The Old Man Nets 30: After scoreing his 30th goal Jarome Iginla has solidified his position as the MVP of the Bruins and the entire NHL

After scoreing his 30th goal of the year, Jarome Iginla has solidified his position not only as the most valuable player on the Bruins but also the entire NHL. But for Bruins fans, they did not always want or expect that things would turn out this way. If you do not remember, there was a bit of anger on the part of Bruins fans for Iginla at the beginning of this season because of what happened the year before. 

Prior to the April 15st trading deadline, 35 year old right winger, Jarome Iginla let it be known that he wanted out of the Calgary Flames organization that had employed him for the entirety of his then 15 year old career. He wanted to go somewhere where, as his career drew to a close, he would have a chance to nab that elusive Stanley Cup ring. He told Calgary of 4 teams where he believed that would be a possibility including the Kings, Blackhawks, Penguins and Bruins. However as the deadline came even closer Chicago and LA fell out of contention for Iginla’s services and so all of the focus turned to the Eastern Conference's twin powerhouses - the Bruins and Penguins. On March 27th, it seemed that we had been given out answer and Iginla's destination had been set.  He was held out of the Flames game with Colorado that night and rumors of a deal with the Bruins quickly turned from roomers to reality...so we thought. 

However, at the last possible moment, these flightless birds swooped in and robbed Iginla from Boston at the least possible moment. After the fact, Iginla admitted that he chose the Penguins because he believed they had a better chance at winning the cup that year. Honestly though, can we blame him. On March 27th 2013, the Bruins had posted a win loss record of 5-4-1 in their last 10 games while the Penguins had just won their 13th straight game beating the Bruins twice in that period of time. But from there, things did not work out so well for Iginla. He scored just 5 goals and assisted on just 6 others in the final 13 games of the regular season and in the playoffs showed that he never really meshed with the finesse based offence of the Penguins. But for Jarome undoubtedly the hardest part of the Pittsburgh debacle was the final 4 games of it. The team he picked was swept in the Eastern Conference Finals by the Bruins team he rejected. Furthermore it was only fitting that it was Iginla who fired the final shot of that series right into the glove of Tuukka Rask as the buzzer sounded. 

But as tough as it was to swallow, Iginla still wanted that Stanley Cup. Just after free agency opened, Iginla's agent - Don Meehan - sent the Bruins front office a "take me back plea" basically begging them to sign Iginla the second time around. He was done with Pittsburgh and so in mid-July, he signed a 1 year 6 million dollar contract with the Bruins. 

But if you do not remember, Bruins fans were not so quick to forget what Iginla did just months before. They were mad that he passed them up and Iginla knew that. It would not be so easy for him to earn himself with these die hard hockey fans and so he knew that he would have to go above and beyond in Beantown. 

On this day just about 1 year to the day after the first attempt at acquiring Iginla, the aged scoring star has proved he still has it. He has scored 30 goals this season, assisting on 30 others while completely elevating the game of those playing around him. Playing alongside David Krejci and Milan Lucic, the Bruins first line has scored 37 goals beyond the 30 scored by Iginla himself. As has been noted by many across the Bruins media community in the past few months in particular, Iginla's poise under pressure and his constant execution combined with his knowledge with the strategy that the game of hockey demands has brought a kind of constancy to the games of Milan Lucic and David Krejci that we have never seen before. 

"It's been great having him here," Lucic said of Iginla. "You can see he's obviously come into his own here and starting to feel good about himself. We all know what he can do from what he's done in the past and he's definitely a confident guy that's always pushing for more. You see the little things in him that has made him so successful throughout his career and it's starting to show more and more as this season goes on."

Obviously, Lucic would want this stunning vet with him even after his contract ends this season. An extension is preferable. 

"Obviously it's out of my control, but he's been a great fit for us on the ice, on our line and in the dressing room, so obviously that would be great,"

As for Claude Jullian who has now coached 3 future hall of famers in the past 4 seasons including March Recci and Jaromir Jager undoubtedly recognizes that Jarome Iginla may be better than all of them. 

"He's exactly what he was advertised as," Julien said. "He's a good team player, a hard worker, and a competitive guy. I can see why he had a letter in Calgary because he has that leadership quality in him."

But with all the praise, Iginla recognizes that he is not the number one leader here in Boston and so he deflects much of this appreciation towards his teammates. 

"They're right up there and I'm very fortunate to get to play with them," Iginla said when asked about how he would rank his current line mates compared to those in Calgary and Pittsburgh. "It's awesome to play with these guys. They're very competitive. They're very hungry. It's not just their skill level, which is very high, but it's their compete level, their drive and physicality." 

As the season concludes, Jarome Iginla jumps into the playoffs looking for the one thing he has not been able to do in this illustrious NHL career. That is, winning a Stanley Cup. 

Read More

The plan for the future: Going into the final few weeks of the season, the Bruins are presented with a choice as to how to approach these final game

After a dominant 3-0 shutout of the defending champion Blackhawks Thursday night extended the Bruins point streak to 14 games, their dominance had been asserted. Thanks to their 12 game winning streak earlier this months and the 3 points that have come in the 2 games since it ended, Boston have shot themselves to a position 9 points clear of the Penguins for the Eastern Conference lead and 15 points clear of the Canadians for the Atlantic Division lead. Midway through March, the Bruins became the first team to clinch a playoff spot and while they could care less about such accolades, they have since climbed into a tight race with the Blues for the title of Presidents Trophy winners. Also, having allowed just 153 goals in the regular season, the Bruins suffocating defense led by stars like Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron and of course Tuukka Rask, the Bruins are not only in the running for hoisting the Jennings Trophy come years end (fewest goals allowed) but also, the Vesina (best individual goaltender), the Selkie (best defensive forward) and the prestigious Norris Trophy (best individual defenseman).

But the Bruins are a team who genuinely does not care about that kind of hardware or any of the recognition that is brings and so as the team now sits with at the very least a number 2 seed in the Eastern Conference locked up, they find themselves with a choice. That choice is to either keep pressing hard untill the end of the season or lay back and let the starters play fewer minutes while testing out younger players the team might need in the playoffs.

We know captain Zdeno Chara has an opinion on what route the team should take as they play out their final 9 games of the year.

"Our goal is to play our game every game until the end of the season and being strong," Chara said. "When we do that, obviously, the business will take care of itself, but it's not on our minds that we want to go for that. If we play well, play good enough, then it will happen. At this point we're trying to focus on our game on the ice." 

But just as Chara argues for keeping up this mantra of dedication to the team and the games they play that had earned them their first 50 win season in 4 years and this ability to sit back a bit as the season draws to a close, his presence reminds us of what has happened in playoffs past.  

