Articles in Boston Bruins

from Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe,

Provided they’re cleared for takeoff, veteran forwards Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno can be added back into the Bruins roster mix as of this week, all significant salary cap-related sins absolved once the playoffs begin. Hall and Foligno, both dealing with late-season knee injuries, accounted for a combined cap hit of $9.8 million this season — a weighty number that could mean one or both not returning for 2023-24.

Foligno ($3.8 million) is on an expiring deal and highly unlikely to be back, unless his legit love of his golden years tour here convinces him to take, say, 30 cents on the dollar for a one- or two-year deal. Possible. See: Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci.

Hall, with two more years to go at $6 million per, can be dealt to any of 21 teams without his approval. For a guy with his profile, skills, and speed, the pay is fair. But the trade market could be soft if the ex-MVP isn’t fully healed from injury or can’t provide offensive pop in the playoffs. His most likely starting spot will be No. 3 left wing, with Charlie Coyle at center and Tyler Bertuzzi at right wing.

No matter what happens in the playoff run, be it boom or bust, a meager $1 million bump in next season’s cap seemingly makes it all but impossible for general manager Don Sweeney to tie up newly acquired UFAs Bertuzzi ($4.75 million), Dmitry Orlov ($5.1 million), and Garnet Hathaway ($1.5 million). The easiest to keep could be Hathaway, but a club such as Detroit, desperate to add sandpaper, might make that impossible.

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from Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe,

Sinden believes that in playoff hockey, a team needs an edge in three areas: goaltending, power play, and officiating.

1. Goaltending: “When I was coaching, we had [Gerry] Cheevers and Eddie Johnston. They were good, and Cheevers was the dominant of the two. Here, it’s very close and the kid [Jeremy Swayman] has really improved this season. That’s probably the biggest reason for us having the season we are. We have a really good goaltender [Linus Ullmark] and one that’s almost as good. In other years when we won the Presidents’ Trophy and didn’t win the Cup, we didn’t have the goaltending that we have now. It’s like having the quarterback in football.”

2. Power play: “I don’t think we’re getting as much out of the power play as we should. You need six or seven clever players to make a power play work. We have those players, but we’re not getting the results out of it. It does go in spells where it’s great for a while and then all of a sudden you can’t score anymore.”

3. Officiating: “It’s like in football. Ninety percent of the calls could go either way. You’ve got to get the officials to go your way, and it becomes a part of the playoffs. A penalty here or there and you’re out.”

“I like our team,” Sinden added. “We have a very strong defense, two goaltenders, and a game-breaker at any time in [David] Pastrnak. He can score at any time.”

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A blast, at least he can tell his grandchildren it was.

from Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe,

He said he knows there are still plenty of fans who like to see the fists fly. He also believes clubs with that certain toughness factor are tough to beat, especially come playoff time — even in a league that increasingly emphasizes speed and skill.

“So I don’t think it should ever leave,” said Marchand, 34, who grew up in Nova Scotia but played for three teams in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. “Again, I think it does hold guys accountable still, to a point where cheap shots are allowed or big enough hits and you can go after guys, and I think it does keep guys in check a little bit more.

“If you lose that ability, then it does open the doors to a whole other . . . you’re completely relying on player safety [in the NHL office] for each and every play, and then that’s going to get out of control.”

Some of what’s happening in the “Q,” mused Marchand, might simply be traceable to the province’s separatist yearnings.

“You know, they’re just a little bit different, those guys up there [in Quebec],” he said. “They’re on their own page. They want their own country. And maybe that’s all — they’re just trying to advocate for what they can.”

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from Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe

Their focus not nearly where it needs to be, especially with the dream of a Cup dancing in their heads, the Bruins stumbled along to a shapeless, shabby 6-3 loss to the Hawks Tuesday at the United Center.

On the heels of Sunday’s loss in Detroit, yet another non-playoff team, it was the first time in 2022-’23 that the Black and Gold suffered consecutive regulation losses, and it was the third straight time that they yielded the game’s opening goal.

For a club that has been a trend-setter all season, powering to the top of the NHL standings and winning 50 games faster than any team in league history, the trend they have set of late now has them concerned.

“Clearly, we’re not checking well enough,” said coach Jim Montgomery, sounding miffed over the continued inconsistency of his club, which fell to 50-11-5 and now stands 1-3-0 in the last four. “We’re also not holding on to pucks well enough.”

