Goon’s Ramblings 8-13-2006

Harry Sinden Steps Down as President of Boston Bruins
Sinden Steps Down
On could say that 8-09-2006 was a very good day for the Boston Bruins hockey team as well as for their beleaguered fans. Long time president and general manager Harry Sinden resigned as president of the Boston Bruins. Harry Sinden will stay on as advisor to the Bruins, but I can only hope that they use little if any of his advice unless team owner Jeremy Jacobs wants to continue being a mediocre hockey team.

Harry Sinden has been at the helm as the Boston Bruins a once proud hockey franchise have been systematically run into the ground and become the laughing stock of the NHL. It’s a good move because the Bruins can’t continue to be a horrible team in a very competitive Northeastern Division. Last season the Boston Bruins failed to make the playoffs finishing 13th in the East out of 15 teams, that folks is unacceptable.

Breaking down the numbers further: The last season the Bruins made the playoffs was 2004 when the Boston Bruins were taken out of the playoffs by the punch less Montreal Canadians in seven games. In fact the Bruins have failed to get past the second round (missing the playoffs three times including last season) since 1999 when they lost to the Buffalo Sabres in six games.

The last season was totally a disaster as the Bruins fired their head coach, General Manager and shipped two very good hockey players west. The last straw was probably sending Joe Thornton to the San Jose Sharks where he went on and won the league scoring title. I had a hard time stomaching the trade as the Bruins received little in return for Thornton.

the Future looks Bright?
There is some room for optimism based on trades the Bruins made in the off-season. The Bruins picked up a monster defensemen Zdeno Chara from the Ottawa Senators. Zdeno Chara is a mountain of a man and is also as mean as a cornered rattlesnake. They also picked up Marc Savard from the Atlanta Thrashers who scored 97 points last season.

On the other side of the coin the Boston Bruins have many holes their biggest hole is goaltending. Tim Thomas is brutal at best and I have no clue why the Bruins signed him to another contract but they are stuck with him unless they can find a good replacement. Frankly I would like to see more of Finnish Goalie Hannu Toivonen who came on last season until an ankle injury ended/shortened his season.