BRING ON THE PENGUINS……

Kevin Flanagan is a BSD Correspondent covering the Boston Bruins

 

BY KEVIN FLANAGAN

BOSTON SPORTS DESK CORRESPONDENT

BOSTON - Don’t get your hopes up Bruins fans, in the words of General Manager Peter Chiarelli, the Pittsburgh Penguins “are a lock, right?”

They can’t be beat, think about it. They are led by Sid The Kid who when he wants a call he simply looks at the referee with a wink and a nod and he gets the call. His sidekick Evgeni Malkin would be The Franchise in any of the other 29 cities that host an NHL team.

Their defense is led by perennial Norris Trophy candidate Kris Letang who combines silky smooth skills with leading man looks.

If you dialed up central casting for a bad guy on blades you would get the weasely worm that is Matt Cooke. Cooke has made a living taking cheap shots and delivering the type of dirty hits that have led to early exits from the game for talented players like the Bruins own Marc Savard.

It was so obvious to anyone that knows hockey that the Penguins are preordained to win the Stanley Cup that Jarome Iginla vetoed a deal to the Bruins at the trading deadline so he could ride Sid’s coattails to his first championship as a professional.

And they can’t be matched between the pipes with former number one overall draft pick Marc Andre Fleury back stopping the unstoppable Pens. Err, wait…check that, I meant journeyman Tomas Vokoun who was thrust into the starters role after Fleury soiled himself in the opening round against the New York Islanders.

There is an old saying in hockey that if you have two starting goaltenders you don’t have one. Could it be the perfect Penguins have a gaping hole in goal? We shall soon see.

Get ready for the over the top gushing about the powerful Penguins attack, their impressive power play and how the rich got richer at the trading deadline. Brace yourself for the bombastic blowhards and the front running frauds who will carry the Pens water for the next two weeks on the NBC broadcasts.

None of that matters. The Penguins road to their providential promise land runs smack dab through the badlands of Boston. If the Pens expect deliverance they better be ready to fight for it.

The series starts later this week in Pittsburgh. Then and only then will we find out if the paper tiger Penguins will have the nerve to poke the Bear. Bring on the hate. I can’t wait.

 

SAVARD NOT A TORTS FAN !

NEW YORK — Speaking of super weird tweets, Marc Savard thinks John Tortorella should get fired:

Tortorella should get fired right after the game he has ruined all of his players confidence #Richardswillget80pointsnextyear #ByeByeTorts

— marc savard (@MSavvy91) May 23, 2013

The tweet came in response to Tortorella’s decision to make Brad Richards a healthy scratch for Game 4 against the Bruins. This would technically qualify as trash talk, as Savard is still under contract with the Bruins through 2017, though his career is effectively over due to concussions.

(Reprinted from WEEI)

CHIARELLI PRESS CONFERENCE: TIM THOMAS

Opening statement…

The Bruins are announcing the trade of Tim Thomas, you all saw the release, we traded Tim to the New York Islanders, in return for a conditional second round pick in 2014 or 2015. And without getting into specifics, the condition is basically if he plays. There’s a bunch of different ways to couch how he plays or where he plays, when he plays, if he plays.

First, I’d like to talk about Tim, obviously, was a great, significant part of our Stanley Cup winning team. He had a very good career here, and I can’t say enough of his contributions to the team. Two Vezina trophies, a Conn Smythe trophy, the journey he took us on in the Stanley Cup was amazing. I was happy to be along for the ride.

I spoke with Tim to make him aware of this trade and he understood, he knew that this was the type of thing that I had talked to him about earlier on in the summer and in the fall; that this could happen. He was comfortable with it and he sounded quite at peace with himself. Brief conversation, but, I just wanted to talk a little bit about Tim because he was an important member of this team.

As far as this transaction, for the Boston Bruins, what it brings. It gives us some flexibility, from the cap perspective. We had, going into this transaction, we had ample cap room to the tune of about $3.5 million. And we had LTI space from Marc Savard’s contract, which really isn’t the same, but it is in essence cap room, not dollar for dollar. I talked before about being proactive and we felt that this would give us flexibility immediately because we don’t know how many players and when these players will be available. So, it will give us flexibility immediately, it gave us the ability to hedge on the bonus cushion, which if they exceed a certain amount, they eat it in next year’s cap. And next year’s cap is important to us. And it was basically us being proactive and being able to trade him, with the idea that Tim could still play and Tim could be an asset to someone else. In a nutshell, that was the transaction and I can take questions now.

On the background of the trade (Fluto Shinzawa, Boston Globe)…

I’ve had discussions on and off with the Islanders regarding this for a while. I don’t really want to get into detail, but I think I’ve made it known publicly that this is something that we would like to try and do at some point and then throw some back side protection into it with a draft pick. I don’t want to speak for Garth [Snow, Islanders GM], I know they see him as an asset. If he plays, it gives them some cap flexibility because he didn’t know what was going on with [Lubomir] Visnovsky. We’ve had discussions over the past couple of months.

On if the Islanders had to get to the floor by a certain date (Shinzawa, Boston Globe)…

Again, you’d have to ask Garth that. I just know that there’s a chance that Visnovsky wasn’t going to show up.

On the amount of the bonus cushion (Shinzawa, Boston Globe)….

I can’t remember if it was 4.5 or 6.5 percent. I can find out and tell you later.

On how much interest there was in Thomas (Kevin Allen, USA Today)…

Earlier on, there was a lot of interest in Tim, preliminary interest. And then I told the team that this is where his plans are and if they wanted me to check I’d go a little further and I’d talk to his agent, who would talk to Tim to see what his stance was. So, that was earlier on, going into the fall and then during the work stoppage. When the floor came out, where it came out, there wasn’t as much interest, but there were some teams that still made their calls that were looking to sure up their goaltending.