Keeping in line with recent troubles, the Bruins again were blanked on the power play (0-for-2), fell a touch short on the penalty kill (2-for-3), and overall were outplayed by a near-no-name squad of Hawks that in no way resembles the dominating powerhouse that not long ago rattled off three Cup titles over six seasons.

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Game highlights are below.

BOSTON - Boston Bruins General Manager Don Sweeney announced today, March 2, that the team has signed forward David Pastrnak to an eight-year contract extension through the 2030-31 season with an annual NHL cap hit of $11.25 million.

Pastrnak, 26, has played in 60 games with the Bruins this season, recording 42 goals and 38 assists for 80 points with a plus-27 rating.

NEW YORK (Feb. 24, 2023) – Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand has been fined $5,000, the maximum allowable under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, for a dangerous trip against Seattle Kraken forward Oliver Bjorkstrand during NHL Game No. 927 in Seattle on Thursday, Feb. 23, the National Hockey League’s Department of Player Safety announced today.

Watch below.

from Eric Duhatschek of The Athletic,

At 90, Harry Sinden will acknowledge he doesn’t remember every detail about his life in hockey with the same clarity he once did. But Sinden can remember exactly where he was the first time he ever saw Bobby Orr play in person.

It was in 1966. Sinden was the player/coach moving up the ranks the next year to coach the Boston Bruins. Accordingly, he wanted to see the team’s top junior prospect play for the Oshawa Generals and as it happened, the Memorial Cup finals were being played in Toronto. Orr was the team’s star attraction.

The problem, according to Sinden, was that Orr shouldn’t have been playing because he had a serious groin injury. But Orr, being the indomitable force he was even back then, insisted he be in the Oshawa lineup.

“Bobby suffered to skate in the game, but even then, he was still the best player on the ice,” Sinden remembered. “He scored a goal and he played incredibly. But the most impressive time was the following year at training camp when I became coach of the Bruins and got on the ice with him and watched his workouts and the way he trained.

“He was 18 and every single player in training camp was in awe over what he could do.”

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from Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe,

or much of the 20th century, General Motors proudly stamped the “Body by Fisher” logo on the cars it rolled off the Detroit assembly line. GM and Fisher wanted buyers to know they partnered to provide them with a quality, stylish set of wheels.

If the Bruins, an astounding 38-6-4 entering weekend play, stamped a logo on their 2022-23 model, it would read, “Mojo by Montgomery.”

The ride with the ever-positive Jim Montgomery behind the bench just keeps getting better.

“I’m amazed when I look at our record,” Montgomery said during a quiet moment during his club’s stop at Montreal’s Bell Centre the other day. “It just seems like every time we’re in a game, it’s in my head, ‘We’re gonna find a way.‘ And then it happens. It’s almost like it’s magical.”

Hired by the Bruins at sizable risk over the summer to replace the popular and successful Bruce Cassidy, Montgomery has been a 5-foot-10-inch dynamo of optimism since Day 1 on the job. He’ll be the boss behind the Atlantic Division bench for the NHL All Star Game on Saturday, staged fittingly in Sunrise, the town in Southern Florida named in the spirit of hope and light that every new day brings.

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The Sabres entered weekend play with five consecutive wins, the longest current unbeaten streak in the league. It looks, finally, like the Crossed Swords at least will play meaningful games in February and March, and possibly could squeeze out a wild-card invite for their first trip to the playoffs since 2011. Rasmus Dahlin (55 points, second only to Erik Karlsson’s 64 among defensemen as of Friday) has developed into a horse and should shatter Phil Housley’s franchise mark of 81 points by Buffalo D-men. Dahlin is one of four Sabres already to reach the 50-point plateau, joined by Tage Thompson (68), Alex Tuch (54), and the all-but-forgotten Jeff Skinner (50). League-wide, the Oilers were the only other club with four players at or above the 50 line: Connor McDavid (89), Leon Draisaitl (73), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (58), and Zach Hyman (57)

from Michael Traikos at the Toronto Sun,

Now, with Pastrnak’s current deal running out, the question is how much will he get paid as an unrestricted free agent this summer.

The Bruins winger, who is on pace for a career-best 64 goals and 116 points, is probably not going to challenge Connor McDavid for the scoring title. But Pastrnak does have a good chance of passing the Oilers captain — and Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon — as the highest-paid player in the league.

