I'm just worred that team will be the Bruins.

He can't skate. He can't handle the puck. He's not a physical player. In the more-open NHL, he struggles badly against quick defenders. Watch him whenever he has the puck in his own defensive end; he usually panics and hurls it blindly along the boards and leading to a turnover.

He's an awful NHL player and the Bruins have a curious blind spot in regards to his abilities.

TORONTO (CP) — Boston Bruins defenceman Nick Boynton was suspended for one game Friday after making a threatening gesture towards Mike Ribeiro during a game against the Montreal Canadiens.
The incident occurred during the second period of Montreal’s 3-0 win over the Bruins on Thursday night. Boynton was ejected from the game when Ribeiro feigned an injury after being jabbed by the Bruins defenceman.
As Boynton was being taken to the bench by the referee, he made a throat-slashing motion towards Ribeiro.
He will miss Saturday’s game against the New York Islanders and forfeit $6,010.20 US in salary.

Fer crissake, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

Ribeiro is a little weasel. I'm sure horrible stuff is said to him in every game he plays. Boynton makes a common gesture and he gets suspended? Ridiculous.

I think the throat slashing is not common (at least not during a hockey game) and is always punished by a suspension.

I fucking hate that little cocksucker Ribeiro. Nevermind the gestures Nick, next time you gotta just beat the living shit out of him.

Wait, what did I just witness? An actual fight in a hockey game? I thought those were illegal?

That's the type of thing I miss, it's not the hockey I grew up with anymore. I've been bored with hockey this year, it lost so much of it's passion. Sadly, I don't see that changing for a long time now

Joel Bouchard still doesn't know what day it is.

Two fighting majors for Gill in two games. They're playing Buffalo tonight; care to make it three?

2-0 Buffalo after 1 period. Given the way the Bruins have been playing, that score might as well be 20-0. The Bruins have scored all of 8 goals in the last 5 games.

Special thanks to Hal Gill for taking down Afinagenov, leading to a penalty shot. More special thanks to Andrew Raycroft, who has yet to stop a penalty shot in his entire career.

Jayzus.

Over/under on how quickly MOC is fired once the B's are mathematically out of it?

I'm going to guess they'll let him ride out the end of the season and start fresh, but I wouldn't be surprised if they cut him the second that elimination game ends.

Of course, given the way this organization is run, I also wouldn't be surprised if he was back next season. It's clear that the franchise doesn't care about winning so long as the team remains marketable.

The Yawkeys would be proud to see their tradition being carried on in Boston.

There's no way MOC is fired before the season is over. That's not the way Jacobs has ever done things and he's not going to start now. KPD had a good article in today's hockey notes column detailing Jacobs' detatched approach to the team because he knows his limitations in regards to the business of building a hockey team.

If MOC is turfed I'm positive it will happen after the season is over, in the summer. The Bruins are happy to let coaches go in the middle of the season, but not the GM.

Great, now down 3-0.

EDIT: Now down 4-0. We might get the WBC mercy rule invoked soon. Good fucking Christ.

Nice to see Andrew Alberts get his first tally as a pro. A bright spot for the Bruins in a mostly abysmal season.

IF he's turfed? If they don't give him the pink slip, then he must have pictures of Jacobs...or Jacobs is just a moron.

One thing you want is for the current scouting department to handle the draft. You hope a new GM would keep them in place, but you can never be sure. And the guys running things right now are very good

I'd certainly agree that the Bruins do scout and draft very well. It's their talent analysis on the NHL level that's sorely lacking.

6-2 final. Raycroft was terrible today.

They need to promote Scott Bradley. He should be in charge of ALL talent evaluation, whether it is for the draft (his current job) or pro scouting for trades and game planning. He is the best hockey guy in the whole organization. He could be the Bruins' version of Scott Pioli, but they still need to find a Belichick.

I was hoping when Burke was out in Van we would end up with him, oh well.

Can we lock this thread. This team is absolutely talentless.

For the rest of the season my seats are 1/2 off.. any takers?

Nothing hammers home the utter and ultimate futility of this Bruins season like another hopeless, scoreless shootout loss.

The Bruins remain the only team in the NHL without a single, solitary win in the shootout format and that seems fitting.

Abadon all hope ye who enter here.

Bruins lose. In a shootout.

In other words, water is wet.

Thomas has been great, but my god does he absolutely suck in shootouts. Boyes overthought his attempt, passing up a 5-hole shot to try and sneak it in the side and catching nothing but metal.

Over/under on this team winning a shootout this season? I still say extend OT by 5 minutes before going to the SO.

As much as it sucked having ties, a shootout is anticlimactic in this fan's eyes.

They're certainly not going to win a shootout this year. I mean, if they couldn't win one with Thornton and Sammy on the team, they're certainly not winning one with Marty Fucking Reasoner and the Polish Rifle.

