Out of Hibernation

It's time to start thinking hockey again...three weeks of mourning was about enough...I think...

In the past few days the Bruins signed Thornton and Seidenberg to extensions.  Their respective cap hits are $812,500 and $3.25M.  Thornton for two years and Seidenberg for four.  The pricetag for a fourth liner is a little high (he made $550K last season), but Thornton has earned it by being good at his role since he came here and being one of the few Bruins that were actually "big and bad" during the lackluster regular season.  He stands up for his teammates which is more than we can say for a number of Bruins. I like the signing.

Seidenberg going to be here for years to come (photo from Boston.com)

The Seidenberg deal is a good one if he plays anything like he did in his short time here before getting injured. They likely got him at a discount compared to what he would have commanded in free agency (this blogger guesses at least $3.75M per). The fact that they got this deal done, however, makes me despise the Ference extension even more than I already did. In a perfect world, I would have liked to see both Stuart and Boychuk back in the fold (Stuart moreso to be honest: grit and leadership - Johnny is a little too metrosexual for my liking even though he provided us with one of the greatest hits I've witnessed against Buffalo). This signing means someone is gone. Perhaps Chiarelli will be able to pull off some sort of salary dump trade and offload Wideman or Ference, but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that. Instead, I'm afraid Johnny or Stuart will walk and I think it will be Johnny because he will probably command more money with his solid play in the postseason, and money is very tight for the B's at this point.  Please keep Stuey around Chia!

So here's my priority list among the remaining free agents:

1. Do not sign Wheeler (Aggressive Wheeler-Hater Guy in Row 10 is completely right to rank on this guy)
2. Re-sign Mark Stuart
3. Sign Vladdy Sobotka - he's ready to take over the Yelle/Begin role for this team and will be a good guy to have around should one of the three centers miss time (which they certainly will).  Could his play in the first round before he hurt himself give him some value on the trade market?  Remember how good he was?  It's hard to think back past the Flyers debacle, but he was great until he tweaked his shoulder.
4. Bring Recchi back if he wants to play another year

Random crap:

• David Krejci is a stud and is an incredible bargain at $3.75M
• Patrice turns 25 in July...25!
• Lucic and Chara were fighting injuries all last season and will be better in 2010-11
• The Bruins will end up with Taylor Hall one way or another - the media posturing by Tambellini and Chiarelli is fun to follow (Chia: Seguin can play the wing.  Tambellini: Hall can play center.)
• Tim Thomas - I don't know what to think about this one.  I think Timmy wants to play so he might approve a trade, but who's going to take that 35+ contract with 3 years left on it.  Also, look at the Cup Finals this year: Niemi vs. Leighton.  Are teams going to want to sink that kind of commitment into a goaltender when Chicago and Philly had success with low-rent goaltenders?  The Bruins could REALLY use that cap space.  They could bring in some high-priced talent to make a run at the Cup a la Chicago this year.  Things are going to change this time next year when Chara and Bergeron's contracts are up.
• Michael Ryder is in a contract year in 2010-11.  Will that motivate him?  No.

I Told You So

I hate to say it, but things went exactly as I predicted.  The only slight difference was Thornton was able to land a couple punches on Matt Cooke instead of it being a wrestling match.  It didn't take a genius to figure out that was what would happen.  We've seen the body of work this season.  The entire crowd rose to their feet for the fight less than two minutes into the game...the next time I rose to my feet was for the mock cheer some 8 or 9 minutes into the 3rd period when our Bruins registered their 1st shot on goal of the period and only their 11th of the ENTIRE GAME!

Disgraceful.  Depressing.  Demoralizing.  Done.  I'm finished until the playoffs where I will show up to watch the Alex Ovechkin express roll over our "team".  Just a Toronto anti-fan from here on out.  Yes, this "team" is still going to make the playoffs.

To add to the misery, the damn Leafs won again last night and are threatening to climb out of their spot as 2nd worst team in the league.

Hide All Sharp Objects

"I'm gonna call my girlfriend and tell her to hide all the knives in the kitchen. This game is pathetic." -- "Minnesota" during the 2nd period of today's loss to the Rangers


The Bruins dropped another turd today on Causeway St., losing to the Rangers, 3-1. Yet again, Henrik Lundqvist OWNED us.
#1 star announced was Brandon Dubinsky. He skated on a line with Higgins & Avery. Has a greater collection of shitbags on 1 line ever been assembled? The 2nd period of today's game was so bad (3 shots to the Rangers' 21, I lost count), it could've been the worst period of the year. The Bruins now take to the road: Anaheim, San Jose, LA. Our hopes for this road trip are whale-shit low: 0-3-0. Savvy's got a partially torn MCL. It's just bad all over.
random crap

• Bruins goal by Wideman, he beat Lundqvist from the blue line with a slapshot.

• Brashear & Thornton squared off early. Thornton surprised Brash with a punch to the face and got the takedown, but it could have been more.

• Today's roster program included a feature on Johnny Boychuk, who said his guilty pleasure was shopping, and what he loves to shop for is shoes. Hey, you wanna know how I know you're gay? But his real crime was on the Dubinsky goal, where he fell and looked around for a call by the ref and while Dubinsky walked in on Thomas to score. Speaking of shoddy defense, wasn't it HORRIBLE to see Del Zotto just breeze right in and score on Thomas
  

B's Rattle Sabres

I love being right.

The Bruins bared their teeth last night in a game that featured 3 fighting majors and some slashing. Shawn Thornton took on the league's punching bag, Steve Montador, and beat him. Then he took on Paul Gaustad, who had been being a pest all night, and beat him, too. Stuart threw Jochen Hecht down in a fit of caveman fury. I think Stuart held back a little because Hecht was wearing a face-shield. And the Bruins won the game. Okay, so we faced their rookie goalie in his first NHL game, and maybe Buffalo was playing its second straight game in as many nights, so the path was cleared for us, but I'll take it. Paella must have had at least a billion scoring chances and converted on none. Noted Minnesota, "He shoulda had 8 goals tonight." Lord Byron Bitz scored a goal (pretty goal line dangle), Sturm scored (finally a goal that went off the post and in instead of out - check out HubHockey for classic SturmFace), Chara (a freakin' BOMB from the blue line with Recchin Ball screening Enron, er, Enroth), and The Recchin Ball (tipped a wrist shot/pass from Dmo). Bergeron could have had a few goals, but tried to get too pretty with the stickwork and ran out of room both times.
random crap:

• Best comment of the night came from a fan a few rows back, "Buffalo sucks - the Bills suck, the Sabres suck, you guys have never won anything, so what's happening here should be no surprise."
• Has hockeyfights.com ever been award "top 100 websites of all time" by Time Magazine, or something? It should at least be in the, say, top 15, if you ask me.