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.

Zdeno Chara = Bruce Banner? A Quick Thought Experiment....

On February 22, 1977, a nuclear accident happened at Bohunice, Czechoslovakia. It was rated INES-4 ("Accident with Local Consequences"). Not quite talking Chernobyl by any stretch of the imagination, but stuff happened:

"Operators neglected to remove moisture absorbing materials from a fuel rod assembly before loading it into the KS 150 reactor at power plant A-1. The accident resulted in damaged fuel integrity, extensive corrosion damage of fuel cladding and release of radioactivity into the plant area. The plant was decommissioned following this accident." (Source: Good ol' Wikipedia)

Trencin, Chara's hometown, is located 22.5km SW of Bohunice, Czechoslovakia. On March 18, 1977, Zdeno Chara was born.

Could it be that the league's most mutant defenseman is a result of not just genetics (father Zdenek was an Olympic Greco-Roman wrestler), but of nuclear power gone horribly wrong? Momma Chara, perhaps she possibly got too close to the incident while carrying Chara, she inhaled the radioactive fumes and Chara mutated in the womb as a result of the exposure to radioactivity. For the last month, she's carrying a glowing-green, hulking, huge-ass Chara-baby and finally drops the kid less than month later.

Well, mutant or not, he's our mutant.

Postscript: Ever read the wikipedia entry on Chara? It says that according to WEEI, Sobotka was drafted because Chara needs a life partner on the team per the terms of his contract. I think most folks are willing to buy my "Chara is radioactive mutant" theory before they'll buy this one. Then again, consider, Satan & Chara are BFFs as well. THAT, combined with the B's opening up next season in Prague. Does Bruins management think "as Chara goes, so do the Bruins"?

Sully's Here We Come!

In a matter of hours, Section 311 will be downing beers at Sully's Tap. Had to show up at work extra early today to take off early and get to Causeway Street.

This is the greatest time of the year isn't it? Is there really anything better than playoff hockey? Anybody who doesn't enjoy this is soft and probably enjoys watching "The Real Housewives." The weekend's action across the league was just tremendously entertaining. You had the Capitals comeback against Montreal on Saturday night. You had the "cinderella" Phoenix Coyotes taking a 2-1 lead over the Wings and, on Friday, that series gave us one of the most entertaining periods of hockey I've ever seen including a stretch with 5 goals in 4 minutes. You had Craig Anderson stopping 51 shots to shutout the Sharks (laughed this morning when I woke up to see that result - if not for a Joe Pavelski goal with approx 30 seconds left in Game 2, it would be 3-0 Avs right now - Joe Thornton doing nothing again). You even had Daniel Carcillo scoring an OT game-winner.

So since Saturday afternoon, nothing but anticipation for tonight's game. Big and bad were actually back in Game 2 and let's hope they continue with a similar effort in front of us tonight. Vladdy Effin Sobotka! He gets my game puck for Game 2. Remember how much we liked this kid two years ago in the playoffs against Montreal? I can see why now - it appears the B's could have used him last year against Carolina too - 9 hits on Saturday and he scored a goal (only an assist on the scoresheet, but it was effectively his goal). Sobotka/Ryder/Wheels was arguably the Bruins best line. Can Michael Ryder keep this up? He's been great in the first two games - even landing a monster hit in Game 2.

There are people that like to hate on Chara out there. I bet they are silent now. What a great performance by the captain. It was nice to see the B's catch a couple lucky bounces on his two goals (Pominville's tip and Boychuk fanning from point getting Miller out of position).

Lucic blew it twice on Saturday (running around in own zone on Myers goal and horrible turnover on Pominville goal) and got demoted to 4th line duty for the 3rd period, but on a positive note, was landing hits and intimidating when he was out there a la '08-'09. Hopefully he will be better. It will be interesting to see what Claude does with the lines tonight.

Another guy who was sleepwalking through most of the regular season was Steve Begin, but he has been brilliant in his role thus far in this series. That's what Chia hired him for and so far he's delivered.

Unfortunately, I can't be 100% positive. Marco Sturm was invisible again on Saturday and he appears to be slower than normal. I'm beginning to think he has an undisclosed injury he's trying to battle through because he's just not right.

Thomas Vanek is doubtful for tonight and judging by the way he hobbled off the ice, one would think he is doubtful for the rest of the series. The Sabres will of course play the injury game and pretend he's about to come back, but it looked like his knee buckled when Boychuk's stick came down directly on it.

My biggest fear tonight is seeing the team we saw at home all season: tentative, tame, and tense. I'm feeling positive that they've put that behind them and will come out playing the way they did for the majority of the first two games.