On if Thomas has a possibility to come back at his age (Allen, USA Today)…

If anyone can do it, it can be him, regardless of his conditioning he’s done some pretty special stuff at a later age. I don’t really go beyond that, I don’t know what he’s been doing. At the age of 38, 39, I think it would be just tough physically, mentally to take a year off and come back.

On having a sense that Thomas would come back this season (Allen, USA Today)…

Nothing would suggest to me that he is coming back this season, no. Based on my discussions with the agent, no.

On whether Thomas had burned bridges here and whether it was possible for him to be welcomed back (Bud Barth, Worcester Telegram and Gazette)…

That’s tough to say. I don’t want to speculate on that. Tim can be a character and he can also be principled on a lot of different fronts. I couldn’t tell you, he is, was a heck of a goaltender. He helped us, greatly, win a Cup. I’d liken him sometimes to that left hand pitcher that is a little quirky, but throws 200 plus innings and wins 18 to 20 games a year. He’s valuable to the team and can be a little quirky. I don’t know how it would play out, we never got to that.

On whether the players would have accepted him back (Barth, Worcester Telegram and Gazette)…

I haven’t broached that with them, I hadn’t broached that with them. I don’t plan to do it now. I can’t tell you.

On whether Thomas had changed his mind about coming back to play next season (Joe McDonald, ESPN Boston)…

I probably overstated a little bit at the time because I talked to Bill [Zito, Thomas’ agent] afterwards and it was better stated as coming from Bill, that he’s still contemplating playing next year. I think I said he’s coming back, but it’s a little less strong than that. That hasn’t changed, I just misstated it the first time.

On what he thinks Thomas’ lasting legacy will be in Boston (McDonald, ESPN Boston)…

I don’t know what it will be. I do know that we don’t win the Cup without him. He was a character here, was a terrific goalie, was a great story and he had some interesting side stories that became distractions at times. I had to manage this stuff, but I can’t stray from the fact that this guy won two Vezina trophies and a Conn Smythe and was terrific when we won the Cup.

You guys will write what you want to write, and it will be accurate. But, I was thinking about this, this morning, coming in. Going back through the run we had with Tim and he was outstanding.

On if this is a game-changer for Tuukka Rask, in terms of him getting a contract extension during the season (Mick Colageo, Standard Times)…

This is unconnected to that. If you’re asking me will we do an extension on Tuukka during the season, I don’t comment on that stuff. But, we’ve extended guys before during the season, I’ll leave that at that.

On if an extension for Tuukka and this trade are connected with Tuukka’s performance this season (Colageo, Standard Times)…

Nothing’s imminent, I can leave it at that. This has been kind of been in the works for a while and it just coincidental that Tuukka had a terrific game last night. I guess, breaching my own policy, we will bring up talks with Tuukka at some point in this season, in hoping to extend him.

On watching Tuukka last night giving him any kind of comfort factor in executing the deal (Kevin Paul Dupont, Boston Globe)…

I would call them in separate spheres. I know the perception looks like one follows the other and I was waiting to pull the trigger based on a great game by Tuukka. We’ve been pretty open with Tuukka and Tim as far as when we would see them ending up, I call it a succession plan. We haven’t strayed from that. That game last night for Tuukka was a divisional game, an improving team that we’re going to see a lot and he held the fort in the first period. That gave me a good feeling, but we always had this succession plan and we were going to carry through with it.

On what the scheme or plan is with that money in the pocket as deadline approaches (Dupont, Boston Globe)…

Well, and I may be wrong, I think available players are going to be scarce and because of the condensed season, myself included, we’re trying to figure out kind of that market and when it starts and with the ebbs and flows of it and I wanted to be in a position where if something comes along now, cause sometimes there’s deal where guys try to move guys early. I wanted to be in a position that we would be in the ballgame and we’ve got a good team and that doesn’t mean that we’re gonna go out and get someone because we have this cap space right now but sometimes in my experience, there’s good deals that come early and you have to be in the ballgame and we’re in the ballgame now. That was kind of the proactive approach that we wanted to take there.

On if Tim Thomas taught you anything about goalies (Dupont, Boston Globe)…

I’m in that boat with the bunch that can’t figure them out. If you can remember I am the one that went out and got Manny Fernandez. What I’ve learned from Tim is that compete, you really have to look at the compete in goalies. There’s the size, the technical stuff, all that stuff, but if the compete’s there then that’s a position where you can work your way through it and Tim had more than the compete but his compete was outstanding and it actually watching him progress and watching the compete, it made me look at goalies in a different light.

On this being the most unique situation he’s dealt with so far (Joe Haggerty, CSNNE.com)…

You know what, it’s up there and it may be the most but I’ve got two or three that I can put right there alongside that just you guys don’t know about and it may not be here, it may be in my other careers as Assistant GM or agent but this is probably the most prominent because it’s the most prominent player.

On this being a challenging decision because the situation was so public and it was hard to keep issues behind closed doors (Haggerty, CSNNE.com)…

Yeah, it did. That whole thing might distinguish it from the other two or three that I refer to. There was a lot of issues that really never came up before, for me at least in managing, and looking back it was  Interesting and you have to kind of look at it quite differently than the conventional way. And I don’t know how many times I engaged with Tim on the actual principles of his beliefs and it turned into that you know, ultimately it turned into that at times and he’s a smart guy, but yeah I think that’s probably the distinguishing feature, the fact that the social media platform has put a different spin on managing.

On what Peter’s gut is saying about ever collecting that second round pick from the Islanders (Eric Duhatschek, Globe and Mail)…

Well, Eric I wouldn’t have told you that I’d be in this situation, my gut wouldn’t have told you that I’d be in this situation. So I don’t know. Like as I said, someone asked me earlier about can Tim play at this age in a year’s time. Look at his story.

