to the TEAM 1200 here in Ottawa and everyone was raving about Bochenski’s goal scoring abilities when he first came up to the big club after the lock-out. Then he’s on, of all teams, the Blackhawks and cannot seem to get comfortable playing in the bigs for them. Well who was comfortable with that team? Once he was moved out of there and sent back to the Admirals he became his old self again and that didn’t stop once he became a Bruin.
Bottom line, Chiarelli has seen more than enough of Brandon to not buy into the typecasting. That’s why he was willing to trade Versteeg for him and I think it was a solid decision. I think Brandon will live up to expectations and will force Chiarelli to give him a nice fat contract at the end of the year.
GB: Everyone seems to be high on Krejci. Would you bring him up next year?
GB: Absolutely not. I don’t care if he looks like the second coming of Gretzky, he must stay in the minors for another year. He can come up to get his feet wet when there’s an injury (which there will be inevitably). As good as everyone says he is, he looked timid and confused last year during his call-up stints. Now he didn’t get the most ice time (thanks to Dave Lewis’ odd dislike of youngsters) and that’s a valid point. However, I just don’t see that we need another play making pivot up in the Bruins especially when he would be holding down the third or fourth line. Also, Kalus (who I am still upset to have traded) received little ice time but showed an awareness to the game that Krejci did not and so I don’t think TOI is the best indicator. I think Krejci would be better served with another year in the AHL so he can continue to work on his physical and defensive game and become a better all around player who will have more experience and be more calm in the later NHL contests.
GB: Would you put Kessel at wing or at centre?
GB: Kessel would absolutely be my third line centre. I dislike having him there but that is the most logical choice for me. As I said, I don’t think our team will be a poster-child for defensive play this season and I think we will need to rely more on our offence. Kessel is a much better centre than he is a winger, in my opinion. I think Doug Flynn said it best when he mentioned that Kessel plays a speed game and has more ice to work with from centre. Also, pairing with Axe and Kobasew (who I would likely assign as the third line wingers) will teach him something about defence and give him defensively responsible line mates to work with. Not to mention, those guys can keep up with him and will undoubtedly produce offensively as well. Marc Savard will not be around forever and I think this will be great experience for Kessel and it will make him a more complete player.
Certainly much of this will depend on other player’s performances in training camp and whether or not someone emerges as a natural third line centre (which I think we are missing in our system). My kingdom for Mike Fisher!
GB: So then how would your forward lines look?
GB: Probably something like this (with minor changes depending on training camp performance):
Schaefer-Savard-Murray
This gives Savard his winger and Schaefer an opportunity to play with a real playmaking centre on a regular basis. Also Schaefer will hopefully bring a little defence to that line.
Sturm-Bergeron-Bochenski
Similar reasons to the first configuration. I don’t believe that this would help the other teams defend against us for three reasons: Bergeron is not the same as Savard, Sturm does not play the same game as Schaefer and this is the second of three offensive lines that I would roll. The other team can only have so much defence.
Axelsson-Kessel-Kobasew
I outlined my reasoning for this line above.
Thornton-Thompson-Reich
Why give Mark Mowers the fourth line centre role when Thompson would bring more physicality to it and it would aid in the development of a youngster. I love this line and I think it would be a huge hit with the fans who want to see a solid, don’t take crap from anybody line. I want to see this team fight and scrap as much as they can. This line would help this team grow a pair this season and get back on top of the heap for hits and fighting majors (and I don’t care what anyone says, fighting is important, especially in this market).
GB: How do you think we stack up to our division rivals and do you think there will be playoffs in Boston this year?
GB: I think we stack up decently against our division. Even last year we weren’t so bad against them, especially to start the year. We actually had much bigger problems with some teams outside of our division.
Toronto has improved with Blake and Toskala (who I consider to be only a slightly smaller question mark than Manny), but we usually stack up evenly against them. I don’t know why that is but it seems to happen like that every year. We pretty much split the series and I think the lifetime record of the two teams is split almost down the middle.
We already own the most regular season wins over the Sens overall and we seem to be able to hold our own against them for some reason. I can’t really explain it. They’re definitely a better team than the Bruins, although slightly weakened this year. I think the Sens will win the division but will count on Gerber to help them do that. People forget how good he actually looked at the end of last year and only remember his rough start. Emery will be coming in with some rust and I’m not sure how that will affect him. Like I said, I think we will hold our own against the Sens just based off the fact that we always do.
Montreal is a little tougher to judge. I definitely don’t see a lot of ability in their roster (I see much in their Hamilton roster though). I don’t have any faith in Carbo as a coach. I think he’s a little in over his head to be honest. On the other hand, it seems like to win against the Canadians we must have a MUCH better team than them otherwise they will beat us. I think if we are going to beat them it will be because their offence stinks, especially now that Souray is gone and their PP will be less potent (that’s right, less potent PP). My prediction is we take the season series five games to three but they’re actually the club I have the hardest time getting a bead on.
Buffalo is weakened but they are in the same position the Sens were in some years back where they have an endless stream of quality prospects coming up from the Amerks. I hope that will be us someday (but from Providence obviously). We will be playing more of an offensive style this year which will translate better against the Sabres than our style did last year. I think we will lose the season series to them five games to three. They kind of owned us last year.
The real tough teams on us last year were Florida and Carolina and I have no clue why. Hopefully we can turn that trend back around.
As for playoffs. I think by the end of the season the Bruins will have the seventh or eighth spot, and you can quote me. I see no reason to believe that the Bruins will not be fighting for it the whole year and I see no reason why they can’t come out on top.
GB: So about these trade rumours between NJ and the Bruins, what do you think about Paul Martin?
GB: Well when Ek says that we’re talking about a trade for Martin I hope he means Brodeur because I do not want to give up Murray AND a prospect for Paul Martin. No offense intended to Martin, he is a decent d-man (although he somehow ended up a minus on the Devils not that I put much stock into the plus minus stat), but it simply would be a crime to trade a prospect for a young d-man when we already have so many of our own young d-men waiting to come up. The move makes no sense to me. I would rather trade Murray for a pick or I would just as soon keep him.
GB: Thank you for this brilliant and insightful piece. Live long and prosper.
-Gerz
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