This Week In Bruins: Tuukka, The Kids, Philly & My Negativity

Here in the first week of “This Week In Bruins” (okay, I’m cheating, the season is about three weeks old now but who makes up these rules anyhow?), we’re going to examine the past seven days in all things Bruins.

Following a dominating performance against a semi-healthy Dallas Stars team, the Bruins sputtered out of the gate and lost to the currently-untouchable Ilya Bryzagalov the Phoenix Coyotes 4-1 in the desert. Before the game, the Bruins lost Milan Lucic for the night, and went on to lose him for the next 4-6 weeks with a broken finger.

Just how does one of the NHL’s toughest players get away with sitting out four to six weeks because of a broken finger? Well, you can ask him if you see him, but I know I won’t be backing you up.

* To add injury to injury, the Bruins also placed linemate Marc Savard on the long-term injured reserve with a broken foot. While Savard’s seven points were good for best on the Bruins, it was deemed best if 91 spent some time in the press box, giving him time to let the broken bones heal. The injury was suffered during the pre-season, but gives Savard more time to pursue a modeling career, photos by the Improper Bostonian, courtesy of the Looch Ness Monster blog.

* The Bruins call up Guilliam Lefebvre, sent him down, call him up for a half hour, and send him down again. While Lefebvre is heading back to Rhode Island for perhaps the rest of the season, I’ve grown curious as to how much gas money Peter Chiarelli has given Lefebvre.

* Brad Marchand gets an assist in his first NHL game, but rubs Bruins, music, and musically-inclined Bruins fans the wrong way before the game when he admits to wanting to interview Nickelback.

* The Bruins acquire Daniel Paille from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for one of the Bruins 1,982 draft picks. Paille impresses Bruins fans the next night with his dogged determination, tenacity and assist on a game-winning goal for Boston.

* Steve Begin continues to make Boston fans miss P.J Axelsson and Stephane Yelle less and less by the game. Currently, Begin is on pace for 54 points and is second on the Bruins with four assists.

* Surprisingly, Patric Hornqvist survived 60 minutes out there against the Bruins on Wednesday. The Sweden native forward, who stands at a whopping 5′11″ and 186 pounds was hacking away at Thomas’ pads all game, crosschecking Sobotka and being an all around irritation to the Bruins.

* Bruins survive a last second melee in front of Tim Thomas’ crease to secure a win against the Nashville Predators, continuing their streak of inconsistency.

* My negativity towards the Boston Bruins via Facebook status leads to the team waking up, I know I’m friends with Zach Hamill on there, but does news really travel that quickly?

* Both Vladimir Sobotka and Brad Marchand admit that Marley & Me made them cry. Winning the hearts of dog-lovers all over, but creating a buzz about just what is going on in the city of Providence?

* Bruins unveil “official” Winter Classic hats during pre-game skate with Philadelphia Flyers, continuing to upset fans with their lack of anything cool for this year’s battle at Fenway Park.

* The scouting report on Tuukka Rask continues to read “top-shelf”. However, Tuukka still performs admirably in the 4-3 shootout loss against the Philadelphia Flyers, including a stellar save against Jeff Carter on a shorthanded breakaway.

* Scott Hartnell has still refused to get a haircut, to the dismay of even his closest family. His search for revenge on Bart Simpson continues.

*Derek Morris scores his first goal with the Boston Bruins and tallies an assist against Philly, stopping the complaining of B’s fans..for now.

* Is there any team more appealing to loathe than the Philadelphia Flyers? Between that clinically-insane punk Daniel Carcillo to Chris “Mr. Stomp” Pronger, is there any reason as to why anyone outside of Philadelphia would bother liking this club? I suppose it fits their city well though, GREEN-MAN!

* The Canadiens continue to stumble, to the joy of Bruins fans, posing the question, est la Coupe truly downtown? Even more joyous, the Toronto Maple Leafs are still winless seven games into the season, with a wonderfully terrible record of 0-6-1, on pace to give the Boston Bruins the first overall draft pick in 2010. Hey Kessel, how do ‘ya like ‘dem apples?

