Posted by Teddy Panos, Sun Staff
While waiting to see if the Manny Ramirez trade rumors come to fruition, it struck me just how pathetic an organization the Boston Bruins have become.
While the Red Sox are dominating sports talk in New England, the Patriots are about to embark on another Super Bowl chase with a Quarterback dating a world famous supermodel and the Celtics still basking in the glow of the area’s most recent championship, the Bruins are doing absolutely nothing to ensure that New England’s longest title drought doesn’t continue.
Seriously….Michael Ryder is the only transaction that even matters. That would be Michael, I scored a whopping total of 14-goals last year, Ryder. Yeah, yeah, yeah…I know…he scored 30-goals in back-to-back seasons before that. I’ve already heard that argument, too. Do me a favor though…check out his plus-minus in those two seasons: -5 in 2005/06 and -25 in 2006-07.
THAT’S RIGHT…..MINUS 25!!!!
I guess we could hope Patrice Bergeron doesn’t take another hard hit for the rest of his career (right…that never happens in hockey) or that Phil Kessel and others will really take it up a notch. Of course, this assumes an already porous defense won’t further deteriorate and that “Mediocre Manny” Fernandez can be the true #1 goalie that Tim Thomas simply doesn’t have it in him to be.
Of course, we’ve been waiting for all these scenarios to work out for the better since 1972, and they haven’t yet. Will 2008/09 be any different? Doubt it!
What do you think of the Bruins offseason dealings, or lack thereof?
Well, they did also buy out Glen Murray and re-sign Wideman to an extension. Wideman is actually quite good for a #2 defenseman although there is a serious lack of depth behind he and Chara in the back.
Also Blake Wheeler is quite interesting signing as he was very well thought-of in college and should play well with Kessel if he gets a chance to.
Agreed on the Ryder signing (at least he has a cool and unique jersey number). Maybe he can recapture his scoring touch from his rookie season but, like I said last season, all of the good Canadiens' last names begin with "K". Need to get one of THOSE guys. LOL.
B's will be in about the same spot as last year- fighting for the 8th playoff spot. Montreal has gotten even better and you have to figure Ottawa is still a better team than Boston making them, at best, 3rd best in their division.
Oh well, at least the River Hawks ought to have a good, entertaining young squad this year!