Boston Bruins: Zac Rinaldo Must Change His Game.
When the Boston Bruins chose to bring on Zac Rinaldo, a lot of us were shaking our heads. Yes, the Bruins were missing a lot of snarl. The physical aspect of the game was lacking, and the Bruins needed to bring in someone who could take it up a notch. But was this what the Bruins really needed?
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Puck Daddy has never been much of a friend to Causeway Crowd or the Boston Bruins in general. They published their top 10 list of worst players in the league, and instead of giving the number 1 spot to Matt Cooke or John Scott (players who seem to live to injure other players), they chose to give it to recent Bruins acquisition Zac Rinaldo.
From Puck Daddy:
“Which is why talking about Zac Rinaldo is such a breath of fresh air, because the overwhelming consensus is that he’s atrocious.
NHL fans viewed him as a stone-handed knucklehead inexplicably holding down a roster spot. Flyers fans called him an “embarrassment.” When the Bruins acquired him, columnists noted he was “not someone who’s made hockey teams for his ability to play hockey” and questioned what the hell the team was thinking.
Rinaldo says “changing for the better will happen,” so maybe he ends up endearing himself to Bruins fans and changing the minds of his league-wide critics. Or he’s suspended after opening night. One of the two.”
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I’ve never been a big Puck Daddy fan. Perhaps because one of their writers took sadistic pleasure in constantly calling the Bruins fan base racist(before being fired for sexual harassment). Or that the staff at PD could rarely be respectful to a Bruins player who wasn’t Patrice Bergeron. Their default setting always seemed to be set on condescension when it came to anything associated with the Black and Gold.
Personal feelings aside, Greg Wyshynski isn’t off the mark here. (Personally, I would still have Matt Cooke at the top of my pantheon of dirty players.) Rinaldo has made some incredibly poor decisions on how he plays the game. He almost seems to revel in the dirty hit, and even seems to gloat on some of them(At least Matt Cooke attempts to look contrite after he ruins someone’s career.).
From BroadStreet Hockey back in January:
“Rinaldo has 905 minutes in penalty and suspension time in his NHL career. He has 1,592 minutes of time on ice. Suspend him just 12 more games and he’ll have spent more time being disciplined by the NHL than playing in it.”
Rinaldo averages only two goals and one hundred and forty-three minutes in penalties per season. This is the last thing the Bruins need right now on their roster. When Rinaldo came to Boston, he had a few conversations with the front office. He vowed that he was willing to make changes in his game to be a better player and more of an asset to the team.
“That’s the last thing I want to come in here doing, is to give a first bad impression,” said Rinaldo about his new team. “You only have one time to give your first impression, and I want to make my first impression a memorable one, so I’m going to do everything that I can to help the team win.
“I’m up for anything to help the team win, so anything that they tell me to do, I’m going to be doing it.”
He made that promise to the Flyers fan base before. He said he would clean up his game and be more to his team than just a brawler. He failed to deliver on that promise in Philadelphia.
He’ll need to do make good on his words here. The Bruins had a rough go of it last season on the penalty kill, and having the old Rinaldo on the ice will only make the situation worse. If Rinaldo regresses to his old style of play, he’ll be on a first name basis with the popcorn machines on the ninth level.