B's Development Camp Thoughts

Summer is supposed to be about baseball, right? Well, mostly.

While there are no actual NHL games happening in these rainy, hot Massachusetts summer months, the Bruins held their third annual prospect development camp at the team's training center in Wilmington, MA. Ristuccia arena was alive again with young guys aged 18-24 carving the ice and firing pucks on net. Boston.com's Chris Forsberg was kind enough to take some video of a scrimmage featuring my classmate, local guy and former BU Terrier Jason Lawrence, who was invited to the camp after the B's signed him last season. He sat on the bench in Providence during their Calder Cup run but projects to make the roster and find his name on the score sheet this season.

Check out video of J-Lo donning number 83 at camp here:

http://www.boston.com/sports/hockey/bruins/extras/bruins_blog/2009/07/video_scrimmage.html

Lawrence is the first Terrier in a while to get a legitimate look by the Bruins. I think the last Icedog to play for the B's was Carl Corazzini but since then, the Bruins have tapped BU's rival up Commonwealth Avenue for talent with names like Andrew Alberts, Brock Bradford, Chris Collins and Tommy Cross. Blueliner Kevin Schaefer is the most recent BU product to appear in the B's pipeline but he hasn't cracked the Boston lineup and isn't on the roster at development camp. I expect him to be at training camp looking to earn more minutes in Providence this season. Maybe we'll have a few throwback power play goals potted by J-Lo with helpers from Schaefer.


The Globe's Fluto Shinzawa reported that 2007 first-round pick Zach Hamill was leading the stretching and looked good on the ice. I expect him to have a breakout year down in Providence as long as he can stay healthy and play the whole season. Last year, a broken thumb sidelined him and definitely hindered his progress. I hope to catch some of B's 2008 first-rounder Joe Colborne on tv this year as he enters his sophomore season at Denver. One thing I'll look for is whether or not he battles in the corners for the puck which was another one of Fluto's points.

One last thing. I have no idea why the Bruins signed Steve Begin. I've heard some journalists analyze it as Begin coming in to replace Stephane Yelle, but I figured Vladimir Sobotka was a virtual lock to make the team this year. Perhaps it was just for depth since Krejci and Kessel won't be good for opening day, but I thought that they gritty tough guy role had been filled by Shawn Thornton with Byron Bitz possibly stepping up and having more of a fighting role this season as well. Here's my new opening day lineup prediction:

Sturm-Savard-Lucic
Ryder-Bergeron-Wheeler
Axelsson-Begin-Kobasew
Sobotka-Bitz-Thornton (Marchand)

Chara-Wideman
Ference-Hunwick
Stuart-Boychuk (Ward)

Thomas
Rask

The B's will sign Phil Kessel and bring back P.J. Axelsson. You heard it here first (well, about P.J. anyway).

I'm also anxiously awaiting Wednesday's official announcement of the Winter Classic to be played at Fenway against the hated Flyers and the college showcase game featuring the 2009 NCAA National Champions vs. the 2008 NCAA National Champions, or BU vs. BC.

Good to Be Back

I took a bit of a break from blogging to finish up school. I graduated. I want to go back. Ok, now it's time to get back to business. Let me start off by saying that if the Celtics and Bruins never play consecutive Game 7s ever again, I'll be content for the rest of my life. Having the top-seeded Black and Gold losing to Carolina on a Scott "Bucky Dent" Walker overtime game-winner was bad enough but then the C's laying an absolute goose egg the next night to coach Ron Jeremy and the Magic made it hurt that much more. Sad times in the Garden for sure, I hope I never see it again.

Now for more on the B's. Apparently Marc Savard, David Krejci, Phil Kessel, Chuck Kobasew, Mark Recchi and Andrew Ferrence (and Aaron Ward) all played through injuries in the playoffs. This is just insane. It's painful to think what could have happened if these six guys were healthy, not to mention Captain Zdeno's apparent bumps and bruises. I'd also like to point out that the Kessel-Krejci-Kobasew line is the second unit of forwards on the Bruins power play. Granted, the first unit usually featured four forwards with Patrice Bergeron on the point, but the second unit seemed anemic to me in the Carolina series. On top of it all, Montreal had no business making the playoffs this season. Who cares if it sold tickets? The B's barely had to do a thing in that series and it carried over to their seven game tussle with the "Tropical Depressions" as Globe Writer Kevin Paul Dupont called them. I would've much rather have seen the Bruins beat the Panthers in five or six games in the first round, that would've definitely prepared them for a battle-tested Carolina team featuring Eric "Celebrates like Ovechkin after an empty net goal" Staal. Ugh. Then again, I wonder how many goals Staal would've had if he'd played with kidney stones, mad props to Mark Recchi.

