Boston Globe KPD: Patrice Bergeron is taking a beating, so why aren’t the Bruins coming to his defense?

[Fenway]

KPD is not wrong......this team is soft

I hate typing this but if that is now the culture in the room then the B's need a change in direction with coaching. One name leaps out and it is terrifying to consider but it may be the best option right now

Patrice Bergeron is taking a beating, so why aren’t the Bruins coming to his defense? - The Boston Globe

Patrice Bergeron got roughed up again Wednesday night, and again the response from his Black-and-Gold peer group, the team he captains, was … OK, let me put this in the politically correct terms of NHL 2021 and call it, uh, not acceptable.

Now that we’ve dispensed with the soft-speak, let’s be blunt: It was an out-and-out disgrace.
Someone, anyone not named Bergeron, had to step up and give Vancouver defenseman Kyle Burroughs a smashmouth reminder that there’s still enough old-time Original Six hockey in the Bruins brand that no one messes with the team captain, especially one with Bergeron’s legacy of service and commitment, and especially a Bergeron already wearing a cumbersome face shield after having his nose rearranged by an even more egregious cheap shot the other night in Nashville.

But, nothing.

Nothing … for … Bergeron.

It has come to that. What in the name of John Wensink is going on around here?

If the sight of a peeved Bergeron again getting bounced around by an opposition pipsqueak is not enough for someone on the Boston roster to reach a boil, then that’s an equal punch in the face that says something has to change. Now.

Not next week. Not after the new year. Not once the boys come home from the Olympic Duration. Not come the March 21 trade deadline. Now.

This is a team that desperately needs to wake up, and Burroughs was the alarm clock, blaring at 10:15 of the third period in Vancouver, when much of the Boston fandom was fast asleep, unaware that everyone on the Bruins bench had joined them in slumberland.

The later the season gets, the going will only get tougher. If word around the league is that the Bruins won’t step up even when Bergeron gets bounced around, then that’s a sure sign the main hatchway’s caved in and, fellas, it’s been good to know ya.

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[VanIsle]

Go old school and put Frederic on his line with Marchand and let him go wild.

 

[DominicT]

Toe Blake, Scott Bowman, even Don Cherry would not be able to get this roster to do what you're asking.

Cam Neely would NEVER have allowed that to happen to Ray Bourque. NEVER.

So why is he allowing a team of misfits to be assembled?

The buck starts and stops there.

 

[Spooner st]

Did it really take that cheap shot at Bergeron last for the media and some fans to realize this team is soft... while Sweeney and Neely hide away from the media?

 

[KrejciMVP]

bunch of free agents collecting pay checks and a soft d core. Bergy is a sitting duck out there. Lots of other teams would stick up for this legend

 

[bp13]

Toe Blake, Scott Bowman, even Don Cherry would not be able to get this roster to do what you're asking.

Cam Neely would NEVER have allowed that to happen to Ray Bourque. NEVER.

So why is he allowing a team of misfits to be assembled?

The buck starts and stops there.

This is all likely true, but aren't guys like Foligno, Frederic, Forbort all supposedly gritty and tough enough to respond? I'm not saying Sweeney has built a tough roster, he surely hasn't, but it wouldn't be unreasonable for him to think those guys could respond would it? It's not a team full of Taylor Halls and Jake DeBrusks.

 

[Absurdity]

This is all likely true, but aren't guys like Foligno, Frederic, Forbort all supposedly gritty and tough enough to respond? I'm not saying Sweeney has built a tough roster, he surely hasn't, but it wouldn't be unreasonable for him to think those guys could respond would it? It's not a team full of Taylor Halls and Jake DeBrusks.

Probably has to do with the coach holding them back.

 

[Baddkarma]

Man, under Sweeney and Cassidy this team has become unrecognizable to me as a Bruins fan...

 

[DominicT]

This is all likely true, but aren't guys like Foligno, Frederic, Forbort all supposedly gritty and tough enough to respond? I'm not saying Sweeney has built a tough roster, he surely hasn't, but it wouldn't be unreasonable for him to think those guys could respond would it? It's not a team full of Taylor Halls and Jake DeBrusks.

