A lot of it might have had to do with guys not playing during the lockout, particularly the older guys.
The Bruins famously gutted their roster in anticipation of many free agents coming their way with anticipated cap room. Throwing together a collection of guys and expecting them to gel is a bad combination because it takes time to build a truly good team. How did the Bruins do?
Alex Zhamnov: Signed because Forsberg and Modano wisely turned down the chance to go to a gutted team. They gave him three years, $12 million and they got one goal, a handful of assists, and 24 games out of him.
Brian Leetch: A low-risk deal for one year; he was well past his prime by this point and hadn't even played during the lockout. Missed a quarter of the season and was no great shakes when he played. Signed because the Bruins didn't bother to lock up Sergei Gonchar long-term (great decision
)
Shawn McEachern: Signed to a two year deal, he didn't even last two months before being shipped to the AHL and was later bought out.
Dave Scatchard: Signed to a four year deal, which might have been a good idea if he was a 20 goal scorer that he was a couple of times before the lockout. Wasn't horrible, but was gone by mid-November of that season in exchange for David Tanabe, who they thought so highly of that they walked away from his arbitration award the next summer.
Travis Green: Was given a two year deal and was pretty awful. They couldnt even find a team to take him at the deadline and he was also bought out.
Jeremy Reich: Given a 1 year deal, has been an organizational soldier since then. Who would have guessed that he would outlast all the guys above?
They also re-signed UFAs Tim Thomas and Glen Murray. Try and guess which one worked out pretty well....