In the last 4 postseasons in which Big Z has been a part of, he has averaged 28, 27, 27 again and then 29 minutes of ice time per game. In each playoff appearance, he has played a key role in the success of the team, throwing hit after hit while throwing down his massive body whenever a shot needs to be blocked. 

At times in last years playoffs, Chara was on the ice for 40+ minutes per game. While he definitely has not even approached those numbers in this regular season, Chara has crawled into a role as a key threat on the Boston power play scoring a team leading 13 power play points and 9 power play goals. He has averaged 24 minutes and 47 seconds of ice time per game this year logging 149 hits and 97 blocked shots in 70 total games. He alone is the biggest reason that the Bruins should settle in these final weeks of the season before the playoffs. But he is not the only reason. 

It does not take much of a reminder for Bruins fans to recall the story surrounding Patrice Bergeron at the end of last season. He punctured a lung during game 5 but was forced to play through the pain, tearing cartilage and further damaging his ribs in the process. Furthermore there was Gregory Campbell who broke his leg and left a huge void in the lineup and Dennis Sidenberg who got injured on the final play of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals and caused there to be a great deal of worry regarding the Bruins defensive core. If the Bruins were in a position last year, a position where they had clinched the division with 2 weeks left in the season than they could have and should have rested their starters not only to prevent stress related injuries but to also get a chance to test out some of their young talent and maybe discover how great Matt Bartowski and Torey Krug were before they needed to. 

Even more so this year, on a team were concussions have befallen 3 different players on 5 different occasions, fans of the team ought to be worried about not knowing the depth of their farm system in this lineup with these players should say Loui Eriksson go down with a 3rd concussion in 1 season. 

In the end, the goal of an NHL team is not to win the Presidents Trophy, it is to win the Stanley Cup and for a team in the Boston Bruins who pride themselves so heavily in keeping their priorities straight, they should know that. Furthermore as they go into the final days of the regular season, whatever path they take must be aimed at the Stanley Cup and not the Presidents Trophy. 

And this team knows that. Honestly, when it comes to playoffs they certainly know what they are doing. 

Read More

Retaliation dooms Bruins: In violent game against Montreal, Bruins see their 12 game win streak snapped in the shootout

It was the most violent, nasty, old fashioned hockey game the Bruins had played in a long time. With 40 penalty minutes, and 4 either roughing of cross checking penalties assessed the statistics it produced confirmed that. And lastly, the feel in Boston Monday night also reflected the fact that we had just been treated to something special. A world class beat down between bitter rivals as well their thirst to live both in the magic of their history and the promise of their respective futures. Even in loss, Mondays game between the Bruins and Canadians was something that we only rarely see and so, from start to finish, the atmosphere inside the garden was one of excitement and bitter hatred for the guys in red and white.

Things were nasty right from the get-go.

Just 1 minute and 19 seconds into the game, the Canadians version of Brad Marchand - Alexi Emilin - caught 228 pound Bruin monster - Milan Lucic - in his sights. But as Lucic came across the Spoked B at center ice and Emilin went to deliver the hit, instead of going straight up on the man who was bigger than him in every quality, Emilin dropped down and delivered a crushing center ice hip check right to Lucic's lower thigh. The Bruin forwards was literally flipped 360 degrees and after he slid for a few feet, he crashed violently into the boards. The hit was without a doubt clean but nevertheless, it was delivered in a situation where a straight up shoulder check is more commonly delivered. Also, the speed and ferocity at which the hit flipped the big body of Milan Lucic at first glance pointed strongly towards the hit being delivered more to the knee of Lucic than he front of his thigh or even his lower abdomen which would have been a clipping penalty and would have earned Emelin an automatic 5 minute major. The combination of all of these apparent factors led Bruins captain Zdeno Chara to make a bee line for Emilin who he proceeded to mash into the ice with a check, slash with his stick and then punch in the head earning him a 2 minute roughing penalty.

After the game, Lucic was enraged by the cowardliness of Emilin's hit.

"Whether it's fair, legal or whatever you want to call it, if he wasn't scared, he would stand up and hit me and not go after my knees," Lucic said of Emelin. "It just shows how big of a chicken he is that he needs to go down like that to take me down. It shows what kind of player he is, and on my end, you know you've got to keep your guard up at all times."

By the way, that comment did not help to extinguish the feeling of excitement about the game after it ended.

Within minutes of the Emilin incident, Kevin Miller shoved Montreal forward Dale Weis from behind as the two skated in towards the boards. While Weis did have a little time to protect his head from a direct collision with the boards he was visibly injured as he skated off the ice. Seeing this, 31 year old Montreal tough guy - Travis Moen - went after Miller ready to drop the gloves. Miller obliged but gave Moen a little more than he thought he was getting. Miller tagged Moen once on the shoulder and then slammed a huge right hook into Moen's ear. But Miller was not done. He dragged Moen back to his feet and proceeded to wreck Moen's face. He landed 2 more knocks to the head of Moen before his arm was tied up. As the two spun towards the boards however, he finally got his fits loose and slammed the punch of the year into Moen's temple. 

Travis Moen would have to be helped off the ice. 

In just seconds, Montreal had lost two of its best players. But none of that stopped the physicality of this game. During the Miller penalty assessed as a result of the cross check of Weis, Emilin scored a power play goal to give the Canadians the lead. 

But the game was not over and while the Bruins knew they needed to tie the game as soon as possible, they were still caught up in that hatred for the Habs that would only be fulfilled when a player was knocked on his backside every time he touched the puck. 3 minutes into the 2nd period, Brad Marchand and the hated PK Subban got tangled in a fight for the puck that resulted in Marchand's clipping Subban up high with his stick. 

Towards the end of the period, the Bruins were penilised again when Carl Soderberg basically body slammed goaltender, Peter Budaj as Zdeno Chara took a point shot. But even that was not the end of things. 

In the final 2 minutes of the period, with the Bruins already killing a penalty, PK Subban delivered a hip check to Johnny Boychuck along the boards and then shoved him while he was down. Once Boychuck got up, he proceeded to throw two punches at Subban and then violently slam him into the ice. He was penilised for roughing but was lucky he was not kicked out of the game. Finally however, the Bruins got things under control and in the 3rd period it was Montreal who was undisciplined. They took 4 penalties in the period and allowed the Bruins to drag the game back via a Patrice Bergeron tip in of a Zdeno Chara slapshot. 

But for Boston it was too little to late. 

Montreal won the game in the shootout. 

But even though they lost their historic 12 game win streak, the Bruins were positive as they remain a team who has had just 1 game without a point in the month of March. 

"Obviously, you don't want to lose the way that you do in shootouts, especially getting all the chances that we did during the third period, but with 10 games left, now you've got to expect every game to be like that," Bruins forward Milan Lucic said. "Look at our last stretch of eight games in 13 days. We were able to get 15 out of 16 points, so that's pretty good. Unfortunately, the winning streak comes to an end tonight, but we've got to look forward to the next one."