Foligno is the only one of the 3 I will call tough. I'm willing to have everyone pile on, but I will not call Frederic tough.

 

[The National]

Didn’t stand up for Mcavoy in Buffalo, didn’t stand up for Bergeron in Nashville, and now didn’t stand up for Bergeron in Vancouver.

 

[bp13]

Probably has to do with the coach holding them back.

Really? Joe Sacco told his team not to defend their captain? No coach would ever do that, and no team worth their salt would listen if they did.

 

[DominicT]

Probably has to do with the coach holding them back.

Which coach? The one that wasn't there against Nashville and Vancouver?

 

[bp13]

Foligno is the only one of the 3 I will call tough. I'm willing to have everyone pile on, but I will not call Frederic tough.

Ok. I assumed he was supposed to be since he can't do much else.

 

[BergyWho37]

I don’t think most Bruin fans are surprised

 

[Therick67]

Really? Joe Sacco told his team not to defend their captain? No coach would ever do that, and no team worth their salt would listen if they did.

This. Thinking Cassidy tells his guys not to stick up for teammates is ridiculous.
The GM hasn’t built a soft team. This might be the softest 3rd and fourth liners in the league.

 

[Ladyfan]

The Bruins need a couple of enforcers to cut down on some of this crap.

CLEARLY there are not any (except Brad).

 

[Over the volcano]

We took Chara for granted, then Krejci, what do you think Bergeron is thinking about this club and his future if this is the state of things …

 

[Jorah Marshmont]

Deja vu

 

[DominicT]

We took Chara for granted, then Krejci, what do you think Bergeron is thinking about this club and his future if this is the state of things …

Harry Sinden said a few times "I'll retire when Ray Bourque retires".

I hope some of the Bruins management is thinking the same thing about when Bergeron retires.

 

[DominicT]

And the last thing I have to say:

I really hope someone in the Bruins media asks Bergeron and Sacco about the lack of response.

 

[Therick67]

We took Chara for granted, then Krejci, what do you think Bergeron is thinking about this club and his future if this is the state of things …

He’s taken a beating for this team. I won’t be surprised if he retires. He’s got a young family, why does he need to keep sacrificing his health for this?

 

[McGarnagle]

Toughness isn't size and vice-versa.

Andrew Ference and Greg Campbell were both about 5'11/6' and 180, both of them would've gone apeshit on the ice if someone so much as glanced sideways at Bergy.

 

[The National]

Toughness isn't size and vice-versa.

Andrew Ference and Greg Campbell were both about 5'11/6' and 180, both of them would've gone apeshit on the ice if someone so much as glanced sideways at Bergy.

It’s a mindset/culture of a team to fight for each other, this team doesn’t have it.

 

[Fenian24]

Toe Blake, Scott Bowman, even Don Cherry would not be able to get this roster to do what you're asking.

Cam Neely would NEVER have allowed that to happen to Ray Bourque. NEVER.

So why is he allowing a team of misfits to be assembled?

The buck starts and stops there.

Or the opposite. In a preseason game in Providence vs the Canadiens Bourque went after Richer after he crosschecked Neely in the throat/head. Bourque responded.

Nobody on this gutless team does. Any fight has been taken out of them by Cassidy and Sweeney.

I can deal with bad and rebuilding, I can't deal with gutless and not standing up for your teammates, your captain especially who has given everything he has had to this team and is one of the 10 greatest Bruisn of all time.

Pathetic, analytic hockey gone mad.

 

[Absurdity]

Really? Joe Sacco told his team not to defend their captain? No coach would ever do that, and no team worth their salt would listen if they did.

Which coach? The one that wasn't there against Nashville and Vancouver?

It's been built in to the DNA of the team since Claude's last few years as a coach. Cassidy has said at times that the Bruins can "flip the switch" and play tough with the physical teams.

I do think players like Frederic are neutered. The team cares more about being on the PP than potentially being a man down because that will "lose them games."

We've seen it with Chara's last few years on the team. The physicality as a team has been going down every year. Cassidy's system is built on playing zone defense on both sides of the puck at both ends of the ice. Positioning is more important than separating the player from the puck. That's not to say management is bringing in big guns, but when that kind of system is enforced, of course it's going to lead to a softer team.