That is, if Pastrnak doesn’t do something foolish and takes another hometown discount.

That is what happened six years ago. Coming off a breakout season where he scored 34 goals and 70 points in 2016-17, Pastrnak accepted a team-friendly deal that carried a $6.666-million cap hit. Even back then, it was well below market value.

Now, with 89 players earning more than the 26-year-old sniper, his six-year, $40-million contract looks even worse.

It is another way of saying that Pastrnak is due for a big raise. How big will be determined by whether he wants to go against the Bruins’ internal motto of taking less for the greater good — or if he wants to test the open market. After all, for how little Pastrnak earns, he still remains the highest-paid forward on a team where Marchand only earns $6.125-million and captain Patrice Bergeron is significantly underpaid at $2.5-million.

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from Steve Buckley of The Athletic,

Nice try by the hockey people in assigning Suite L-8 to Bobby Orr during Monday’s Winter Classic at Fenway Park.

Yes, No. 4 retreated to No. 8 after participating in a pregame “first puck” ceremony with former Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek, but soon he was stepping into the next suite, and then the one after that, and he appeared to be having as good a time as any of the 39,243 fans who filled this ancient ballpark to watch the Bruins emerge with a 2-1 victory over the Penguins.

Watching Orr shake hands and slap backs and flash that smirky grin of his — which always suggests he knows something that maybe you don’t — it occurred to me that we need more of this sort of thing. We need more of Orr. And if his appearance at the Winter Classic is any indication, 2023 is off to a fine start.

For those who don’t know the backstory, Orr has made only limited public appearances since October of 2020. It was around that time that an ad appeared in the Manchester (N.H.) Union-Leader in which Orr endorsed Donald Trump’s bid for reelection as president of the United States. The ad featured a photo of Orr and his wife Peggy posing with Trump, and the bottom of the ad included the words “Paid for by Bobby Orr.”

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from Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe,

Derek Sanderson, the NHL’s Rookie of the Year when finally cracking the varsity at age 21 in 1967-68, was claimed by the Bruins while in middle school. He recalled the other day that he signed his C-form, designating his pro playing rights to the Bruins, as a 12-year-old.

“Actually, it was my father who signed the C-form, for 100 bucks, put his name next to the X . . . 100 bucks for my professional rights,” recalled Sanderson. “My dad only made $26 in take-home pay, so to him that was a month’s pay — perfect! I don’t think my mother ever saw it, but, uh, yeah, 100 bucks.”

A bantam at the time, Sanderson that night played up a level in age with a midget team in a tournament in Paris, Ontario, just outside of Brantford.

“The first time I ever scored four goals,” he recalled, noting that his father, Harold, informed him that night he had signed the C-form with Boston. “He says, ‘By the way, you’ve got some bragging rights.’ I say, ‘What’s that?’ And he says, ‘Well, the Bruins just bought ya.’ ”

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NEW YORK (Dec. 28, 2022) – The 2023 Discover NHL Winter Classic^® will include Fenway Park in its celebration of hockey’s roots outdoors when the Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins face off at Major League Baseball’s oldest operating ballpark on Monday, Jan. 2, the National Hockey League (NHL) announced today. The day’s festivities will feature the return of NHL legend Bobby Orr to Boston; appearances by former Bruins and Boston Red Sox players; performances by The Black Keys, Bell Biv DeVoe and the Boston Pops; and baseball-themed activations on the “Ice Diamond” auxiliary rink. Live television coverage will begin at 2 p.m. ET on TNT in the U.S. and on Sportsnet, CBC and TVA Sports in Canada.

from Chris Johnston of North Star Bets,

There will be an interesting dynamic among the Atlantic’s three-headed monster as the March 3 trade deadline draws closer.

The Bruins are giving off ‘Last Dance’ vibes, with Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci and David Pastrnak all playing on expiring contracts. Their window of contention may be closing and general manager Don Sweeney will want to ensure they’ve got everything needed for a shot at the Cup.

We’ve come to expect Lightning GM Julien BriseBois to aggressively pursue in-season upgrades every year, although he’s got a little less ammunition to do so after sending his first-round draft pick in both 2023 and 2024 to Chicago for forward Brandon Hagel at last year’s deadline.

“We’ve probably been looked at for the price we’ve given up for some players, but Hagel’s a top-line player for us with multiple years on his contract. You have to pay for those,” said Cooper. “If it costs you two first-round picks, it costs two first-round picks.”

