I'm still planning on talking about the Boston Bruins, as I mentioned in my previous post. The most shocking news -well, not that shocking considering the fans anger towards him- in Boston was the firing of coach Dave Lewis. Dave Lewis signed last season as head coach to a multi year deal. Dave Lewis hired assistant coaches, Dave Houda and talented Marc Habshied. However, nothing seemed to work throughout the season. What was bad became worse and anything that was a sign of something bright rapidly faded. Under head coach Dave Lewis the Bruins were 35-41-6. This 76 point season placed them 13th out of 15, in which the Bruins were awarded 8th overall pick. This is the second season in a row that the Bruins hold a top 10 pick. Whereas some may believe that choosing in the top 10 guarantees a star player or at least a good player, others would rather go far into the playoffs and draft between 25-30. I'm alongside the "others" for simple reasons. I want to see the Bruins win and keep winning. I hate cheering for the laughing stock of the league, however, they are my favorite team since I bleed gold and black. Ever since the Bruins last Stanley cup in 72,' the Bruins have not been able to establish a strong enough structured team to win the cup. In the late 80s we were robbed twice by the Oilers in the Stanley cup finals. However, the Oilers had Gretzky and due to poor scouting, the Bruins had given up on Bill Ranford, who was a key Oiler player.
Nonetheless, the Bruins hadn't established a strong team like they once were in the 70s. Crazy "Mad" Mike Milbury had brought a lot of energy to the team in the early 90s bringing the Bruins close to the Stanley cup finals. However, they feel short to the Penguins due to Ulf Samuelson's cheap and dirty knee to knee on Cam Neely, arguably the best player after Gretzky. As much as I'd love to rant about Ulf Samuelson with tons of swearing and cursing, this post is about the Bruins coaching. Since the conference finals against Pittsburg, Boston hasn't been able to reach the finals.
Last Friday (June 15), Bruins general manager announced that Dave Lewis and Marc Habshied were fired, however, reassigned within the team. So far I have not liked what Peter Chiarelli, Bruins genereal manager, has done for the Bruins. He traded a good young player name Brad boyes for a #6-7 defenceman, Dennis Wideman. He fired Mike Sullivan, previous coach, instead of giving Sully one last shot with a new team. After his first year with the Bruins he fires another coach; Dave Lewis. Sound familiar??
As much as I did not like Dave Lewis' decisions in the game, I still think he should have been given one last chance. At least 20 games to evalutate Dave Lewis and thus make a decision. Apparently Claude Julien is the new coach. However, it is not confirmed and truthfully, I hope he is not the coach of the Bruins. The last thing fans need is to see is Dave Lewis lost twin brother behind the Bruins bench.
Bottom line, the Bruins need a coach who's aggressive, motivates, brings energy and challenges his players........Mike Milbury comes to mind.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Take one: Bruins
Today until the end of August I will periodically post my short, but inteligent opinion on the decisions made by the Boston Bruins. In case you do not know who the Boston Bruins are, you should slap yourself. Just kidding. They are an NHL team, who were collaborated as the original six teams long ago.
Andrew Alberts (3rd year Defenceman): Re-signs 2 years/ 2.5 million
I am an Andrew Alberts fan, and I am happy that PC re-signed him, however, the salary bothers me. Alberts is a good defenceman who will become an even better defenceman through experience like many players. However, raising his salary from 661,300$ to 1.1 and 1.4 millions in the next two years respectively provides Bruins fans to question Peter Chiarelli's signings. I believe Alberts would have agreed to a 900,000 a year for two years, or 1.9-2 million / 2 years.
This signing follows another intriguing question, how much do you pay to keep Brandon Bochenski. Obviously, Bochy (as I like to call him) is not a number one line player and will not receive number one line salary. However, Bochy may ask between 1.3-1.8 million per season. I believe that is too much for a player that had a good half a season. What says that he will provide the same numbers the following season? You must remember that when Bochy came to Boston, he joined a young, open team that pretty much knew they weren't making the playoffs. Nonetheless, it will be quite interesting watching Chiarelli operating the Bruins this off season.
