Is the plan still to pattern the new Vancouver Canucks after the Boston model?
That model looks a bit tarnished now that the 2014 Presidents' Trophy winners have been demolished by the plucky Montreal Canadiens. And it's not like Boston went out with their heads held high.
Who would have expected former fringe player Dale Weise to find himself on the end of Milan Lucic's pouty postgame threats?
Though we could see this train a-comin' for the past couple of days, I doubt that anyone in the Bruins organization, including management, actually thought the team was going to lose Game 7. I imagine they'll need a bit of time to start formulating a plan for summer, but I hope this will get the wheels turning on the Jim Benning situation—at least so he and the Canucks can decide, one way or the other, whether or not he's really the right man for Vancouver's GM job.
An interesting issue arose from CapGeek.com after last night's game:
If you go through the series of tweets that were posted, you'll see that the Bruins have $3.7 million in bonuses owed to Jarome Iginla, as well as bonuses to Torey Krug, Dougie Hamilton and others. Because these bonuses were performance-dependent, they didn't count against this year's cap, where Boston was right up to the limit. They'll roll over to next year, lowering the total amount that Boston can spend.
Iginla's now a UFA—still without a Stanley Cup—but the Bruins will pay twice as much for his year of service in 2014-15 than they did this year. Hmmm...
CapGeek says there are other teams in similar situations with performance bonuses—like Daniel Alfredsson in Detroit—but Boston is believed to carry the biggest burden for next season.
I'd like to know if Benning was involved in assembling Iginla's contract. It might have seemed clever at the time but now that the impact looms, it feels a bit like somebody using one credit card to make the minimum payment on another—probably not sustainable over the long run.
Beyond Benning, it looks like it'll take some time for the dust to settle in Boston before the team decides how to revamp for next season. Once again, those "small tweaks" that were designed to bring home the Cup didn't yield the desired results. There can only be one winner.
Up next: the emotional battle of two players who were traded for each other—Dale Weise and Raphael Diaz! There's still plenty of Canuck content left in these playoffs...
Back to Bylsma and the Pens
Thanks for your poll responses and thoughts about the Pittsburgh situation yesterday. I included Sidney Crosby's name in the poll to try to get a sense of whether you still think he's one of the best players in the world, or if his playoff dry spell was a signal of a potentially larger problem. Looks like a lot of you still like him!
As far as Dan Bylsma's qualities, he's at a low point in his coaching career, so it's pretty easy to heap criticism. I'm not so sure about him "not making adjustments"—he played Malkin up on Crosby's wing with some success during the early part of the series against the Rangers, and was constantly tweaking his bottom six and defensive pairings. Pittsburgh's not a physical team, so they were hurt by the absence of Brooks Orpik on the back end and Bylsma wasn't able to get much out of Tanner Glass, who was a healthy scratch for most of the series.
As much as we hate him, Matt Cooke was certainly effective when he was in the lineup for Minnesota during these playoffs. The Penguins missed having a presence like that in their lineup. James Neal and Beau Bennett took penalties but they didn't provide an intimidating physicality.
Has Bylsma "lost the room?" Maybe. I can buy into the idea that every coach has a shelf life at the top level and sometimes a new message is what's needed. It wouldn't surprise me if he and Crosby have hit a bit of an emotional impasse, so a fresh environment could be best for both sides.
He wouldn't bring the same fireworks as Torts did, but I think that's a good thing here in Vancouver. There is some risk in hiring someone who has just been fired and hasn't had much time to reflect on his mistakes, but I'd rather consider it with Bylsma than any of the other fresh options in the coaching marketplace.
The Penguins currently have just seven forwards signed for next season. A whopping 13 skaters are hitting unrestricted free agency, so they'll need to get to work in a hurry in deciding their plan for next season.
Jussi Jokinen is the UFA name on their list that jumps out at me. He has proven he can be much more than a shootout specialist—though that wouldn't be a bad skill for the Canucks to acquire, just on its own. He made $3 million a year on his last deal and might be in line for a raise, but with 57 points in the regular season and seven goals in the playoffs, he'd be worth considering for Vancouver.
Hodgson Stars at World Championships
Nicklas Jensen had the lone goal for Denmark as they got shellacked by Team Canada on Thursday by a score of 6-1. Cody Hodgson had the hat trick for Canada.
For a guy who was supposedly desperate to be traded, Cody doesn't seem to bear Vancouver any ill will. After today's game, Jannik Hansen gave Hodgson a playful bump in the "mixed zone" while he was doing his postgame interviews, so he was asked if he has stayed in touch with any of the Canucks. From Lucas Aykroyd of IIHF.com:
A lot of the guys. I enjoyed playing in Vancouver, and the guys always treated me well. It’s nice to spend some time now with Burr and Bieksa. I still work out with Tanev. Every time we go to Vancouver, luckily we had a couple of days, so I was able to see most of the guys.
I'm not saying I'd necessarily undo the Hodgson-for-Kassian trade at this point, but this doesn't exactly jibe with the picture that Mike Gillis painted at the time of the trade, does it?
Team Canada is now 3-0-1 in the tournament. Their next game is Friday against Italy.
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