Hello, welcome to a two-part series that will focus on the famous New Year’s Resolution we all make (and break) by February. This one will focus on the Boston Bruins, their fans, and everything in between. Enjoy or something, I guess.
A year of tremendous highs in 2011, headlined by the club’s first Stanley Cup victory in nearly 40 years and a torrid November and December run the following year left Bruins fans with little to resolve in 2012. Things were great, and they were only getting better as the club looked poised for another deep playoff run. That was until everything seemed to hit the fan. Injuries mounted, politicians were snubbed, and it all ended with the Caps’ Joel Ward sending Boston home for the summer in their own building.
In other words, it could’ve gone a lot gone better.
But fear not, here are the Ty Anderson designed New Year’s Resolutions for B’s fans everywhere. Follow them or hit the bricks.
(Please note: You don’t have to hit the bricks. You’re a good person and I like you.)
Chapter I: Stop! Take some time to think, figure out what’s important to the club
OK, that’s probably the only time you’ll ever see me reference that nightmare of an Against Me! song, 2007’s “Stop”, but if the shoe fits, huh? Movin’ on...
Stop: Blaming Thomas for past, present and future; Understand circumstances
For months now, the revisionist history of people upset by the Bruins’ first round bow-out has put the onus of the team’s shortcomings on the shoulders of one
Tim Thomas.
According to Boston legend, it began with the goaltender’s refusal to join the team on a trip to the White House, citing differences and issues with an ‘out of control federal government’ as his reasoning for skipping the somehow-considered-to-be-team-bonding trip. Now, if that wasn’t bad enough, it was Thomas’ way of explaining (or not explaining, rather) his decision that left everybody with a bad taste in their mouth.
What’s become known as “The Snub” wasn’t explained to a hoard of voice recorders in Thomas’ stall, nor was it acknowledged through a team-released statement. It was instead done via the Tim Thomas Official Facebook fan-page. This, as we would come to find out, was not the first time the 38-year-old took it to the ‘Books. Thomas also stood with the Christians in their fight for religious freedom, and put him pads in Chick-Fil-A’s corner at the height of their battle regarding same-sex marriage.
(But let’s rewind to the final moments of what will be known as Thomas’ career as a Bruin.)
Deemed responsible for the Bruins’ slide from the White House trip on, an 18-17-2 finish to the year, it seems as if many pundits and fans alike ignored the facts of the Black-and-Gold’s dilemma. You were told that Thomas was selfish, didn’t care about the team, created a divide in the locker room, and even violated the unspoken rule of the Boston room and stepped on the B’s logo in the center of the locker room. What you didn’t hear: This was a team that lost top-line forward Nathan Horton the game before, had to bring Marty Turco out of semi-retirement given the season-ending injury to Tuukka Rask, and had guys like Mike Mottau and Greg Zanon skating as the club’s third defensive-pairing by year’s end.
It simply was not a complete club.
That was something the media seemed to
forget on an agenda-driven witch-hunt aimed towards No. 30. “What a [expletive] [expletive]hole that guy is,” one Boston reporter told me in the hall after a Thomas press conference in March. Nothing Thomas said in the postgame interview warranted such a vitriolic response. Thomas didn’t ignore one of the reporter’s questions, nor was he curt with his answers.
Shockingly, it appeared that the media of a primarily democratic state just simply didn’t seem to like the humble hero from a year ago. Surely this had nothing to do with Thomas’ political affiliations, specifically his alignment with the ‘Tea Party’ group, or his unwillingness to share his beliefs with the media on a daily basis. It was a totally fair and balanced (see what happened there?) take on the goaltender’s character.
Whatever you say.
However, the Thomas-the-Bruin situation isn’t over, even if the two-time Vezina winner sits the (would-be) 2012-13 season out as he claimed to be doing when last season ended.
Thomas, in the final year of a four-year, $20 million deal inked back in 2009, is still on Boston’s books with a $5 million cap-hit. That’s not good for a slightly cap-strung Boston roster, with or without a collective bargaining agreement. An even worse dose of bad news? Thomas’ cap-hit is essentially stuck in the mud. Suspending him won’t take his dollars off the books. Placing him on waivers is not an option. Can’t cut ‘em, either. In essence, barring a trade, he’s stuck in Boston. Now, just how do you move a goaltender that won’t play? I have no idea. The variable a cap floor presents in the new CBA will undoubtedly play into the Thomas market, if one even exists, but the potential one year albatross doesn’t seem to bring me enough to declare everything doom-and-gloom and pin all the potential problems of the future on Thomas taking a year off.