The Leafs were involved in the Hagel talks as well and didn’t end up parting with that level of draft capital at last year’s deadline. It wouldn’t be surprising to see GM Kyle Dubas shift gears this year if he can find the right fit for a player with some term remaining on his deal.

A heavy price must be paid to emerge from the Group of Death – both on and off the ice.

With still more than half of the regular season remaining, it’s a little early to forecast who has the upper hand in a head-to-head-to-head scenario.

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NEW YORK (December 19, 2022) – The National Hockey League (NHL) today unveiled a preview of the planned transformation of Fenway Park in Boston for the 2023 Discover NHL Winter Classic^® outdoor game between the Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday, Jan. 2. The game, which will be broadcast live at 2 p.m. ET on TNT, Sportsnet, CBC and TVA Sports, will pay homage to the oldest major league baseball stadium and honor former and current Bruins and Boston Red Sox legends.

(Rendering Credit: NHL/Infinite Scale Design Group/Populous)

from Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe,

The Bruins entered Saturday’s matinee vs. the struggling Blue Jackets with an astounding 23-4-2 mark, best in the league this season and a pace that would deliver a record for wins (65) wins and points (136) points if maintained over 82 games. Old NHL or new NHL, the current Bruins have performed like no team we’ve seen here from the day Charles Adams opened the doors for NHL business at the Boston Arena Dec. 1, 1924.

In a city where few are happy any more unless Duck Boats come waddling and honking down Boylston St., it can be too easy to look beyond, or dismiss, such in-season accomplishments. Reminder: Embrace the moment, folks.

Those who remember the many lean seasons here before Bobby Orr’s arrival in the fall of ‘66, the idea then of a 65-win season would have been pure absurdity. Those Black-and-Gold chop shops went seven seasons (1960-67) averaging a fraction below 18 wins and 45 points. They were all 70-game seasons. Even in Orr’s rookie season of ‘66-67, Harry Sinden’s charges were 17-43-10 for an eighth consecutive playoff DNQ.

So where’s it all going with this band of Jim Montgomery’s high-flyers? See above: Embrace the moment.

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All quiet on the Bruins negotiations with star right winger David Pastrnak on a contract extension.

“They gotta pay him, right?” a respected, decades-long NHL scout said during one of the club’s recent road stops. “And the longer he waits, I suppose, his number only goes up, because of the Matthews factor.”

Auston Matthews in Feb. 2019 signed a five-year extension that pays an average $11.6 million a year. It expires after next season, prior to the star pivot’s 27th birthday. Given his profile and the gargantuan Toronto market, Matthews could be the first to land an NHL max contract of eight years at 20 percent of the CBA-certified salary cap. If so, Matthews would be looking at a number upward of $17 million year.

Is Pastrnak worth “Matthews” money? That’s one debate.

from Amalie Benjamin of NHL.com,

Ullmark was at what should have been one of the highest points of his career, coming off winning the Honken Trophy, given to the goalie of the year in Sweden, in 2013-14, a season when he had a 2.08 goals-against average and a .931 save percentage for Modo in Ornskoldsvik. He had been picked in the sixth round (No. 163) by the Sabres in the 2012 NHL Draft.

It was all lining up.

"I came off a great year, goalie of the year, a lot of expectations," Ullmark, now the Boston Bruins goalie, said this month after having become one of the leading contenders for the Vezina Trophy, awarded to the goaltender voted the best in the NHL. "Everything went [south]. That was when my roughest point was."

Because while the ice was supposed to be his refuge, a place where he could narrow and simplify his focus to the work and the game and the puck in front of him, his off-ice worries had started to creep in. Back home in Lugnvik, a tiny town about an hour southwest of Ornskoldsvik, his father's alcoholism had spiraled.

"I said, 'I don't know what to do,'" Ullmark recalled. "I have no idea what to do. I was thinking about quitting. I was very close to quitting and just moving home. But I got in touch with a psychiatrist that really helped me work through it, work through all of my feelings."

The alcoholism hadn't been a part of Ullmark's life growing up, not that he knew. His father, Jan-Olof, had always been around, helping to drive Ullmark and his brother Tobias, older by four years, to various hockey practices, after a stroke prevented the father from working. They'd always had a good relationship.

Then Tobias moved away, and health issues cropped up, and alcohol became both the solution and the problem.

