1st Half Grades

Well with the team getting back to action tonight I figured I'd procrastinate until the last second and make my grades on the Bruins through the mid-way point of the NHL season.

P.J Axelsson: B-, his PK ability is still there and was showing signs of turning it on before the All-Star break. Hopefully with this team getting back to 100% P.J can go back to being what he's best at being: a 3rd line LW.

Patrice Bergeron: C. We know there would be some rust but he went cold often. Going goal-less for 7 games, scoring 1 goal in a 4-2 rout of Florida and proceeding to go goal-less in his next 11 games before getting reinjured. Not to mention he scored just two points and had just a +2 in the Bruins two big wins (7-3 @ ATL and 8-5 vs. TOR).

Zdeno Chara: A+. The Captain's playing like a true Norris trophy winner. He's becoming even more of a powerplay weapon and is still one of the hardest D to go 1-on-1 with.

Manny Fernandez: A. He's surprised the heck out of me with his play. Granted he's missed time as of late due to 'injuries' but no one could say they saw this coming.

Shane Hnidy: B. For a 3rd line defensemen he stepped up big when guys like Ward and Ference went down. The beatdown of Matt Niskanen gets him a bump up in my book.

Matt Hunwick: B-. He looked outmatched last season, I'm not going to lie, I doubted his skill as a serious NHL player. This year he showed his offensive side, but is currently pointless in his last 13 games, in which he has a -3 with 11 PIM.

Phil Kessel: A. The same guy Bruins fans were pleading to get traded for Marian Hossa last February is now the Bruins number 1 goal scorer. Funny what a player can do when you light a fire underneath him.

Chuck Kobasew: B-. Injuries have plagued his tenure with the Bruins but has shown he is a valid 2-way player when healthy.

David Krejci: A+. He has been by far the Bruins best forward since the end of November, around the same time of the formation of his line with 73 and 26. At 22, it's scary to think what he can do as time goes on.

Milan Lucic: B+. One hat trick, a +16 and one Komisarek beatdown later Lucic is on his way to becoming a household name in the city of Boston.

Petteri Nokelainen: D. 0 goals, 1 assist and a -3 aren't going to cut it on this team. After showing a bit of scorer's touch last year (scoring 7 goals in 57 games last year as a 4th liner) he appears to be overthinking every shift and not playing his game. Maybe a benching or two will get him back to being a level headed grinder.

Michael Ryder: A. He was having some trouble finding his groove in Beantown at first but being put on a line with David Krejci has worked wonders for him, along with finding his place within the Boston powerplay. His 7 GWG's and +21 are also giving reasons for GM Peter Chiarelli to applaud this signing.

Marc Savard: A+. He's already beat his 07-08 goal total in 30 less games and a plus 28 is a stat that Bruins fans aren't used to seeing with Marc Savard as he averaged a -16 in his first two seasons with Boston.

Mark Stuart: B. A little offensive touch from Mark Stuart is always a bonus from "Caveman", and that's been the case as he's already matched his 2007-08 point total and has added the physical element to the defense of Boston in the absence of Ference and Ward.

Tim Thomas: A+. Tim Thomas, Vezina front runner? Never thought I'd say that. He's posted incredible numbers at 20-5-4 with a .934 SV% and a 2.09 GAA. The Bruins need to lock him up before seasons end in my opinion.

Shawn Thornton: B+. Throwing fists and hard checks has been Thornton's role as a Bruin and this year has been no exception. He's stuck up for team-mates (see: November 1st vs. Dallas when Steve Ott went at Stephane Yelle's knee) and has thrown down with the best of them including Georges Laraque against whom he held his own.

Aaron Ward: B-. His physical play is apparently starting to affect his body. Ward has been out 3 times now with minor injuries to his lower body. Nevertheless his +14 and veteran know-how is a big boost to the young memebers of the Boston D.