But a win like this for Montreal could be troubling for Bruins fans not because they could knock Boston out of any positioning whatsoever in the regular season but more so because as it stands a playoff meeting between the Bruins and Canadians is not an unlikely possibility and a win like this could give Montreal momentum going into such a meeting. 

"It's a big win for us, for sure," the Canadiens' Brian Gionta said. "By no means was it a perfect game, but it showed a lot of character sticking with it and battling through. That first period, we were just kind of hanging on, but we pushed back in the second, got in some penalty trouble in the third but showed a lot of character on that penalty kill. Unfortunately, they scored on one, but I thought we did a good job with them."

But regardless of that, the Bruins lost a game Monday that they could have won if it were not for their inability to stay out of the penalty box. 

"At times, absolutely," said Julien, when asked if 'undisciplined' is a way he would describe the game. "The Marchand penalty was frustration because he got tripped on the faceoff before — it wasn’t called. Those are things that are going to happen in a game and you can’t retaliate by taking a bad penalty."

"[Johnny] Boychuk’s penalty was a bad one too, so you know, there’s discipline, but they didn’t score on those, so that’s not why we lost. But I think we have to be better disciplined against them."

Read More

On a mission: Bruins extend winning streak to 11 games and clinch playoffs using their size to their advantage

The Bruins have not lost a game since March 1st against Washington. That means that in 21 days, the Bruins have won 11 straight games, to account for their longest win streak since 1971. This streak has included wins over great teams like the Rangers, Habs and Lightning but it was Friday night that drew the attention of the hockey world. 

In a game that started at 9PM, Eastern Time, the Bruins were in a position where, if they could grab a win against the surging Avalanche, they would be in the playoffs regardless of what any other team did. But Colorado did not plan to make it easy and they certainly followed that plan. 

You see this game was a one played by opposites. The Bruins are a team built on power and brutality on and off the puck. They are also a team that relies on guys like Jarome Iginla, Patrice Bergeron and Milan Lucic to pound the puck into the net. Those are all veterans. But Colorado is different. Coming into the game, they had logged just 26 fighting majors that were enough for 19th in the league. But Colorado does not need fights. They win games not with checks or punches but instead with dazzling explosions of speed and proficiency and calmness with the puck on their stick. They get the large majority of their scoring from players like 3rd year left wing - Gabrial Landeskog and rookies Matt Duchane and Nathan McKinnon. 

With these two teams going at each other with playoff positioning on the line, this game threatened to turn into one of those documentaries about the Serengeti. The small nimble wildebeest (Colorado) spends hours running as fast as it can away from the angry lion (Boston) only making that lion angrier when it cannot catch dinner. 

Instead, this game just followed the plot line of World War Z. After pushing back in the first few minutes of the game, the Avs were caught puck watching early and eventually converted from foe to victim of the Bruins army. 

Even the referees could not stop the onslaught. Just 1 minute and 48 seconds into the game, massive Bruin rookie - Kevin Miller, locked his sights on Avalanche rookie, Nick Holden. Locked up in a tight puck battle, Miller, finally delivered the hit that sent Holden crashing to the ice wondering what state he was in. Bizarrely, the hit was deemed an elbow and Miller was sent to the box. But that did not crush the Bruins sprites. Just about 3 minutes after the Holden hit, Patrice Bergeron broke the game open with his 21st goal of the year. The goal came as a result of great work by Patrice Bergeron to push the puck through 4 Colorado players. 

Dougie Hamilton took the puck at the blue line and awakened the Avalanche to their defensive error that left both Brad Marchand and Zdeno Chara wide open inside the hash marks. Colorado overcompensated though and did not leave a man to cover Bergeron who proceeded to dash towards the net, and bang in Hamilton's rebound for the goal. 

“He made a good play to go to the net, and I just put it into him,” Hamilton said when asked about the goal. “I think I hit him right in the chest at the start, and it was a good finish after that, so I was pretty happy to have that.”

Colorado mustered a bit of a push after that goal, but the Bruins quieted that when Gregory Campebll dropped the gloves against 6 foot 2, 210 pound Cody McLeod. Though McLeod pounded at Campbell's head like he would a nail, Cambell held his own and eventually came back in the fight to land at least 3 strong jabs to MeLeod's jaw. That fight showed that the Bruins were not here to play street hockey. 

Over the next 2 periods, his were common. 

“I think it was a normal situation, considering we've been off for a couple of days, and again, there's thin air here, and that first period's always a bit of a challenge,” Coach, Claude Julien said. “So all of those things together, we knew we had to grind it out through the first.”

But in the second, they were just plain bullies. They defended their blue line like it was their house and the Avalanche were a hoard of zombies and forechecked and backchecked as if the winner of this game were not the team who scored the most goals but instead the team who broke the most bones.

“Second period, we kind of had to start getting pucks behind their Ds and playing more in their end, and the further the game went, the better we got. I thought we played a smart third, just putting pucks in deep and making them go back for every puck they wanted to bring up the ice. So that was kind of what we looked for and as the game wore on, I thought we got better all the time.”

The hits helped generate chances especially in the 2nd and 3rd periods when strong forechecking by the Bruins wingers allowed for their centers to pick up at least 3 great chances in front of the net. But the big hero of this game was Chad Johnson who earned his 2nd shutout of the season Friday night. He saved all 31 shots taken against him. 

“To be in front of these guys with such good systems, and a good D corps, and offensive players that want to play defense, too, you know, it helps me out a lot,” Johnson said after the game. “It helps the goalies out, and our whole team, so it's fun to play in front of our team when we're so committed defensively and we're out there to win and we expect to win.”

All and all, the Bruins are looking to be one of the scariest teams in hockey for other teams to play against. In a part of the schedule Bruins fans have dreaded all year, their team has owned the hockey world, climbing out from a tight race for the division and into a position now where massive numbers work to fairly define the magnitude of Boston's late season charge. They are 16 points clear of the Tampa Bay Lightning for the Atlantic Division lead. They are 6 points clear of the Penguins for the Eastern Conference lead and they are tied with St Louis for the title of best team in hockey. For the 4th time in the Claude Jullian era and the first time since 2011-2012, the Bruins have topped the 100 point plateau and for the first time in the Claude Jullian era, they have won 11 straight games.

Bruins fans, whatever you have been doing during these games for the past 2 weeks, DO NOT CHANGE IT! Let’s keep this streak going. 