And now Ullmark knew about it. Now he found vodka bottles around the house, heard the lies his father was telling. Now he worried and ached, the weight settling across his shoulders.

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from Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe,

The Bruins brought oversized offense to the NHL’s smallest rink Friday night, only to see their vulcanized onslaught (a season-high 46 shots on net) get repeatedly snuffed out by Arizona goalie Karel Vejmelka in a 4-3 loss to the Coyotes at the 5,000-seat Mullett Arena.

Setting aside Vejmekla’s stellar performance, the true showstopper of the night was an officiating crew that curiously decided not to whistle play dead with what appeared to be a blatant icing infraction in the final seconds of regulation.

With play allowed to keep rolling as the puck trickled by the side of Jeremy Swayman’s net, Coyotes forward Matias Maccelli swept in, centered out in front, and Lawson Crouse drove home the winner with but 13.5 seconds remaining on the clock.

Defenseman Derek Forbort failed to corral the loose puck behind Swayman, and Maccelli (two assists) turned the boo boo into a bonanza.

“I was shocked, honestly,” said veteran Bruins winger Nick Foligno, whose goal with 5:29 to go in regulation pulled the Bruins into a 3-3 tie. “I actually couldn’t believe it [wasn’t icing]. I was dumbfounded.”

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Below watch the game winning goal and the game highlights.

from Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe,

Tuesday’s Garden victory over the Lightning makes the Bruins 13-0 at home this season. In a league that’s more than 100 years old, no NHL team has ever won its first 13 home games. The Bruins are tied with the Devils for most points in the first quarter of their season.

Most new coaches inherit bad teams. It’s relatively easy to make them look average.

This is different. This is making a good team better. And it’s rare....

“It’s a combination of the way Monty sees the game,” said Sweeney, “similar to Bruce and Claude [Julien] in maintaining defensive structure, but also, looking at a five-man attack and being involved. Communication styles are different for all coaches, and that’s part of Monty’s personality. That needed to be allowed to play out. I envisioned it, having connected with the players.”

Less than five minutes after Sweeney said those words, Taylor Hall scored in the second minute of play to give the surging Bruins another early lead. A Hall one-timer from the high slot on the power play broke a 1-1 tie in the third and delivered yet another victory.

Hall is a former NHL MVP. And he’s playing on the third line . . . behind the first line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, and DeBrusk. And the second line of Pavel Zacha, David Pastrnak, and Krejci.

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from Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe,

What we have here, one quarter of the way into the NHL season, is a Bruins team that has drastically outperformed expectations. The question now becomes, can they keep it going for another 61 games, and then a couple of months of grueling, often torturous, Stanley Cup play?

For that answer, please see this space when the playoffs begin at the start of May, albeit with this one caveat: This is the same space that in September had the Bruins slotting in again as a No. 7-8 wild-card contender. Which is why spiked eggnog is a holiday staple in your faithful puck chronicler’s hydration care kit.

Through the first 21 games, including Friday’s 3-2 win over the Hurricanes, the Bruins have scored more than anyone, including their new bench boss, figured possible — both in terms of goals and roster depth and breadth. They also own the league’s widest positive goal differential (plus-38).

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from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

One week later, no one in the Bruins organization has taken responsibility for the signing of Mitchell Miller. Not ownership, not management. It has all been blamed on something called “the vetting process.”

The lack of accountability, which would never stand in a Boston room that is led by Patrice Bergeron, has become the hallmark of the franchise’s hierarchy under the ownership of “Mr. Jacobs.”

But beyond that, beyond the tangle of moral issues and, most importantly, the revictimization of Isaiah Meyer-Crothers, something seems off in the timeline of the decision to grant Miller a three-year, entry-level contract that included annual signing bonuses of $95,000 a year.

According to team president Cam Neely in his Nov. 7 press conference, general manager Don Sweeney briefed deputy commissioner Bill Daly about the club’s intentions on Nov. 2. On that date, Daly told Sweeney that Miller would have to meet with commissioner Gary Bettman in order to be cleared.

Neely put it as, “From what I gather,” which would not seem to bode well for the GM, who may be in prime position as a scapegoat.

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BOSTON - Bruins President Cam Neely announced today, November 6, that the Boston Bruins will part ways with Mitchell Miller.

Statement from Bruins President Cam Neely:

"Today the Boston Bruins have decided to part ways with Mitchell Miller, effective immediately.