News Article: Listless Bruins failing to respond to playoff race heat

[Seidenbergy]

I always got the feeling looking at Seidenberg in interviews like he's a Cuban baseball player. I mean, does anyone really believe he's only 33? Guy looks like he's about 45.

 

[Latrappe]

A team being "listless" is an indictment of the players and the coach. I'll keep saying it, I blame Chiarelli for this mess number 1, Neely 2, but the players and the coach are also plenty responsible for this disaster.

To me, Chiarelli is "the" guy who should take most of the blame. Claude definitely made mistakes during this season but here's why Sweet Pete is my main target:

1- He was suppose to be a "capologist" but his mismanagement of the cap harmed the team un multiple ways.

2- He grossly overrate our depth and youth. We're seeing the result, right now.

3- His inability to conclude a significant trade when his team needed help.

4- His lack of plan B for the departure of Iggy/Boychuk.

5- His overpayment on contract to marginal players ( NTC included ).

6- By not adding depth, he handcuffed his coach with the result that he had to play unproductive players who bring very few to the team.

7- The lack of depth = players took their roster spot for granted. The bleeding nose mentality faded away and was replaced by a "country-club" atmosphere where players look for someone else to do their job.

I'm not letting players off the hook because some of them have disappeared for long stretch and seems to play when they feel it's the right time for them to play. As I said in other threads, i'm done with this "core". Some of them need to be traded in order to fill important need.

 

[Sheppy]

Him turning one of the toughest teams in the game into a soft, emotionless squad is the biggest piss off for me.

 

[chicoutimicucumber]

I was listening to Pierre McGuire earlier today and he thinks he knows what is going on with the Bruins.

His theory is the Bruins have a lot of players that know what it takes to climb to the mountaintop and the extra effort needed to do so and several of these players sensing the team is going to fail this year anyways are not willing to go the extra mile.

I didn't hear Mcguire's interview (is there a link online anywhere?), and I'm not about to leap to the conclusion that his conjectures are correct.

Presuming it is true:

I can sort of understand this mentality IF there are injury issues with the players in question, and they have underlying fears/concerns with their long term health (see: Nathan Horton for a cautionary tale). Otherwise, though? That is inexcusable. You fight for the playoffs for your own pride, for each other and for the future of your team, for your young players and for what you can build on next season. I didn't want this team to make the playoffs because I thought they could actually win it all--when the Boychuk trade went down in October, my best case scenario for the team was to make it to the second round, with the worst case scenario being to miss out on the playoffs completely (unfortunately the latter looks to be the more likely scenario, at the moment). I wanted them to do it for themselves, for how they will be remembered in this era, both within Boston and without.
If as players they take less pride in their own legacies than we do as fans, then it is a lost cause.

 

[World of Wardlow]

What does he want Julien to do? Make McQuaid and Krug play top minutes instead of Chara, Seidenberg??? Dumb.

If one of these has to pay the price, it's not Julien in my opinion. Now, we do not know 100% that it's Chiarelli coming up with the numbers to re-sign his players (we can argue that Neely has more say in it than he does), but the amount of money thrown at players to sign has been albatross.

 

[BadBruins]

I honestly think the players he just aren't good enough. A lot of nights they can play to the best of their abilities and still lose. Really goes to show how great some of the teams of the past were (in the Julien era). Always near the top of the league in goal differential. Only had to bring their A game maybe once or twice a week... and still cruise to 50 wins.

Give Claude Julien the horses, he can get the job done IMO.

I put more blame on the GM and everyone involved in making roster/hockey decisions. The team on paper has been consistently getting worse since 2011. Blowing up much of the team after the loss to the Hawks in the off-season of 2013 was the final nail. A good year last year, but it feels like management has been on their heels ever since winning the Cup. Part of that is obviously due to the overall team success combined with the salary cap, but simply can't escape some of those signings and transactions.

 

[patty59]

I honestly think the players he just aren't good enough. A lot of nights they can play to the best of their abilities and still lose. Really goes to show how great some of the teams of the past were (in the Julien era). Always near the top of the league in goal differential. Only had to bring their A game maybe once or twice a week... and still cruise to 50 wins.

Give Claude Julien the horses, he can get the job done IMO.

I put more blame on the GM and everyone involved in making roster/hockey decisions. The team on paper has been consistently getting worse since 2011. Blowing up much of the team after the loss to the Hawks in the off-season of 2013 was the final nail. A good year last year, but it feels like management has been on their heels ever since winning the Cup. Part of that is obviously due to the overall team success combined with the salary cap, but simply can't escape some of those signings and transactions.