On if he ever received any hints or a vibe for Tim to come back (Duhatschek, Globe and Mail)…

Well, he was at peace. He was walking his dogs and he sounded like he was in a good spot. I had bugged him enough through his agent leading up into the season because there was a lot of teams that were bugging me so it was very clear to me about his intentions this year. I guess I’ll put a little twist on the terms of this deal; it’s this season and next is where the picks are attached to so you never know.

CLAUDE JULIEN PRESS CONFERENCE

BOSTON BRUINS GENERAL MANAGER PETER CHIARELLI AND HEAD COACH CLAUDE JULIEN AT NOON

Peter Chiarelli opening statement… When we made the commitment to try and keep the core of this team together following our Cup win, we embarked on signing some key players before free agency and we feel that we’ve come a long way to keeping this critical mass together for this team, because I believe it’s a strong team and will continue to be a strong team. One of the core components of this – of this critical mass, is sitting beside me in our coach, Claude Julien, and we’re happy to announce his extension today. As a manager I know when I want to add a player to our mix, I know when I have complete confidence in Claude and his staff in that players will become better and it helps, it helps me as a manager and – you can look at the progression of players that we’ve brought into this lineup and has made this team better and it’s a testament to Claude and his staff, so that makes my job a lot easier. Over his tenure here he’s shown the ability to adapt. He has a very, very disciplined team – and that’s again a testament to his coaching. Yet at the same time his team is a very tough team, and that’s a very difficult balance to maintain and he’s been able to do that with success. Technically he’s one of the best if not the best coaches in the league. A couple years ago we asked him, we needed more team speed. Sometimes it’s hard to just go out and get team speed as a manager and he changed his neutral zone breakout and we had more team speed and that helped us jump start us into the – into winning the Cup. I believe we have one of the best breaking out teams in the league – it’s like clockwork and when it’s going it’s a beauty to watch. I believe we have one of the best defensive zone coverage’s in the league. And that’s, again, a testament to him. And having said all of these defensive accomplishments, you only have to look back at our goals scored over the few years – the last few years that we have the ability to score too and to defend. So all these areas I’m very happy with and again it’s a testament to Claude and his ability to adapt and change when he sees the game trending in certain ways, we have discussions over the course of the year and over the summer and he’s able to adapt so I think that’s a great attribute of Claude. So having said all of that I’m very happy to announce his extension but I want to remind you of one thing. We’re keeping this core together. I feel strongly in this core. I feel strongly in Claude. We will continue to improve, and we will continue to look at all facets of our game to improve. That’s our mandate, and that’s my mandate and we will continue to do that and we’re happy to have Claude along for the ride.

