Chara was introduced as a Bruintoday- I have to admit, while I'm familiar with his play on the ice, that's about as far as my knowledge goes. He appeared very well-spoken, and truly happy to be a part of the organization.

The other two signings from the weekend are Marc Savard and Shean Donovan

The Bruins Draft Review is up on HF.

The Bruins' Defense Just Got a Little Taller
What's absolutely hilarious about this, is that earlier in the day, it was reported that Zdeno Chara had signed with the LA Kings. Obviously somebody jumped the gun on that. Which is funny. Huh.

Anyway, Chara inked a five year deal with the B's at $7.5 Mil per, AND is rumored to include a no-trade clause, which when you think about it, is neither cheap, scrooge-like or non-player friendly. Go ahead. Complain about them now.

Holy Smokes, Batman!!!!
Whoever said the offseason was dull and boring? The Bruins are undergoing an extreme makeover (haha)-they picked up some strong players in the draft, they fired Mike Sullivan, they hired Dave Lewis, traded Andrew Raycroft & Nick Boynton, bought out Travis Green and Shawn McEachern- gee, did I forget anything?

Free agency period begins today, meaning the Bruins could make a couple new acquisitions as well. There are a few big-name players out there. Will the Bruins score?

Congrats to the Canes. I can forgive them for being the team formerly known as the Whalers because Pete Laviolette is at the helm. Speaking of Laviolette, the papers are making a big issue about how his contract is up and the Bruins are interested.

Of course they are.

Unfortunately, I don't think the feeling is mutual. Not to say that he's harboring any ill will towards the B's, but let's face it- why would he leave carolina? Why would Carolina just let him walk away after he brought the team to a Stanley Cup?

Let's not forget, they already had a chance to make him head coach a couple years ago and decided not to. Anyway, I guess it just struck me as funny that the rumor took hold like it did. My prediction? Not gonna happen.

And Sullivan is supposed to find out today or tomorrow if he's still employed by the Bruins. Supposedly.

Oh, and the draft is Saturday.

There's never a dull moment in black and gold country.

This is what happens when you're busy
I have to be honest- HF has taken up a lot of my hockey-writing energy...thus, the blog has suffered. It's been more than a year since I started writing for them, and I guess when I look back, there's so much that I've learned. With the impending draft, things are busier than ever.

Anyway, it's a relief to have a GM in order. Even if we have to wait until mid-July to truly have him on board. I think they made a good choice in Chiarelli- (despite the fact that he seemed a bit nervous during the press conference)- he appears to be well spoken and level-headed. His next order of business will be to decide Mike Sullivan's fate.

I honestly believe that Mike Sullivan did the best considering the circumstances. Very few players returned from the 2003-04 season, the roster was injury riddled, and they really didn't have the depth to make up for that. Patrice Bergeron got off to a slow start; when Zhamnov was healthy, he was certainly not the player he was expected to be; once Thornton was traded, they put together the Sturm, Bergeron & Boyes line, which went on to do the majority of scoring the second half of the year- unfortunately they did not have a comparable (or even adequate) second line to spread the scoring around. Plenty of high class, high character players, but not enough skill. None of these things are excuses on their own, of course, but you combine them, and it only makes your chance of success that much smaller.

That said, I'm not entirely convinced Sullivan is the right coach for this team. There was a lot of dump & chase, a lot of defensive style hockey, not enough aggression on offense; I've heard the claim that he doesn't like physical play, but I'm not sure I buy that; some of his line combinations and pairings were questionable at times, but again, I think a good part of that was due to the fact that he had very few players available to choose from.

I wouldn't mind seeing him get another chance- he took the team far as a rookie coach, and i don't remember hearing the same complaints about him as I heard this season. next season may very well be a transition year anyway, and I'd rather stick with Sullivan than just bring someone new in for the sake of change. Unless, miraculously, the perfect coach appears magically in the next few days, maybe it is better not to make a change like that yet. Overall, a tough call.

Could it be Shero?
The hunt for a new Bruins GM has turned up all kinds of speculation, but very little in the way of certainty. The Globe's Kevin Dupont reports this morning that Ray Shero appears to be the frontrunner. His name has been tossed around the most, especially lately, so it will be interesting to see how soon they make a decision. I think they definitely need new blood in that front office. I like Gorton, but as I've said before, I'm just not positive he would be the right choice. They really need somebody from outside the organization, who would bring in a different point of view. At the very least, I think it would be better from a fan-relations standpoint. I think any preconceived ideas that people had about the organization would stick to Gorton if he was chosen, no matter how wrong or unfair that would be, and the frist sign of trouble, people would be calling for his head. To many, it would just be more of the same.