Blake Wheeler: A. No one saw the impact that Blake Wheeler has had on the Bruins this season coming. When signed by the Bruins back in July they expected him to start out the year in Providence and maybe get the call when someone went down but a fantastic pre-season found the Minnesota talent in Boston. His 1st NHL shot was a goal and since then he's been a pivotal part of the Bruins offense. His +27 and 30 points are a big reason why he's considered the front runner for the Calder Memorial Trophy.

Dennis Wideman: A+. When Dennis Wideman was traded to the Bruins back in 2007 he was the subject of much scrutiny. Who could blame us though? Here was a guy who was best known for falling down during a shootout attempt who was traded for what looked like a promising young scorer. It's safe to say however that Wideman has come into his own here in Boston; posting a +26 and 20 powerplay points already.

Stephane Yelle: A-. For 750,000 this signing came as a steal as Yelle has dawned the "A" on his chest this season and has been consistently great at winning faceoff's and filling the role left by Glen Metropolit.

Coach Claude Julien: A+. If the season ended today, I'd say he's your Jack Adams winner. He's executed game plans perfectly, made adjustments that he felt necesary when players were hot or cold and has done an overall great job at keeping everyone level headed.

Incompletes: Marco Sturm, Matt Lashoff, Tuukka Rask, Byron Bitz, Vladimir Sobotka, Martins Karsums.

Injuries Showing; Replay Robbery

Injuries plauged the Boston Bruins in 2007-08 and it seems that yet again the injury bug has hit the Bruins, hard. "It's frustrating for everybody, it's frustrating for the players, it's frustrating for the fans, and then people that have seen our team in a better position before" Coach Claude Julien said regarding the teams recent injury woes. Yesterday the Bruins took to the ice without Milan Lucic, Phil Kessel, Patrice Bergeron, Andrew Ference, Aaron Ward and Marco Sturm (who's lost for the season). It was evident yesterday that these are not the Boston Bruins we've watched with such excitement this year. Julien later remarked "You can't replace Patrice Bergeron or Marco Sturm for his speed and his skill level..You got guys moving up that are playing big roles..and doing the best they can" and it's starting to show.


You can't blame everything on injuries though it was clear that the Bruins seemed very lackluster out there against a last place team. "I don't think our effort was there like it was against Washington". The Bruins were apparently on cruise control up until they were blessed with a 5 on 3 powerplay. They scored twice, Ryder (18) and Axelsson (4) to put them ahead 3-2. Then Chara put a weak shot from the blue line right through the 5-hole of Mason and it was 4-2 Boston. Game over, right? No. After a Stephane Yelle penalty the Blues scored on the powerplay. 4-3, about a minute left. They could still hang on, right?



Wrong. With the goalie pulled, Blake Wheeler's shot goes just wide, Krejci gets the rebound but Jackman blocks it with his body and the Blues skate up ice. Shane Hnidy then knocks the puck out of the Boston zone, and with 9 seconds left St. Louis makes their final rush then in a final frenzy David Backes bats the puck into the net past Tim Thomas with .2 seconds left on the clock as if his name was David Ortiz. Bruins players and fans thought they heard the voice of God over the PA in the words "The play is under review". It was clearly a high stick in the eyes of Bruins and fans as the stadium sang "No Goal", but the zebras and suits in Toronto had their say. The ruling was a goal. Seriously? It appeared the rules of "no goals when the stick's above the crossbar" were changed overnight and no one in the Boston area was told.

I honestly couldn't believe this call. I mean can't you just tell by that screenshot above that his stick was a good 2-4 inches above the red? Granted the Bruins were lucky to even get a point out of this but there wasn't enough conclusive evidence to say it wasn't a goal? I don't buy it. Neither did Claude Julien 'Everyone on our bench thought it was no goal'. It happens, there's 82 games in a season. But the bigger issue in this one is do the Bruins have enough fire-power to carry on down the stretch run?


