The Bruins have eight games to get busy living or get busy dying, as Morgan Freeman said in Shawshank Redemption. I know I’m not very optimistic about their chances ever since they dropped that game to the Ottawa Senators last week, but let’s see what the loyal readers think in this week’s Hagg Bag mailbag. As always, these are tweets to my @HackswithHaggs Twitter account, emails to jhaggerty@comcastsportsnet.com and messages to my CSNNE Facebook fan page. Onward and upward to the bag:
What is your day-to-day life like? Do you travel with the team? Are you at every morning skate and practice?
And...one bright spot to this season of pain, especially the end of March is this. Top ten pick in a very deep draft. It looks though Florida, Ottawa, Dallas, Colorado, San Jose and L.A. should pass the B's by, giving them a very good player to build off. With Pasta and Spoons the rebuild shouldn't be too. Too long.
--Bob Rylett
JH: Hi Bob...Thanks for your interest. My day-to-day life is exactly the kind of controlled craziness you would expect from somebody that’s married, with a house, two black labs and an 18-month old that is hell-bent on waking up around 5 every morning. I cover practice every day and write stories off interviews and observations conducted before, during and after those practice sessions, travel to about 50-60 percent of the road games and cover every game at home.
When I’m not on the road, I’m in studio at Comcast SportsNet New England, and always ready to bring analysis to the airwaves on Sportsnet Central after the game is over. I don’t “travel with the team” in those exact terms. I normally don’t fly on the team’s charter (though I have on a couple of occasions, and I must admit it’s pretty awesome), and I usually don’t stay at the same hotel as the team while on the road. Instead, I fly commercially, but do it around the Bruins schedule of practices and road games. I’ve been to all 30 NHL rinks while covering the Bruins, and have been to the Phillips Arena former home of the Atlanta Thrashers, Le Collisee in Quebec City, where the Nordiques used to play and the Igloo in Pittsburgh before they knocked it down.
Boston Bruins
So I guess that means I’ve worked in 33 NHL buildings, which is soon to be 34 when the Islanders move into the Barclays Center in Brooklyn next season. I am at just about every morning skate and practice, and went on a run of about four years where I was the only one who was at every game home and away, every practice and every morning skate. That is a lot of hockey, so it’s a good thing that I love it.
I’ve got to say, Bob, I’m not on board for the Bruins dropping all the way down to a Top 10 pick. I don’t see Florida, etc. all passing the Bruins by the end of the season, and if that happens, it means there was a complete and utter breakdown here at the end. I’m not sure anybody is rooting, or expecting, that kind of ugliness.
I would like to know why Lou Lamoriello fired Claude when his team was in first place in 2006-2007. Any idea?
--Jay Carbone (@JayCarbone)
JH: At the time Lamoriello said he didn’t feel like his Devils team “was ready mentally or physically for the playoffs”, and that was a way to give them a jolt going into the postseason. You also heard plenty of stories about New Jersey Devils veterans chafing at the rigid coaching style employed by Julien in his first year there, and Julien himself even confirmed something I’d always heard in an interview with Jackie MacMullan: a Devils player fired a puck at his shin during those New Jersey practice days leading up to his firing.
It seemed like it might have been a tough situation for the coach and the Devils in Julien's tenure there, but it’s a completely different thing here in Boston, if that’s what you’re angling at, Jay.
Julien has been in Boston for eight years, he’s been in the playoffs every year and he’s won a Cup here. That was Julien’s first season in New Jersey with an established group of veterans that had won a Cup before he got there.
There’s enough mutual respect between both sides here in Boston that you’re not going to see the players pull a Captain Bly-style mutiny. Still, if Bruins management ever felt like the coach’s message was getting stale with the players, it would be incumbent on them to make a move. I just don’t think we’re there, and I don’t think Julien is the big problem that many others seem to think he is in Boston.
Haggs
I think what the B's need is a change. Not personnel, but of philosophy. One reason the Pats are great is because of the ability to adjust game plans on the fly. The B's are one-dimensional, and are now easy to play against because teams know how to play them. They stick to a game plan too ad nauseam. I could bore you with details, but you probably see it all too.
Have a nice weekend
Rick Kuhner
JH: Thanks for not boring me with the details, Rick. I honestly don’t think “adjusting game plans on the fly” is as important to a hockey team as having an identity, and having the personnel to be able to play that identity. The Bruins and the LA Kings have been two of the most successful teams in the NHL over the past five years, and they have also been two of the most deliberate, defensive-minded, physical and tough teams over that time span. Opponents knew what the Bruins and Kings were going to do, and couldn’t stop them despite that knowledge.
In my book, that’s much more effective than trying to play to another team’s strengths depending on each individual game. The Bruins are easier to play against this year because they have a depleted roster that doesn’t have the depth or top-end talent it had the past few years. Also, the B's are getting older and creakier at the same time.
I think there will actually be a pretty big turnover in personnel this offseason with so many unrestricted free agents, and some trades that still need to be make in the offseason to clear up some salary cap space. My prediction: both Milan Lucic and Loui Eriksson will be moved from this team over the summer to clear significant cap space and change up the mix of the team from this year’s bunch. Peter Chiarelli could get quite a bit of talent, and future assets, in exchange for those two wingers both with a year left on their contracts.
