It wasn’t that long ago that the Bruins were irrelevant in this town. Last year’s miracle season went a long way towards “making Boston a hockey town again” as Marc Savard recently put it. They were an entertaining team to watch last year, with the second best offense in the NHL, and several bangers and brawlers to put exclamation points on their wins and to give fans something to cheer about in their losses. Fans came back in droves. Attendance went up. TV ratings went up. Season ticket sales spiked. And the revival was underway.
But then things started to go wrong…
The Bruins had a very public, very messy divorce with one of their most popular players in Phil Kessel. Which reminded many of these casual Bruin fans of the days when the Bruins constantly put profit ahead of winning. It didn’t matter that this wasn’t one of those times. And the Bruins rushed right out and signed Lucic and Savard to long term deals, as if to send a message to these fans that they really weren’t being cheap- they just didn’t like Kessel’s game. But the damage was done.
The Bruins also failed to capitalize on all of their pre-season hype and excitement by flopping on opening night, and getting off to a miserable start. The fans that came back, eager to watch a winner, were suddenly getting turned off by a team that wasn’t winning.
To make matters worse- the Bruins were not very entertaining either. Their offense had gone from best in the conference last year to 2nd worst in the NHL by Thanksgiving. Their most entertaining non-scorer, Milan Lucic, was put on long-term-injury-reserve, only to come back for 4 games, get re-injured, and go right back on the LTIR. So even when they finally started winning games consistently, they were boring, low scoring affairs. And while hardcore hockey fans take plenty of gratification out of a hard fought, defensive win, the casual fans that the Bruins need to become relevant again- want to see goals, hits and fights.
All of which brings us to the Winter Classic. For one day the Bruins will be the center of the sporting universe. If the Bruins deliver a rambunctious, skillful, energetic win, they’ll be the toast of the town. All the early season trials and tribulations will be forgiven. The victory could serve as an emotional starting point for bigger and better things, much the way the local College teams use the Beanpot as a tune-up for their stretch run. A stirring win like that would give the B’s a real audience for the second half of their season, and energize the fan base for the playoffs. But if the season series with the Philadelphia Flyers has been an indication of what we can expect on New Year’s Day- expect to be bitterly disappointed.
Last night for example, the Bruins were once again, out-skilled, out-physical’d and downright intimidated by the Broad Street Bullies. A sad truth, considering the Flyers are the most disappointing team in the NHL this season. Nevertheless, the Flyers yet again, put up almost 40 shots on goal while the B’s, yet again, failed to get 30. Scott Hartnell and Dan Carcillo, ran around and did whatever they wanted to Bruins players. Heck, even dainty Danny Briere felt like a big man last night.
If this is what we’re going to see at a game where the average fan is paying over one thousand dollars a ticket- then expect there to be vicious and disastrous backlash.
The talking heads on radio and late night TV will jump on the chance to trash the Bruins. I can see it now, “In true Bruins fashion, they let us down. Once again, they don’t have enough talent to entertain and they don’t have enough heart to deliver when it matters.” And there will be some truth in that statement. The B’s failed to capitalize on the momentum they had two years ago, going into Game 7 in Montreal. And the same group, after being picked as the overwhelming odds-on-favorite to get to the Cup Finals last year, came up flat in the second round and was bounced by Carolina. An embarrassing loss to the Flyers under the Green Monster in front of 40,000 fans will only solidify this stigma.
And when the media is done trouncing the Bruins for yet another failure on the big stage, expect them to fall right back into hockey obscurity. Heck, it’s already started. Case in point, I was listening to sports radio the day after KesselMania II, hoping to hear some hockey talk, and the host says, “Phil Kessel was in town last night, we can talk about that today. Then again, he didn’t really give us much to talk about. Kind of like another 81 in these parts…” and thus ended the hockey portion of the program. Nothing about the Bruins. Nothing about the Flyers game coming up. Right back to the Patriots. Let’s face it, many of these main stream media guys know very little about the game, so all hockey talk in this town gets put through a universal sports translator, and when the Bruins are viewed in the ‘Tom Brady/Big Papi/Kevin Garnett’ context, they come up short.
So here’s a plea to Peter Chiarelli, Jeremy Jacobs, Cam Neely and anyone else in the Bruins hierarchy who’s hoping the Winter Classic will be more than just another bad memory: Make a move. Overpay if you have to. This is the 26th worst offense in the NHL. The 25th worst power play in the NHL. You have a formula that works, we saw it last year, but you are missing a piece: that fast skating, puck handling, goal scorer who pushes defenses back and creates space for everyone on the ice. I’ve assumed, as I’m sure many fans have as well, that Chiarelli plans on making a trade to address this glaring weakness at some point in the season- so move up your timetable a bit. There is a list below of 26 players who have all been rumored available at some point this season, many of whom, I’m sure, are available right now for the right price. Identify the guy you want (Filatov please), pay the piper, and get this team the player they need.
Don’t let the Winter Classic become another Game 7 loss, another Joe Thornton O-for, another Petr Klima in OT, another low bridge by Samuelsson, another Bobby Orr's a Blackhawk, another Too Many Men on the Ice...