He got a worse team(07-08 and 09-10) into the playoffs.

You look at some of the games that should have been wins that turned into losses and this team should be easily in the playoffs.

 

[Dellstrom]

I always got the feeling looking at Seidenberg in interviews like he's a Cuban baseball player. I mean, does anyone really believe he's only 33? Guy looks like he's about 45.

He does look a lot older than 33

 

[Ice Nine]

Also Tuukka.

This writer is rather opportunistic with this piece. SI covering hockey is a joke just like ESPN.

Except that a lot of his assertions about the team, Claude, and Chiarelli are true.

So, there's that.

 

[Ice Nine]

As listenable as Pierre may be when it comes to general hockey news on the radio, he sort of just follows whatever cliches are there.

If the Bruins won a couple in a row, he'd be on next week talking about the "re-emergence" of Milan Lucic, Chara "finding his game", Tuukka Rask "discovering his confidence" etc. It's just whatever mumbo-jumbo fits the script for that week.

haha. Yeah, he's sort of like hockey's Skip Bayless.

 

[Meusoc]

http://www.csnne.com/video_content_type/tyler-seguin-trade-worst-move-bruins-history

This all goes back to the Sequin trade. To trade a 20 year old budding superstar for 4 stiffs is unforgivable and should cost Chiarelli his job! He has set this organization back to below .500 days.

 

[njbruin*]

I honestly think the players he just aren't good enough. A lot of nights they can play to the best of their abilities and still lose. Really goes to show how great some of the teams of the past were (in the Julien era). Always near the top of the league in goal differential. Only had to bring their A game maybe once or twice a week... and still cruise to 50 wins.

Give Claude Julien the horses, he can get the job done IMO.

I put more blame on the GM and everyone involved in making roster/hockey decisions. The team on paper has been consistently getting worse since 2011. Blowing up much of the team after the loss to the Hawks in the off-season of 2013 was the final nail. A good year last year, but it feels like management has been on their heels ever since winning the Cup. Part of that is obviously due to the overall team success combined with the salary cap, but simply can't escape some of those signings and transactions.

By that token give any decent/good coach the horses and they could get the job done.

I was one of Julien's biggest critics before 2011 and gladly ate a heaping helping of crow. But since then the NHL has changed even more to a finesse style of game. Mucking/plugging/trapping have gone the way of the line brawl. Its time for a change in coaching philosophy otherwise this team is about to get gutted to fit his style of play and we'll be stuck with old players Chara/Seids/Campbell at the expense of young guys like Lucic/Krug/Smith.

 

[Meusoc]

He got a worse team(07-08 and 09-10) into the playoffs.

You look at some of the games that should have been wins that turned into losses and this team should be easily in the playoffs.

Every team that misses the payoff says the same thing.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

He got a worse team(07-08 and 09-10) into the playoffs.

You look at some of the games that should have been wins that turned into losses and this team should be easily in the playoffs.

3-9 in shootouts doesn't help.

Also, that very early game against Colorado allowing a goal with less than a second to go in regulation.

Points pissed away.

 

[alg363636]

I just don't understand what the hell Chia was thinking.

Our President Trophy, top of the league team lost in the second round of the playoffs to our rival. Total embarrassment and choke. That series highlighted so many issues this team had.

Then what does he do? He lets our leading scorer walk with no replacement and trades our second best defenseman for nothing. Not to mention both of these guys were known as big vocal leaders in the room (this is on top of Thorton walking and Ference the year before).

The only conceivable explanation for doing that is if the intention was to enter a bridge year and expect to not be very good. Trade off assets for picks, let the youth (Morrow) get extended and supported time up with the team. Instead we are in this disgusting middle of being cap-strapped, filled with overpaid underachievers who got these contracts on a cup run 3 years ago while not being good enough for the playoffs so all this is going to complete waste.

I'm pissed at Julien and I'm pissed at every player on this team hold Marchand, Bergeron, Loui, Pasta and Spooner but I absolutely livid with Chiarelli. He did just enough to make this team mediocre but not enough to allow sense of development or future hope. We look like ****ing San Jose. A rotting contender floating away to nothing. Can anyone be surprised the entire core had a down season after losing huge portions of their locker room and knowing they weren't good enough to win even when those guys were still around? What the **** is Clode supposed to do with a 6'9 injured pylon, a 21 year old who is still learning which end of the rink is which, a 34 year old with a mechanical leg and 5 years worth of regression in one and then a plethora of #6 guys.

