Trader Donnie is not messing around

  

One of the main critiques of Peter Chiarelli while in office as Bruins GM was his lack of agressiveness to try to better the roster. He would be attached to his own guys, and usually play free agency and the trade deadline close to the vest. In his first offseason on the job, new GM Don Sweeney has proven to be anything but conservative. On Friday, draft day, the bombshell dropped that Dougie Hamilton had been dealt to Calgary, and only hours later, fan favorite Milan Lucic was sent to LA. 

  

The return for Lucic turned out to be a very good one. The 13th overall pick, backup goaltender Martin Jones, and highly regarded D prospect Colin Miller were sent back to Boston in return. Jones was flipped days later for another first round pick from San Jose. A great haul considering Lucic was likely only here for another year, and his numbers had dipped greatly since his 30 goal campaign. However, the return for Hamilton was troubling. For a brief few minutes, Bruins fans were excited by the possibility of what Calgary could offer, namely a guy well known around these parts, Johnny Hockey. But as the reports came in, it became clear it would be something far short of that. In the end, the return was 3 draft picks, a first rounder and two seconds.  Sweeney understood that he probably was not going to be able to re-sign Hamilton to a long term deal, but watching another top 10 pick leave in their low 20s did not sit well with fans. Hamilton is now the third guy that fits that description to leave after his third year with the team, following a couple guys named Kessel and Seguin. With the draft hours away, fans were allowing Sweeney the benefit of the doubt, that another move was coming, potentially to package a bunch of picks to move up high in the draft. But as the night quickly approached, nothing happened, and instead the Bruins used all of their picks, including Zach Senyshyn at #15, a player projected to go in the 40s, and a kid who’s a long way from being NHL ready.  It seemed as the team was heading into full rebuild mode, a gross overreaction to one bad year. 

As the calendar turned to July, free agency was once again upon us. For the majority of one of the most hectic days on the NHL calendar, the Bruins were nowhere to be seen. Radio silence, per usual. It was Peter Chiarelli all over again. But in a matter of minutes around 6 pm, that changed. First, they went out and grabbed potentially the top free agent forward in an underwhelming class, Matt Beleskey, at a relative bargain, 5 years and 19 million dollars. Beleskey is coming off a career year, and a breakout postseason campaign for Anaheim.

  And before fans could even look up, another move was made. The disappearing act Reilly Smith was dealt to Florida for Dorchester native and BC alum Jimmy Hayes. Not only that, but Florida took Marc Savard’s contract off our hands, clearing up a bunch of cap space.

  
Hayes and Beleskey give the Bruins at least somewhat of an identity, something the roster had previously lacked. Beleskey is a physical forward who isn’t afraid to go to the dirty areas. Hayes is 6’6 who can use his presence in the corners and around the net. Sweeney is clearly trying to re-establish a physical element to the Bruins that had been lost in the last couple of years. Not necessarily the “Big Bad Bruins”, but not the soft team they were a year ago. Also, with both players being in their mid 20s, they are clearly not players you would target in a rebuild. It’s a sign that the organization is trying to be competitive this year. However, the work is far from finished. The defense core still needs a lot of work. If they don’t pick up two defensemen by the end of the summer, it’s hard to see this team going anywhere. There are a few on the market, and names such as Johnny Oduya, Christian Ehrhoff, and Cody Franson are potential targets. If the team were to land one of those guys, I’d feel a lot better about the season. But contrary to popular belief last weekend, the sky is not falling. Sweeney has a plan, and we’re starting to see bits and pieces of that plan. All hope is not lost for the 2015-16 Boston Bruins.

NHL to implement 3 on 3 overtime in the 15-16 regular season

Finally. No longer must we suffer watching the Bruins routinely go 0-3 (or worse) in every shootout situation. Having done no research whatsoever, I feel confident saying the black and gold were the worst shootout team I had ever seen. Now, that’s less of a liability. In a change that was a long time coming, assuming a passing vote from the board of governors, the NHL will move from a 4 on 4 overtime period to a 3 on 3, with the goal of cutting down on the number of shootouts. A hot topic in the league since its inception following the 2005 lockout, shootouts were a way of curing the North American hatred of ties. However, it put the balance of a game, and an extra point in the standings, in the hands of a skills competition, the equivalent of deciding an NBA game with a free throw contest. It put defensive oriented teams such as Boston at a distinct disadvantage, and often changed entire seasons, as each shootout was a 2 point swing. The argument could be made that a 3 on 3 period is just as gimmicky as the shootout itself, but it puts more emphasis on every aspect of the game, instead of just one skill. As a Bruins fan, I couldn’t be happier. They now might pick up the occasional extra point, and we don’t have to watch Chris Kelly go out there and try to do something he just isn’t able to. 