As for the offseason moves, I have a few prediction as to what a healthy Bruins lineup will look like sometime in December when Kessel and Krejci recover from their surgeries:

Lucic-Savard-Kessel
Ryder-Krejci-Wheeler
Sturm-Bergeron-Kobasew
Sobotka-Bitz-Thornton (Reich)

Chara-Wideman
Stuart-Ference
Hunwick-Boychuk (Ward)

Thomas
Rask

I see no big signings, maybe a veteran to replace P. J., Yelle, and Recchi but nothing crazy. Their top priorities are Krejci and Kessel. Bitz and Hunwick shouldn't be very difficult to ink and they may even have some room left in the cap to perhaps deal a Kobasew or Ference at the deadline if necessary.

On the other hand, this is probably what the opening day roster will look like:

Sturm-Savard-Lucic
Ryder-Bergeron-Wheeler
Soderberg (if he decides to show up)-St. Pierre-Kobasew
Sobotka-Bitz-Thornton

Chara-Ward
Wideman-Stuart
Hunwick-Boychuk

Thomas
Rask

I really hope that Boychuk cracks the lineup this season. The B's could use a scoring touch from the blueline and I'm beginning to think that anyone, even Paul Mara, is faster than both Chara and Ward.

Thoughts on the NHL

The NHL has been trying to recover from the 2004-05 lockout for the last three and a half years. By choosing Sydney Crosby as the game's new Wayne Gretzky, it's allowed for numerous other young players in the league to flourish without the pressure of keeping that "poster boy" look. The most obvious player to benefit from the spotlight being on Crosby is Alexander Ovechkin.

I understand that Crosby led his team to the playoffs but Ovechkin won the Rookie of the Year award and adds a whole new dimension to his with his size. He can make defensemen nervous with his size and strength and his willingness to play the body in order to put himself in position to score. These two young superstars are pioneers in the new NHL that have paved the way for a plethora of younger players to break into the league. The two teams where it's most obvious are in Boston and Chicago.

Phil Kessel is one of the league leaders in goals, David Krejci is quietly becoming a clone of Marc Savard and Vladimir Sobotka will eventually take the place of the current longest-tenured Bruin, Per Johan Axelsson. The Boston blueline also features some young faces in Matt Hunwick and Mark Stuart with Johnny Boychuck among the league leaders in scoring in the AHL. Milan Lucic is becoming a household name because of his willingness to drop the gloves along with his scoring touch. I believe that the Bruins are taking a cue from the Red Sox by developing their youth and looking for internal solutions to fill roster spots. I'll admit, I was very distraught when the B's didn't resign Glen Metropolit, but Krecji and Co. have more than made up for it. The only problem with the B's is they may not be able to keep the team intact because Kessel and Krejci are in contract years and the Jacobs regime never pays their best players enough money. I hope they decide to change their miserly ways.

Now for the Blackhawks. First of all, they should've beat the Red Wings in the Winter Classic today. Tough luck. They also feature some of the best young talent in the league. Jonathan Toews is one of the youngest captains in league history at age 20 and Pat Kane is right on his heels in terms of production. Kane is another player who draws comparisons to Gretzky and with good reason. He more than proved that he was ready for the NHL last year by garnering Rookie of the Year honors. The Hawks also feature scoring depth from youngsters Andrew Ladd, Kris Versteeg and Dustin Byfuglien. Chicago will definitely be a force to be reckoned with for years to come with such explosive young talent.