Claude Julien opening statement… Well first of all, I want to thank the Jacobs family for obviously, as owners they also have the confidence to keep me here and I want to thank them and obviously Peter and his group for showing that same confidence in me. Number one, I’m extremely happy to remain here in Boston. Love the organization, love the city, I think my family’s extremely happy here so I couldn’t ask for a better situation for myself personally. Having said that, I think the one thing that I said when I first came here was my goal was to try and win a Stanley Cup here in Boston. We’ve accomplished that. Now my goal is to win another Cup for this Boston franchise. I remain hungry. I think I remain committed and dedicated to understanding that the expectations here in Boston are always very high and I love that kind of standard because again that’s what makes you a better coach, that’s what makes you a better team. And I intend on making that happen and continue to make that happen as we move forward here. So again I want to thank everyone here for giving me that confidence in moving forward I’m extremely happy to remain here and being able to continue to coach the guys that I really enjoy coaching.
On the assistant coaching staff being renewed (Kevin Dupont)… Peter Chiarelli We’re going to sit down – Claude and myself – and evaluate. I’m satisfied, I’m happy with the job that they’ve done but we’re going to sit down and evaluate and go through our coaches and I’d anticipate getting them resigned at some point this summer.
On the hesitation of maybe not signing Claude Julien last summer following the Cup (Brendan Hall)… Peter Chiarelli There was really no hesitation. He was entering into – this summer he was entering into the final year of his term so that’s kind of what prompted that. But there was really no hesitation. That’s why we did it now.
On what accomplishments – besides the Cup – his is proud of with Boston and what the organization has been able to accomplish during his time here (Joe Haggerty)… Claude Julien Well, there’s a lot of things, I think number one was my first year that I came to Boston and coming off a rough the season the season before, and coming in there and losing Patrice Bergeron probably around ten games in, Marc Savard at the end of the year when he had that back injury and you had to rely on guys like David Krejci was in his first full pro year I guess in Boston to lead the charges and then what we had was a hard working team, a real blue-collar type team and those are the things that I think the fans remember from that year is how hard we worked to make the playoffs and bringing Montreal to seven games. Game 6 here where people talked about it quite a bit. I think that was great, it’s not always about winning Stanley Cups but also certain things that make the fans proud of their team, and I think that was my first year, I really felt proud of that group of guys who, maybe talent wise we didn’t really pair up with most of the great teams but we certainly worked hard to make the playoffs and then deserved to make them. So that was I think a good starting point and afterwards, I think that gave Peter and his group a clear vision of what we needed to do to move forward because I think we had gotten the most out of our players that year and they were able to identify what needed to be improved and since then, have done a great job of filling into his holes and we just keep getting better and better and right now every year we’ve been a very competitive team. There’s been a lot of things that have been accomplished. You talk about winning the Cup but also how we’ve done it. We’ve had our share of disappointments, which we’ve talked about a lot but at the same time it’s also made our team stronger and so there’s a lot of things that happen during the season that sometimes can appear negative and they are at the time, but by the end of the year they become positive things and I think our players have done a great job of adapting as Peter mentioned, we’ve had to adapt to certain things at times during the season that had to – that would make us a better team moving forward. The group of players and the leadership group that we have is extremely good at buying in and making sure that the whole team follows. So there’s a lot of good going on here and I think that’s why Peter has mentioned he’s trying to keep this group together. And having said that, as a coach I also know we have to keep improving and there’s certain areas that have to get better and we’re going to keep working on those areas and certainly make this team a real exciting team for the years to come and also a team that’s going to try and thrive to win another Cup for this city.
On Peter Chiarelli’s reaction to the New York Rangers getting Rick Nash (FOX 25 Sports)… Peter Chiarelli Well he’s a good – real good – player. Very good goal scorer. Big, strong player. I don’t really get into details as far as our negotiations, our discussions with Columbus. The fact that the Rangers got him, I think it’s going to help their team. And they’re obviously in our conference and we play them more than we would play a team in the Western Conference so – goes to my earlier comment, “We’re going to continue to improve,” I don’t want it to be misconstrued by just keeping the core intact that we’re standing pat here and when rivals make moves like that, when Philly has the offer sheet on [Shea] Weber – I don’t lose sight of that stuff and knowing that these are good teams that are getting better. So our foundation, our team right now, is quite good. And we got some things that we may do at a later point, we may wait until later this season. We’re not standing still. And with the Weber thing, the Nash thing, those are things that we certainly don’t ignore – we don’t react right away – but we certainly don’t ignore.
On the core of the team being kept together and the challenges to bringing back the same group (Mike Loftus)… Claude Julien That’s a good question because the one thing you try to do as a coach is you try and keep things fresh. And there’s times where – in the season, coaches are going to sit together and say “Okay these are the kind of things we want to accomplish as a team, now what kind of things can we bring into practice that’ll be different, that’ll give them a fresh look instead of saying here we go again?” Same thing as Peter mentioned earlier, we changed our neutral zone regroup so we could get more speed and every year you try and attack certain areas that will maybe change just a little bit to give guys a fresher look and that’s how you keep your team interested and intact and hopefully competitive.
On if he will release how many years the contract extension is for (Jim Gomez)… Peter Chiarelli We’re not going discuss that. On if he knows what Dougie Hamilton’s status would be if there were a lockout (Steve Harris)… Peter Chiarelli I don’t. But what I can tell you from a previous, a previous work stoppage is that those players that are under 20 and have been in the Canadian Hockey League generally go back.
On if Hamilton could come back if he goes to that league (Steve Harris)… Peter Chiarelli Again, that’s part of the transitions rules. If there’s a work stoppage, all that stuff will get sorted out but I don’t have anything – any more clarity on that other than what I’ve known in the past. But just to your point on Hamilton, you’re asking about refreshing and all of that stuff. One of the things that we’ve accomplished that Claude has accomplished is we’ve brought youth into our lineup and allowed them to develop and succeed rather than throw them into the fire right away and all – Dougie Hamilton, we would hope that he would get into our lineup and fall into that category. Our forward group’s average age is 27 years old, we still have a young forward group so they’re still growing too and they’re learning from these challenges including the disappointment from last year and Claude has been good with these younger guys and it’s – I’m not a coach but Claude can speak to this – I think it’s more difficult sometimes to at this stage that mid-twenties stage for these players to really harness them and get them to where you want them to be as opposed to a veteran who’s been around a bit.
On Julien and the coaching staff’s ability to lead and the players understanding of Julien’s coaching style and leadership (Mike Petraglia)… Peter Chiarelli Leadership in a coach manifests itself different ways with different people. To me, I like to talk about a coach’s persona and his persona here in a venue like this and his persona in the room. And it’s about commanding respect, and it’s about motivating the players in a respectful way and a professional way. It’s about the ideas, the formats, the approaches. It’s all professional and it’s all to an end, and there’s a plan. And Claude’s ability to have that persona and to have players respect what he stands for, and to then be able to deliver that message in a way that engages them, that’s what I see as leadership and that’s what Claude has. And part of that leadership – a large part of that leadership – is character.
Claude Julien Well the one thing, and you’ve probably some of you have probably heard him say that before, one thing I’ve always believed in is a fine line that exists between respect and authority. And I think respect goes both ways and you, I think with our players it’s pretty obvious that, you know, I have respect for them and they seem to have respect for me and yet, when it’s time to put your foot down and show some authority, because you’ve accomplished that, there’s belief. And I think our guys believe in what we’re trying to do and there’s times where I’m certainly able to walk around the room and joke around with the players and have a little bit of fun with them. But there’s also that time where game time comes around and it’s about business and we’re able to turn that switch on to that authority part and the respect that I think is extremely important. And that still exists to this day in this dressing room and I realize as a coach, when you’ve been here for five years and you’re going to be here for more, you got to continue to make that thing happen and that’s a challenge that I take on every year and that I’ve been able to maintain.
On the improvements the other Eastern Conference teams are making (Mike Giardi)… Claude Julien Well, at the end of the day, when you look at it, it’s about team. And whether certain players come in your lineup, it doesn’t mean that it’s always going to work. I think, you’ve seen teams in the past that have loaded up with extremely skilled players and yet, nothing was accomplished that they had hoped for. So, I’m one of those guys that believes in, and I think my example was my first year here. If you really look at the talent we had and that first year compared to now, and we still made the playoffs, it’s because of team. And that goes a long way. So they can do that, and there’s no doubt they improve, but they still have to show it and my confidence right now is that this team is capable of playing against any team in this league and still with this lineup that we have right now, it still is, and if there’s improvements to be made, I have full confidence that Peter and his group have always gone out and made the appropriate changes that needed to be made for us to keep staying competitive.
On how he has evolved as a coach (Douglas Flynn)… Claude Julien I think you evolve every year that you coach and, you know, I’m one of those guys that always said that the minute you feel that you know it all, is when you got to retire. Most of the guys that know it all are retired, right? But I keep trying to improve every year. Whether it’s through making changes and whether it’s something you guys see or whether it’s things I do in the dressing room or preparation or whatever. You’re always trying to improve and changes things. As I said, keep them fresh. But, I think I’ve yet to have that opportunity with being here five years to grow immensely as a coach. My philosophy, or my approach to the game hasn’t changed, although I’ve tweaked certain areas to make ourselves better but you go in with a certain personality and a certain belief and you stick with that. And having said that, it doesn’t mean you don’t change things but you stick with your philosophy. And I believe that a well-balanced team is a good team. Again, Peter mentioned defensively, our team has always been pretty solid, and offensively, I think our team has been pretty solid as well. When you look at where we finished in goals scored, areas we need to improve, I think we’ve talked about it quite a bit – we’re very aware of it and we’re going to continue to work on that part of our game. And we’re going to continue to make it better.
On if there are any more team singings or moves he expects to make this summer (Joe Haggerty)… Peter Chiarelli I think there’s a good chance that this will be our roster going into camp. I think there’s a good chance. There’s a lot of the summer left, there’s a lot of stuff that has to happen on a macro basis too. So, I really, if anything right now, there’s – in my mind – there’s more uncertainty as far as the global landscape and us in the global landscape. I guess what I’m saying is, I think anything can happen depending on how things unfold, but there’s a good chance that this will be our roster going into the training camp. On the challenge of coaching the team this year without Tim Thomas (Joe Haggerty)… Claude Julien Well, you know, we lost a guy by the name of Marc Savard who led our team in scoring every year and we were able to adapt. I see that as a same kind of a challenge. There’s no doubt, nobody’s going to deny what Tim’s done here for our hockey club over the years but we’ve mentioned that Tuukka is a very capable goaltender. He’s got his opportunity to showcase that this year and I think when I saw Khudobin play, whether it was training camp or whether it was when he was with us that game in Ottawa, practice, you can see a goaltender who has not only improved but has matured. And I honestly have a lot of confidence in our goaltending and, you know, obviously, we drafted, we’ve signed a few goaltenders as well. I think our depth is there. I don’t really see that as an issue. And that’s because I have the confidence in what I have in front of me right now.
On the progress of the players who have been injured (Mike Loftus)… Peter Chiarelli I haven’t talked to our training staff lately, but Nathan Horton has been cleared for contact and by all accounts from our medical staff will be ready to play when it comes time to play. Adam McQuaid has been completely cleared. [Tyler] Seguin is on his road to recovery in the original time frame and it may be sooner than that. And the same applies for [Anton] Khudobin.
On Patrice Bergeron’s status (Mike Loftus)… Peter Chiarelli Yeah, that’s completely healed; I think that’s it.
On his longevity with the Bruins and how his stay relates to what Lindy Ruff and Barry Trotz do in regards to longevity with an NHL team (Kevin Dupont)… Claude Julien Well there’s no doubt right now they’ve [Ruff and Trotz] have to be my idols. I’d love to be able to do the same thing they did. And I say that sincerely. I love it here and my goal is to continue to coach here and I’m going to do the best I can in order to make that happen. And I think some of the things I just mentioned about when you try to keep yourself and your players fresh, you know, when you continue to earn the respect of the players by being the type of person that you should be and them understanding your role as well, I think that’s important and that’s what will create those kinds of things. But personality of a coach is one thing with the players, but the other thing too is, I really think that, making sure you evolve with the game. I think it’s changed over the years, we all know that. And, I look back at a guy like Scotty Bowman who lasted, even though he went through different teams as well, he lasted a long time as a great coach because he was bale to adapt with the game. And, you know, I’m not that narrow-minded that I don’t realize that stuff. And I continue to try and learn every time or every year that I’m out there. And there’s certain teams that will make changes and, you know, Peter mentioned the example of us changing our neutral zone regroup – well, teams all of a sudden see that and they have to adapt to how to defend against that. Same thing happens from our side of it. When teams either defend a certain way or attack a certain way, you’ve got to evolve with the game and find ways to get through that. And I think that’s what you have to do as a coach to remain consistent, is keep things fresh and make sure that players know that you are trying to make your team better all the time. And that’s what, that would be what I would try and do to try and keep some stability in my personal life and remain here as long as I can.

