But that's exactly my point, the Bruins don't have enough of what they had in their good stretch anymore but it may or may not be steadily improving. And it was especially bad the year leading up to Chia getting sacked and it's still carried over. Keeping guys who didn't want to be here or a guy who was totally losing his edge and then throwing tantrums costing the team every handful of games wasn't going to help.
Still lots of work to do, I still believe in the team and think it's possible they make it intonthenplayoffs and trend upwards, but you won't find me denying the state they're in.
You could be right, but I don't think the success of 2011 was about the locker room. It was about having the most dominant Dman in the game at that time who could not only shutdown the best scorers in the league, but who could lift the level of every other D on the team. It was about having a tremendous money goalie in net. It was about having 3 lines that could score and a 4th that could hold its own.
Now maybe Shawn Thornton yelling at people in the locker room made Tim Thomas play better. I don't believe that, but who knows.
The problem with character/locker room things is that people only point out its existence after the fact. Team loses? Not enough character. Team wins? This is a band of brothers.
I can look at the B's D right now and say that I don't think they are talented enough to compete. We'll know if I'm right or wrong.
Before the fact, tell me, do the B's have good character or not?