O'C gone - should Jacobs have fired himself?

Mike O'Connell was given the ax last night. Jeff Gorton (under whom the Bruins scouting has dramatically improved) is the interim GM for perhaps the remainder of the season, but most likely not much more than that. Given that O'C was signing players recently (Thomas, PJ, and most recently last year's first rounder Matt Lashoff) it appears that JJ was worried about his money disappearing.

In an interesting article in the Herald today (read it here) it's posed that the loss of the majority of the UFAs last year to other teams (Knuble, Nylander, Rolston) was solely at the hands of JJ. Which isn't surprising given his hard line stance going into the lockout. So was O'C the fall guy for this season? Perhaps. There's been serious backlash on the Thornton trade (which I still like) and the loss of Samsonov at the deadline, combined with the recent 3 year deals, probably sealed O'Cs fate.

It's really not surprising, either, that the Bruins won last night.... barely. They almost found a way to piss away another win, but surprisingly didn't. Given that this team is out of the hunt, I think Sullivan is coaching his last games in Boston. As I mentioned earlier, I think he is just as much to blame as O'C, if not more.

Well, that's a step in the right direction

Today the Boston Bruins re-signed PJ Axelsson to a 3 year contract extension. Let me be amongst the first to say - NICE!!! There are many who think that the Bruins' post-Olympic break decline is directly related to the loss of PJ to injury. While he'll probably never win a Selke, he's among some of the best defensive forwards in the game right now, and he has a knack of making his linemates better simply because he never makes a mistake.

I'm pretty much among the many who have written off this season, and knowing that Thomas and PJ will be back for the next few years does give me some real sense of hope for what's to come, based on the excellent core this team has.

OH - and to address a comment made by a reader, there really aren't that many front-office types available, but after the season and people are let go, you never know. I'm still firm in the belief that Another Sutter Brother would do wonders for this team's mindset. Anyone think Teddy Donato could be wooed away from Hahvahd? :-) Dean Lombardi is a name that's been tossed around, but he's heavily rumoured to be going to the Island. And those Bourque rumours are just that - dumb rumours. This team would be in even worse shape than it is right now if someone with name value, but zero experience, was in charge of players.

To be brutally honest, look at some of the signings and moves that O'C pulled off. Modano was pretty much a Bruin until Tom Hicks' checkbook stepped in. Forsberg was targeted, but decided on Philly to go back to the team that drafted him. Zhamnov was excellent in the last full NHL season - no one could predict that he'd forget how to play hockey and turn into a brittle old man in the year off. Murray - without Joe, he's not worth near the $4M it took to sign him and pacify Joe. And The Lazy One... O'C met with him PERSONALLY multiple times last summer to go over the team and it's direction to help keep him happy and re-sign him. Fat lot of good that did, since he elected to continually glide around the Boston ice until getting sent to SJ. His point production out on the Left Coast just proves my point that he didn't want to play in Boston and was mailing it in. It's sad seeing Sammy go, but I'd rather have the players and pick than losing Sammy to an overpriced UFA market, especially since he's been completely injury prone the past 3-4 seasons.

If there's a silver lining to all this, it's that the Bruins scouting has been fantastic the past 4-5 years. Scouting was a real weakness in the late 80's through most of the 90's. And some trades, like Boyes for Jillson, have been steals. I still think the SJ trade was a great one. But there's too much going on with the rotating goalie situation, the stupid holdouts, the injuries, etc. to completely pin this one on O'C. Does he shoulder some of the blame? Absolutely. Is it his fault this team plays with no spark some nights? Somewhat. Is it his fault that Boyes (who's 3rd in rookie scoring) barely got a shift the first 1/3 of the season? NO. Is it his fault that Gill gets 2x the minutes Alberts does? NO. I'd rather see Sullivan go than O'C.... but under the Sinden/O'C leadership this Bruins team really hasn't accomplished much. So if they both go, it might work out well IF, and ONLY IF, there are competent people ready to step in and do the job. Jettisoning the entire front office just for the sake of getting in a marquee fan name like Rat Bastard is worthless.

Playoffs really starting to look slim

Last night's loss, coupled with wins from everyone in front of Boston in the standings, may be one of the proverbial "nails in the coffin". The B's completely lackluster play doomed them from the get-go. This is NOT a team that can come back from being down 3-0 early in the second period. Not at all.

As soon as the team is mathematically eliminated, Mike Sullivan (if the office will let him) needs to do two things:
1) Play Raycroft. With Thomas' extension, and the great play of Hannu prior to the ankle injury, Raycroft will be odd man out and will be wearing a new sweater next season. IIRC, he'll be a restricted free agent, so the Bruins need him to show he's still got ROY skills in order to move his rights, or pull a "sign and trade". No surprises there, as the front office has always thought Hannu would be "the man". And with Thomas' strong play so far, even though he's exhausted right now he's still proved that he's an NHL goaltender, maybe not a full time #1, but platooning with Hannu next year would be a good move.

