Monthly Archives: September 2013

2014 Boston Bruins Season Preview & Predictions

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boston-bruins-90th-anniversaryFinally, after a long summer Bruins Hockey is back! I know that I couldn’t be more excited for the season to start, even with the shortest off-season in NHL history. The best part is core of this team is intact and not going anywhere for a while. However, it will be a different team to watch; and not just because of these new jersey patches.

Changes:

While I am sad about the loss of Nathan Horton, I believe that Jerome Iginla can step in his place and fit in perfectly. In fact, he could be more valuable due to his penalty killing ability and leadership on and off the ice. With Iginla comes leadership and the hunger to win a Cup and win now. This is a guy who won’t take any nights off and, hopefully, can keep Milan Lucic’s skates moving during the regular season.

The Bruins also made a huge blockbuster trade, ridding themselves of Tyler Seguin and Rich Peverley. Those two are guys who didn’t fit in the Bruins system. They are finesse guys who don’t like to get in the corners and grind. I do think Seguin will have great regular season success throughout his career but, I don’t see him being able to lead a team on a long playoff run. Does this story of a Boston Bruins former first round pick sound similar Bruins fans? Loui Eriksson has the makings of a guy who can go out and play Bruins Hockey. He ads some much needed size to the Bergeron line and will go into the corners and win the puck. Plus Eriksson has some moves too!

Boston Bruins 2014 Season Predictions:

Boston Bruins Leading Goal Scorer: David Krejci. This was a tough choice for me because I see this Bruins team being similar to last season’s where 4 or 5 different guys will be right around the same goal level. I decided on Krejci because he is the skill guy on a line with Lucic and Iginla who will feed the puck to the middle for him.

Boston Bruins 7th Player Award: Carl Soderberg. If you are looking for a guy to break out this year this is it. From everything I have seen in camp and the preseason, Soderberg is primed to have a big year, even on the 3rd line. I wouldn’t be surprised if he sees power play time sooner rather than later.

Boston Bruins Team MVP: Tuukka Rask. I know this isn’t a huge reach but with a lot of young defensemen out there night in and night out, Tuukka is going to have to continue to be the backbone of this team along with Zdeno Chara.

2014 NHL MVP: John Tavares. It’s time for him to get the recognition he deserves.

Presidents Trophy: Chicago Blackhawks. While the Bruins division was made much stronger with the addition of Detroit, Chicago’s was made significantly weaker with no challenger in sight.

Vezina Trophy: Tuukka Rask. I am trying real hard to not make this a homer pick but I can’t do it. The fact that Tuukka wasn’t even a finalist last year enraged me.

Boston Bruins 2014 Season Prediction: Stanley Cup Champions. (They don’t call me a Believer for nothing.) Let’s face it anything outside of a top 4 finish in the league would be disappointing. High expectations? Yes, but they have earned it with their recent success. The Boston Bruins have all of the necessary parts to make another cup run, most importantly, adding two veterans eager to win their first cup with Eriksson and especially Iginla. Yes, the division will be tougher with the addition of Detroit, the growth Toronto has shown, and the usual pains-in-the-ass up in Montreal but, the Bruins don’t necessarily need to win the division (in the regular season) to reach the ultimate goal. In recent Cup runs the B’s have shown the willingness and the ability to win big games on the road.

NHL Final Four: Boston, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Los Angeles

Stanley Cup Final: Boston in 6 vs. Los Angeles. You have no idea how much I struggled with the fact that I picked the Bruins to win The Cup. I was scared to type out those thoughts but I had to make a prediction. I don’t think Detroit can handle playing in the more physical Northeast Division (or whatever they are calling it now) over the course of the season and into the playoffs. The only reason I didn’t pick Chicago to go to the finals again is because no team has repeated in the NHL since 1997 and that’s no coincidence, in my opinion it is the hardest thing to do in sports.

There you have it. I am looking forward to a new season with this team. Don’t forget to follow BruinsBeliever on Twitter for quick thoughts and updates. Let’s Go B’s!

Boston Bruins Training Camp Report

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Training Camp 2013

This past Sunday, I was able to attend both session of Boston Bruins Training Camp at the TD Garden. Which, I have to admit, is just not the same as it was going to Wilmington because yesterday felt more like a production. I was a little depressed (but not surprised) to find Jeremy Jacobs making money off of what was supposed to be a free event by selling concessions. I was pleased to find players taking the time to sign some autographs after the second session for the kids who turned out.

