SOBs - Same Old Bruins
At the time this article is being written, the Bruins brass just wrapped up the end of the year media session. This is the best depiction of what all of Boston was just subjected to in the 45 minutes they spoke and the reaction to it - click here.
Oh my lord, what the hell was that? That was without question the worst end season press conference I have ever seen. They don’t get it. I’m about to go off.
Care to Elaborate?
I’d love to. Don Sweeney, Cam Neely, and Charlie Jacobs let me start with this. Shame on all of you. They CONTINUE to be tone deaf when it comes to this team. They refuse to take accountability, continue to blame the coaches and the staff, and they have the audacity to raise the price of the freaking tickets.
The denial of the bad drafting and even defending the 2015 class citing how Sweeney was new to the job. The “narrative” is not off. The players being drafted by the Bruins are not turning into NHL players. And then those that leave, saying how they have drafted multiple NHL players that play elsewhere like it isn’t even a problem. Taking credit for Bruce Cassidy and turning him into a cup winning head coach when you forced him out the door. It’s ludicrous.
This group clings onto history like a child to a teddy bear, which is probably a more accurate name of this group right now instead of Bruins. In the 100 year celebration, they lumped this years group with the Big Bad Bruins and Lunch Pail AC. It is shameful to associate this pathetic soft excuse for a team with the legends from the past. They have never been farther away from that.
They talked about 2013, 2015, 2019 and what went wrong there like it somehow had something to do with present day. They talked about history, past achievements, and how this a great organization to be a part of. Why would a coach want to come here after they canned two great coaches? The response - why wouldn’t they want to be part of an original six franchise? When Jim Montgomery was hired by the St. Louis Blues they had 64 points. The Bruins had 66. Boston finished with 76 and missed the playoffs while the Blues finished with 96 and made the jump to a playoff team. With those 76 points, the Bruins finished last in the Atlantic division and were in that position in April for the first time since 1997.
They used to laugh and look down at teams like Buffalo, Ottawa, Florida, Detroit, and Montreal. They are now all better than you. Three of those teams are in the playoffs and the other two are closer than you are. The trade deadline wasn’t a fire sale, it was a demolition. You would think that would be a wake up call, trading captain Brad Marchand to the team that has now become the big brother beating you up especially so. But nope, not even remotely close.
But don’t worry guys, Mr. Jacobs still watches every game and calls the next day for a debrief while his son turns the garden lights on and off. Junior is doing a great job and it was so insightfulto hear him talk about how the training camp this year looked chaotic and completely unorganized. Go ahead and raise those ticket prices four percent because things are so expensive nowadays. Maybe you can use that extra cash flow to actually pay some players. After all like the fearless general manager said, they probably need to address the wing positions. What tipped you off about that one skippy? Did you use those astute powers of observation?
Fans wish this organization had the temerity of the likes of the Vegas Golden Knights, Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers, Colorado Avalanche, etc. They all have front offices who are never complacent. They will always add to the team, draft picks and cap space be damned. The Avs loaded up at the deadline. Having their depth and chemistry is a pipe dream. The Golden Knights pay top dollar for proven talent. The Panthers and Lightning have built physical teams that have goal scorers up and down the line up that can also rip the opposing teams players face off. Perfect segue, all of these teams can win faceoffs better than you right now. This can really come in handy on the power play, where the Bruins were at the bottom of the league in that really important category too. Another important metric is goaltending where again there was a dereliction of duty by breaking up the tandem, not paying Swayman causing him to show up late, dropping early games with a new goalie being forced into the net, and playing Swayman more in front of a bad team. The tandem of Swayman and Ullmark was working and instead of making it work since it was the best interest of the team, to save money you sent a great netminder out the door who has no desire to play for anybody else.
The stooge sitting in the Boston GM chair also said how if you can’t defend you can’t win. Here is a really radical idea - pay some elite defensemen and put them on the blue line! Wow, defenders who can actually defend and score some goals too. What a novel concept! Someone write that one down this is revolutionary. Was that the last time you had competent defenders, the revolutionary war? You have not had a set off elite D-men in years and Charlie McAvoy is anything but. With all the penny pinching this organization has done, they probably haven’t noticed how the Avs have two scoring defensemen in Cale Makar and Devon Towes play on the same pair, or how Vegas has made it a priority to have elite point getters in bunches on the back end the last few years. Three out of their six top defenders can also contribute offensively too whichever pair they play on. There is no accountability being shown by the Bruins yet again. They deflect, defend, make excuses, blame others and it is constant. They even blamed the players they drafted and called them stubborn for not taking feedback and that’s why they didn’t develop. Read the room guys.
If anybody went into this media session hoping to find some hope for next season and beyond, all you found was a blackhole. Once again Cam Neely and company deliver a long soliloquy of lip service to the fans and the media. Meanwhile they all sit comfortably in the box seats all high in mighty, while in reality this is all just a keystone cops routine. Progress will not be made until team management changes hands to someone who actually knows what they are doing. If more time was dedicated to fixing the team than going back and forth with the reporters about what the truth is, maybe just maybe the Bruins would be in better shape. But in this alternate reality everything is fine in fantasy land and everyone else are just a bunch of idiots. Newsflash, the real idiots are starring back at you through the camera lenses as you address yet another unsuccessful season.