Boston Sports Then and Now

Savard may not be so excited to play for the Bruins this season.

The 2009-2010 season was perhaps the worst of Marc Savard’s career.

After leading the Bruins in points for three consecutive seasons, Boston’s most dynamic offensive force suited up for just 41 games in an injury riddled season. During training camp prior to the season Savard took a shot to his foot, but decided to play through the pain.

Just seven games into the regular season Savard was struck in the same foot, an injury later revealed to be a broken foot. Savard was put on the injured reserve list as he watched his team a struggle. Savard returned to the Boston line-up in November scoring seven points in his first seven games back, including a hat trick in old pal Phil Kessel’s return to the TD Garden.

Savard’s bad luck struck again in January when the Bruins vicious injury bug hit him less than a minute into a game against the Chicago Blackhawks. Savard collided with Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews and Savard went down clutching his leg. He was later diagnosed with a slight MCL tear, an injury that did not require surgery but put Savard on the shelf once again.

He returned to the ice just 22 days later but exactly two months after going down with that knee injury Savard was lost for the remainder of the regular season when the Penguins’ Matt Cooke struck Savard in the head with an elbow. Savard was diagnosed with a Grade 2 concussion as many wondered if his career might be at stake. A horrible season for Savard became that much worse.

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Boychuk punishes former Bruin Phil Kessel

The additions of Nathan Horton and Tyler Seguin are certainly the Bruins biggest moves of the offseason but the re-signing of one of their own should have a big impact on the Bruins back end.

Johnny Boychuk was a revelation for the Bruins last season. After spending about a quarter of the season watching from the press box, the patient Boychuk got his opportunity as the injury bug hit the Bruins and his play earned him a permanent role on the Bruins blueline.

In his last full season with Providence, Boychuk scored twenty goals and sixty-five points in seventy-eight games. He did not approach those totals in his first season of active duty at the NHL game but he brought an all around defensive game that opened eyes around the league while showing flashes of why he was a dominate force in the AHL.

The former Eddie Shore award winner, awarded to the AHL’s best defenseman, netted five goals and fifteen points in 51 games for Boston, a decent total when you consider he had previously played in just five total NHL games.

His powerful slapshot always seemed to find it’s way to the net on the powerplay, although not in the net as much as he would have liked, and came to be respected and feared by the opposition.

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The greatest rivalry in hockey was a bit… lacking last season, for lack of a better description. When the Montreal Canadiens came to visit TD Garden there was of course the usual “USA” chants and a healthy dose of “Habs Suck!” but there was something missing about the atmosphere, on and off the ice.

The rivalry has admittedly been mostly one sided in favor of the Canadiens throughout the years as the majority of the Bruins most heart breaking memories came at the hands of the hated Habs.

An iconic photo that sums up the Boston-Montreal rivalry.

The bitterness of the rivalry throughout the years can probably be best summed up in a classic picture of Bruins goalie Jim Henry and Canadiens famed scorer Maurice Richard shaking hands, both looking especially battered and bloody, after Richard’s goal sent the Bruins home in the 1952 playoffs.

Between 1944 and 1988 the Bruins lost to the Canadiens in the playoffs 18 consecutive times. In the 1971 Stanley Cup playoffs the Boston machine was derailed by a young goaltender named Ken Dryden.

In game seven of the 1979 playoffs, the Bruins held a 4-3 lead over the Canadiens as the third period was coming to a close. The Don Cherry coached Bruins were caught with too many men on the ice and the Canadiens went on the powerplay.

Seconds later a Guy Lafleur laser found the back of the Bruins net and the game was tied and a Yvon Lambert overtime goal completed another chapter in the Bruins book of heartbreak as Boston let yet another chance slip away.

Thirteen years after Dryden upset the Bruins, little known goalie Steve Penney started in the playoffs for Montreal and helped the Canadiens sweep a Bruins team that had racked up 49 regular season wins. Penny and Montreal’s three game sweep of the overwhelmingly favored Bruins left Bruins fans bitter once again.

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Watchout Northeast Division: a motivated Lucic awaits you.

During the 2009-10 season the Bruins offense was about as dangerous as a bunny rabbit and at times Boston seemed just as tough.

GM Peter Chiarelli immediately tried to address the offensive issue this offseason by drafting Tyler Seguin and acquiring the big bodied Nathan Horton from the Florida Panthers. Horton’s critics have said he never quite lived up to his potential in Florida but despite a perceived lack of desire Horton still averaged more than 20 goals over the last five seasons.

Seguin has yet to play an NHL game but has great potential and could develop into an offensive force for the Bruins. While bringing in help from the outside could boost Boston, one Bruins player who had a down year last season could be their biggest boost.

A healthy and driven Milan Lucic has the potential to be the offensive force the Bruins need.

The 2009-10 season was disappointing and frustrating for Lucic. A broken finger and a high ankle sprain derailed Lucic’s season, voiding the physicality and intimidating presence that made him successful on the ice.

A high ankle sprain can be a devastating injury for a player, especially a player as bruising as Lucic. The injury changes the way a player plays; going into the corner to battle for the puck, turning quickly to change direction or bracing to throw or take a hit can become mentally difficult as a player worries about aggravating the injury.

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Ryder's teammates need more from him this season.

The Florida Panthers generally do not top any NHL player’s wish list if you asked them which team they would like to get traded if they absolutely had to be traded. Chances are the Panthers would not even be in the top 25.

But Dennis Wideman is probably excited about Florida’s hurricane season, storms that may actually be less harsh than the boos rained down upon Wideman all last season from the TD Garden crowd.

Boston is a city starving for a Cup and has a zero tolerance policy for underperforming players, a fact Wideman can certainly attest to. With Wideman gone, Michael Ryder could soon become the new focal point of the TD Garden crowd’s wrath.

Like most of his teammates Ryder had a down year, his 33 points the second lowest total of his career. His 18 goals scored were also the second lowest total of his career, with two of those goals coming in a regular season finale in Washington in which neither team was even trying.

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Boston expects Wheeler to light the lamp more this coming season.

The topic of Blake Wheeler is a touchy subject for most Bruins fans this summer. The young winger is 6’5” and 200-plus pounds but lacks physicality. Going into the corners or driving towards the net seems to scare Wheeler, a personality trait that is loathed amongst the Bruins fan base.

Many times throughout the season the concept of “offsides” seemed foreign to Wheeler as fans screamed at him for potentially ruining good scoring chances.

When Wheeler and the Bruins could not reach a deal before their arbitration hearing, fans were uneasy. There were rumors that Wheeler could get upwards of $3.5 million, an amount that the majority of fans felt was very undeserved considering the above mentioned drawbacks and his tendency to disappear in the playoffs the past couple of years.

Instead, the arbitrator in Wheeler’s case ruled that Wheeler should earn $2.2 million next season and the Bruins quickly signed the winger to a one year deal.

While Wheeler is a popular punching bag these days, especially now that Wideman is enjoying the Florida coast, the deal is good for both sides.

For Wheeler, the deal provides the young winger with a degree of financial security, a fair payment for his services and another year to prove himself to both Bruins fans and management.

On the Bruins side, the deal gives them a “cheap” winger with potential to score 20-25 goals, perhaps more. Boston’s salary cap is in dire straits and this deal certainly does not help, but compare Wheeler’s production and salary to other Bruins players this year.

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