The open ice seems to lend itself perfectly for David Pastrnak, quickly becoming one of the more exciting players in the league. However, I wouldn’t bet on seeing him out there all that often. Knowing Claude, he’ll throw three defenseman out there, and we’ll still wind up back in shootouts. We can only hope he learns from his mistakes, and starts giving the kids a chance to make plays.

As with any rule change, there’s the possibility that it won’t be a smooth transition in the early going. But since the shootout was already basically a coin flip (for most teams), 3 on 3 can’t do much worse. I think it will also draw in the casual fan, as more open ice leads to a much faster game with a ton of chances condensed in a short 5 minute period. I hope the 3 on 3 isn’t just a gimmick and is here to stay, because the league will be better in the long run for it.

Bruins unlikely to re-sign Carl Soderberg

  

Rookie GM Don Sweeney knew that he had his work cut out for him, with five players set to be unrestricted free agents come July 1st. It looks like Sweeney has already made a decision on one of these players, the one eyed Swede himself, Carl Soderberg. According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, the Bruins have let Soderberg know that it is “highly unlikely” he’ll be back in Boston in the fall. This decision stems from the status of defenseman Dougie Hamilton, a restricted free agent who will be very, very attractive to teams on the market. There’s not a team in the world who wouldn’t be interested in a 21 year old, 6 ft 5 inch top pair defenseman. With the Bruins already struggling with the cap and how to bring back Hamilton, Soderberg was a necessary loss, with Greg Campbell, Adam McQuaid, Dan Paille, and Matt Bartkowski still looming as FAs the team has to deal with. Soderberg’ stint in Boston was slightly disappointing if you ask me. At times, he showed flashes of what he could be: a power forward with the ability to drive to the net but also make spectacular plays for others. 94 points in just upwards of two years with the club is decent, but there were stretches of time when he would silent for weeks at a time, not acceptable for a player of his size and skill. When he was on, he was a huge presence in the lineup that will be missed, but he is collateral damage in the #1 goal of the offseason, returning Dougie, who has given no indication he won’t develop into a cornerstone of the franchise for the next decade and a half.

Like it or not, the Blackhawks are in the midst of one of the greatest runs we’ve ever seen

  
Yes, like Bruins fans everywhere, I still have nightmares about the 2013 Stanley Cup Final. (Anyone know if Kaspars Daugavins learned how to score on an almost entirely open net yet?)

  

But even I can admit when we’re witnessing greatness, and that is exactly what the Chicago Blackhawks of the last seven years have been. In that stretch of time, they have been to five Western Conference Finals and three Stanley Cup Finals, three wins away from their third championship in six years. They were one overtime bounce away from a trip to the final last season. Now, you might not look at that as being anything special compared to past runs in hockey history. The Oilers five championships in seven years, the Islanders four straight cups in the early 80s, or the numerous Montreal dynasties come to mind. But one thing separates this Blackhawk run from those, and that is the time in which it is happening. We are in a salary cap world, specifically designed to produce the highest levels of parity throughout the league. The shelf life of good teams is short, as they inevitably run into cap issues (see: 2014-15 Boston Bruins), and a similar crisis seemed to be heading the Hawks way after their 2010 championship. Due to cap concerns, the team was forced to part ways with numerous key pieces of their championship team, including Kris Versteeg, Andrew Ladd, Dustin Byfuglien, and starting goaltender Antti Niemi. A couple down years followed, but before the rest of the league could blink an eye, they had rebuilt and were even stronger than they had been before. They have done it with Antti Niemi and Corey Crawford as their netminders, guys who don’t generate the same buzz as names like Quick, Lundqvist, Price, or Rask. I would go so far as to say Crawford is the one weak link in the entire organization. But the Hawks have maintained the highest levels of success no matter how many pieces have been torn apart.