After all, we’re talking about
Tuukka Rask, the proclaimed franchise goaltender of the future. Strike that, franchise goaltender in the now. Rask, signed to a one-year deal worth $3.5 million this past summer, will finally be the No. 1 goaltender in Boston. Seizing the role in 2009-10, and then losing it by way of a career year from Thomas in ‘10-11, a Thomas-less season (Be it via his sabbatical or a trade) will
finally bring Thomas’ haters the year they’ve waited for -- It’s Tuukka-Time on a full-time basis.
Yet, if Rask falters, be it through injury or inconsistencies that have sprouted up in his albeit brief NHL career, does it fall on the shoulders of Tim Thomas? No, not at all, and that’s the perspective people need to have. A cap-hit is one thing, but at some point we’re going to have to see Rask become the No. 1 goaltender for this club if we’re to believe the hype that’s surrounded the 25-year-old since his arrival to the Boston organization.
In short, stop pinning the problems or potential problems that are on the way -- be it from a cap standpoint, depth standpoint, or chemistry standpoint -- on the decisions made by one Tim Thomas. It’s officially stale.
Stop: Trying to run Milan Lucic out of town
So, let me get this right -- Milan Lucic is a lazy overachiever, a lucky 30-goal scorer, and a player that’s loafed his way through two straight playoffs. His physical game has taken a blow for whatever reason, and he’s not the same player he was when he arrived on the scene almost six years ago. Oh, he’s also not going to be worth the $6 million price-tag he’ll come with in 2013-14.
OK, now let’s put him on
any other team in this league and tell me that he’s not atop the list of players you wish were in Black-and-Gold. And yet, maybe that’s the ultimate problem when it comes to analyzing the play of the 6-foot-4 forward.
Given his imposing stature and rise from fourth line enforcer to top-line winger, it’s seemed as if it’s become a guarantee among the naive that the Vancouver-born winger has become the club’s next Cam Neely. Now, in theory, yes, that’s a fine assessment, but something that might not fully equate to the skill-set of Lucic.
Remember that Neely, at the height of his career, was a 50-goal scorer whose game had to change given his role in the Boston offense. He couldn’t go around bashing guys’ heads in and taking major penalties at will. He simply meant too much to the club to sit in the box for five minutes with a meaningless goon in the opposite box. While Lucic, in the ‘new NHL’ we watch here in 2012 mind you, has a similar role, he’s not the same as Neely and never really will be. By definition, yes, they’re both power forwards, but the value of No. 17 will never be measured in goals and points the way Neely could be, and that’s not exactly a terrible thing for the B’s.
Lucic, instead, embodies what being a Boston Bruin is all about. He hits like a freight train, sticks up for teammates, and is a truly feared opponent out there. He’s menacing, even.
You’d be crazy to think that he belongs anywhere else, too.
For years, I’ve been told what a great fit
Rick Nash or
Jarome Iginla would be in Boston based upon the style of hockey they play. Both guys are big, can hit, but most of all, score. They were ‘true Bruins’, as I’ve been told when asked why you’d want a player like that on your club. But perhaps above both Nash and Iginla on a ‘true Bruin’ scale, two of Boston’s biggest 21st century pipedreams, sits Lucic. No, seriously. From a statistically standpoint, we could talk about how the Boston winger has scored just nine fewer power-play goals than the Flames’ captain since the start of the 2010-11 season, or point out that Lucic trails the Jacket-turned-Ranger by just two points (123 compared to Nash’s 125) over that same stretch, but that’s not sufficient enough for me.
Like previously mentioned, Lucic is not Neely and never will be, but he’s still pretty damn important to the Boston offense. Since the puck dropped in Oct. 2010, the B’s are a lethal 38-9-0 when Lucic has scored, and have the line featuring himself, David Krejci (more on him in a bit), and Nathan Horton excel as the club’s leading scoring force -- be it from a statistical or pressure point -- when at full strength.
Let’s put the pitchforks down, and breathe.
INTERMISSION: A young George H. W. Bush looks scarily like Johnny Boychuk
I was reading about President George H. W. Bush, the oldest living president, currently sick in the hospital, this week when they posted this photo of the country's 41st president from when he was younger. And I noticed something really weird -- the dude looked
just the Bruins' Johnny Boychuk.
Now that's just plain creepy.
Stop: Trying to run David Krejci out of town
Similar to the Milan Lucic Conundrum, the pitchforks after the club’s first opening round exit since ‘08 have also pointed their way to the Bruins’
David Krejci. And just like in the Lucic case, I really have a hard time wrapping my head around the angst. Inked to a multi-year extension earlier last year, one that comes with a $5.25 million cap-hit beginning this year, a modest bump up from Krejci’s previous $3.75 million price-tag, Krejci will return to Boston looking to avenge what’s been described as a ‘down year’ by most.