Tomorrow, the Bruins take to the ice in Kanata, Ontario to take on the Ottawa Senators. This will be the first time that the Bruins face off against Alex Kovalev since his departure from Montreal. Will L’Artist have any tricks up his sleeve or will the Bruins continue to play hard, physical and cliche as they prove to be “tougher to play against”?

If you haven’t already done so, follow me on Twitter!

Ty

30 Teams In 30 Days: To Match A Predators Defense

These ain't your older brother's Nashville Predators. Chances are, they're better, or worse, depending on your brother's age of course.

In just their eleventh year in the National Hockey League, the Predators are looking for their fifth trip to the NHL Playoffs, where anything is possible right? It's entirely possible that the Predators have made a secret blood-pact with Satan to continuously torture their fans as they've never made it out of the Western Conference Quarterfinals.

Despite their lack of regular season success which lead to no playoffs in Nashville for the first time since 2003, there were quite a few shining moments.

For one, the rise of goaltender Pekka Rinne is sure to be a ray of hope in Tennessee. The 26 year old Finnish phenom is coming off a great rookie season with his 29-15-4 record and 2.38 goals against average. Although being rated just a 77 in NHL09 (take that, NHL09 creators!) the play of Rinne nearly propelled the Predators into the post-season. However it was too little too late as the team couldn't obtain a solid offensive output night in and night out.

A large reason for the drop off in goals can ultimately be traced back to the departure of the top line forward and promising scorer Alexander Radulov for the KHL of Russia. Nashville's first round choice from the 2004 NHL Draft, Radulov was beginning to build a reputation as a clutch performer with eight points in 10 career playoff games. After jet-setting away to his homeland, the pressure was put on Martin Erat to step up as the team's number right winger.

To put it in simpler terms, although Erat is a very solid up and coming player he is nowhere near ready to becoming a team's number one forward and scoring presence.

Following the conclusion to the Dany Heatley saga (thank god) it appears that the newest player in the line of fire for any and all hockey rumors is Bruins winger Phil Kessel. Naturally, with over 15 million dollars in cap space available at their disposal, could the Predators be setting up an offer sheet and/or trade for the Bruins leading goal scorer?

First mentioned by Nashville writer John Glennon, it appears that the Bruins and Predators are very interested in working out a trade for the 21 year old forward. Beyond the obvious set of draft picks and prospects, do the Predators possess anything that could possibly win the bidding war between them and Maple Leafs for Phil The (inconsistent) Thrill?

A wild and considerably unlikely proposition could be the idea of the Bruins obtaining Alexander Radulov's rights and attempting the 23 year old forward to return to the NHL with a Stanley Cup contending team.

Rumors are rumors, but comments made by Predators GM David Poile indicate that the Predators are indeed interesting and could become a major player in the Kessel-sweepstakes. "He's a young player that scores goals,and that's very much of interest to us.''

Barring any movement on the Kessel front by the Predators, this is how their line-up should go come opening night.

J.P Dumont - Jason Arnott - Martin Erat
Joel Ward - David Legwand - Steve Sullivan
Ryan Jones - Ben Guite - Jordin Tootoo
Colin Wilson - Marcel Goc - Jerred Smithson
Extra Skaters: Patric Hornqvist and Wade Belak

Shea Weber - Ryan Suter
Kevin Klein - Dan Hamsuis
Cody Franson - Alex Sulzer
Extra Skater: Jonathon Blum

Pekka Rinne
Dan Ellis

Although I love the Predators top two defensive pairings, the team is simply not ready for a big playoff push in a very tough division. While the powerhouses of the Central are expected to remain in the control of Chicago and Detroit, up and coming teams such as the St. Louis Blues and Columbus Blue Jackets should make it even harder for the Preds to compete this year.

Players To Watch: Will Pekka Rinne continue to develop into a stud goaltender for Nashville or will his struggles lead to a platooning role with Dan Ellis? Don't expect Rinne to repeat his seven shutout performance in 2009-10, but he should still be on pace for the same record wise and prove to be NHL capable. It'll also be interesting to see how right winger Steve Sullivan plays now that the 2009 Masterton Trophy winner is fully recovered from back surgery that kept him out of nearly two seasons in the NHL.

Prediction: 5th in Central Division. 13th in Western Conference.