I'd like Julien to see some accountability and I'd like to see some of core shipped out but boy am I done with Peter ****ing Chiarelli.

/end rant.

 

[missingchicklet]

I just don't understand what the hell Chia was thinking.

Our President Trophy, top of the league team lost in the second round of the playoffs to our rival. Total embarrassment and choke. That series highlighted so many issues this team had.

Then what does he do? He lets our leading scorer walk with no replacement and trades our second best defenseman for nothing. Not to mention both of these guys were known as big vocal leaders in the room (this is on top of Thorton walking and Ference the year before).

The only conceivable explanation for doing that is if the intention was to enter a bridge year and expect to not be very good. Trade off assets for picks, let the youth (Morrow) get extended and supported time up with the team. Instead we are in this disgusting middle of being cap-strapped, filled with overpaid underachievers who got these contracts on a cup run 3 years ago while not being good enough for the playoffs so all this is going to complete waste.

I'm pissed at Julien and I'm pissed at every player on this team hold Marchand, Bergeron, Loui, Pasta and Spooner but I absolutely livid with Chiarelli. He did just enough to make this team mediocre but not enough to allow sense of development or future hope. We look like ****ing San Jose. A rotting contender floating away to nothing. Can anyone be surprised the entire core had a down season after losing huge portions of their locker room and knowing they weren't good enough to win even when those guys were still around? What the **** is Clode supposed to do with a 6'9 injured pylon, a 21 year old who is still learning which end of the rink is which, a 34 year old with a mechanical leg and 5 years worth of regression in one and then a plethora of #6 guys.

I'd like Julien to see some accountability and I'd like to see some of core shipped out but boy am I done with Peter ****ing Chiarelli.

/end rant.

So much truth and solid analysis in this post. Well done.

 

[mikelvl]

I just don't understand what the hell Chia was thinking.

Our President Trophy, top of the league team lost in the second round of the playoffs to our rival. Total embarrassment and choke. That series highlighted so many issues this team had.

Then what does he do? He lets our leading scorer walk with no replacement and trades our second best defenseman for nothing. Not to mention both of these guys were known as big vocal leaders in the room (this is on top of Thorton walking and Ference the year before).

The only conceivable explanation for doing that is if the intention was to enter a bridge year and expect to not be very good. Trade off assets for picks, let the youth (Morrow) get extended and supported time up with the team. Instead we are in this disgusting middle of being cap-strapped, filled with overpaid underachievers who got these contracts on a cup run 3 years ago while not being good enough for the playoffs so all this is going to complete waste.

I'm pissed at Julien and I'm pissed at every player on this team hold Marchand, Bergeron, Loui, Pasta and Spooner but I absolutely livid with Chiarelli. He did just enough to make this team mediocre but not enough to allow sense of development or future hope. We look like ****ing San Jose. A rotting contender floating away to nothing. Can anyone be surprised the entire core had a down season after losing huge portions of their locker room and knowing they weren't good enough to win even when those guys were still around? What the **** is Clode supposed to do with a 6'9 injured pylon, a 21 year old who is still learning which end of the rink is which, a 34 year old with a mechanical leg and 5 years worth of regression in one and then a plethora of #6 guys.

I'd like Julien to see some accountability and I'd like to see some of core shipped out but boy am I done with Peter ****ing Chiarelli.

/end rant.

Amen to all this and you didn't even mention his porous draft record. You can't draft Zach Hamill 8th overall. Joe Colborne has carved out a niche for himself in the NHL but you can't draft a 4th line center 15 th overal!! Imagine if they hit on those two picks. They night have two more key players entering their prime right now.

 

[Era of Sanity]

I always got the feeling looking at Seidenberg in interviews like he's a Cuban baseball player. I mean, does anyone really believe he's only 33? Guy looks like he's about 45.

He's been skating like a 45 year old to.

 

[DitClapper]

Him turning one of the toughest teams in the game into a soft, emotionless squad is the biggest piss off for me.

In a vacuum, I really do agree here.

 

[blurbruin]

3-9 in shootouts doesn't help.

Also, that very early game against Colorado allowing a goal with less than a second to go in regulation.

Points pissed away.

The Bruins are a team destined to be awful in the shootout, I'm assuming that's why Julien always goes with 3 forwards and 1 dman in OT. It does make the skills competition that is the shootout even harder to watch!

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

To me, Chiarelli is "the" guy who should take most of the blame. Claude definitely made mistakes during this season but here's why Sweet Pete is my main target:

1- He was suppose to be a "capologist" but his mismanagement of the cap harmed the team un multiple ways.

2- He grossly overrate our depth and youth. We're seeing the result, right now.