The Boston Bruins split up the team into 2 practice groups for Training Camp 2013. Group B went first for the 10 o’clock session. The guy who really stood out was Carl Soderberg. He scored 3 goals and hit 2 posts during the practice. 2 of the 3 goals were perfectly placed shots over the goaltenders shoulder, under the bar shots that are virtually unstoppable. That is a skill the Bruins have missed quite a bit throughout the years. From what I have heard, he has been lighting it up all camp long. He looks ready to breakout in the 2013-2014 Season. Soderberg had me wondering if Claude Julien would have to consider possibly moving Loui Eriksson or Jerome Iginla down to the third line to make room for Soderberg. Meanwhile, Iginla looked like he would fit in perfectly with Milan Lucic and David Krejci on that top line.

During the afternoon session, BruinsBeliever was able to watch Loui Erikkson interacting with future line mates Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. The first thing I noticed was his size. He is a lot bigger than I thought he was and seemed more than willing to go into corners to free the puck up for Bergeron quarterback. I think he will be a great fit for the Bruins and a much better fit than Tyler Seguin would have been. Erikkson did a great job back-checking throughout the session and even lifted a goal past Tuukka Rask during a drill. I am excited to see how these lines play out, especially if Soderberg plays anywhere near the level he has been practicing.

Overall, Believe it or not, I feel better about this team than I did about last years team during their brief ‘training camp’. This team just seems so meticulously put together and each piece seems to fit perfectly together. They lost a leader in Andrew Ference, but then traded for Loui Erikkson who was an Alternate Captain down in Dallas. Heck, Brad Marchand already called Erikkson a “great leader” during a post practice interview. They also signed Chad Johnson as a potential backup for Rask who is a great locker room guy as well. Not to mention the character and desire to win a cup with Jerome Iginla. This team is built to win now and take advantage of everything Zdeno Chara has left in the tank coupled with the younger players entiring their primes. It should be another awesome year. Especially when the preseason starts off with a Boston Bruins win in Montreal. Let’s hope for another great year. Keep Believing and don’t forget to follow me @BruinsBeliever. Let’s go B’s!

Boston Bruins Sign GM Peter Chiarelli to Contract Extension

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Overall, this is a solid move for the Boston Bruins. Chiarelli definitely has his glaring strengths and weaknesses, but when you win the Stanley Cup and come within 4 periods of another, you deserve some level of job security. As a writer, Chiarelli is the perfect GM for me because it can be so easy to second guess his moves and overall plan.

Chiarelli’s biggest weakness by far is his drafting. He has been downright horrible since he has become GM of the Bruins. Now, I know some of you hardcore Believers are saying to yourself, “Wait a minute, the Boston Bruins have at ton of home grown talent on the team between Bergeron, Milan Lucic, Brad Marchand, David Krejci, and the acquisition of Tuukka Rask”. And you are correct, except that Chiarelli had exactly nothing to do with any of those players becoming Boston Bruins. They were all either drafted or acquired by the Bruins during the much-lamented Mike O’Connell era. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not going to say that the O’Connell era was all sunshine and rainbows. I was calling for his head long before Jeremy Jacobs had the guts to fire him only when things hit rock bottom. However, he does deserve credit for this young Bruins nucleus, especially that Rask trade with Toronto, I mean Andrew Raycroft for Tuukka Rask and a pick? That has to go up on the pantheon great Bruins trades. I’ll get back to the trade talk later.
Now, back to Chiarelli’s crappy drafting. Do you want to guess how many Chiarelli draft picks played in the 2013 Stanley Cup Finals? If you guessed ZERO you would be right! Remember, Torrey Krug was a rookie free agent and not a draft pick. I don’t think I need to run down the list of Jordan Carons and Joe Colbornes  and other flops that he has taken with his picks. He traded his most heralded pick, Tyler Seguin this offseason and the jury is still out on Dougie Hamilton who lost a spot in the defensive rotation to the aforementioned Krug. It seems as though the Bruins have already addressed the issue by firing the former Director of Scouting Wayne Smith and replaced him with Keith Gretzky (yes, the brother of Wayne) who has a more European focus. Hopefully, the Bruins will start seeing some improvement on draft day.

Chiarelli has been very good at moving pieces around via trades. He brought over some major contributors to the Bruins success, especially Dennis Seidenberg, Matt Bartkowski, Nathan Horton, Gregory Campbell (all from the Florida Panthers acquired in a couple of different deals), Daniel Paille and Johnny Boychuck. His one stinker of a trade so far was the Tomas Kaberle trade, but then again, who knows if the Bruins win the Stanley Cup without him in 2011, so I am willing to give him a pass on that one considering most of his other trades look great so far, except for the Kessel trade. For me, the jury is still out on the Phil Kessel trade Tyler Seguin has already been traded and Dougie Hamilton still has a lot of growing up to do.

Peter Chiarelli seems to have a pretty good working relationship with President Cam Neely even if they don’t always see eye to eye on everything. Chiarelli and Claude Julien will always be linked together in my mind and seem to have a similar sense of the way a hockey team should be run. It will be a fun ride and I can’t wait to second guess Chiarelli for the next 5 years or so.