People tend to suck when your squad scores a goal once every two or three SHOOTOUTS. The fact that the Bruins at least usually get to a third shooter to be inept is a tribute to Thomas, not a detraction.

Am I a bad fan for wanting this team to tank the rest of the way? I was actually pissed that the TML didn't win it in regulation to aid the Bruins' freefall, and a friend and rabid Bruins fan chastised me for it.

Do we at least get any of our fifteen or so injured guys back before the end of the season, or have they all decided to take the rest of the year off? I'm not counting Slegr, obviously, but guys like Isbister, Jurcina, Axe, even Toivonen (at least he hasn't lost lately).

B's continue their mastery of Ottawa...and WIN A FUCKING SHOOTOUT! HOLY SHIT!

DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES? YES!!

I think it is safe to say that the team who wants the Bruins out of the playoffs the most is the Senators. I don't know why, but the Bruins own the Senators since the Thornton trade

I looked and its 34 days till the playoffs start you know the "2nd season" because ....everyone makes it in... from today the Bs have 15 games left, the are 2 / 9 in their last 11, I was going to say I think they raised the white flag (trading sammy) too early ... but after looking at their record as of late .. all i can say is ... THEY SUCK.

How f'ing depresing, I have a friend that's a canucks fan and they are bitching about how the canucks are playing and when I even feel like talking hockey with them all I can even say is "at least they don't suck, you have a shit load of players injured and you are still at least going to make the playoffs..." , the Bruins really don't have much of an excuse ....

According to the NESN broadcast and KPD, Tim Thomas has signed a new 3-yr deal with the Bruins.

I haven't heard the terms, but I'm guessing a hometown discount was involved. The Bs lapse in the playoff picture probably also hurt his value a bit, but I'm surprised he didn't test the market.

Are you talking about the players, the FO, the coaching or the team in general? The last few B's games have all been losses (except the miracle Bergeron 1-0 shootout win against Ottowa and the win against Atlanta 16 days ago), but in only one of those games have the Bruins not been competitive (against MTL on 3/9). They have been playing gritty hockey and their goaltending (especially Thomas) has been good-very good.

They simply do not have the skill on the roster to win these games. Even the guys who should be putting the pucks in the net (i.e. Murray, Sturm, et al) have been missing scoring opportunites. The FO has thinned this team out at forward and center and the early injuries have left the B's with almost no scoring relying solely on their young players (Bergeron and Boyes), Murray and Sturm.

Today's game is a perfect example. The Hurricanes role out guys like Staahl, Cole (who is a great player), Recchi, Brind'Amour, Whitney and Cullen with recently acquired Doug Weight on the THIRD LINE. We're talking about Reasoner, Czerkawski and Statsny? The Bruins simply do not have enough skill to score on a regular basis and win games.

It's not a matter of them playing below their ability. Thanks again FO and MOC in particular. If you happen to get fired (oh, please God) don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out!

BTW, they just said on the NESN broadcast that Thomas has a 3-year deal to stay with the B's.

Edit: erfus beat me to it...

The B's give up 31.5 shots a game, which is 23rd in the league. Despite playing lousy defense, Thomas is tied with Cristobal Huet for the league lead in save percentage at .927.

Thomas has been amazing this year, but let's ease off on the speculation over how much he would have received on the open market. He'll be 32 on April 15, and he plays what charitably might be described as an unorthodox style. While he's been by far the best Bruins player on the ice this season, my guess is that his overall NHL shelf life will be pretty limited. A 3 year deal to stay in Boston and give his family some stability at last makes a ton of sense of him.

I was talking in general as a B's fan for well only the last 20yrs .. it's really hard to watch this, I love Thomas, nice to see the Bs lock him up for the next couple years, he was outstanding last year in the Elite league, i'm glad they are going to keep him seeing as how he is one of the few bright spots this season.

When they announced the cap there was so much excitement around this team since they were "in the best position" to rebuild the team, yet they basically let us down again.

Meanwhile Joe T. is now the league scoring leader with 97 points...um congrats Joe.

Wow, Kerry Fraser makes himself a part of the game. The 2-man adv. didn't burn the Bruins, but Hal Gill being in the box now could.

Bad call, poor showing by the ref. Maybe getting smashed into the boards the other night made him declare vengeance on any players he views as slightly "goonish."

... not named Patrice. I agree with everything else though.

BTW, Sturm is having a tough go this afternoon. Should easily have 3 goals, maybe 4.

I agree. I really don't think anyone would have busted down Thomas' door looking to sign him this sumer. I would be shocked if he is getting much more than backup goalie money in the deal. He is a good player who had a great hot streak, but nobody would have invested their starting job in him.

3 years, maybe close to 3 million. It is a ton of money for a guy who 7 months ago figured he'd go back to the Finnish elite league for a couple more years, before retiring and getting a real job.