2) Play Alberts and M Stuart more, Gill/Leetch/Boynton less. Albie plays great when he's given ice time, and Mark Stuart has been very steady, if not spectacular. Honestly, from two rookie blueliners, you've got to be very pleased with how they've played. Stuart has commented that the more minutes and experience he gets, the more comfortable he'll be with laying out some bigger hits, which is a big part of his overall game. Alberts has kept quiet and done everything asked of him, and then some, and will be a solid #4 defenseman for years to come. The front office shouldn't even come CLOSE to considering re-signing Leetch or Gill. Boynton, maybe, if he gets the thing he thinks with out of the thing he stinks with. But with Alberts, both Stuarts, Tanabe, Jurcina, Boynton - you've already got a solid defense for next year. And if someone like Matt Lashoff or Sigalet makes the team out of camp, or Lars Jonsson also gets his head on straight and signs, the D will be plenty set and the Bruins can concentrate on getting some quality forwards next year either via trade or UFA.

Thoughts?

Boyes and Thomas

Congrats to Brad Boyes on his first NHL hat trick, which came at an opportune time in helping beat the Hurricanes. The B's need every win they can get from this point out, and performances like that will help do the trick (no pun intended).

Also, a hearty congrats to Tim Thomas who inked a 3-year extension with the Bruins over the weekend. We're now taking bets on where Raycroft is headed in the off-season. Maybe he'll go to Finland? Who knows... just think - if not for Raycroft's incredibly stupid holdout, Thomas most likely never would've signed with the Bruins.

Tonight and tomorrow are very important games, as the B's need wins and they need the 6-7-8 seeded teams to lose a few. I believe Montreal has 2 games in hand, which may be the difference since their play as of late hasn't been so hot either.

If the Bruins don't make the playoffs (probably 75-25 they are golfing in a few weeks) they only need to look back to the countless 1 goal losses they suffered this season. At last count, I believe it was 24 losses by one goal. Ouch.

Bye bye Boynton?

Check this article in today's Herald... think Nick's purposely just blowing up because he doesn't want to be here anymore? Sounds that way to me.... you be the judge.

http://bruins.bostonherald.com/bruins/view.bg?articleid=130757

Boynton suspended/Leetch/Sammy

Nick Boynton has been suspended for one game for his "throat slashing" gesture towards Mike Ribeiro after The New Gutless Wonder (not to be confused with the old Gutless Wonder Claude Lemieux) feigned injury. Interesting to note that even the Canadian Press wire article uses those words - "feigned injury". Everyone knows that POS is a whining, acting little punk. At least Lemieux could skate and play the game. Somewhat.

Rumour has it that O'C did indeed field some offers for Leetch at the deadline, and discussed the possibility of moving the future Hall of Famer with him. Leetch asked to stay in Boston (supposedly) and O'C turned down all offers. If this is true, it shows a lot of class by the Bruins front office, and perhaps I'll need to revisit my earlier post about them giving up on the season.

Another rumour floated by TSN has the Bruins players not exactly shedding tears over the loss of Samsonov. According to the scuttlebutt, Sammy has been disgruntled due to a combo of his constant injuries, the trading of Thornton, the lack of contract talks, etc. Not that he has been a disruption by any means... of course, both of these are RUMOURS so take them as such. No one's going to accuse me of being Eklund! :-)

Yeah, they're done.

Following Sammy's trade to Edmonton, the Bruins played a lackluster, half-assed game and lost to the Scabs 3-0. Save for Boynton attempting to light a fire under his teammates by taking on that gutless puke Ribeiro, and Timmy standing on his head in net, the game was a waste of time.

So both our first round picks in '97 are gone.

Granted, Sturm and Stuart (and Primeau too) were great pickups in trading The Lazy One, but c'mon - Reasoner, Stastny (again) and a 2nd rounder for Sammy? On the one hand, you're thinking "well the B's have been drafting phenomenally these past few years, so that pick may be the best part of it all". But then you read O'Connell's comments this morning about wanting to get warm bodies back so it doesn't look like the towel has been thrown in. But Marty Reasoner?????? C'mon, give me a break. This was a "trade him away before he walks for nothing" move, that I actually do agree with. Sammy will probably get offered much more than he's worth this summer, given his history of injuries and his dipsy-doodle moves at the blue line that always seem to result in him losing the puck. But it's still disingenuous at best for O'C to intimate that Marty Reasoner is going to help the Bruins bridge the now 9-point gap to get into the playoffs.

Perhaps the best part about this deal is never having to read "The Magical Muscovite" in any of KPD's columns anymore. That was old and tired by 2002.

So who knows. I actually enjoyed seeing the Bruins almost get into a scrum out of frustration at their season and the gutless play of that punk Ribeiro. Of course, not like Sturm and Bergy were going to do much. And Fitz - that was too little, too late at the end of the game. But if that game last night is any indication of the rest of the season, you may not see many updates here because I won't be bored silly watching those games.

Sammy to Edmonton

Right at the deadline, it was announced that Sammy was dealt to Edmonton. Current news says it's for Marty Reasoner, a pick, and a prospect. No "official" confirmation on this return yet, as soon as I get more firm news I'll post....