Read More

The contract by the numbers: Brandon Browner

Term: 3 years
Total worth: $12.35 million
Incentives: $4.45 million

Year 1
Base: 1 million
Off-season bonuses: $250,000 (workout)
Roster bonus: $500,000 (for making 53 man roster at any point during the season)
$150,000 (per game he is on the 46 man roster)
Playtime incentives: up to 1.2 million

The bottom line: In the only year where any money is guaranteed for Browner, the Patriots are all but set. If catastrophe strikes, the Patriots will only be set back 1 million dollars. At the same time, the 150,000 dollars per game wrinkle allows for a much better and therefore fairer distribution of the cash in relation to playing time. If Browner goes down early in the season the Patriots will be back 3 to 5 hundrud K and if he plays a while than the deal if okay.

Year 2
Base: $1.9 million
Roster bonus: $2 million (is on the 90 man roster at the beginning of the year)
Second roster bonus: 100,000 (per game he is on the roster)
Playtime incentives: 500,000 (250K for 75% playing time, 250K for 85% playing time)

The bottom line: The Patriots are in an interesting place when it comes to the second year of this  deal. Nothing is guaranteed so they can drop Browner if next season does not work out but if they decide to pick up the option of this second year, they will owe Browner 1.9 million dollars and in all likelihood 2 more million when Browner makes the roster at the start of the year. Without even taking into account the 1.7 million he could earn by extra incentives, this seems to be a bit of a situation of overpaying between the Patriots and Browner.

Year 3
Base: $1.9 million
Roster bonus: $2 million (is on the 90 man roster at the beginning of the year)
Second roster bonus: 100,000 (per game he is on the roster)
Playtime incentives: 500,000 (250K for 75% playing time, 250K for 85% playing time)

The bottom line: Once again, this is a bit of a situation of overpaying. However, the Patriots did break the mold from the other contracts they dished out this week, basically copy and pasting their details from year 2 into year 3 of the deal. While my opinion on this year is the same as the year before, this 3rd year seems to be a bit more logical. That season might very well be one of the last that Tom Brady plays and therefore, it may be one of the last opportunities the Patriots have to win it all before what will likely be a period of rebuilding that will not be much fun. Browner might very well play a big role that season and he should be paid accordingly.

Read More

The contract by the numbers: Brandon LaFell

Length of contract: 3 years
Total: $9 million
Guaranteed: $8 million
Signing bonus: $3 million

Year 1
Guaranteed: $800,000
Bonuses: $200,000 (12,500 per game on active roster)
Total cap hit: $1 million

The bottom line: In what will be a real trial year for LaFell in the Patriots roster, 1 million dollars is a pretty fair salary. In terms of the likelihood that he might earn the majority of his bonuses, the length of time that it takes for Brady to develop chemistry with his new receiver will likely limit his targets and therefore keep him healthy for most of the year. This is a good start for both LaFell and his team.

Year 2
Guaranteed: $1.8 million
Bonuses: $400,000 (25,000 per game on active roster)
Total cap hit: $3.2 million

The bottom line: In 2015, LaFell will double his salary from the year before earning 1.8 million guaranteed and up to  400,000 in potential bonuses. The increase in salary greatly reflects the plan for more targets for LaFell in 2015.

Year 3
Guaranteed: $2.4 million
Bonuses: $400,000 (25,000 per game on active roster)
Total cap hit: $3.8 million

The bottom line: In the final year of this team friendly contract, LaFell will likely grab at the very least 2.6 million dollars. Even if he misses 2 or 3 games, the team projects him to be a primary target for Tom Brady that season and plan to pay him accordingly.

Read More

One by one: A precise breakdown of the recent additions made to the Patriots via free agancy

After a week that included the resigning of Julian Edelman, the loss of Aqib Talib and eventual replacing of him with Darrelle Revis, the request for release made by Vince Wilfork, the signing of Brandon Browner, and finally the deal that brought former Panther Brandon LeFell to the Patriots, one big question has rang through Foxborugh almost without cease. That question being, amidst all this, are the Patriots better?

By alot.

Looking back to last season, a season ended by the firepower of Peyton Manning and his legion of dexterous receivers but also an incurable slew of injures to the Patriots, it was those injuries that evidently held this team out of actual Super Bowl contention. Right out of the gate, New England's most promising young running back - nimble Shane Vereen - was knocked out of his Week 1 match-up with Buffalo as a result of a broken hand. He did not return until Week 11 against Carolina. Also felled in Week One however was wide receiver Danny Ammendola who fell victim to a hip strain that between several flare ups amounted to 4 missed games and a diminished trust on the part of Tom Brady in the man who was supposed to be the replacement to Wes Welker. Averaging just 6.9 targets and 4.5 receptions per game, Ammendola was possible the biggest disappointment of the 2013 regular season for the Patriots largely because of his inability to stay healthy and therefore develop a connection with the passer. Keeping on the topic of injures, it would only be about a month before things got even worse for New England as in Week 4 against the Falcons, middle defensive lineman - Vince Wilfork - went down with a freak achilles injury. That knock took him out for the entire season. From there, the theme of injury susceptibility had been set for these 2013 Pats. By mid-season, their line backing core had been decimated and their offensive line had been compromised by a nearly constant turnover as a result of injuries to various starters.

When the one rock left on that unit - Nate Solder - suffered concussions in back to back weeks towards the end, many Patriots fans partially expected it solely because when it came to injury, everything that could possibly go wrong last season did. But Solder was not even the best example of that. After missing the first 6 games of the season as a result of a slew of off-season surgeries, star tight end - Rob Gronkowski - returned in Week 7 against the Jets only to be taken out at the knees 6 games later. As a result of the low blow, Gronkowski tore both his ACL and his MCL and did not return to action before the season was over.

If one were to try to pinpoint the cause for the Patriots short comings last season, injuries would be a viable pick. You see, the Patriots had enough skill under contract to win the Super Bowl only when it came to the sideline, many of those talents were simply not there. Knowing that success in 2014 would be gotten by health, the Patriots went into free agency looking to replace those who are prone to injury with those who are not. That theme was evident right from the first sequence of transactions we saw this week.

Though he was one of the best corner backs in years for the Patriots, the 5 interceptions in 19 regular season games, Aqib Talib made were overshadowed by the back to back injuries in AFC Championship games to Talib as well as the 3 regular season games he missed in 2013. After 23 games in New England, the Aqib Talib experiment was concluded when the team allowed him to walk and sign a 57 million dollar contract with Denver. But the importance of having a shutdown corner in New England did not leave with Talib.

Less than a 24 hours after the Talib contract was signed, the Patriots inked a 1 year 12 million dollar contract with former Jet and Buccaneer Darrelle Revis effectively replacing Talib with someone even better. Through 7 seasons, Revis has missed games due to injury in just 2 seasons. During the 95 games he has played, Revis has defended 108 passes, made 21 interceptions and 284 total tackles. Solely on the basis of playing time, Revis has made the team better than they were with Talib.