3- His inability to conclude a significant trade when his team needed help.

4- His lack of plan B for the departure of Iggy/Boychuk.

5- His overpayment on contract to marginal players ( NTC included ).

6- By not adding depth, he handcuffed his coach with the result that he had to play unproductive players who bring very few to the team.

7- The lack of depth = players took their roster spot for granted. The bleeding nose mentality faded away and was replaced by a "country-club" atmosphere where players look for someone else to do their job.

I'm not letting players off the hook because some of them have disappeared for long stretch and seems to play when they feel it's the right time for them to play. As I said in other threads, i'm done with this "core". Some of them need to be traded in order to fill important need.

AND turning us from a top 3 "toughest team" from the past half decade plus to top bottom 3 softest team, despite only changing two forwards and a defenseman. Then immediately spending the entire season trying to rebuild that identity... allegedly of course since that comes via articles.

AND the latest Reilly Smith extension. Holy crap is that a bad one unless he can trick another team into wanting 50 point Smith.

 

[bruinmann77]

if they were Soft and Speedy i would take that.

 

[mislysBB]

I just don't understand what the hell Chia was thinking.

Our President Trophy, top of the league team lost in the second round of the playoffs to our rival. Total embarrassment and choke. That series highlighted so many issues this team had.

Then what does he do? He lets our leading scorer walk with no replacement and trades our second best defenseman for nothing. Not to mention both of these guys were known as big vocal leaders in the room (this is on top of Thorton walking and Ference the year before).

The only conceivable explanation for doing that is if the intention was to enter a bridge year and expect to not be very good. Trade off assets for picks, let the youth (Morrow) get extended and supported time up with the team. Instead we are in this disgusting middle of being cap-strapped, filled with overpaid underachievers who got these contracts on a cup run 3 years ago while not being good enough for the playoffs so all this is going to complete waste.

I'm pissed at Julien and I'm pissed at every player on this team hold Marchand, Bergeron, Loui, Pasta and Spooner but I absolutely livid with Chiarelli. He did just enough to make this team mediocre but not enough to allow sense of development or future hope. We look like ****ing San Jose. A rotting contender floating away to nothing. Can anyone be surprised the entire core had a down season after losing huge portions of their locker room and knowing they weren't good enough to win even when those guys were still around? What the **** is Clode supposed to do with a 6'9 injured pylon, a 21 year old who is still learning which end of the rink is which, a 34 year old with a mechanical leg and 5 years worth of regression in one and then a plethora of #6 guys.

I'd like Julien to see some accountability and I'd like to see some of core shipped out but boy am I done with Peter ****ing Chiarelli.

/end rant.

You read my mind with this post. Bravo.

 

[Ice Nine]

if they were Soft and Speedy i would take that.

They're soft. And slow. And still can't score.

It's the the worst of all possible worlds. I'm not sure how we've managed it, but there it is.

 

[xStanleyCupsFor]

I just don't understand what the hell Chia was thinking.

Our President Trophy, top of the league team lost in the second round of the playoffs to our rival. Total embarrassment and choke. That series highlighted so many issues this team had.

Then what does he do? He lets our leading scorer walk with no replacement and trades our second best defenseman for nothing. Not to mention both of these guys were known as big vocal leaders in the room (this is on top of Thorton walking and Ference the year before).

The only conceivable explanation for doing that is if the intention was to enter a bridge year and expect to not be very good. Trade off assets for picks, let the youth (Morrow) get extended and supported time up with the team. Instead we are in this disgusting middle of being cap-strapped, filled with overpaid underachievers who got these contracts on a cup run 3 years ago while not being good enough for the playoffs so all this is going to complete waste.

I'm pissed at Julien and I'm pissed at every player on this team hold Marchand, Bergeron, Loui, Pasta and Spooner but I absolutely livid with Chiarelli. He did just enough to make this team mediocre but not enough to allow sense of development or future hope. We look like ****ing San Jose. A rotting contender floating away to nothing. Can anyone be surprised the entire core had a down season after losing huge portions of their locker room and knowing they weren't good enough to win even when those guys were still around? What the **** is Clode supposed to do with a 6'9 injured pylon, a 21 year old who is still learning which end of the rink is which, a 34 year old with a mechanical leg and 5 years worth of regression in one and then a plethora of #6 guys.

I'd like Julien to see some accountability and I'd like to see some of core shipped out but boy am I done with Peter ****ing Chiarelli.

/end rant.

Awesome rant!

Krug/McQuaid as #5-6 guys is pretty strong IMO.