Today is the day

We'll see if the Bruins are buyers are sellers. I'll update the blog with quick analysis of any Bruins or blockbuster deals. Take my words for what they're worth - I'm just an opinionated blogger, that's all :-)

RUMOURS OF NOTE:

Edmonton is HOT for Sammy. No real confirmation on what they're offering up. I'd take Marc Andre Bergeron plus picks, but that's just me.

San Jose is continued to be mentioned as a landing point for Muzz to reunite him with The Lazy One. Again, another one where there's really no mention of actual players to be swapped.

With Edmonton picking up Roloson from Minny, talks of them snagging Rayzor have quieted (obviously), like wise with some quiet rumours about Raycroft and the Avs, who now have to deal with Theodore's hair and his family. What is this, a goalie shuttle between Colorado and Montreal?

For those that are interested, tsn.ca is running their live trade updater, go to their website and click on the banner for the Live Tracker, which will open in a small browser window that you can check throughout the day.

Let the fun begin!

Cam Neely's not walking back through that door.... Rick Middleton isn't walking back through that door...

but MARIUSZ CZERKAWSKI sure is!

That's right, the B's have picked up the defensively challenged forward on waivers. Precursor to a larger deal, in order to have some warm bodies with NHL experience up front to cover for the potential of immediate player loss? Who knows. He is dirt cheap though, and I guess he's better than having Ben Guite sit on the bench for 58 minutes.

B's fans may remember Mariusz coming to the Bruins with a flair for the dramatic, he used to do backflips on the ice in his European league if he scored an important goal. Thankfully, he never did that here, but he never produced either and was shipped out of town along with Sean Brown and picks for Bill Ranford. The B's re-acquired Brown, I guess Mariusz is back as well, now is there any way we can get that pick back too?

Let the fire sale begin

After last night's disappointing loss to the Sabres, the B's are now last in the division and 7 points out of the playoffs. While it's still mathematically possible that this team could get in as the 8 seed (or even the 7 seed if other teams choke), I doubt it will happen. The B's are proving to still be too erratic from game to game, and it looks like the worthless Olympic break robbed the team of any momentum they had.

At this point, I'd think there are very few untouchables on the Bruins roster - anyone else is up for grabs other than (I'd say) Bergeron, Boyes, Toivonen, Stuart, Boynton (maybe), Sturm (maybe).... it's hard to think of anyone else worth keeping. If the offer's good, sad to say, see ya.

Was anyone else pissed off last night when Thomas was continually run and the only person who stepped up was Boynton? Yes, I'm pretty much against fighting at this point, but that doesn't mean I'm against introducing someone's face to the palm of your glove if they want to keep bumping your goalie. Briere's stick to Thomas' head was flagrant, and only Nick attempted to do something about it. Lack of team toughness does not mean you need a goon - lack of team toughness is best described by what happened last night. Sheesh. Somewhere, Nevin Markwart, Bruce Shoebottom, Stan Jonathan, and Ken Linseman are weeping.

Back in action tonight

Tonight the B's will kick off their "second half" which really isn't a half, but I'm not the math teacher in the family so I won't bother to figure out what the actual fraction is of season left. In any event, the Bruins will be playing an NHL game and they are 2 points out of a playoff spot. That's pretty much all we need to know.

Still no word on if Thomas or Raycroft will be starting in net tonight. Based on his stellar play before tiring out, I'd go with Thomas but spell him every few games until Hannu's ankle is ready to go. If that's before the trade deadline (which is only weeks away) then you may see a move. But until then, there's no way the B's let Raycroft (or Thomas) go to another team.

Sturm will be back on the top line tonight after injuring his shoulder prior to the Olympic break. PJ is expected to meet the team in N Carolina and be available. Congrats to him for his OUTSTANDING play with Team Sweden. Why this guy is never considered for a Selke, I'll never know.

Also nice to note is the play of Milan Jurcina in the Olympics. He's been coming on strong all season, and let's hope his development continues. I still say his play has made Gill expendable.

Some Bruins fans have taken umbrage with Jeremy Jacob's comments to the Globe about Sammy's status. JJ was very candid about how Sammy hasn't continued to develop like the B's originally hoped, and he has proven to be a player that deserves the "injured" label that's now on him. Now, it seems every time JJ opens his mouth to the media, *someone* complains. This time, it's about "hurting Sammy's potential trade value". IF Sammy goes get moved at the deadline, it's certainly NOT going to be to someone who says "What? He's been injured a lot lately? You're kidding me... really?" The entire league knows Sammy is brittle and is injury prone (much like other smaller players like the Bure Brothers, Saku Koivu, etc) so JJ's comments certainly didn't take anyone by surprise and would have zero impact on any trade value.

Injury news - Isbister, Moran, and Zhamnov are all still out. Slegr's available if needed (which he won't be, barring major injury or major trade). Hannu's still out, as noted above.

And finally, a big THANK YOU to the Americans for their whopping ONE WIN in the Olympics. And their expected whining and excuses afterwards. Oh wait a minute, did I say "thank" you? I actually meant another two word phrase that also ends in "you"....