Also coming into the system is 4th year, hulk of a human corner back, Brandon Browner. Standing at 6 foot 4 inches and 221 pounds, Browner was a key name within the Seattle Seahawks' Legion of Boom that won them the Super Bowl this season. He defended and average of 1.25 passes in the 8 games he started this season keeping true with a theme of consistency he has built himself in Seattle. He defended 23 passes and picked off 6 more in his rookie year and dispite suffering a bit of a drop off 1 year later piled in 35 tackles with 3 more interceptions and 3 powerful fourced fumbles.

It seems that the only drawback about Browner is the big black mark next to his name that cost him the last 8 games of the regular season, the 3 playoff games the Seahawks won en route to the Super Bowl and the first 4 games of this coming season. Midway through December is was announced that Browner was facing a drug suspension as a result of failed tests from earlier in his career and on December 18th, he was suspended indefinitely from the league. During the offseason however, he was told he would be allowed to return in Week 5 of this coming season.

Now I know what you are thinking. You are thinking 'hey, haven't we already had our fair share of bad character signings in Boston?'. The answer to that is yes but here me out. While Browner was dealt a pretty sizable deal when it comes to the cap, not much of the deal is guaranteed. In fact just 4.8 million of the 17 million dollars Browner is eligible to receive will come guaranteed. The remaining 12 million plus will only be earned if Browner can meet a wide array of statistical milestones, namely 250,000 dollar paydays if he can appear in 75% and then 85% of the team's plays in years 2 and 3 of the contract.

Fact is with the Browner deal, if he works out, the Patriots will have a booming, ball hawking hulk covering an opponent’s secondary targets on the large majority of plays. And yet if things go badly and Browner does not reform himself, than the Patriots will get out without much financial lament.

Finally, we cannot help but recognize the work of Julian Edelman and how much he absolutely deserves the contract he was dealt. But nevertheless, even after the Patriots locked down Edelman with a 4 year 17 million dollar contract, they looked to add one more target for Tom  Brady. Late Saturday night, they signed, former Panther, Brandon LaFell to a 3 year 9 million dollar contract therefore locking down a durable target of healthy Amendola skill for the reminder of Brady's productive career. In 5 years with Carolina, LaFell has made just 167 receptions but has miraculously averaged almost 14 and a half yards per reception. Additionally, in each of his 5 seasons, LaFell has improved upon his yardage totals from the year before. In each of his last 3 seasons, he has logged 600+ receiving yards. 

Fact is every team will have its weaknesses only the good ones are better at makeing up for those weaknesses elsewhere. In 2014, the Patriots will likely be a team with weak linebackers and safety but that will not matter because their corner backs and downfield receivers will be without refute.

Read More

Patriots hand Darrelle Revis 1 year 12 million dollar contract just 1 day after loosing Aqib Talib

After assembling a season stat card that reflected his being one of the best corner backs in football, Aqib Talib was lured away from New England by the promise and eventual signing of a 6 year, 57 million dollar deal with Denver. That loss however worthy of the pay Talib was, left the Patriots sans their strongest defensive talent last season and put them in a place where, as rumors of a Wilfork departure continue to run rampant, they might not want to be going into next season. 

New England recognized this and in a move that went against much of the talk that has circulated this offseason, signed former Jet and Buccaneer pro bowler, Darrelle Revis to a 1 year 12 million dollar contract that makes him the highest paid defensive player on the team next year.  

Revis has logged 8 years of NFL experience with the Jets and Buccaneers respectively. He made 43 tackles and defended 11 passes in 16 games last season in Tampa. 

It is that last stat that might be what actually makes Revis better than the man he is replacing. Though Talib made more interceptions, defended passes and tackles last season than Revis did, Revis played 16 games, a truth that cannot be stressed how valuable it is. The way New England plays defense, the presence of a shutdown corner to go against the opponent's best receiver on every play is something they rely on greatly. While Talib was that shutdown corner, he was not there every week missing 3 games in the middle of the year this season and getting knocked out of both AFC Championships he was in New England for. Revis however has played 16 games in 6 out of his 8 seasons in the league. He has not once raised any sort of question regarding durability.

All and all, former Patriot Ty Law agrees with the premise that Revis is an upgrade from Talib

"The Patriots were only a few pieces away from being a Super Bowl team again -- now that you have Darrelle, hey, why not?," Law told USA TODAY "Darrelle is an upgrade. No disrespect to Aqib, who is a great corner in his own right. But outside of Denver in the AFC, who else do you see besides the Patriots?

"That is what was so appealing for Darrelle." 

After being the face of the New York Jets defense for 6 years to start his career, Darrelle Revis will come to New England looking to vault the team to one final Super Bowl in the Tom Brady era. In this case, it is safe to say that the Patriots will likely get their 12 million dollars’ worth for this deal.

Read More

Former Bruin Rich Peverley suffers near lethal cardiac event during game: How this brings to focus the improvements of the NHL's medical responce

All aspects of NHL competition seem trivial when a combatant collapses in a near lifeless heap. That was proven Monday night in Dallas when former Bruin forward and current Stars center man, Rich Peverley collapsed while on the bench. The event was ruled a complication of cardiac arrhythmia 

As shown by a chilling clip of the event, within seconds of Peverley's collapse the Stars bench was overcome with panic as players frantically pounded their sticks and some vaulted onto the ice all in a desperate attempt to catch the referee's attention. For at the very least 5 seconds that all seemed like hours, play went on all before the whistle went and both benches emptied racing in a confused mob towards the Stars bench. To credit the Stars personnel, Peverley had been carried back into the open hallway within 10 seconds of the first of 4 distinct whistle blasts by the referee where he was administered CPR and shocked with an electronic defibrillator in a desperate attempt to regulate his slowing heartbeat.  

Amidst the chaos of this all, those charged with the job of responding to medical emergencies like this remained cool. As implied by Dallas coach Lindy Ruff in his emotional post-game press conference, their actions and the timeliness that they were executed might have saved Rich Peverley's life. 

"There wasn't any concern [regarding Peverley's return to the lineup]," Ruff said "Our doctors have done a fabulous job monitoring the situation." After a long pause, the NHL's most experience coach admitted "I was scared,"

"If it wasn't for our doctors and all the members (of the training staff) reacting so quickly, I could be standing here with a different story," Ruff said. "They were there ASAP. It's an absolute marvel after what he went through."

"When he dropped, it was red alert," Ruff said. "Don't worry about the game. It was about getting the doctors.

"As soon as he came off the ice, I started screaming into the crowd for a doctor. The players don't want to play, and I don't want to coach the team right now." 

The NHL later released a statement saying that the game had been postponed due to the shock and distraction felt by the percipients of the game. 

