Author Writes About Greatness Of Boston Bruins In Hopes Of Getting More Readers

There are quite a few teams in the NHL this season that have demonstrated worthiness of the Cup early on. The Nashville Predators have yet to lose a game in regulation, and have proven that scoring depth means nothing when you play great defense in front of a strong crease. LA has also demonstrated a strong opening effort, even without star defenseman Drew Doughty. Nevertheless, overall there has been an absence of truly dominating teams early on in the season. The Caps have three losses, the Penguins have four, and the Flyers have five. The Devils are frickin' 2-6-1. As it turns out, the best team in the Eastern Conference right now is in fact the Boston Bruins.

Obviously the Bruins were predicted to be a defensively sound team. Even with the departure of Denis Wideman, there was no way that this team was going to be anything other than a defensive powerhouse with Zdeno Chara on the ice and Claude Julien behind the bench. Yet who saw Tim Thomas coming back this season with the same kind of form that won him the Vezina two years ago?
Between Thomas and Rask (who has been disappointing this season with a 3.54 GAA and a .894 save percentage), the B's now have what could potentially be the best goaltending tandem in the NHL.

The offense has been surprisingly productive as well. With Savard and Sturm out, it was expected that the Bruins would continue the mediocre offensive play that they displayed for most of last year's regular season. Yet their goal differential is tied with Pittsburgh's as the NHL's best at +6. Additionally, they're averaging 3 goals a game, a rate that is surpassed only in the East by The Lightning, The Islanders, and The Caps, and is tied with the Pens' average. Nathan Horton has been a revelation, and David Krejci has done an excellent job filling in the for injured Marc Savard. The presence of Milan Lucic on the top line also adds an element of toughness to the team that convinces me that they can rough it through the playoffs. Players like Lucic, Wheeler, and Thornton are important complements to the more offensively oriented players. The offense is deep too. Between Seguin, Recchi, Bergeron, Sturm, Savard, Krejci, Lucic, Horton, and Wheeler, the Bruins have a deep corps of forwards that are all capable of chipping in their 20.

Yet not all is well in Bruin Land. Once Savard and Sturm come back from the long term IR, their cap hits will restart counting on the team's payroll. If Seguin then reaches his bonus incentives, the Bruins would be over the cap...by a lot. Even if he doesn't, they still will be pressed against the cap ceiling incredibly tightly. In the case that the Bruins need to dump salary, or decide to make a mid-season move to push for the Cup, expect Blake Wheeler to be on his way out quickly. He would be a second liner on a lot of team's in the league, and he's a fourth liner on the Bruins getting paid $2.5 million dollars a year. Or, if both Rask and Thomas prove to be good this season, you could see Thomas shipped out to a team in need of a veteran goaltender to push for the cup *cough, Washington, San Jose, cough*.

Sum Up Of The First Two Days

Some really interesting stuff in these first two days of hockey season.

Jordan Eberle's Insane Debut Goal

Not only did the Oilers thump the Flames 4-0, rookie Jordan Eberle had arguably one of the greatest first career NHL goals ever. And that's not hyperbole.





Stars Stun Devils

Loui Eriksson scored 2 as the Stars won in OT 4-3. Dallas showed off an impressive corps of forwards, as expected, yet also featured a surprisingly energetic and effective blue line. Stephane Robidas was the defenseman of the game, blocking a shot with his leg a la Rob Scuderi in the Stanley Cup finals. Kari Lehtonen also surprised many by turning in a 27 save performance while not in a hospital bed or wheel chair of some sort.


Sergei Bobrovsky faces 31- Stops 29

Flyers unknown Sergei Bobrovsky, 22 and of the USSR, turned in a dominant performance over Sid Crosby's Penguins. The Flyers beat the Penguins 3-2 on goals from Blair Betts, Danny Briere, and Claude Giroux. If it had not been for an equipment malfunction, the Penguins would probably have scored one from Goligoski, rather than one from him and another from Tyler Kennedy. Another surprising element of the game- the Pens' blue line. They lacked crispness (surprisingly) and were found turning over the puck in vital areas on the ice throughout the entire sixty minutes.


Maple Leafs Beat Habs

It's not surprising that the Leafs beat them, rather, it's more surprising that this is the first home opener they've won in something like six years. Yeah, so congrats to Dion Phaneuf and the Leafs, it's nice to see an actual product coming out of Toronto.


Thrash Beat Caps

Atlanta beat Caps 4-2 today after a frightening early game moment in which Atlanta Goalie Ondrej Pavelec collapsed on ice. He was carried out an a stretcher and the Atlanta pipes were filled by veteran Chris Mason. Sophomore Evander Kane scored 2, and new addition Fredrik Modin added a tally himself.

Atlanta In Mid-Season Form: 0-5 In Preseason

The Atlanta Thrashers have played exactly five games, and they've won exactly zero of them. Despite the efforts of GM Rick Dudley, formerly of the Chicago Blackhawks' front office, this edition of the Thrash is beginning to look just as underwhelming as previous carnations. Though coming into the season there was no question that this year's team would be of a much lesser offensive wattage then other year's squads, I don't think there are too many people that expected them to be outscored 14-7 in the preseason. So this now beg's the question- what is wrong with the Atlanta Thrashers?

The story seems to be multifaceted. Let's start with what the problem is not- goaltending. Except for the pre-season opener against Columbus, and the second game against the Predators, the Thrashers' goalies have had a save percentage that has hovered around the 93% mark. Clearly, the goaltending is not at fault (except perhaps in the first game against Columbus). Yet that isn't to say that there aren't any problems in the crease situation, because undoubtedly there are, the first and foremost of which is shots faced. The Thrashers are averaging about 30 shots against per game, and only average about 1.4 goals for per game. It doesn't take a math genius to know that that ratio is terrible. The problem seems to be that the offense is weak, and the defense lets up a lot of shots. The solution- take Dustin Byfuglien off of the blue line.

Dustin Byfuglien is a valuable skater that can check well, play solid defense, and provide an invaluable presence in front of the net. He's also lightning fast:


to not utilize him as a forward is an unnecessary handicap to the team's offense. It would be one thing if the Thrashers had a plethora of top six forwards, but they don't. They have 19-year old Evander Kane, 23-year old Niclas Bergfors, 23-year Bryan Little, veteran Nik Antropov, and Rich Peverley. Not exactly world conquerors. Kane will be great, Bergfors will be good, Little can go either way, and Antropov and Peverley are both adequate. However, when a team averages 1.4 goals a game for five games, none of that matters. The Thrashers need Byfuglien as a forward. They have a competent blue line without him. They don't have a competent offense unless he's there.