I would be interested to see the Bruins revisit a deal centered around the B’s sending Lucic and Malcolm Subban to Edmonton for Taylor Hall with other pieces potentially involved as well. I wouldn’t rule something like that out.
Who is the Asian woman who sits behind B's bench? My kids and I have commented that she is there for every game. Nice seat! She gets a lot of NESN airtime.
--Dan Sheridan (via Facebook)
JH: I have no idea, but I’ve wondered the same thing before. I’ve watched her go through multiple hairstyles over the years while being a rock as a supportive Bruins fan directly behind the bench every time they go to a shot of Claude Julien on the bench. She’s certainly been a lucky charm given that the Bruins have been a playoff team during her run with tickets behind the B’s bench.
Any idea why [Brett] Connolly was doubled up with Pastrnak [at practice] and not Reilly Smith, aka the invisible man?
--Tyler (@tldevoe)
JH: Connolly was skating on the right wing alternating with David Pastrnak and doing that alongside Ryan Spooner and Milan Lucic. All along the feeling has been that giving Pastrnak a few games off here and there would probably be the best thing for him, and that the Bruins might be best served in the playoffs having a veteran in that key forward position rather than an 18-year-old who is no more than 172 pounds soaking wet.
The problem was that injuries pushed Pastrnak into an everyday role, and he’s been pretty good in large stretches. But one could see how he was overpowered in that loss to the Ducks, and manhandled along the boards and in puck battles. Connolly would be a good option as a big right wing that can shoot on the opposite bookend of Milan Lucic and could signal a return to normalcy with David Krejci in the middle between two power forward types once Connolly finally gets healthy enough to play in games.
Smith should be bumped down to the third-line like is now, in my opinion.
Maybe Smith can get some of his confidence back skating with Carl Soderberg and Loui Eriksson, and it won’t be as high-profile as skating on Patrice Bergeron’s right side. I fully believe Smith can still help this team, but whatever he’s been doing over the past couple months isn’t it. Something needed to change, and you can see that by the different line combinations Julien is playing around with the past few games.
How much longer are they gonna say lucic is a top player and a difference maker? He doesn’t do it nearly often enough
--Paul Fitzgerald (@pfitzy7)
JH: His inconsistency has long been one of his biggest weaknesses as a player, Fitzy. But I think he’ll be properly motivated next season in a contract year no matter who he is playing for, and he made a difference in Game 7 against the Maple Leafs when Boston’s season was on the line. I just don’t think we’ve seen that guy enough this season. But his mix of offensive skills and fearsome toughness are a combination any other team around the league would want to have. Let's see if they can keep his fire permanently lit.
He’s got a chance in these final eight games to be a difference-maker, and if he doesn’t seize that opportunity then he may be wearing a different uniform next season.
Just one question: Do you think Bruins make the playoffs???
--Tony Bad Bing (@tonycbadabing)
JH: Nope. Not buying in at this point, Tony. Once the Bruins lost that game to Ottawa last week and allowed the Senators to dictate the tempo coming right off the opening face-off, I was off the train for this team making the playoffs. There are too many inconsistencies, too many players not performing up to their standards, too many nights where they just don’t bring it like they should and too many holes on a roster that screams out “transition season” rather than “Stanley Cup season.” The loss was a statement game to me, and that statement from the Bruins was “we don’t want to be in the playoffs” as far as I’m concerned.
In my mind, they need 12 out of 16 points to make it in these final eight games, and I don't think they'll get it done.
It’s fitting that the B’s fate is tied to a game where Reilly Smith looked like a quivering bundle of nerves just waiting to make a mistake out on the ice.
Haggs,
It was such a bummer to hear about Matthew Wuest losing his battle to cancer. The work he did on CapGeek.com was a great contribution to the hockey community. That site was a staple for me for years, not just at the trade deadlines or when free agency rolled around, but all year. He was always adding to the site as well, rolling out great tools like the Armchair GM. I know a lot of writers owe him quite a bit, as the information he provided was used in more than a few columns to help explain trades and potential trades, LTIR, what teams could or couldn't do in free agency and even look ahead to what contract issues teams might have with players in the future. Just a great site all around.
On that note, it would be nice if Gary Bettman would stop trying to tell fans what they want and give them what they want for a change. They should create their own version of CapGeek within the NHL.com website and make it in honor of Matthew. I've sent them a couple of messages, first when Bettman claimed there was no interest in that type of site, and again after hearing of Matthew's passing. It'd be a nice tribute to a guy that enhanced the experience of following the NHL.
-Dan
JH: Good stuff, Dan. I wholeheartedly agree that the NHL should be interested in putting up a CapGeek-type site to track salary cap information for both teams and players, but there is absolutely no interest in it from the league. I’m not sure they feel it’s in the best interests of the league to have that much information so accessible, but I can tell you first-hand that Gary Bettman doesn’t feel like there’s much interest at all for it from the league’s fan base.
I corresponded a bit with Matthew in his time running the CapGeek site. He would ask me about no-trade clauses, bonus clauses in contracts or simple transactions being made by the Bruins, so he could keep his site completely accurate and up-to-date. He was amazing at creating such a great tool for everybody, and the fact he did it simply because he had a passion for it is so inspiring to me. Sometimes we all forget how lucky we are to be living our dreams working in professional sports and doing it in good health, and Matthew’s passing was a reminder of making sure to cherish both of those things along with the legacy that he left as the founder of CapGeek.
See you guys and girls at the rink...