THOMAS KEEPING BRUINS GUESSING ON 2012-13 SEASON

TIM THOMAS DONE ?

BY KEVIN HARRIMAN

BOSTON SPORTS DESK PUBLISHER

Just when you think Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas can’t shock you any more, he finds a way to shock you.

ESPN reported in the early hours of Friday morning that Thomas may be taking the 2012-13 season despite being under contract (the last year of his contract).  Early indications were that this was a negotiating ploy by Thomas and his agent. Talk radio ran with it during morning drive time and who could blame them.  Thomas’ bold stances during the 2011-12 season were frequent and in your face.

But following Peter Chiarelli‘s afternoon press conference, the real reason for Thomas’ time off was revealed: “family issues”…Boston Sports Desk was made aware of Thomas’ family issues in late December  2012 but chose not to speculate on a personal family situation. Those issues are now leaking out and Chiarelli has confirmed “family issues” as the reason for Thomas’ possibly taking the 2012-13 season off.

In mid-December, Thomas’ wife removed their children from their schools and hockey teams and moved the family to Colorado. Quality of life was given as the reason for the move. Thomas’ wife no longer felt comfortable with all of the notoriety they were receiving  and the time demands on Thomas and the family.

Portions of Chiarelli’s Press Conference are printed below and paint an accurate picture of where Thomas is coming from:

On the reports of Tim Thomas possibly sitting out next season… Peter Chiarelli - Yeah. Tim has came to me towards the beginning, middle of May through his agent and has said that he is seriously considering taking the year off. The reasons why, I’m not exactly sure, but he did give some reasons regarding the family, which obviously I respect; his family – spend more time with his family. So as of right now I’m operating under the premise that there’s a strong possibility that he’ll be taking the year off and we’d have to go about our business without Tim Thomas for the year.