He and Toivonen have been teammates in Finland as well as in Providence. It is pretty clear that Raycroft is the odd man out.

Terrific game for the #1 line today. If only Sturm and Bergeron didn't hit three posts...

Nice to see Boyes, who has been absolutely snakebit at times this year, pick up his first career hat trick.

Is there a more frightening sight than Brad Isbister trying to be involved in a 2 on 1? If the guy was 2 inches shorter he'd be a career ECHL player. His lack of vision is just staggering....

No coincidence that the Bruin defensemen on the ice for Carolina's goals were Gill, Boynton, Leetch and Tanabe.

Thomas faced 40 more shots today and stopped 38 of them. Another great performance, but the Bruins really have to invest their free agency money and perhaps their draft picks on getting defenseman to who can stop so much pressure being placed on the goalie. 40 shots is too many.

Or they could just get rid of Leetch and Gill...

The upcoming FA class is very deep in extremely talented prime of their career defenseman. Now some will never see FA, but hopefully some do.

I would rather overpay for a legitimate #1 defenseman, than overpay for a boarderline #2 center, who might help the offense

Do you really think they are going to spend any money Mike? They had a perfect chance to do so at the start of the season, fucking sinden got basically everything he wanted, a deal that set the bruins up big time, and ... they didnt spend the money.

I don't see what is going to change when there are FAs next year.

WTF are you talking about.

The offered FOrsberg a ton of money. They offered Modano a ton of money.

They they gave Joe a Ton of money. They gave Zhamnov a ton of money. They gave Murray a ton of money. they gave Leetch a ton of money. At one point they were about 100K away from the salary cap.

Sure they did a lousy job of spending the money, but they spent it.

And they will spend it this offseason. Assuming Zhamnov doesn't retire I fully expect them to buy him out, which will cost money, but will save cap space. They may trade Murray if they decide he won't fit with the team moving forward, but won't do it unless someone overpays with value

This offseason will be interesting they do have 3 talented young players in Juniors. They need to sign them, and leave some space for at least one to compete for a job.

But they will make at least one very big splash move. My guess is that someone like Redden or Chara will be signed. They need the big move to sell tickets for next year

Big Mike's got the right of it here. Hell, they even gave McEachern good money. They certainly spent to the cap this year and I don't expect that to change.

It's really going to be necessary for fans to lose the "they're cheap" mantra. That wasn't true this year and it won't be true going forward. They have a cap now and they'll spend to it; they need to improve their talent evaluation on the NHL level to get back to being competitive, but spending money will no longer be the issue.

One thing I would really like to see is a comittment to the younger core players, and no holdouts going into next year's camp. Boynton and Raycroft were clearly hurt by their holdouts and never did round into form this season. I hope the FO can get everyone signed and into camp at the start.

Because snugly against the cap right off the bat isn't spending the money.

I'm pretty sure every other Bruins fan on the board has explained this. They had the money. They spent the money. They spent the money shittily. It qualifies as Sinden's fault as a talent collector, but signing Zhamnov, McEachern, and Leetch to big money does not make him a spendthrift.

Before you spout out things like this, read up. It'll save bandwidth.

Acutally I dont' believe they "spent" the money, how much under the cap were they 7 or 8 million ... or doesn't that make a difference... maybe not under the old system but that 7 or 8mm is plenty of difference in this system

At the high water point this season they were within less than half a million of the cap.

They have made a couple of deals that saved some money. Skatchard fro Tanabe saved some cash, but it was dealing a guy who couldn't play in the new NHL for a guy at a position they desperately needed bodies.

In terms of the cap they will end up 5-6 million under the cap, but most of that "savings" is dure to the fact that Zhamnov spent most of the season on IR, and thus does not count towards the cap for most of the year. But when all is said and done they probably will have paid around 38 million in NHL salaries this year with a 39 million dollar cap.

be upset for the rigth reasons. Be upset that they spent the money so freely and poorly that they didn't have enough money under the cap to sign their starting goalie, and their best defenseman. Thus forcing holdouts. be upset that they wasted 8 million dollars on the rotting corpses of Brian Leetch and Alexi Zhamnov.

Seriously, just stop posting in this thread. You clearly aren't reading what everyone (and I mean everyone) is writing in response to your posts... you are wrong. Maybe if I do it in pictoral fashion, you'll understand:

They spent the money... Over $38mm at one point (of $39mm cap)

They spent is unwisely, in part due to being turned down by some high profile FAs

:excl: Some injuries caused money to not be included in current cap figure

:question: They traded some higher-cost (or future higher cost) players away for draft picks and cheaper players, presumably to free up some $ for FA next year. Will they spend that money wisely? Time will tell... history shows they likely won't.

To say they didn't spend the money is uninformed... and my guess is you likely won't read this response and say, "Well, I was wrong. Let me do some more research on it." Rather, you'll come back spewing some smoke-and-mirrors b.s. about Sinden not spending the money.