If you are in attendance and anybody around you starts booing Dennis Wideman tonight, tell them to shut their ignorant mouths and get behind their team. "Wides" has been pretty solid for the better part of a month now. See you at the Garden...

B's Strike Oil

The B's have been doing this win-lose pattern all season, being consistently inconsistent. However, it appears that the tide has somewhat turned, as the B's turned in their 2nd straight tight, hard-fought game at home yesterday when they shut out the Oilers, 2-0. Both goals were scored by the Paella-Sobotka-Wheels line. The first goal showed the REAL Sobotka that we know - the player who plays 5x bigger than he is - just completely fearless. He fought Theo Peckham along the boards, keeping possession, until he broke free and threw a blind pass out in front which Wheels shot into the net. The second goal also featured Sobotka & Wheels crashing the net. Rask had a couple good saves, but really didn't have to work too hard. Sobotka has played only 5 games, yet already is tied for 3rd on the team in hits with 19.
random crap:

• Coming soon: An attempt to correlate fighting majors and Bruins wins. I'm convinced their early season malaise is due to the fact that they really haven't beat anyone down yet.
• The Rangers aren't playing so hot these days, so today's matinee should be interesting - mainly whether or not the B's can replicate the past 2 performances.
• Former B's update: For the Minnesota Wild, Shane Hnidy has 0-3-3 totals with 18PIM; Chuck Kobasew has 1-2-3 totals with 6PIM; Perennial punching bag Steve Montador has 0-3-3 totals with 15PIM with the first-place Sabres (who lost yesterday to the Isle, 5-0); Brad Boyes has 2-4-6 totals with 0PIM and 0 PP goals with St. Louis; P.J. Axelsson has 3-7-10 totals, with 29PIM (what?) in 15 games with Frolunda of the Swedish Elite League, if I read their statistik page right; Brandon Bochenski leads the Tampa Bay Lighting's farm affiliate (Norfolk Admirals) in scoring with 6-2-8 totals; Also playing with BranBo is Matt Lashoff (1-1-2, 29PIM, -6) and Martins Karsums (0-0-0, 10 shots). Thanks for the Recchin Ball and the draft pick, you chumps.
  
• Recently, Contributor Minnesota spied a Phil Kessel shirt with #81 on the back, his name taped over in masking tape, and "2010 first round pick" written on the tape. That's got the makings of a good t-shirt there.
• Speaking of which, Maple Leafs suck watch: 1-7-4 for 6 points, good for 30th (dead last) in the league. Taylor Hall, folks. Keep an eye on him.
  
• Spotted a Whaler fan in the building yesterday - wearing his #77 Paul Coffey jersey. He had his young daughter with him, and even she was ashamed - she was trying to distance herself from him, but he kept tugging on her arm as they were leaving. There were some B's fans who were giving him shit, and rightfully so - Whaler fans are second-class citizens.
  

There Will Be Blood

This is why I prefer watching hockey over baseball - both the Sox and the Bruins started at 7pm, and the Sox game is somewhere in the 6th inning with that hillbilly mouth-breather Joba Chamberlain pitching, and the Bruins game is already over. Yeah, the Bruins beat the Senators in Ottawa by - guess the score - 2-1. At least the game did not go into OT. Goals by Marchand (slap pass/tip from Morris) and by Fata (slapshot with 2 Bruins screening LeClaire after Sobotka won a faceoff).

Highlight of the night: Lootch taking Chris Neil to the woodshed. Neil had been taking liberties with Savard throughout the night, so Lootch hunted him down, provoked him during the faceoff (check the stickwork by Lootch between Neil's legs just as the puck is dropped), and opened up his face with some quick punches. Blood covered Neil's face and Lootch kept throwing 'em. The linesmen let the fight go on a bit too long...Neil hung in there, got a few good ones in, but the decision goes to Lootch. Also Thornton took on Carkner in a wrestling match with Thornton getting the takedown/win.

The kids played a fast, inspired game - Marchand, Sobotka (looking like the Sobotka of 2007), Lovecchio, etc. I think we should start planning the parade route for the Calder Cup celebration...

Thomas was solid as usual - made about 3 to 5 of his trademark sprawling saves - the kind of shit that makes goaltending coaches cringe and fans go berserk. The B's took awhile to catch fire, not registering their first shot until about 15 minutes had expired in the first period, so Thomas had to withstand that intial offensive push.

Andy Wozniewski had a bad game - I counted 4 giveaways alone in the 1st two periods. Ottawa had their best players out there, and the Bruins did not roll out Wheels, Bergeron, Sturm, Krejci, Recchi, Wideman. If this was the actual season, I'd say the Bruins would have won this game 9-1.