Now, what I can tell you about some of the logistics and the details surrounding what would happen if, come the start of the year, if he wasn’t playing I would have to suspend him. His cap number would still be on the cap. I read something today that it wouldn’t be – it would still be on the cap.

We would have relief through [Marc] Savard being on the cap, so it would be almost a wash that way, but he would still be on the cap. And that’s the way we’d proceed with the year. I know there’s been some players who’ve had long stretches in their careers, and then including some long playoff years – and when they come to the end of their deals — and I think of [Scott] Niedermayer, I think of [Nicklas] Lidstrom over the years, [Teemu] Selanne – where they take some time to decide if they want to play again. Even Niedermayer, I believe, was still under contract. These things come up and these things happen and this is what’s happening with Tim right now. And we have to deal with it and we will.

On whether Thomas has given him any indication on when he’ll make a final decision… Peter Chiarelli –  No. I almost have to operate under the premise as if he isn’t coming back. I’ve had some discussions with Tim and he’s told me that he wants to play in the Olympics the following year, so I’ll have some more discussions with him later on. We’ve got two very capable goalies in Tuukka [Rask] and [Anton] Khudobin. So I’d be more than satisfied if that’s who we have to go with.

On whether Thomas has said anything about the future after next season… Peter Chiarelli  -Besides the Olympics, no. He did say; what I can tell you is that he’s not going to comment on it. He may post something at some point on his Facebook. Beyond that – that’s what I can tell you.

On if the Bruins are considering looking for a veteran goalie outside of the organization… Peter Chiarelli –  No, as I said in my previous comment, I’d be more than satisfied with Tuukka and Khudobin as our goaltenders.

On if Tim Thomas’ no movement clause expires after July 1st are there any transactions that the Bruins would consider… Peter Chiarelli  – That would be something we’d look at. Sure, that would be something we’d look at. You do have that flexibility and there is the element of teams trying to reach the floor – salary floor- and I don’t know what that will be in the next deal, so there’s a little bit of uncertainty there, too. So, yeah that would be something that we would look at.

On when Chiarelli learned about Tim Thomas taking a season off and if he was surprised… Peter Chiarelli Yeah – yeah there was. But, I respect what he’s trying to do and if he wants to spend more time with his family, I respect that too. But I was surprised originally.

On how this effects Thomas’ trade value… Peter Chiarelli –  I don’t know. Obviously, it diminishes any leverage that you have or some leverage that you have, but I’ll tell you what, he’s a world-class goalie, so he’d help somebody in a big way if he decided to play.

On if Chiarelli has thought through the logistics of a possible Thomas suspension… Peter Chiarelli  – Yeah I have, and there’s probably the ability for me to do it for the whole year right from the get-go. I don’t know if I would do that or not, but based on an arbitration I went through with [Alexei] Yashin and then some other precedents, I would probably be able to do that from the get-go. I don’t know if I would do it. You’d certainly want some certainty when you’re making decisions, so that’d be why I would do it. In addition, I would be able to toll the contract, which would mean I would acquire the same terms of service in the subsequent year. Again, these are just things that I’m able to do.

On whether the team would still own the rights to Thomas if his contract is tolled… Peter Chiarelli  – That’s what tolling means. When I say, ‘I can toll it’ that means that I would have that ability to decide if I wanted the contract to expire or if it to go for another year.

On whether Thomas’ cap number stays on for the 2012-13 season… Peter Chiarelli  – Yes.

On whether Thomas’ cap number stays on for 2013-14 season… Peter Chiarelli –  Yes. It would be the same terms. It would be the same contract for another year. So I have the ability to do that and when I choose to do it – up for debate a little bit, but I could do it at the eleventh hour. Again, these are just tools that I can use – I’m not saying I would do that. It’s just; these are things that I can do.

On if he expects a final decision from Thomas concerning coming back… Peter Chiarelli –  I haven’t had that discussion with Tim yet. The approach that I’ve been taking is that he’s told me this. When someone says, ‘seriously considering’ it’s like ‘whoa, he’s probably going to do it.’ Looking at the circumstances of his last couple years and what he’s told me about [being] tired and his family, give him some time and maybe touch base with him at some point just before July 1. We’re not seriously cramped from the cap perspective. As I said, we’ve got Marc Savard on LTI (Long-term injured reserve), so he’s at four, Tim’s at five so do the math, maybe you’re a million short, so we’re not seriously disabled there. So, it’s something that I’ll approach delicately with Tim.

On the effect a year off would have on Tim Thomas’ play… Peter Chiarelli  – Well, I mean it depends on the person. We had, if you look at my experience, we had Yashin miss a year. He was obviously younger than Tim, in Ottawa. We had [Dominik] Hasek – I believe Hasek missed a year and he might have been the same age as Tim. So, I mean, it depends on the athlete. I would think just at first blush it would be hard for a 38-year-old to not play and to come back. I would think that.

On if Chiarelli, despite respecting Thomas’ decision, felt disappointment at the prospect of a goaltender in the prime of his career, taking the season off given the cap and the Bruins strength in goal… Peter Chiarelli –  Yeah, a little disappointed. A little more than a little, I’m disappointed. But these things happen and you have to roll with them and you have to deal with them. When someone talks about their family and stuff, you have to respect that. That’s really all I can say on it. You have to deal with it. I don’t think we’re too disabled, if any, on the cap side. Sure, that was a strength of our team and this happens as years progress. Players take over certain roles and that’s what would happen here.

On whether Thomas is seeking a contract extension… Peter Chiarelli  – No. And I asked [agent] Bill [Zito] that question and no, no. That’s to an earlier point about if it’s coincidental about the trade deadline. No, I don’t think there’s anything mischievous from his point about this. I really felt that it was what he said. Again, I’ve seen this stuff happen with players who may be not as definitive as Tim. But after a long couple years at this particular point in their career, they’re like, ‘I’ve got to take some time before I decide I’m coming back.’ Tim has pretty much said that he’s not, but people change their minds also.

