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Title - HH
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The Bruins Days of Futures Past
By Mark McGowan
HometownHockey.ca

The Bruins Days of Futures Past
Much has been discussed about the Boston Bruins “earlier than expected” exit from the playoffs at the hands of the Montreal Canadians. Now that the dust has cleared, Bruins nation and the organization on Causeway Street need to take a step back and reassess. In what otherwise was a very successful season, look for the lessons of the past to have much less impact than the “business” of the future on the decisions that will be made and impact this season will have.
PHOTO CREDIT - BostonBruins.com

Boston - June 20, 2014 - Much has been discussed about the Bruins “earlier than expected” exit from the playoffs at the hands of their bitter rival the Montreal Canadians.

Now that the dust has cleared, Bruins nation and the organization on Causeway Street need to take a step back and reassess.

In what otherwise was a very successful season, look for the lessons of the past to have much less impact than the “business” of the future on the decisions that will be made and impact this season will have. Looking ahead…


1) The Bruins and the fan base need to stop obsessing about the Canadians. Yes, they beat you, yes it is your most hated rival, yes you could not have picked a worse team to lose to…..yes, we get it all. But let’s keep our eye on the pie, our focus on the goal. 10 years ago, we were happy just to beat the Canadians, anything else was extra. Not so much anymore and not with this team, you are expected to compete for the Cup.

You were the better team and you lost. When that happens, you start to look at the coach and question his “in game” and “in series” adjustments...or lack thereof. No, we should not fire Claude, but hopefully he learned something and can adjust. He has morphed and matured as a coach quite a bit in his tenure in Boston. That said, he had the horses in March but like a poker player that shows his cards he did not make the adjustments he needed to make in May. Learn from it.

2) Failure at trade deadline is a bad recipe for playoff success. 1 cup in four years and that was the year Peter Chiarelli had an excellent trade deadline. It’s no coincidence. He has acknowledged it so look for next year to be different. Looking ahead and with the cap considerations reviewed below, look for Peter to be spiking the cell phone overages next year...and beginning this summer too.

3) Iginla … It’s the million dollar question, or a few million and that is the issue. Iggy has earned a solid contract and probably more than a 1 year deal. Bit, the Bruins owe raises to Tory Krug and Reilly Smith (Both RFA’s) and have to make a decision on Matt Bartkowski, Justin Florek (look for both to re-sign..) and Jordan (can we finally give up on) Caron. According to CapGeek.com, the Bruins have an estimated 9 million in cap space BEFORE bonus overages from last year. Iginla’s cap friendly but bonus heavy contract now impacts this year’s cap and the ability to keep him, the bonuses must be applied to the 2014 cap. It looks like the real cap space is less than 8 million before the Smith and Krug signings, assuming you get relief from Savard’s 4 million on the books , but that still leave the B’s very snug vs. the cap. Look for the Bruins to regretfully pass on resigning Iggy, there is just no way to fit him in.

4) The 2015-16 season has the Bruins looking at UFA’s Campbell, Paille, Sodenberg , Krejci, Boychuk and McQuaid and Hamilton as a RFA. With Millers play (Montreal series aside) McQuaid has been rendered obsolete and redundant and with his injury history, look for him to be moved. With 11M already tied up in Chara and Seidenberg on the backline and the excellent play of Hamilton in the playoffs, it’s tough to see Boychuk past next season. Acknowledging a team goal of quicker and faster, McQuaid and Boychuk both can be replaced with quicker, faster, cheaper and less expensive talent in Hamilton, Krug and to some degree Miller. Look for the Bruins to be active looking for a fourth defenseman but do not expect them to look internally and very possibly not until mid season to only have a fraction of the cap hit. 2014 will feature one eye on the present, but another warily looking at the future of tough personnel decisions with the 2015’s class of UFA’s and RFA’s. Boychuk looks like the Andrew Ference of the past. Would love to but...

5) On the forward lines, three numbers loom large. The X factors are Kelly (3M) and (4.25) Erikson accounting for a luxurious 7.25 million against the cap for two 3rd line players. Add to that the frequently inconsistent and often maddening 2nd liner Brad Marchand accounting for 4.5M and it’s a lot of cap space against arguably expendable pieces. Erikson and Marchand will be given ample opportunities to prove their worth (and should) before the trade deadline but failing to do so will earn a one way ticket to a trade deadline seller. With some decent young talent impatiently waiting in Providence, the clock is ticking on Chris Kelly. Look for Ryan Spooner and Justin Florek to get legit shots on the big team this year and Kelly to be sent on his careers sunset tour.

6) Minor changes in goal as Tuukka of course is back but Chad Johnson will get his payday elsewhere for a decent year as backup. Look for Nikas Svedberg to be moved from Providence to Bruins. The Bruins want to give this high draft prospect a serious look behind Tuukka and increase the work load for prospect in waiting Malcom Subban down on the farm. Svedberg was outstanding in last years training camp and after two seasons in Providence is ready to audition for Prime Time.


The 2014 Bruins will feature a contender in transition as they change from a grinding team to a quicker team, looking to fill needs for a 1st line wing and a top 4 defenseman but equally as important look towards the future and evaluate the past. It has been years since so many parts in the Bruins structure have had the potential to be in flux and for a lot of this roster the clock starts ticking in October if they want to be with this cap crunched squad in 2015.

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