May 14, 2014; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman
Zdeno Chara(33) leads his team off the ice after their 3-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens in game seven of the second round of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports
Tonight was the annual ‘State of the Bruins’ event. Season ticket holders were entitled to sit down and have some town hall time with the Jacobs family, the Bruins front office, and Coach Claude Julien.( Bruins players Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, and David Krejci were in attendence as well.) The Bruins leadership feels genuinely excited and have high hopes for the Bruins as they go into their ninety-first season as a NHL franchise.
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Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs shared his thoughts with the fans, and for the most part the season ticket holders were profoundly respectful. “They were the best team last year in hockey, by points, ” said Jacobs. “Didn’t win the Stanley Cup, therefore we are not happy. We want to take this great team and achieve at the level to win the Stanley Cup, and we’re going to do it. We have a great organization, we’ve got great coming up and I think we’re going to be there, I really do. I’m very comfortable and confident. We’ve continued to try to make this team better.”
As expected, Torey Krug and Reilly Smith did not attend the first day of training camp. Contract negotiations appear to be a stand-still, and until the Bruins clean up some of their cap trouble there will be no moving forward with the first hold-outs of the Peter Chiarelli era. That’s certainly a shame, but the Bruins knew how tough their cap troubles were going to be.
Puck Prose
Even without Krug and Smith, it is a very diverse camp. Eighteen year old phenoms like David Pastrnak are competing for jobs against AHL players like Ryan Spooner and Alexander Khokhlachev. With experienced players like Simon Gagne and Ville Leino in the mix for a job, it will shape up to be a very rough job for the coaching job to pick the best players for the team.
Bruins President Cam Neely expressed on how this camp will be different from those over the last few seasons. “It’s going to be a more competitive camp in a sense I think just because we have some questions on some roster spots,” said the Bruins legend. “So in that regard I think it’s going to be exciting because it’s one of the things for a number of years, players that are going to camp maybe say ‘oh geez, I don’t where I’m going to make this team.’ This is a different year for that and it’s going to be exciting because of that.”
“They’re going to have to come maybe on a one- or two-year deal to bridge into their next larger deal.” – Bruins Principal Charlie Jacobs on Krug and Smith
Peter Chiarelli surprised us a bit by stating that there were four forward spots up for grabs this season. (The empty slots for Jarome Iginla and Shawn Thornton, Reilly Smith’s spot, and the slot for the thirteenth forward.)This could mean several Bruins expected to be in the Boston roster could be waived, kept in the AHL, or even sent back to free agency. This will likely be one of the ways the Bruins save enough money to offer Krug and Smith that important bridge contract.