SAVARD RETURNS TO BOSTON GARDEN

Marc Savard prior to B's vs Rangers @ The Garden

BY KEVIN HARRIMAN

Boston Sports Desk Publisher

BOSTON – Injured Bruin Marc Savard stopped by The Garden Saturday morning to announce that he had hired a luxury suite through 2014 for area children with head injuries.

Savard explains his reason for doing this. ” Well, I mean, I know what I’ve gone through and what I’ve been through lately. At this present time, I’d like to do something for Boston because, you know, they’ve been so great to me

“I just felt that I know what these kids are going through in some departments….[I saw] Children’s Hospital, the head trauma department, and I just saw that this was something minor that I could do to put a smile on their face and their parents’ and stop in a couple times a year to say hi. “

Savard was going to make this announcement last week but travel issues prevented him from getting out of Canada.

Savard looked good when addressing the media outside the Bruins locker room. You would never know the issues he is still dealing with from his concussion problems.

He looks like he could skate first line this afternoon for Boston. But that is not going to happen today or maybe ever again. Savard explained to the media that he is still having short term memory issues along with still feeling the effects of a constant weather change in Canada.

“I’m doing good. I’m feeling better. I have my days still, but I’m doing a lot better. I’m happy, ” said Savard.

“ I’m with my family and with my kids and going to watch them play hockey and getting a whole different side of life. Watching the parents, too, in minor hockey is quite special. It’s a whole learning experience for myself. On if he’d been the locker room… I didn’t get in there this morning because it’s a big game. I know how that works, so I just didn’t bother. But I’ve seen a few of them jogging around here and saying hi, and I ran into Gregory Campbell last night and a couple guys. I’m staying out of the way today, but I’ll see them after. “

Savard went on to tell the media that he has not decided on retirement yet but will revisit the subject following the season.

” I just want to kind of take this whole year to see how everything goes throughout the year and really gauge myself” reflected Savard. “ I tried to work out a couple times this week, just little bike rides here, and it didn’t feel that bad. We’ll see how that goes and just keep building off it. “

Let’s just hope Savard is healthy at some point in the near future.

SAVARD PRESS CONFERENCE VIDEO

Marc Savard prior to B's vs Rangers @ The Garden

 

SAVARD: “I’m happy if it’s over”

“If I don’t play again, I’m happy. I’m going to give it the rest of the year before I think about retirement. “

MARC SAVARD. PRESS CONFERENNCE

“I’m still day to day as far as dealing with things. I’m having short term memory issues. Mornings area really hard. To get going and the weather changes in Canada have been tough on me.”

CLAUDE JULIEN ADDRESSES THE MEDIA

Friday, September 16, 2011
CLAUDE JULIEN PRESS CONFERENCE
BOSTON BRUINS HEAD COACH CLAUDE JULIEN
On how it feels to be back…
It feels good actually — kind of ready to get going again. The summer’s been a great summer, been a lot of fun but for us it’s time to turn the page and get back to work. Our players seem to be in the like frame of mind in regards to that, and that’s what we like to see. And we just got to go out there and prove that we’re ready to go and understanding that there’s going to be challenges along the way. I mean Stanley Cup champions means teams playing at their best against you every night, so we understand that part of it and hopefully we’re going to get ourselves ready and respond properly.

On how players are looking after testing…
I don’t have all the final details about the testing yet, but according to what I’ve heard from John Whitesides everybody was pretty well in good shape. There’s always areas where certain players are going to have to pick up a little bit, but as far as our veterans are concerned when you’ve only got a couple of months off, I don’t think they had the time to get out of shape too much and for the most part I think our guys did a great job at taking some time off to rest and making sure they came back to camp in pretty good shape because they look good right now.

On the team having the potential to improve…
I think so. I would probably say that not just the players that were on this team, but we had some players we called “the black aces” last year where they saw a lot of things happening and they were with us for the whole playoffs and I think they’ve got a lot of opportunity to grow and being around. But when you look at the players that we had, whether it’s Tyler [Seguin] now that he’s got a year under his belt and Steven Kampfer was one of those guys and [Adam] McQuaid really did take a big step from the year before and we’re hoping that’s going to continue as far as our group is concerned.

On the young players still establishing themselves and growing…
I think the one thing that is for sure is that we’ve still got a young team. When you look at players on our top two lines generally are all young. And it got a lot younger with Marc Recchi retiring, but somebody else is going to step in there and replace and it’s probably going to be a young player as well. So no doubt there’s room to grow still and a lot of it will be experience and last year with the experience from the playoffs is certainly serve us well this year, if they want it to serve us well.

On what’s expected of Tyler Seguin this year…
Just the experience from last year is going to be a big help to Tyler and I think in this case now last year was a lot of “what could we do for him” and we certainly want to give him that opportunity to grow with our team and at the pro level and we helped him through that with different decisions that we made along the way. I think right now more of it will be in his court as far as what he learned last year and what he’s willing to really come out here this year with a lot of confidence and with that experience combined. We know his skill level. If he’s able to showcase that, and on a more consistent basis, he’s going to have a bigger impact on our hockey club. We expect him to.

On the new guys fitting in…
We expect him to fit in and we talk about training camp here, [it’s] still a matter of opportunity to find their spot within the team. We know what we expect out of them and now it’s their chance to show in those areas we feel they can fill so [Joe] Corvo’s been one of those guys that’s been around for quite a while and I think with experience he’s really managed his game well as far as excelling in the areas of strength that he has and really working on the other areas that maybe weren’t his biggest strength and he’s turned out to be a pretty stable defensemen capable of competing hard and battling in our end. And certainly, offensively, we think he’ll move the puck well and his shot and that’s what we want to see on our power play.

