And not for the reason most would. No, I hate Barnum & Bailey's and Disney on Ice/Ice Capades not for their treatment of animals, not for the clowns, not for the horrible dance numbers, nor the thousands of plague-infested rug rats infesting the events,(all valid reasons) but for their schedule. Their schedule puts one or the other in Boston for the beginning two weeks of October. Why should this matter? It puts my beloved Bruins on the road for two weeks at the beginning of the season, that's why.
For pretty much as long as I can remember, the B's have started off on the road. This has several bad effects on the team, which I will go into briefly. First off, the team's on the road for an extended time, which is demoralizing, tiring, and can really wear a team down. Secondly, its at the beginning of the season, which means that team chemistry often takes a hit because there's no time to rest, no time to congeal, and no practices at home to help make the team better as a team. This year's Bruins have suffered from this quite a bit, having no sense of cohesion at all, and have started off with a 1-3-1 record.(fine, 1-3-0-1, its still 3 points in 5 games) Thirdly, or maybe Secondly part two, the beginning of the season means that the other teams are having their home openers, which apart from the playoffs, are often the most anticipated games of the season, faces fresh and new, hopes high, and thoughts awash with Lord Stanley's Cup. For the Bruins and their fans, it consistently means being the bad guy for 2 weeks, the black hatters, often with a greatly reduced chance simply because they're on the road on an opening night. Fourthly, it hurts the Bruins because by the time they HAVE come home, its mid-October, and the hockey newbies just don't care aboot the season anymore. Add to that a more losses than wins, and the mood is more somber than it should be when they're finally home.
The Bruins are not going to be good this year. Some are picking them to make the playoffs in the 5-8 slot, which last year meant 92-101 points. I doubt they'll make it at all. Its early, but the chemistry isn't there yet, and they're mainly a young team with a few exceptions, including Glen Murray, PJ Axelsson, and Tim Thomas. I like Phil Kessel, I like the addition of Zdeno Chara, I love Patrice Bergeron, and I can't say that they have any slackers like they did last year in the likes of Alexei Zhamnov. They're just young or inexperienced, and have to take some time to get together as a team. Do I think Hannu has the goods to be a number 1 goalie? Sure, he's young, only 22, and has good fundamentals. As sad as it is to say, I'm in favor of ditching this year. Trade Glen Murray to a cup-worthy team for some young guns and maybe a young defenseman or some room under the cap, not that I'm expecting such genius from Harry's Gang.
I'm pretty disgusted with the managerial moves since the end of the lockout, but its nothing new compared to the last 20 years. They poised the team to have a lot of contracts end the year before the lockout, in anticipation, and that worked wonderfully, giving them the lowest salary cap going into the lockout, poising them to snap up some real talent that other teams simply couldn't afford any more. Instead, they got washed up and tired old hags that were selfish and had no team dynamic. This lead to a listless Glen Murray and a early-season crumble that lead to the unexplainable trade of Joe Thornton. I'm not going to get into it deeply in this post, but I was okay with the thoughts of trading Jumbo Joe, he tended to hang onto the puck too much in the corners, waiting for Murray to get open in front of the net. He just didn't seem to fit in Boston, and as much as I loved him, I was willing to see him move on, provided the B's got back something decent in return, like a Ilya Kovalchuck or Danny Heatley. Nope. They get three nickels for a quarter, Marco Sturm, Brad Stuart, and Wayne friggin Primeau. Next, they trade away Samsonov, and end up in the cellar.
My predictions for the team is 25-45-6-6, for a final point total of 62 dismal points, and 2nd worst in the standings, the lowest being godawful Phoenix. They're in a tough division, they look like crap, and they can't gel.
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