With Sturm done for the year and his placement onto the Long Term Injured Reserve list the Bruins have 4+ million to play around with and be potiental buyers at this years trading deadline. Fact is, hoping for Lecavalier, Gaborik or Kovalchuk to be dawning a Bruins uniform into March is just being unrealistic; the price tag's are too high and the cap-hit is too much with guys like Krejci and Kessel becoming RFA's at seasons end. A name that intrigues me is St. Louis Blues LW and Medford, Massachusetts native Keith Tkachuk.


Adding Tkachuk would undoubtedly be a rental but his veteran presence and know-how could give nothing but an extra boost to this Boston club. Sturm's loss and the gain of a Keith Tkachuk would give the Bruins another weapon on the powerplay as 13 of Tkachuk's 30 points have been on the powerplay. His price tag may also not be as large as someone like a Nik Antropov, Mike Comrie or Islanders Captain Bill Guerin. Another appealing attribute Tkachuk has is his ability to play both left wing and center. Usually I'm not one for deadline deals ever since the Gonchar deal in which the Bruins lost both a 1st and 2nd round draft pick and saw Gonchar leave for Pittsburgh in the off-season but with the injuries this team's combating and question mark that is Patrice Bergeron I believe a deal would only benefit this team.

Winter Classic '10: Boston?

Well for the 2nd year in a row, the NHL Winter Classic was a success. This time it matched up two division rivals in the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks. The success of last year's thrilling shootout between the Penguins and Sabres undoubtedly sold this to hockey and sport fans in general that this is going to be annual. Althogh the Red Wings went on an easy 6-4 victory, improving to 4-0-0 against Chicago the overwhelming feeling amongst NHL fans and executives is that they've hit it big with this.


Which brings us to this; If the NHL wants to keep raking in revenue through the Winter Classic they'll need to find a game for next year. Which jumpstarts me to my next point; the 2010 Winter Classic would be absolutely perfect for the Boston Bruins and the city of Boston. The Hub Of Hockey is currently going through a revival of love for their Black and Gold and no setting would be more pefect for this than Fenway Park. Simply put: The Bruins and the Montreal Canadiens live at Fenway Park should be (and if I had to guess will be) the 2010 Winter Classic.


An ideal match-up at an ideal location is the best way to describe this. The Bruins and Canadiens have a long and storied history. Although history is not kind to the Boston Bruins, who have met the Canadiens a record 31 times in NHL post-season history have only won their series 6 times the feeling is different. Last April Bruins fans were given a sample of what this team can do as they took Montreal to 7 games in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals; although Boston was dismantled 5-0 in Game 7 the feel was that they weren't going to be Montreal's punching bag anymore. This message has rang true this year as the Bruins are 2-0-1 against Montreal this year with their 4th meeting coming in 2 weeks.


Not only do these teams dislike one another, the fans have had their battles as well. The Canadiens fans are similar to Red Sox fans in the idea that they'll travel just about anywhere to see their team; this includes Boston. For several years now many French-Canadiens have made their trek to Boston for a game and have often left celebrating yet another Montreal win. This has left Boston fans with an increasingly bitter taste in their mouth and even more of a disdain for Canadiens hockey. This game would undoubtedly attract several Montreal fans who would pay whatever costs necesary to see this game. We however can't forget that Bruins fans would also feel an overwhelmingly sense of this game being a "must see" and would love to see their Black and Gold play on what's practically considered sacred ground: Fenway Park.


This game would also make sense for the NHL's marketing team. Wrigley Field's nice and all, but can you imagine seeing a game from the Green Monster or on the Budweiser right field deck seats? I mean c'mon, who wouldn't love seeing a Green-Monster-Camera replay after every goal? Profits for this stretch past the NHL as the Boston Red Sox ownership has been doing all they can to attract visitors and other events besides baseball games to showcase their stadium. The potiental profit company's could make off this game is unreal.


What's a better story than the youth of Chicago though? Simple: the return of hard hitting and goal scoring in Boston. Now that there's an enjoyable product on the ice with their new style of play and excitement the city and NHL is buzzing about the B's. Players would love it, fans would love it, the Boston and Montreal media would love it. This (black and) gold mine is there for taking, hopefully the NHL doesn't miss this opportunity.