Bruins Make'm and Break'em

I was looking around the NHL the past couple fo weeks and I realized the Bruins aren't as dumb as they seem.

They traded Thornton and got some decent player and some cost savings in return, but they still get shit about the deal. However, does anyone say "But they picked up Savard, he's cheaper, playing with the heart that Thornton could never find and is scoring like a machine, the crowd loves him and he seems to love them."

This is the problem, nobody ever looks past a trade. Why did a team make a move and how did they fill the hole. Are the Bruins better off without Thornton? I really belive they are. My real issue is that the Bruins get more flack than any team in the league when it comes to being frugal and for not throwing money at star players in order to keep them around.

With Thoronton in mind, I have looked back at some of the big "Losses" the Bruins have suffered and have never been forgiven for to see if we can measure the real effect of the loss.

The following is a list of players the Bruins were literally shit on for NOT resigning, or resigning and trading because of their lofty price tags.

Byron Dafoe – Starting goalie, big star, bigger pain in the ass. This guy held out twice with the Bruins. They signed him and shipped him. He became Atlanta’s $3 million problem. What happened? He was horrible with no defense in front of him. After leaving the Bruins he played parts of 2 seasons and was out of the NHL at 32. By the way he won 9 total games in 2 seasons with Atlanta after winning 130 in five seasons with the Bruins.

Jason Allison – Best player on the Team. Top 5 centre in all of hockey. He was a season away from being HUGE. Bruins traded him because of his salary demands. LA gave him his money and got NOTHING in return. Allison has played parts of 3 seasons, missed an entire season with injuries, and has never come close to being the player he was with Boston. Injuries have ruined what should have been a hall of Fame career. He was out of hockey at 30.

Kyle Mclaren – Could have been the anchor of the Bruins defense if his promise had ever panned out. Often injured, part time contributor made huge salary demands and was traded to the sharks (sound familiar?). The Sharks gave him his money and he has provided 20 acceptable minutes a game. Never again to be mentioned as a potential elite player. The only thing that was elite when he left Boston was his salary.

Dimitris Kristich – This is my favorite example of all time. This guy came to the Bruins and landed on a very good line, where he excelled. He filed for salary arbitration and was rewarded with a 2 year deal at $4 million a season. (He was a fucking 30 goal scorer). So for the first time in history, by any team, the Bruins walked away and he became a free agent. Press screamed at the Bruins for walking away from their biggest goal scorer. In fairness he had 58 goals in 161 games for the Bruins, but the money was way out of line. Divisional opponent Toronto swept in; gave him his money and he played for a season and a half for them scoring an incredible 15 goals, then he was shipped to Washington where he scored 19 goals in 109 games and then….he LITERALLY disappeared. Out of hockey at 32.

Bill Guerin – Back to back 40 goal seasons, but he was ready to start making $5 million a season or more. Again the Bruins walked away. This guy had a LONG history before the Bruins of being a hold out problem. He is still a solid goal scorer, but every team he has been on since has tried to dump him strictly based on salary. He is having a comeback season, but at 37 does it matter?

Anson Carter – Another dollar rama. Injured too often, everybody trades this guy and for every good season he has 5 bad ones. He holds out all the time and has become every teams last resort. I believe this will be his last go around. Welcome to Columbus, you will never leave.

Sergei Samsonov - What can you say? The guy knows how to score 20 goals. Is he worth the money he now commands? NO. The Bruins got a lot of shit for dumping this guy, but were they wrong? Someone else (Montreal) is paying him the big dollars now, but for their money they have gotten 7 goals in 47 games. He is injured to often and needs the perfect fit in line mates in order to contribute. I always liked him, but his money is better spent elsewhere.

Sergei Gonchar – An interesting experiment along the lines of Al Iafrate (short lived thanks to Thornton), but also listed as a failure when the Bruins were unable to resign him. The Bruins actually had arbitration planned and were set to resign him before the strike, but that deal never came into effect. He turned down the Bruins offer and got a 4 year $5 million per season deal from Pittsburgh. Is a defenseman who can’t play defense worth the price? The penguins regretted their decision all of last season, and while he is on a “comeback” of sorts this year, his numbers are the same and the only difference is that he is the only $5 million waste of money on the team, whereas last year he had A LOT of company.

Nick Boynton – Traded for Paul Mara. Mara scores more, is injured less and costs less. Another Bruins loss. Remember that Boynton has held out since day one. It is his only negotiation tactic. Refused to sign with the Devils, went back into the Draft, held out twice with Boston. Missed time because he developed Diabetes (why?). Anyway this is another guy who makes way too much money for his actual contribution. This guy was supposed to have an offensive upside. In 7 seasons, he has 22 goals, 86 points and sweet fuck all else.

Tim Taylor – An excellent defensive player, had ONE good season and the Rangers swept in with money and stole him away. The Bruins could not compete with the money offered so another loss. He has found a home in Tampa (where?) won a cup and will probably close his career there. Still a worth while piece and player, but the money he got from the rangers ruined everything. He scores an average of 7 or 8 goals a season. The rangers paid him based on the 20 goal season with all the shorthanded goals from his first season with Boston. Unrealistic for all.

Everybody on this list expect for Guerin, Gonchar and Kristich were made by the Boston Bruins. They had two or three good seasons and then DEMANDED something from the team that made them successful. Without fail they have all proven the Bruins right, they simply were not worth the dollars asked, or offered.

Everyone of these guys went after the money and the Bruins let them walk, only to be derided by the press. Where is the tit for tat in the cheap cunts debate? I think the press owes the Bruins a little, “you were right in retrospect” every once and a while.

There are situations where the Bruins let a guy go and they should have kept him, the two best examples are Michael Nylander and Brian Rolston. In Nylander’s case it was clear he wanted to be elsewhere, namely NY, so what are you going to do? In Rolston’s case I think he wanted to go somewhere else as well, but the Bruins did drop the ball.

HOWEVER, what is forgotten in a lot of the noise about this, and in many of the cases above, the BRUINS stole this guy and got service out of him at a very low price. Rolston played for the Bruins for 5 years and became a name commodity. Rolston was the player Boston received in exchange for Ray Bourque. They did Ray a favour and stole one of he best players in the league (to be) from Colorado, so with that in mind losing him doesn’t seem so bad.

And of course they have signed some shit (Lapointe, Zhamnov to name two), but hey at least they didn’t win the Forsberg sweepstakes.