Boston Bruins

Savard to miss start of camp with post-concussion syndrome

September 17, 2010

As if it wasn't bad enough that the Bruins blew a 3-0 series lead to the Flyers, this news just broke from training camp: According to Peter Chiarelli, Marc Savard will not skate or be available to the media for the near future due to symptoms of post-concussion syndrome. You can probably add "that are a result of Boston rushing Savard back for the Flyers series" to the end of that, but Chiarelli and the Bruins would never admit such a mistake, just like they won't admit to the mistake of Andrew Ference, Michael Ryder and Tim Thomas' contracts by keeping them around while buried up against the salary cap. More on this story when details become more clear.

Bruins trade Dennis Wideman, acquire Nathan Horton and Gregory Campbell

June 22, 2010

Wally Brennan

2 Comments

Peter Chiarelli is back, and he's back big. The Bruins have traded much maligned defenseman Dennis Wideman to the Florida Panthers in exchange for RW Nathan Horton and C Gregory Campbell. The Bruins also sent Florida the 15th overall pick in Friday's draft along with a 3rd rounder in 2011. Horton gives Boston something it sorely lacked during the 09-10 season -- a winger with the ability to put the puck in the net. Adding Horton along with either Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin immediately makes the Bruins' top six forward core loads better than it was, with a combination of Savard/Horton/No. 2/Bergeron/Krejci/Ryder/Lucic/Wheeler/Sturm composing the top two lines. Though the Bruins gave...

Picking up the pieces

June 10, 2010

Wally Brennan

0 Comments

I've been putting of writing a eulogy, if you will, for obvious reasons. Since the Flyers put an end to the Bruins season I've had every single emotion possible about the team, the season and the playoffs. I was able to enjoy the Stanley Cup Finals, but it still stung. But with two weeks until the draft it's time to regroup and look ahead to the 2010-2011 season. The Bruins have already made some moves with free agents to-be, including a two year deal worth $812k for Shawn Thornton (ew), a three year deal worth too much for fragile Andrew Ference, and a solid four year deal worth $3.25 mil to defenseman Dennis Seidenberg, who emerged as a perfect partner for Zdeno Chara after the Bruins ...

Sadly, History Will be Made

May 13, 2010

Wally Brennan

1 Comment

I'm sorry, Bruins fans. We're about to be on the wrong side of history. 1942 Red Wings. 1975 Penguins. 2004 Yankees. 2010 Bruins. A list of four futile embarrassments. Three are in the past, one is a guarantee. The sad fact is that this Bruins team doesn't want it bad enough. They have a roster full of guys, save for Mark Recchi, that have never won anything in their careers but have been paid handsomely for their failures (I'm looking at you, Zdeno Chara, Michael Ryder, Tim Thomas and Milan Lucic, among others). They have a roster full of guys who easily get spoiled with success, as clearly evident from their performance in game 5 against Buffalo and the last three games of this Phila...

What if Savvy failed the neuro-psych test?

May 2, 2010

Wally Brennan

0 Comments

Marc Savard is back, and he's back big. Less than two full months after getting his brain scrambled by Matt Cooke, Savard put a Hollywood finish on game 1 against the Flyers, scoring the overtime winner and nearly blowing the roof off of the Garden in the process. Before the GWG it was a mostly uneventful 15 minutes for Savard. He had just one shot on goal, and other than a couple of solid passes was rarely noticed on the ice. But it was the emotional lift he gave the team that allowed the Bruins to come out of the gate flying and open up a 2-0 lead in the first period. As was to be expected the Flyers never quit, cutting the deficit to 2-1 on a Ryan Parent goal, and after Miro "The...

Was Round 1 An Upset?

April 28, 2010

kmf418

1 Comment

Entering the 2010 NHL Playoffs, the Buffalo Sabres had every reason for confidence heading into their quarterfinal matchup with the Boston Bruins. After all, the Sabres had a very successful season winning the Northeast division easily by sixteen points, nineteen more than the Bruins. The Bruins, who only secured a spot in the playoffs the last week of the season, were without two of their top four defenseman, and their best player, Marc Savard. The Bruins were also starting a rookie goaltender in Tuuka Rask. Hockey experts on NHL.com and ESPN.com all predicted an easy series victory for the Sabres, some in as little as five games. After all, the Sabres were clearly the better team. ...

Bruins vs. Sabres Series Preview

April 15, 2010

Wally Brennan

1 Comment

For the first time since 1999 and second time since the May Day series of 1993 the Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres will meet in the playoffs when they drop the puck from the HSBC Arena. The Bruins, in as the No. 6 seed, fought tooth and nail to hang in the playoff race from March on, eventually beating out Montreal and Philadelphia in points. Buffalo nearly went wire-to-wire in the Northeast Division, mainly thanks to a season in which its key players finally stayed healthy. But despite the 10 point disparity between the two teams that was generally higher throughout the season, this is a matchup that truly could go either way. Boston went 4-2 against the Sabres this year (though two ...

Andrew Ference signs 3-year extension

March 24, 2010

Wally Brennan

6 Comments

It's official -- Peter Chiarelli has lost his mind. The Bruins announced today that oft-injured defenseman Andrew Ference to a 3-year extension worth $2.25mil per year. In three full seasons with Boston, Ference has yet to crack the 60 games played mark, playing 59 games in 2007-2008 and 47 games last season. Should he play in every game for the remainder of this season, Ference will have played exactly 60 games. Over those three years, Ference has a total of 2 goals and 37 assists to go along with a -14 rating. He will also undergo groin surgery in the offseason for the second consecutive year. This extension means that Peter Chiarelli will have handed out $11.25mil in extensions t...

Fredo, you're nothing to me now

March 19, 2010

Wally Brennan

8 Comments

I have a friend who's a die-hard New Jersey Devils fan. This friend is 24 years old and was born in raised in Massachusetts and attended Emerson College in Boston. He became a Devils fan around the age of 10 (near the Devils Stanley Cup victory over the Red Wings) because he liked the name "Devils" and enjoyed watching them win on TV. But there's another reason that he became a Devils fan. He swore off the Bruins due to various reasons that mostly all stemmed from the ownership and cheapness of Jeremy Jacobs. "My tipping point was not re-signing Bill Guerin," my friend says. "When that happened I finally went from following (the Bruins) as my secondary team to 'fuck you, I'm done ...