GDT: 9/27 Boston Bruins @ Detroit Red Wings 7pm ET - Not on TV or Radio? :(

[Mr. Make-Believe]

Can anyone name a veteran player in his 30s that missed an entire year and a half of hockey and then came back and played at a high level? Genuine question. I'm sure there have been some.

I want to say Steve Sullivan?

 

[qc]

Gary Roberts I think?

edit - oops you said high level. nvm

 

[EverettMike]

That first year back he only played 41 games, though he was productive.

http://www.hockey-reference.com/players/s/sullist01.html

I'll allow it!

 

[EverettMike]

Simon Gagne played 79 games in 08-09. He was 28.

Since then?

58 games
63 games
34 games
38 games
0 games

I ****ing hate everything right now. I'm going to watch the 2011 championship blu ray.

 

[Mr. Make-Believe]

Simon Gagne played 79 games in 08-09. He was 28.

Since then?

58 games
63 games
34 games
38 games
0 games

I ****ing hate everything right now. I'm going to watch the 2011 championship blu ray.

They're TC invites, Mike. Doesn't mean anything, right?

 

[EverettMike]

I love the idea that two guys that can't stay healthy are so eagerly penciled into so many people's lineups.

 

[Replicator]

Because he is such an idiot, him and that idiot of a GM that hired him, right?
Because we see stuff that the coach and GM cannot see, and we know things the coach and GM cannot know.

Just how full of ourselves and arrogant has this place actually become?

So we're not allowed to have opinions on players based on our own experience as fans, our observations of our team coach's tendencies and our own observations in camp?

For the record, I don't have a strong opinion on Leino, I just used him as an example.

 

[Dr Quincy]

Can anyone name a veteran player in his 30s that missed an entire year and a half of hockey and then came back and played at a high level? Genuine question. I'm sure there have been some.

Not to compare Ville Leino to an inner circle HOFer, but:

Guy Lafleur missed 3 seasons (and played in only 19 games in the season before that) then returned to the NHL at the age of 37 and put up 45 pts in 67 games.

 

[EverettMike]

That's a good one, though obviously he wasn't the player he was before, and he still had trouble staying healthy.

He was also Guy ****ing LaFleur. I bet Gretzky could still get 40 points if he spent a summer getting in shape.

 

[Artemis]

So we're not allowed to have opinions on players based on our own experience as fans, our observations of our team coach's tendencies and our own observations in camp?

For the record, I don't have a strong opinion on Leino, I just used him as an example.

Once more, with feeling:

Opinions are great. Discussion is great. is not great.

 

[Mr. Make-Believe]

Because he is such an idiot, him and that idiot of a GM that hired him, right?
Because we see stuff that the coach and GM cannot see, and we know things the coach and GM cannot know.

Just how full of ourselves and arrogant has this place actually become?

I agree!

No GM and no coach has ever made a predictably wrong decision ever.

 

[Mr. Make-Believe]

Once more, with feeling:

Opinions are great. Discussion is great. is not great.

Criticizing does not equal

 

[NeelyDan]

How were Timmy's numbers after taking a year off?

I have very little interest in either Gagne or Leino either, less so with Leino between the two.

What I do have interest in is Peter Chiarelli getting off his arse and crafting a solution to the mess this team is in.

 

[EverettMike]

I agree!

No GM and no coach has ever made a predictably wrong decision ever.

Pope Chiarelli is infallible.

 

[BMC]

True that.

At least Tuesday's game will be on NESN.

You sure about this? I don't want another let down

 

[Mr. Make-Believe]

Pope Chiarelli is infallible.

And you'd be full of yourself and arrogant to think otherwise.

 

[BMC]

Bruins win but everyone is disappointed because the goals were not scored by the right players...

And you are surprised at this?

 

[Artemis]

Criticizing does not equal

I know that. I said that.

Saying Chiarelli should be fired, Julien hates young players, the Bruins are "Charmin soft," they're headed for disaster, etc., etc., THAT is

 

[Artemis]

You sure about this? I don't want another let down

Well, they're advertising it in NESN, so I sure hope so, for their sake at least.

 

[BMC]

I know that. I said that.

Saying Chiarelli should be fired, Julien hates young players, the Bruins are "Charmin soft," they're headed for disaster, etc., etc., THAT is

And it drives me

 

[BMC]

Well, they're advertising it in NESN, so I sure hope so, for their sake at least.

Oh you know it will be on if they don't air it- torches & pitchforks will be the least of their concerns

 

[Mr. Make-Believe]

I know that. I said that.

Saying Chiarelli should be fired, Julien hates young players, the Bruins are "Charmin soft," they're headed for disaster, etc., etc., THAT is

Oh. We must be reading different threads. That's not what I was noting.

 

[DNE3]

Trying to see it from Chiarelli's point of view makes it unlikely that it was going to happen. He's somewhat conservative by nature and I think 9 out of 10 GM's would follow the course he has. That said, I think there is a useful and important distinction between the pessimistic view of trying to replicate past success in the face of diminishing returns and the optimistic view of this has worked in the past and so we'll stick with it. I think the number of new players in important roles demonstrates that although Chiarelli is sticking with the larger philosophy, within that parameter there is room for flexibility with the hope and realization that the new guys sooner or later will have to make the difference which, by and large, means Hamilton. That is why to me the criticism of the management for overvaluing veterans and not giving opportunity to the young players is off-base. Either way, the Bruins aren't going to rise or fall on the back of Ville Leino or Simon Gagne and that's why the overreaction is particularly perplexing.

Criticism is not off-base or without merit. The team has shown roster flow by injecting new blood into their defensive corps, but they were forced into rebuilding their defense through college free agent signings because of their bare draft prospect cupboard. The problem is up front on the forward roster and this coach's heavy-handed approach on any semblance of individual creativity from the higher-skilled prospects coming through the pipeline. Goal scorers and playmakers specialize in taking chances and free-lancing at times; this is a coach who seems determined to corral those skills inside his system, and the two don't make a good fit. Spooner, Griffith, Pastrnak could suffer the same fate as those highly-skilled individual talents who went before; if that comes to pass, it's not just because they played with the end of their sticks.

 

[alg363636]

Is this Friday's game against the Islanders also not being televised? There's no network listed on the Bruins page. I see that Tuesday and Saturday's games are on NESN but nothing for Friday's game.

I'll actually be in Boston this weekend so I would have NESN for once.

 

[Coach Parker]

Did any of you actually see the game?