Anyway, I'm not sure why it made me happy, but I was kind of glad to see the Sharks knocked out. I've always kind of liked them, too. Yet I can only imagine the mayhem in this city if Joe Thornton had made it to the Stanley Cup finals. We'd never hear the end of it. People may not soon forget that trade, but no matter what you think of it, it's time to move on- at least, that's my opinion. There's no going back now, and maybe this will be the start of a new era. And let's face it- he never would have been "good enough" in Boston, no matter what he did, because everyone complained about what he wasn't doing when he was here. Enough about him. Let's think about the Oilers beating the Ducks, because really, do we want chance it? Ladies and gentlemen- now presenting the Stanley Cup champion Ducks? That is just wrong.

general laziness
It's been quite some time since I posted last- what was it, March? Yeesh. How things have changed since then. Well, sort of. The Bruins quietly ended their season in April; the P-Bruins would follow behind after a brief shot in the playoffs. And Boston is still without a GM. From what I've been reading, they're using June 1st as a target date- in other words, if all goes well, we should know who's running the show by then. The sooner the better, as far as I'm concerned, so they have plenty of time to sort out this team.

One good thing to look forward to is the draft- The B's will be drafting fifth, and it's the first time they've had a pick in the top five since the year they drafted Mr. Thornton. Kind of ironic, I guess, seeing that it's comes right after the season they traded him. He seems to be doing very well in SJ, but he's also a thing of the past. The way I see it, there's no sense griping about something you can't control, and the last time I checked, I was a Bruins fan, not a Thornton fan. But back to the GM search: I would not be entirely disappointed to see Jeff Gorton get it, but I think it would be much more beneficial to bring in some new blood. Gorton has an excellent grasp on the scouting/drafting department, and so far I think he's done a tremendous job with the younger players. But I also think we need someone who has not been in this organization, someone who can bring a new perspective. Not only that, I think it would help with how the fans, as well as other players perceive this team. You bring in someone new, and it just might alleviate the stigma this organization has built up in the past few years. My fear is that if Gorton gets it, no matter how capable he may be, the perception will be that it's just more of the same from the Bruins, since he worked under O'Connell.

And that's all she wrote...
It's funny how one dramatic action will grab everyone's attention, funny how that one action actually brings the team into the newspaper. In case you've been media-deprived anytime in the last week or two, I'm talking about the firing of Bruins GM Mike O'Connell. I remember when the Bruins hit the playoffs in the 2003-04 season and they were still snuggled in the back of the sports section with the high school and women's sports teams. It was ridiculous, considering the Sox had enough articles to fill a book and their season hadn't even started yet. OC gets his pink slip over the weekend, old man Jacobs emerges from his bat cave, and suddenly it's all Bruins. The worst part is, they don't even look like they're going to make the playoffs now. That they are mathematically still "in it" is a window that is growing smaller and smaller with each game. Funny, but I'm at the point where I don't care. It's nice to watch the games, and I'll root for them to win, but beyond that...

Finally a shootout win for Boston! After the last few games- the blown leads, the inopportune penalties, and the short end of the shootout, it is so good to see this team come out with a win. Funny how the B's play so well against one of the best teams in the league- but you can't complain. Patrice Bergeron gets the shootout goal, Tim Thomas stops everything that Ottawa sends his way, Bruins win 3-2.

Another loss? Sheesh. All I can do now is shrug my shoulders. The B's fell 6-2 to the Sabres yesterday. 6-2? Goals by Andrew Alberts and Brad Boyes. I won't say I'm fed up, but I will say that playoff hopes are growing slim. Okay, maybe they're borderline nonexistant at this point, but there's always that sliver of hope...

What happened this season? One minute they're one of the most promising teams in the League and now they're near the bottom of the heap and Mike O'Connell is up for sale on ebay (bidding at $10.50...) I'm not sure why, but it made me think of National Lampoon christmas vacation when Chevey Chase goes on the rant about his boss "And I'd like to have him right here, with a big ribbon on his head..." or something. Yeah, I know, it was a reach, but it's early.

Anyway, the Providence Bruins had a much better game. They beat the Hershey Bears 4-0, earning Jordan Sigalet his first professional shutout.

The Bears went on a powerplay 28 seconds into the game when Jason MacDonald was called for slashing, but both teams would go scoreless for much of the period. Ben Walter blasted one by the Bears' goaltender with just under six minutes to go, both Nathan Robinson and Pascal Pelletier picked up the helpers. Jonathan Sigalet scored late in the second period, while Eric Healey and Jason MacDonald would score in the third. Hershey outshot Providence 34-22 and went 0 for 6 on the powerplay. Jordan Sigalet was the number one star for the night; Jonathan Sigalet and Nathan Robinson were numbers two and three. hey, check out the box score.