Huh?
In 2010-11, David Krejci put together a 13-goal, 62-point year. He went on to lead the club in scoring on the way to their first Stanley Cup since 1972 with 23 points in 25 games. Last season, despite a minus-5 rating, Krejci finished with a career-high 23 goals and 62 points, the same final output from a year prior. And this is bad? How?! Understandably questioned given the Bruins’ depth down the middle -- headlined by Patrice Bergeron, Chris Kelly, Gregory Campbell, and with guys like Rich Peverley and Tyler Seguin also having experience playing the pivot -- the status and skill-set of Krejci undoubtedly need not be doubted as we (hopefully) head towards a shortened season.
Why not? Allow me to explain...
Despite a month of February that saw No. 46 score just two goals and record zero assists in 10 games, Krejci had an impressive run of 16 goals and 39 points in the final 47 games of the year. Sure, the playoff results that followed, one goal and two assists in seven games, weren’t anything to tell your friends about, but it was a strong finish and lockout run that’s allowed the 26-year-old to show off a rarely seen side of his game.
Krejci, believe it or not, can score. No, really.
Heading back to his homeland during the lockout to skate with Pardubice HC of the Czech League, playing with Oilers’ winger Ales Hemsky, Krejci wrapped up a brief European tenure with 27 points in 24 games. However, it’s not the 27 points in 24 games that should excite B’s fans, but rather the fact that 16 of those 27 points came by way of a goal. Yes, really!
Akin to what was screamed at Marc Savard during his tenure in Boston, B’s fans will want to see Krejci shoot the puck more when the club returns to action, and it’s for all the right reasons. Going back to the start of the 2011 postseason, and including games played overseas, Krejci has tallied 52 goals in the last 135 games. That’s a goal every 2.59 games. In a 48-game season, that’s an 18-goal year. Even if it’s just 75-percent of that, which would be 14 goals, you’d be stupid to not take that given Krejci’s ability to dish the puck with the best of ‘em.
Factor it all in with Krejci's Northeast Division dominance, with 14 goals and 51 points in his last 68 games against divisional opponents, and it's clear that Krejci's not working himself out of Boston's lineup any time soon.
Stop: Expecting Dougie Hamilton to instantly change the power-play
Let’s preface the following with some facts: Dougie Hamilton is the most prized defensive prospect the Boston organization’s seen in almost 20 years. He’s a supremely talented puck-moving defensemen in the Ontario Hockey League, and has undoubtedly earned his reputation as one of the game’s best defensive prospects. Also, he’s not going to instantly change the status of the Boston defense, or its power-play.
I’m not in this to naysay everything Hamilton can do at the NHL level, but when have the Claude Julien-coached Bruins
ever let a rookie go wild with ice-time and opportunities? It simply doesn’t happen. Hamilton, like Seguin in 2010-11, will be eased into the team’s defensive scheme, learn from watching, and may even be a spectator when it comes to the man-advantage ‘til the club deems a switch-up necessary.
Unlike the
Derek Morris,
Tomas Kaberle, and
Joe Corvo experiments, the Boston Bruins will have the ever important element of time working in their favor when it comes to the development and system transition for the 6-foot-5 Hamilton.
Patience, folks. Patience.
Stop: Making terrible, outdated jokes that stink.
Tonight, the Boston Bruins were supposed to play the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena. It would have been the Bruins’ first trip to British Columbia since downing the Canucks, 4-0, in Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final. What followed after the final whistle were tons of then relevant jokes pertaining to Alex Burrows’ love for biting, Roberto Luongo’s inability to stop the puck, the Sedin brothers’ diving skills, and the shameful Vancouver riots.
Yet, somehow, almost 19 months later, these jokes are still made. It's like the Chuck Norris stuff. It was kinda funny for a bit, then it hit the point where you'd hear someone go "Did you hear the one about the kid with the gas mask and Edler jersey?" and then you’d hear everybody around you groan.
Most, true Canucks fans are horribly ashamed of this moment and don't need to be reminded of it any time their team loses or wins a regular season game against your favorite team. The same can be said for anything relating to the Sedin ‘sisters’ (It’s funny ‘cause girls are bad at sports and stuff, right guys?! *rolls eyes*), and any sentence that includes the words ‘Roberto Luongo’, ‘tires’, and ‘pumping’.
It’s dead, folks. Let. It. Go.
Also dead: Yelling “Call 911” whenever somebody fights or hits a member of the Montreal Canadiens and thanking the Maple Leafs for trading for Phil Kessel.
It was a good run, but man, it’s time for some new material.
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