Boston Bruins Interim Head Coach Joe Sacco downplayed impending changes in hockey systems and strategies when meeting the press gathering after this morning’s practice at Warrior Arena, but General Manager Don Sweeney engaged the following question:
Is it possible that Jim Montgomery’s shift from (Bruce Cassidy’s) shot-volume offense to a puck-possession game and a lot of passing wasn’t as good a fit for the post-Patrice Bergeron/David Krejci Bruins?
“Possibly, in terms of some of the players not being able to execute to that level,” said Sweeney. “When you’re underperforming and players are not feeling good about themselves, they’re probably exacerbating those troubling issues.”
Captain Brad Marchand is at the center of the first post-practice stretch of the Joe Sacco era.
It’s easy to side with the coach in a case like this and hold Sweeney’s (and team president Cam Neely’s) feet to the fire, but too much has been off with the returning core of players to jump to the executive offices and declare that the problem.
The problem with all the roster-construction criticism and resultant speculation is that it ignores the success this roster (minus Elias Lindholm, Mark Kastelic, Cole Koepke and Nikita Zadorov but plus Linus Ullmark and Jake DeBrusk, etc.) had last season.
Of even greater relevance, focusing now on roster construction fails to take into account the perfect storm of individual circumstances that led to the “flat-line” training camp that translated into such a poor October.
Prime example: Jeremy Swayman (contract holdout) had no training camp, and while his play seemed to gain some linear improvement, the Hampus Lindholm injury destabilized the back end enough to throw Swayman off. Right now, Joonas Korpisalo is the better goaltender.
Secondary example: Team captain Brad Marchand had three offseason surgeries and, while acknowledging his opportunity to use that as an excuse for his own subpar performance (that has steadily improved), is focused on the need to improve in all areas. He also noted that, while he is certain the team will improve and will achieve its potential, he allows for the possibility that the trek from mediocrity toward full actualization of the talent in the room might not be realized until next season just because of the potential length of the process.
There is no easy explanation as to why Charlie Coyle, Trent Frederic and Morgan Geekie seemed so out of sorts when the puck dropped, but to a man the top half(!) of the returning core of players was inexplicably below par.
As individuals, they dug away to pull themselves out with varying degrees of success, and some of those improved players translated into a better team game and a more confident group. When Hampus Lindholm went out of the lineup, all that mojo went poof.
Gone. It became apparent with every freshly sprung leak that this season is going nowhere as is, and that is always going to funnel down to the coach, especially a coach on the final season of his contract.
As an aside, I speculated over the last couple of weeks that the Bruins could be in a real pickle had they completed an extension with Montgomery and now were not being allowed by ownership to make a coaching change, but Sweeney noted today that extension talks with Monty had been unsuccessful at the contract the Bruins were offering, so when the malaise reached 20 games it was time to pull the plug.
The Bruins, in their first practice under Sacco, played a more aggressive version of their inherent penalty-kill structure, darting out at the point man as they received passes to hurry if not disrupt. The forward lines seemed to simplify in the number of passes and cycle plays. There was no ragging of the puck, and no one was giving the old, pond-hockey straight arm to form a shield while skating a semicircle around the perimeter of the attacking zone.
This will be a simpler offensive approach, a more north-south approach.
The one thing Sweeney and Sacco envision identically is the team’s commitment to basic fundamentals. They will play down to whatever their confidence level is right now. In other words, they will make plays they can make, and they will make them aggressively. As confidence is incrementally restored, then we’ll see more wrinkles in their game.
Sacco’s focus is on compete level and making sure the Bruins eliminate their self-destructive tendencies. Sacco is very confident in the team’s ability to create offense and thinks the focus on offense has been overblown. “This team will score goals,” he said.
Said alternate captain Charlie McAvoy: “We need more guys dragging each other into the fight.”
So now it begins, at 8-9-3 and on the wrong side of a playoff bubble that will eventually render better records not good enough.
The Boston Bruins have work to do, they know this is one them, and the shock of an in-season coaching change will produce an initial adrenaline burst that Sacco acknowledged is temporary. The real change will be evident when the Bruins defend for 60 minutes, not just 20 and then, perhaps part of another 20 in the same game.
According to Sweeney, the have been too easy an out, perhaps because they hit the ground expecting great results.
The slap in the face is coldest for Montgomery, but every Bruin is feeling it today, even as they meet and greet their fans at the annual Pucks & Paddles table-tennis fundraiser at the House of Blues on Lansdowne.
The Utah Hockey Club is in town tomorrow night for the opener of the rest of the season.
Rink Rap with Mick Colageo 