Boston Bruins Should Not Offer Tryout Deals
By Jay Peterson
With Sergei Gonchar recently agreeing to a tryout deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins, there may be other free agents who are still on the market that will also be looking to make a tryout deal with a team. In my opinion, it is in the best interest of the Boston Bruins they do not offer, or accept, any tryout deals with any of the free agents still available.
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The reasoning behind this mostly has to do with Cam Neely and Don Sweeney‘s vision of letting their younger players develop at the appropriate pace. Signing an NHL ready free agent to compete against the developing prospects would be a clear statement that the front office does not have enough confidence in who they currently have. It is very important that the young players believe that they will be given every opportunity to crack the Bruins lineup this year.
When Simon Gagne tried out for the team last year, that put every single one of the Boston Bruins forward prospects back a step. Whoever could have made the team did not because Gagne did, and whoever else had a chance to make the team probably left training earlier than they should have. Also, for 23 regular season games last season, Simon Gagne played forward for the Boston Bruins when Claude Julien and former Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli could have been giving one, or even two, of their prospects a chance to develop and gain experience with the big club.
In 23 games with the Bruins, Simon Gagne registered 4 points (all stats found on nhl.com). When you look at what Boston Bruins prospects David Pastrnak (27 points in 46 games), Ryan Spooner (18 points in 29 games) and Seth Griffith (10 points in 30 games) were able to do when they were given the chance that they should have got at the beginning of the season, it proves that depending on Simon Gagne was a bad mistake.
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When looking at the potential players within the Boston Bruins organization, that could make the opening night roster, we have Joonas Kempainen, Alex Khokhlachev, Seth Griffith, Brian Ferlin, Anthony Camara, Zach Trotman, Colin Miller, Joe Morrow, Jeremy Smith, Zane McIntyre and Malcolm Subban. With this many players ready to possibly take the next step, it would seem ridiculous for new GM Don Sweeney to even consider bringing in someone else to heat up the competition. I think we can all say, at this point, that the competition will be heated enough and that whoever does make the opening roster will have had an impressive training camp.
It has been Don Sweeney’s intention to trust in the guys that we have, within the organization, and to give them a chance to prove that they are ready to take the next step. It is now up to Don Sweeney and Claude Julien to stand by what they have said and give these young Bruins the opportunity to show Boston what they can do.