As much as I love hockey, the NHL All-Star voting system is flawed. They're gonna have to fix it for next year somehow but leaving Tim Thomas off the ballot is an absolute travesty. That being said, Manny Fernandez could make the squad as well as the two are currently ranked 2 and 3 in the league in goaltending. In my opinion, Thomas, Zdeno Chara, Kessel and Savard should all make the squad and the only deserving Montreal player is Alex Tanguay. Why Tanguay? He's the only Hab I could find in the league leaders of anything worthwhile, shot percentage at number 19.

UPDATE: Andrei Markov is actually the 7th best scoring defenseman in the league. Forgive me, he deserves the spot over Tanguay.

Phil Kessel is making his shots count

By John S. Condakes

Phil Kessel is becoming the real deal before our eyes. Now in his third season of professional hockey, Kessel is a budding star in the NHL and proving to doubters that he definitely has it. The Bruins have invested a lot of time in the kid ever since they took him with the fifth overall pick in the 2006 entry draft and now that time is paying dividends.
Unlike contemporaries Sydney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin and Eric Staal, Kessel has had a bit of a different experience during his first few seasons in pros. He hasn’t been asked to put the team on his back and take control, which has aided in his growth. Phil the Thrill also had a bout with testicular cancer in the 2006-2007 season and missed 11 games which cut his freshman campaign short. Ever since then, he’s been trying to get his timing back and now it’s starting to show. Through the first 19 games of this season, Kessel has a line of nine goals and five assists and is tied for second on the team in points with nine. Behind him and his team-leading nine goals, the B’s are 12-3-4. On the whole, it has been a youth movement on Causeway Street the last few seasons but the cornerstone and leader of the pack has always been Kessel.
Ever since Game Five of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against Montreal last April, Kessel has shown his potential to be a top-tier forward in the league. B’s coach Claude Julien benched Kessel in Games Three and Four in order to motivate him. Did it ever. The young stud responded with a brilliant effort in Game Five as he created numerous scoring chances and scored his first goal of the playoffs to tie the game. The B’s never looked back and went on to force Game Six with a 5-1 thrashing of the Canadiens. In Game Six, Kessel was an absolute force potting two goals and leading the Bruins to a 5-4 victory and a decisive game seven date up in Canada. We all know how that one ended. The point is, the flashes of brilliance and teases are finally coming to fruition. It’s no longer absurd to think that Phil Kessel can’t become one of the elite players in the NHL. A player with his skill set can win games as we’ve seen him do in countless shootouts against elite goaltenders like New York’s Henrik Lundqvist and Pittsburgh’s Marc-Andre Fleury.
Scouts have been high on Kessel since he was a teenager and in his first and only season with the Golden Gophers up in Minnesota he sported a line of 18 goals and 33 assists for 51 points--51 points on a loaded Minnesota team as a freshman. Most players his age are either still busy finishing a college degree or mulling around in the lower ranks waiting for their call to the big show. There was never a doubt that Kessel’s speed, hands and hockey sense have given him the potential to be a tremendous player. What remains to be seen this season is whether or not he has the drive to take his game to the next level, but so far he seems as hungry as ever to do it.
So far this season, Kessel has used his speed much more as a weapon than in the past. He has shown that he’s not afraid to go digging in the corners for pucks and will sprint back full-speed on defense when the other team is on a fast break. In most of the games this season, Julien has paired him with fellow youngster Milan Lucic and top playmaker Marc Savard. Kessel has taken cues from both of them and their line has been one of the Bruins’ top two scoring lines thus far. Savard’s patience and creativity with the puck are two traits that have certainly rubbed off on Kessel and with Lucic the human wrecking ball out on the ice to wreak havoc on opponents’ defenders, Phil the Thrill gets just enough space to work some magic of his own.
After a full 82-game season in his second year of professional hockey, it became clear that Kessel belongs in the league. His sophomore campaign boasted a solid 19 goals with 18 assists for 37 points. He wowed crowds with his ability to dangle, skate and score and developed a knack for driving goalies insane come shootout time.
Phil the Thrill is off to his best start yet. All things considered, if the Bruins are finally going to get over the hump and win their first playoff series since 1999, they need Kessel to fulfill his potential and become the offensive juggernaut of their hopes and dreams. With Number 81 leading the way, the B’s future looks brighter than it has in years.