I am not trying to be condescending, but you make it awful difficult by repeating your incorrect blather in the face of people trying to tell you that you are, quite simply, wrong. This isn't about opinion. This is about fact. They either spent or they didn't spend. They did. Unfortunately, they spent about as well as my wife when her pregnancy hormones kick in.

Boston Globe

No comment.

O'Connell isn't wrong.

There is no way they are getting a superstar in here for next season. It is clear that guys like Bergeron, Boyes, Sturn, etc will be key figures, and none are a superstar.

Even if they go out and spend big money on one of the defenseman as I have argued for, they aren't superstars. Maybe if they played in Boston they'd be considered a superstar, but guys like Wade Redden, Zdeno Chara, just aren't your superstar types of guys

In a salary-capped league, it's not a terrible idea. Buffalo obviously has some talented players in Briere and Drury and Miller, but no superstars that would take up most of the cap and kill team depth.

It is certainly arguable that MOC is not the right man to construct such a team. But the iidea isn't that crazy. To do it, though, you need world class goaltending, as the goalie is usually the biggest difference-maker on the ice. The Sabres have that in Miller. I'm not sure if the Bruins have that in Toivonen and Thomas.

The Bruins need to model themselves on the Patriots. The best players on the Pats, Brady and Seymour, are "team first" guys whose top priority is winning. With stars like that (and Rodney Harrison is another one), everyone else falls into line.

Belichick and Pioli are brilliant talent evaluators who also understand that a less talented player who buys into the team concept is often more valuable than a more talented player who does not.

The Bruins of recent years have been the opposite of a Belichick/Pioli team. Their stars were not "team first" guys, and Bruins management did not demand a "team first" attitude from them. At the same time, they have struggled to identify talented players and players who buy into their ever changing system.

What the Bruins need now is:

1) New management, with a greatly increased role for Scott Bradley, their Director of Amateur Scouting. Interestingly, Bradley does not even have his name and photo listed on the Bruins' web sire, even though he oversees the most productive part of the Bruins' organization: http://www.bostonbruins.com/team/frontoffice.asp). Bradley should be promoted and he should oversee all matters of scouting and talent evaluation. Everything from amateur scouting (his current job) to pro scouting (identifiying good players to trade for, advance scouting, etc.). If the Bruins are smart, they will use him as their version of Scott Pioli. Find a GM who will work with him, and let that guy bring in his own coach.

2) An honest to God rebuilding year. No more of this stupid battling to make the playoffs for a one-and-done and then boasting about Stanley Cup aspirations in the offseason. Even with the increased availability of free agents, the best way to build a team is to develop a core and only then add a key free agent or two to the mix. Right now, Bruin management cares more about pretending to build a winning team than they do about actually winning. Hence the signing of fossils like Shawn McEachern and Alexei Zhamnov.

They need to buy out Zhamnov or force him into the AHL to get his money off of their cap. Trade Glen Murray if anyone wants him; otherwise keep him around as a vetern during the rebuilding. Sign PJ Axelsson and Marty Reasoner to extensions. Whatever it takes for PJ; a 2 year deal for Marty. If he looks good over the next 14 games, bring back Mariusz for one year at less than $1 million. On defense, wave goodbye to Leetch, Gill, and Slegr. Look into trading Tanabe. Go with Boynton (unless he absolutely wants out), Alberts, Jurcina, B.Stuart, M.Stuart. Sign a veteran to round out the top 6, and maybe someone like Ian Moran to be #7. The Bruins will have prospects Matt Lashoff and Jon Sigalet in Providence next year, too.

Forward lines something like:

Bergeron, Boyes, Sturm
Reasoner, Murray, Czerkawski (or another free agent)
Primeau, Axelsson, Stastny
Green, Karsums, Kalus

This team won't be winning a Stanley Cup, but with strong goaltending from Toivonen and Thomas they would make the playoffs and would play with the heart that has so often been missing in recent years.

3) Next offseason would be the time to go after free agents. Look to add a defenseman and a top 6 forward, and sell them on being the final pieces to the puzzle.

Disagree. The FA market in goaltending is shrinking rapidly, and if TT tested free agency, he would have doubled his salary. It would surely be a risk on the team that signed him, but I'd argue no moreso than signing the likes of Hasek, Roloson or Joseph who are aged and coming off injury plagued and/or less-than-stellar seasons in goal.

Other than Gerber and Legace, I'm not sure there's a younger, better option on the UFA market in net, and there are plenty of teams that will be looking for help from Detroit, Carolina (if they don't trust Ward), Vancouver, Edmonton, etc. I think TT took a serious, serious hometown discount, and his agent alluded to that today in the Globe.
http://www.boston.com/sports/hockey/bruins..._keeper/?page=2