Sergei Samsonov: (Forward) Signed with Montreal last season 2 years/ 7 million, but may be bought out before his final year of the contract.
I for one always liked Sergei Samsonov. It is unfortunately that he signed with the habs and played with disgruntled center/wing Alexei Kovolev. He had a poor season, however, what do you expect from a player who hardly sees power play minutes, never played on the first line with Koivu -if he did it was once or twice for insufficient amount of time - and Sergei did not get the amount of ice time he was getting in Boston. Obviously, a team and its fans expect a lot from a player who is getting a scorers based salary. However, who has performed better playing with Alexei Kovolev, that is what I would like to know. In case you have forgotten, Tomas Plekanec was on fire once Guy Carboneau placed him on another line. Anyways, back to the topic. Sergei Samsonov needs to play with better players. Alexei Kovolev is a useless pole on skates who barely moves. If he is cut, the Bruins would have to pay in the 1-1.9 million dollar range, which is quite a steal. Sergei always played best against the Habs, whether it was from scoring goals, assisting on goals or playing an overal strong game. If he were to sign with the Bruins, imagine the fire he would get playing the habs? I understand that we wouldn't want him to only play strong against the habs, but just by knowing that he will play them eighth times a year should already pump him up.
Therefore, I would sign Sergei Samsonov if he were bought out. Nonetheless, it would depend on the difference from his contract and the amount payed to buy him off. He would had tremendous speed to the Savard-Murray line as well as the Bergeron-Sturm line. However, I'd rather see him play on the Bergeron-Sturm line.
More to come....
Andrew Alberts (3rd year Defenceman): Re-signs 2 years/ 2.5 million
I am an Andrew Alberts fan, and I am happy that PC re-signed him, however, the salary bothers me. Alberts is a good defenceman who will become an even better defenceman through experience like many players. However, raising his salary from 661,300$ to 1.1 and 1.4 millions in the next two years respectively provides Bruins fans to question Peter Chiarelli's signings. I believe Alberts would have agreed to a 900,000 a year for two years, or 1.9-2 million / 2 years.
This signing follows another intriguing question, how much do you pay to keep Brandon Bochenski. Obviously, Bochy (as I like to call him) is not a number one line player and will not receive number one line salary. However, Bochy may ask between 1.3-1.8 million per season. I believe that is too much for a player that had a good half a season. What says that he will provide the same numbers the following season? You must remember that when Bochy came to Boston, he joined a young, open team that pretty much knew they weren't making the playoffs. Nonetheless, it will be quite interesting watching Chiarelli operating the Bruins this off season.
Sergei Samsonov: (Forward) Signed with Montreal last season 2 years/ 7 million, but may be bought out before his final year of the contract.
I for one always liked Sergei Samsonov. It is unfortunately that he signed with the habs and played with disgruntled center/wing Alexei Kovolev. He had a poor season, however, what do you expect from a player who hardly sees power play minutes, never played on the first line with Koivu -if he did it was once or twice for insufficient amount of time - and Sergei did not get the amount of ice time he was getting in Boston. Obviously, a team and its fans expect a lot from a player who is getting a scorers based salary. However, who has performed better playing with Alexei Kovolev, that is what I would like to know. In case you have forgotten, Tomas Plekanec was on fire once Guy Carboneau placed him on another line. Anyways, back to the topic. Sergei Samsonov needs to play with better players. Alexei Kovolev is a useless pole on skates who barely moves. If he is cut, the Bruins would have to pay in the 1-1.9 million dollar range, which is quite a steal. Sergei always played best against the Habs, whether it was from scoring goals, assisting on goals or playing an overal strong game. If he were to sign with the Bruins, imagine the fire he would get playing the habs? I understand that we wouldn't want him to only play strong against the habs, but just by knowing that he will play them eighth times a year should already pump him up.
Therefore, I would sign Sergei Samsonov if he were bought out. Nonetheless, it would depend on the difference from his contract and the amount payed to buy him off. He would had tremendous speed to the Savard-Murray line as well as the Bergeron-Sturm line. However, I'd rather see him play on the Bergeron-Sturm line.
More to come....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)