Beyond just the pure numbers, the Blackhawks run is noteworthy because of how the team plays. You can never count them out of any game they play, as we’ve seen time and time again over the last seven years. It seems everyone on the team has the knack for scoring the big goal at just the right time. Guys like Bryan Bickell and Brandon Saad are great examples of that. Also, they play an exciting brand of hockey. If you are looking to get someone into the NHL, show them a Blackhawks game. They don’t play the boring defensive style of the early 2000s Devils, or pull the whiny dramatics of the Canadiens. They go out there with the confidence that they can beat you either 1-0 or 5-4, and with the exception of a few guys, don’t run their mouths in the process. It doesn’t hurt that the Red sweater is one of the most iconic in hockey if not all of sports. The team is full of the biggest names in hockey, from Patrick Kane to Jonathan Toews to Duncan Keith and beyond. In many ways they are the most iconic brand in the NHL, and 20 or 30 years from now, I think we will be looking back on this run with an appreciation that we don’t quite have right now. Like the 80s NBA belongs to the Celtics and Lakers, the 2010s will belong to the Blackhawks. There is a real possibility that the cap will come back to actually bite them this time, and this could be the last real run for this group of guys. If it is, enjoy it, even if you are a Bruins fan like me. We’re watching something real special.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are destroying the NBA playoffs once again, and it’s not even close

  Basketball and Hockey will forever be linked by the many similarities they share. They both play 82 games a season, at the same time of year, and often in the same building. Both have a playoff system of 16 teams competing in best of seven formats from April to June. So it is impossible to not compare how the two playoffs stack up to each other, and this year, the difference is once again staggering. To be fair, the Stanley Cup Playoffs are the best tournament in all of sports in terms of excitement and drama, but even so, the NBA playoffs are no comparison. Nearly every hockey series this Spring has had some sort of drama, with 10 of the 14 series going at least six games, five going the distance, including both of the Conference Finals series. Compare that to the NBA, which has had 7 of 14 series go five or fewer games. In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, you never know who is coming out of each conference. Many people wrote Tampa Bay off down 3-2 in round one against the Red Wings. The Ducks seemed unbeatable until all of a sudden they weren’t. Every team has a realistic shot of making a deep run in the playoffs, as the last seeded Kings proved three years ago.  Even on a game by game level, the NHL has no comparison. In the Blackhawks Ducks series alone, there were six overtime periods, 120 minutes of sudden death. In the NBA, the drama just isn’t there. Of the 14 series to date, only TWO have been won by the team with the worse record, and in both instances, the team with fewer wins was the common sense favorite (Wizards over Raptors, Cavs over Hawks).  If you were to ask basically any basketball fan in December their prediction for the Finals, nearly everyone would have said Cavaliers-Warriors. There is simply no suspense or drama there, and this year is not unusual. Nearly every season, there are a maximum of four teams with a realistic shot at the NBA crown, which brings me to my larger point.

Is the NBA broken beyond repair?

  

 Out of any professional league, the NBA has by far the most predictability.  You know which teams and which players are going to be there in the end, and no matter how long a series goes, you usually know who is going to win it. And it’s getting worse. Since 2011, only one Finals team out of the 10 that advanced that far was lower than a 1 or 2 seed (2011 Dallas Mavericks).  Compare that to hockey, where the finals from 2012-2014 featured in order: 6th seed vs 8th seed, 1st seed vs 4th seed, 5th seed vs 6th seed. This year, the Blackhawks had the 4th best record in the West, and Tampa had the 3rd best in the East. In the NBA, it is once again the 1 vs the 2, just as everybody expected. Lebron James is making his fifth consecutive finals appearance, and hasn’t been tested in many of those runs. The league is becoming more star driven by what seems like the day. The ability for one player to completely takeover a game and series is only growing, for a couple of reasons. The main reason is due to the ever growing presence of the “best player gets every call” factor. Especially at home, the superstar will get every call in every big situation in that league, as if beating Lebron wasn’t hard enough by itself. And if by some miracle a call goes against a star, they’ll throw a temper tantrum for the next five minutes like a two year old. All this leads to an NBA that has so much chalk it’s difficult to watch.  Can it be fixed? I have a hard time seeing the NBA institute anything that would hinder its stars, it’s golden boys, but that’s it’s only hope. Change the refereeing, chance home court, do something!  But turn on ESPN on any given day, and there’s a 90% chance they’re talking about a basketball series which everyone knows is going 5 games max, but still pretending its exciting. Meanwhile, a seventh game in the NHL gets maybe 3 minutes of analysis from Barry Melrose, and then back to what color headband Lebron will be wearing for the next game. One day, America might realize what they’ve been missing for all these years. Until that day comes, they can enjoy those 20 point sweeps filled with grown men flopping around on the floor. I’ll be over here watching the best sports has to offer, two months of playoff hockey.