On Tuukka Rask’s readiness after surgery…
Right now, he’s ready to go and whether he has a little bit of stiffness, which is a normal thing for anybody coming off surgery we’ll be able to tell more as we grind through camp here, but right now there’s no limitations for Tuukka and we’re going to go about as if he’s 100-percent.

On Nathan Horton’s health…
As we speak right now everything seems as if it’s a go and no red flags yet.

On Marc Savard’s status…
I can’t really answer that because I don’t really know all the details about that. That would be more between Peter and our medical staff. When a player is out for a long term kind of injury, I’m basically kind of pushed out of that until it gets closer to. It’ll be hard for me to answer that precisely.

On expecting to see Savard around the rink…
Not until somebody tells me. He was a part of our team last year and his injury was a big blow to him and to the team, but we made sure we made him a part of our Stanley Cup celebration we hope to see him down the road. And again, he was a part of our hockey club and we haven’t forgotten him.

On whether team chemistry is still a big topic since the team established it last season…
Not really, because you’ve got to start all over again. And sure, we’ve got an advantage having all those players back again, but when you bring two, three, maybe four players into your lineup it still a good portion of your team that has to adapt, because if two of them don’t fit in, just that alone can really disrupt the chemistry on your team so I’m certainly not going to ignore that part of it. I think that part of it was probably one of the major reasons why were able to accomplish what we did because we just played for each other so hard and so well and just the respect for each other that we’re not only able to play for each other, but guys in there were able to push each other and that’s a part that I felt was always important when you look at teams that have had success. Like I said, that’s not going to be ignored.

On the importance of keeping in check…
I think it goes for more than just those guys keeping in check. I really feel that we’ve got some real strong leaders in that dressing room that are common sense guys, we’ve got guys that a coach like [me] really appreciates and don’t get too high and too over confident and remain humble and understand that the start of this season is a whole new season and what we accomplished last year doesn’t really matter this year. It’s going to be starting from scratch and building our team up and going through the highs and lows of the season and battle through it and work your way into a playoff spot and being ready to battle for it. So, there’s a lot of things that need to happen over the course of the season for us to have success again. As we mentioned earlier the famous Stanley Cup hangover that everybody talks about, I don’t think why we shouldn’t be different than everybody else. Where we’ve got to be better at is how we’re going to handle it. Hopefully with the example that we’ve had, we’ve got to understand that obviously it is a real thing and that we need to be ready this year more than even last year. We need to up our game just like every team is going to up theirs against us.

On Benoit Pouliot’s role on the team…
I think again this is his second or third chance I think it’s an opportunity for him to fit into our hockey club. But when we made that decision we really felt that he had a lot of things going for him that blended well with our hockey club. He’s skill level is a high skill level his size is a guy with good size obviously and he put on some weight even this year. We felt that even last year in Montréal he was one of the guys that was most physical on their hockey club. I think he was third on the team in hits. So having the surround of the rest of our team we feel he’s going to be a good fit. We said that about Nathan Horton last year when people questioned the part of his game was consistent. I think consistency has been said about Pouliot. And Nathan worked his way through with our hockey club. We really feel Pouliot will do the same. And with the right surroundings I think he’s got a great attitude and he’s a player that’s been liked everywhere he’s gone so we just feel like he’s going to be a good fit. Now if that’s going to happen is going to be up to him to prove that he fit in well and he’s going to have training camp to prove that to us.

On Pouliot coming from a rival team and it having an affect on him…
There’s no doubt it’s a little bit more special. I mean when you’re in a close rivalry like that when you go back and play your old team, as you can ask Michael Ryder, it was a strange feeling but at the same time you know what’s going to be happening. It’s not like you’re going into something and telling yourself I didn’t realize how big a rivalry this was. He understands it and I have a feeling he’s probably going to be a little more comfortable on our side. We hope so anyways.

On what Tim Thomas can improve on…
I think Tim’s biggest challenge will be to duplicate what he did last season. You know if he ever comes close to doing that we know we’re going to have a good goaltender because his season. Last year was outstanding and he’s one of those players that like everybody else has to be willing to up his game. And “up his game” doesn’t necessarily mean be better, but just to be as consistent as he was last year and to me it means he’s going to have to up his game and Timmy’s capable of doing what his mind sets to it.

On how training camp has changed throughout the years…
If guys aren’t in shape they really standout when it comes to looking at the whole group. It’s one of those games where so much has changed. I don’t think they were making the kind of money back in the older days as they are today. A lot of those guys had to work throughout the summers and there was a reason why they didn’t always come in great shape or at least cardio-wise maybe gained some weight along the way. But the game’s changed guys are obviously rewarded well enough and rewarded handsomely that part of their job is to make sure they stay in shape in the summer time and most of the guys do it really well. And we’ve been fortunate enough to have our guys here buy into that well and we haven’t had very many disappointments through the course I’ve been here and that just shows the quality of the people we have in our organization and on our team

On how the groupings were put together…
That’s a good question. The roster that we made a lot of it was that I tried to mix veterans with younger players. What that allows is the younger players to at least showcase his talent instead of putting three young guys against three veterans it’s a little unfair you want to give those players an opportunity to showcase what they’re capable of doing and they can probably do that if they’re surrounded with guys that are a little more experienced. So what we try to do is use that and this year you saw [Dougie] Hamilton with [Zdeno] Chara and I think he’s a guy with great potential being a first round pick and he can benefit playing with Zdeno and you saw other guys too we’ve paired up with some that we feel guys that can be on each side of them whether it’s a centermen or winger that’ll either dish them the puck or that will be able to dish the puck offensively that will really be able to see their skill level at the NHL level. And some of the guys were good passers we sometimes put those guys with guys that are good shooters, so they can pass the puck to those guys. The other part of the team was to try to balance them out the best we could. As you know we have a black and white game in Providence, and I want to try to balance the teams out the best way we could and at least make that an interesting game when it comes time to that. So we try to do both those things in order to make it an interesting and good camp.