Obviously, those simply watching the incident could not even pretend to understand what it felt like for these players to see their friend their teammate teetering on the edge of death. But at the same time, watching this incident revived a tale of an incident similar to this in principle that took place almost a decade ago. The only difference is how that incident actually played out. 

On November 21st 2005, then 24 year old Detroit Redwings defenceman Jiri Fischer collapsed due to a bout of ventricular tachycardia that knocked him unconscious and stopped his heart in a similar way that was true with Peverley. Only while Peverley's heart was restarted within seconds of his collapse mainly because of a preparedness and familiarity with protocol on the part of his coaches, there was even more confusion and chaos when Fischer went down that resulted in Fischer's prolonged passage of time without a heartbeat. 

As shown by a similar segment of game film, it took almost 30 seconds for anyone who could help Fischer to actually get to him. This truth was such due to a confusion and ineptness at dealing with situations like this on the part of the Detroit coaches and a lack of doctors who can respond without being summoned by coaches among other things. In this case, he had to wait for trainers stationed by the zamboni doors on the opposite end of the ice to be escorted to the bench, weave their way through the crowd of players gathered by it and actually set up around Fischer's body. Even then, those attending to Jiri did not really know what was happening and did not understand that they needed to get him back to the locker room where the only defibrillators in the building were. 

Though he was finally resuscitated, Jiri Fischer never played hockey again and by doing so left a deep scar in the league's reputation as a safe one. But while that scar would never vanish, the league has since worked to keep additional ones from forming. 

Right now, most all NHL arena's have been modified so that they have "tunnels" that provide direct access to the locker room, in those tunnels it is also mandatory to station at least 1 advanced paramedic in addition to the teams trainer on the bench. Finally, in conjunction with the great strides made in relation to the ease with which a defibrillator can be used on a person, there are now defibrillators stationed in locker rooms, hallways and benches. Finally, all arenas now have ambulances parked nearby full time. 

Jiri Fischer is proud of what the league has done in reaction to his cardiac arrest.

"I think my incident was a big eye-opener in terms of the limitations in the resuscitation protocol and what should be implemented in all the arenas, from the local rink to the biggest light there is -- the NHL," said Fischer. "My cardiac arrest wasn't the first one, but it was certainly the first live one [on TV] in hockey, and that attracted a lot of attention. So the whole protocol has changed since then. [Wings doctor] Tony Colucci, who saved my life along with the rest of our medical staff, he was really pushing every meeting that they had with NHL doctors, they talked about the accessibility of an ambulance, they talked about how doctors need to be close, they talked about how a defibrillator needs to be part of the standard equipment for every locker room in every rink, they talked about how the whole protocol of resuscitation should go before somebody gets into the hospital. That's not just for the players but for anybody in the stands.

"Unfortunately, I volunteered for that," Fischer said, chuckling, "but a lot of good things came out of it."

When asked about the Peverley incident, Fischer said: "It was very impressive. I watched it again on TV this morning," said Fischer. "I'm impressed how well the staff did, how well everybody responded. They saved his life."

They saved his life just as they saved Fischer's life but with the speed and order with which they did so, these medics and other personal may have saved what they could not save with Fischer - his career.

 ~ As a footnote, good luck to Rich Peverley in his recovery and hopeful return to hockey.

Read More

Thoughts on the Vanek trade: The addition of Thomas Vanek to the Montreal Canadians roster just adds to the intensity of hockey's greatest rivalry

In the 8 years since he made his NHL debut as a rookie phenom for Buffalo in 2005-2006, Thomas Vanek has played better against the Bruins than any other player in hockey. In 8 years he has scored 31 goals against the Big Bad Bruins, 6 times scoring 2 in a game and once netting a hat trick. No matter what sweater he is wearing, this hard hitting, speed skating, sick skilled left winger has a way of getting up and getting out for these Bruins games that nobody else in hockey has. And he did that when he was playing for the Sabers and Islanders, teams who have never been in a place for major intensity mainly because they have never been good enough to compete with their Boston foes.

But after he was traded to the Montreal Canadians last week, this motivation that has always made Vanek great will be even higher because now these games will be between Montreal and Boston rather than Buffalo and Boston.

The addition of this kind of player only makes the Bruins vs. Canadians rivalry just that much more intense. But it is not like it needs it.

After the fight charged atmosphere that defined the games between these two teams in the late 20th century was slowly made to be impossible to continue via various player safety rules, it was replaced by a simple obsession with scoreing and statistical excellence. While they have played just 1 game against the Canadians this season, the 4 games last season treated fans to 24 goals scored by the two teams, one stunning 6-5 OT game and an overall feeling of being on the edge of your seat that served as a constant prelude to those games. 

Thomas Vanek who has scored 21 times this season with 32 assists and a total of 53 points will come to Montreal as the number one offensive talent on the team. History shows that before long he might also be a person as hated in Boston as say PK Subban or Max Paccoretty. 

Nevertheless, being in Montreal will most surely raise the level of Vanek's play not only because of the players he will be playing with but also because Buffalo is nothing like Montreal when it comes to the intensity of their games.  

"When you think of a hockey mecca, Montreal is it," Vanek said to ESPN after the trade. "I played many times for Buffalo in Montreal, and it's so electric. I'm super excited." 

Yeah, actually contending for the Stanley Cup ought to be pretty exciting but even with that, Vanek is not decided as to whether or not he would accept a contract extension to stay in Montreal when his contract ends at the end of the year. 

"It's been a tough year for me and my family," he said. "I knew there was a chance we'd move again. Now it's over and I'm a Montreal Canadian and I can just focus on hockey and helping that team win a lot of games."

It will be interesting to check in with Vanek after he has a Montreal/Boston game under his belt. 

All and all, the addition of not only a pure scorer but a pure scorer with a history of pulverizing the Bruins on a game by game basis to the Montreal Canadians only makes the greatest rivalry in hockey that much more awesome. 

Read More

The 4th line frame of mind: A look at Gregory Campbell's recent hot streak and how it has reguvinated the Bruins 4th line

Gregory Campbell is 30 years old, he has played 9 NHL seasons and yet, he has never before scored 4 goals in 4 games. Until now.

In the first four games the Bruins have played in March, Campbell has been a force to be reckoned with, taking 10 shots, and of course scoring on 4 of them. For him and his line-mates, this 4 game explosion has been one of great power and one that has helped right the ship for the Bruins who struggled immediately out of the Olympic break.

