The Boston Bruins have failed to make the playoffs for the last two seasons. The fans are disappointed, and many are hoping for a serious retool of the roster. Many of the fans were also expecting some kind of shake up in the B’s front office. In the end, the Bruins relieved assistant coach Doug Houda of his job and told the fans that they didn’t think an overhaul was needed.
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“I certainly hope not. From a complacency standpoint, that’s not how we’re going to operate. I think that we’ve looked at, and will continue to move players that aren’t going to help us moving forward,” said Bruins general manager Don Sweeney. “In going in a different direction, that might open an opportunity for a young player that is ready to step into that. We’ve got a bit of a momentum going with the young guys we’ve got going, and you look at the college guys and how difficult it is to retain those guys…especially when they’re seniors.
“To me, that says a lot because those guys have options to do that. So we’re excited about that. Watching those guys play last night, it’s important. It’s important to have that depth whether it means you’re talking to other teams that notice you have that depth, and they have a young player that maybe fits with us. The fan base should really understand that there’s no complacency whatsoever, and that speaks to the assessment of the group that has won. We haven’t won the last couple of years, and we need to get back there.”
If the Bruins are going to ‘get back there’, they will need to make a few changes. First, Sweeney will need to push Claude Julien into playing the younger players. Two seasons ago, Julien seemed to have a problem with playing Ryan Spooner for any length of time. This season, Julien seemed hesitant to play David Pastrnak. He’s got to put the young kids on the ice and let them play.
The B’s have an awful lot of young talent in Providence and prospects in the NCAA. Those kids will be fighting hard for jobs at training camp. A few of those kids will make the cut and wear the spoked ‘B’ in October. Claude (and Sweeney) need to be prepared to tell some of the underwhelming veterans that their jobs are on the line. (Maybe they already did that in the exit interviews.)
The Bruins may have to tweak their scouts as well. Brett Connolly has turned out to be a bust. Jimmy Hayes certainly didn’t meet expectations this season. Don’t even get me started about Zac Rinaldo. If the Bruins had so many bust players this season, they need to stop attributing that to bad luck and start classifying these failures as bad intelligence. (Perhaps listing Kevan Miller as a good player behind Patrice Bergeron ,Brad Marchand, and David Krejci would be a start.)
The Bruins must make changes. Changes to the roster, and changes in the front office. Hopefully, Don Sweeney and company will make the tweaks and make a better product for the fans in the next six months. If they don’t, it will be another year of disappointment for the fans.