from Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe,

“It’s not quite a real contender at the moment,” Sinden said. “But it’s shown signs that it can move into that second level of contention. As we all know, there’s nothing like the Stanley Cup playoffs for upsets. There’s just nothing like it. Eighth seeds win sometimes. I think we’re on the edge of that. We’ve shown improvement. We’re showing signs of playing offensively, which I wasn’t sure we were going to show.”

To Sinden’s eye, Claude Julien has steered an in-flux roster in the right direction. Julien has designed and implemented a transition game with a higher metabolism. He’s welcomed rookies Colin Miller and Frank Vatrano and helped them become effective players. Julien’s challenge is to figure out how to squeeze more complementary production out of Brett Connolly, Jimmy Hayes, and Ryan Spooner.

“What we have is a real good coach,” Sinden said. “He controls this team. He controls our players.”

more on/from Sinden plus additional hockey topics...