Prior to the Bruin's March 1st game against Washington, Gregory Campbell had scored just 2 goals in the entire season and had not scored since January 14th or a total of 12 games. Altogether, this Bruins 4th line that has been one of the best 4th lines in hockey for at least 3 years now was once again being asked to deliver the 30-40 goals it had in seasons like 2012 and unfortunately, that simply was not happening. This line had lost its identity ever so slightly in the early parts of this season. In games like that infamous December 7th clash with Pittsburgh that saw Shawn Thornton KO Brooks Orpik and earn a 15 game suspension, they crossed that line separating rough play and dirty play and therefore committed penalties that gave their team no emotional boost. In other games, they tried to get too flashy, trying to out maneuver defenders rather than going straight through them as they had in years past.

While that style of play did pay off at times, namely on Thursday, January 28th when Shawn Thornton deaked 2 Florida defenders to backhand in one of the best goals of his career, overall it resulted in far more turnovers by the Merlot line and the fewest goals total by a Bruin fourth line through the first 58 games of a full season in the 4 years this group has been together. Just 14 goals.

When they lost Shawn Thornton to kick off the month of January, the team also lost some of that grit and ferocity that has done so well to supercharge the atmosphere at these games. During the suspension, their fight totals went down and no one on the 4th line except Danial Pallie scored a goal thus limiting the multi-faceted attack that the Bruins' 4th line give them. Even when he returned they simply were not the same.

But nevertheless, the 2 week Olympic break seemed to get something to click with this trio. None of them represented their countries in Sochi just as none of them were forced to deal with any scrutiny by the fans. While it can be assumed that they did log considerable hours in the gym during the games, they used this time to gain something that especially right out of the break would be something not many teams had. That is, a full line of capable scorers who instead of playing grueling hockey on a big international ice sheet for 2 weeks had taken a little off-season in the middle of the year.

More than any other time in the entire season, the odds were in favor of a big surge by them.

They seized the chance.

After a team wide hiccup in their first game back vs. Buffalo, the 4th line was the highlight of the latter half of their March 1st game against Washington notching a goal that sat much more easily with the kind of game they play. Taking the puck at the blue line, all 3 Bruins 4th liners raced towards the goal. With Danial Pallie skating a line that had him crossing the goal right at the top of the crease, Gregory Campbell following close behind him and Shawn Thornton skating behind and to the left of the two Bruins, a relaxed Washington defense allowed Thornton to toss the puck in the general direction of Campbell.  With Pallie parked right in front of the net with his back towards Campbell, Campbell reached across the body of a defender in order to try to tag the puck and redirect it on goal. As he did so however he was tripped and sent crashing into the ice, Pallie and a bewildered Braden Holtby. The puck trickled in and Campbell sported an ear to ear grin as he untangled himself from the pile of bodies near the left goalpost.

That goal was the perfect Gregory Campbell goal and it provided this 4th line with a powerful boost that has carried them through this week as the best thing going for the B's. The very next day in a game against the New York Rangers, the Bruins overcame an early deficit to beat their Big Apple foe's 6-3. Campbell scored twice in that game marking the first time he has done so in the regular season since April 10th of last season. But that was not the best part of this game for "Soupy" as he is called by the team. With 10 minutes to go in the game and the Rangers nipping at the Bruins' heals Campbell took the puck on a shorthanded breakaway. This time instead of barreling into goalie Henrik Lunquvist however, he threw in a last second forehand/backhand move and tucked the puck in as he passed the right post. His next goal reverted back to the 4th line mold as he tipped a Pallie shot in a physical crossing pattern across the front of the net.

The goal was reviewed to see if the puck was kicked in but in the end it stood. Though he did take a day off from scoring Tuesday against the Panthers, Campebell completed the 4 goals in 4 games domination Thursday against Washington once again, this time tipping in yet another Danial Pallie shot.

Yet much like the rest of the Bruins, Campbell is humble when talking about his success.

“I’m just trying to get our line going here,” Campbell said after Thursday’s 3-0 shutout of the Capitals at TD Garden. “I feel like we’ve been playing a lot better. We’re working hard, we’re working smart and trying to read off of each other and get back to playing with one another. And you know, our lines are playing really well and have been contributing on a nightly basis, and everybody knows that to have four lines cruising into the playoffs is a good recipe.”

Claude Jullian however had to applaud the effort this line has given the team in the last games.

“Obviously, they have been much better,” Julien said after the 6-3 win over New York. “Because, number one, I think their line at one point was doing a lot of duplication. They’d end up with two guys as the first forechecker and they were a little bit all over the place and they didn’t get the results they wanted, and then spent a lot more time in our D zone than they should. They got themselves back in sync. Gregory has kind of turned the page there, and it’s important for him to have a good finish. So it was important to start from scratch, and that line sort of looked at some video and talked about how they needed to play, and they have been a really good line for us. They’ve scored goals - not by fluke - but more by the way they’ve worked together and how hard they’ve worked and how hard they’ve been working at putting pucks at the net."

All and all, adversity is something the 4th liners have come to know very well. At the same time such familiarity has also given them a whole list of ways to overcome that adversity. At the top of that list, score goals the way you are meant to score goals and in these 4 games, at least Gregory Campbell has done just that.

Read More

.21 Goals per Game: Dispute a lack of goals David Krejci is one of the top offensive players in the NHL

When David Krejci scored the 100th goal of his 7 year NHL career back in December, he told CBS Boston that “It’s just a number. Obviously, it’s nice to get 100 goals and hopefully there will be 100 more in my career, but it’s just a number.” 

Just over 2 months later, Tuesday night, when David Krejci scored his 5th career hat trick, he employed the same mindset. Neither 5 nor the 3 goals he scored against the Panthers were anything more than mere numbers. For 7 years now, Krejci has been a man who follows his principles down to the letter. It is no coincidence that he has never played for another team than Boston, no coincidence that whenever trade rumors have come up he has played even better just prove to his GM that he deserves to stay here. He plays a team game, built on passing, a relentless commitment to the game and a quiet command of the entire ice surface. 

Krejci is clutch as well. 2 of his now 5 career hat tricks have come in the playoffs as in both of those playoff tricks, the 3rd and final goal won the game in a sudden death period. Going deeper into the playoff statistics, in a total of 81 playoff games, Krejci has scored 29 goals and assisted on 44 others. That equates to a playoffs points per game average of roughly .900. And yet, once you get to the regular season these same statistics dictate a drop off in Krejci's game. That cannot be more wrong.

On any other stat card, taking 7 years and 464 games to score 100 goals would be anything to be proud of. Many would say a guy who has scored at a .21 goals per game clip does not deserve first line playing time just like they would say he does not deserve anywhere near the salary a top six forward would earn. But those people have not seen David Krejci.  Those people have not delved into the deeper, less "important but still more informative statistics assembled simply to recognize the talent of guys like Krejci. You see things like the raw playoff numbers or those like +/- that prove how much better this team is when Krejci is on the ice with them and begin to realize the true extent of Krejci's talent. 

"You know, some people people give me a hard time that I don't have many goals, but you know, I don't care as long as I'm helping my team and my linemates,"

Looking across the league and taking into account the .21 goals per game the he turns in as an alternate captain and a center, Krejci is unique. Of all the 32 NHL teams, there is just 1 top 2 center that scores less than .3 goals per game - Krejci. Among all NHL players, it is difficult to find other players with statistic's comparable to those of Krejci simply because most players who produce those meager statistics do not last long enough to rack up say 100 goals. 

He is contained within a very small group of NHL players. 

Helping the team, helping line mates, that is all that Krejci does. He has dished out nearly twice as many assists than goals over the course of his career and scored when it counts. But he never celebrates. When he scores hat tricks like the one Tuesday, even a fit pump remains something reserved for playoff success and deemed to unsportsmanlike for a petty regular season 3 pack. Even when he won the Stanley Cup in 2011 there were no booming roars of excitement and no gloves hurled into the air. Krejci does not believe in celebration, does not hoard statistics for his own estate and though his salary suffers because of it, though his league wide recognition is nothing comparable to what is should be, Krejci knows that the team comes first.

For reasons like these, his teammates love him and so they willingly passed up the opportunity for a goal of their own in order to set up Krejci's hat trick. 

"We obviously recognized the situation and he had two at the time with an empty net," said line mate Milan Lucic, who set up Krejci along with Jarome Iginla. "We were just able to turn the puck over high up there and I looked for him and he was open and was able to hit the empty net there from the neutral zone."

"He’s a fun guy to be a winger for," said Iginla. "But he sure had it going tonight. His shot there, quick snappers, a few that just – I thought as a whole, it was a team thing…our last two games now are building in the right direction."

Krejci cares not for his statistics but for those of his team. 

Read More

Thoughts on Patriots not using the franchise tag

Each year, one of the first signs of which teams are contenders and which teams are pretenders can be seen in what each team does in the off season. Good selfless GM's who truly do what is best for their team with the money and privileges they possess ultimately turn out good, committed teams with at least a chance at winning it all come February. 

But money does get in the way, and no matter how rich they may be, cash does not flow into the NFL's individual teams with infinite quantity. In New England, much of the Patriot's financial talks of late have circled around two players - Aqib Talib and Julian Edelman - and more to the point what might happen if either of them escaped to free agency. 

Fact is, even with the deep cash pool that Robert Kraft has accumulated since he took over the Patriots 20 years ago, with both Edelman and Talib coming off spectacular years in which Talib owned the Patriots secondary and Edelman accumulated over 100 catches, they knew that the price for bringing them back in 2014 might be very stiff. However, at least until 3:00PM Monday, there was another option. 

In what has been named as the franchise tag, each NFL team is presented with the opportunity to retain one player, no matter their level of play and no matter another team's interest for one base rate. In Patriots history, they have never been a team in love with the tag but most notably utilized it 2 years ago on Wes Welker.  

But for the second straight season, the annual deadline for teams to either use or forgo the franchise tag came and passed without action in Foxbourgh and at least for the time being, it appears to be a rather questionable decision.  

In what was surely the best season of his career, Talib in particular made a serious case to get paid the 11.5 million dollar salary for a franchise tagged CB. He made 4 interceptions and defended 13 passes while making 35 tackles.

"[Talib] wasn't on the field a lot of the time since he's been with us," Robert Kraft said at the Super Bowl. "It's a balance, of us balancing all that out and what is he worth. I think he's happy here and would like to be here. We're happy with him and we'd like to have him here. Now it's just about doing business." 

According to ESPN Boston's Matt Reis, one of the biggest reasons the Patriots did not hand Talib those 11 million dollars was his health. Though he played all but 3 games this season and was a key role player in every single one, he has now been knocked out of two straight AFC Championship games. But nevertheless, the latter of those two injures was certainly not his fault. He is no Danny Ammendola. 

So if that does not make sense, what does?

More than any other, a logical explanation for the Patriots' negligence is that that there have been rumors that he and the team are negotiating a contract at a substantially lower annual salary. In a scenario like that, the Patriots are being smart in knowing that by locking down Talib for 2 or 3 years at say 7 or 8 million a year, they would then have the additional 3 or 4 million dollars to add on to a big contract to lock down Julian Edelman who will most likely be a far more sought after name than Talib. 

Read More

Boston Bruins vs. New York Rangers game preview: Bruins still seek their first win since the Olympic break

Boston Bruins (37-17-5, 79 points) at New York Rangers (33-25-3, 69 points)
7:00PM. March 2nd, 2014. 
Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York

Now is the time that Bruins fans, coaches and players all stand up and say 'enough is enough'.

In a month of March that holds more games than off days than the Bruins, losing two straight games at its start, both because of terrible defense by the team, warns of spiraling into a serious problem. In two games now, the Bruins have allowed 9 goals and scored just 6. They have on at least 3 occasions surrendered crippling breakaways that on all 3 occasions resulted in goals for the other team and in several others left the opponent's best players with time and space to blast laser shots past whatever goalie the Bruins decide to dress. Also, the Bruins have struggled to stay out of the penalty box in these games, setting up 12 power plays for the other team and on 3 occasions failing to kill them.

Though two games really is just a small sample size compared to the magnitude of the much larger 82 game season, these Bruins come into their 3rd game since the Sochi Olympics desperate to sustain the 4 point lead on the rest of the Atlantic division that they managed to give themselves in their final few games BEFORE the break. This is a game they really want to win.

But in order to do that they cannot play as a bad defensive games as they have against the Sabers and Capitals respectively. Bruin captain Zdeno Chara who was held accountable for the final goal in Wednesday's OT loss in Buffalo knows this.

"For sure that wasn't our best game," captain Zdeno Chara said. "We could have done a number of things differently and better. We have to learn from games like this."

Claude Jullian spoke more specifically. 

"We're getting caught cheating too much in the offensive side and it's ending up in the back of the net," Claude said. "It's something we need to fix because we're giving up too many goals." 

The Bruins are having no problem scoring goals, it is preventing them that has troubled Boston of late. In this game against the Rangers, it may be safe to predict that against a Rangers offence that bases it's offence mainly off of complicated passing schemes in their own zone and then sneaky plays that float a forward out behind an opponent's defenders the Bruins blue liners stay back a bit more than usual. 

On the other side of things though, it seems that the Rangers may need a win just as much as the Bruins do. Sitting just 2 points secure of a playoff spot in the highly contested Metropolitin division, the Rangers also have struggled in their first two games most recently dropping a 4-2 contest in Philadelphia Saturday afternoon.

All and all, this will be a fun game between two big teams with playoff intentions and it will be a game the Bruins want desperately to win.

Read More