Illegal Curve previews the Boston Bruins.

Ari from the Illegal Curve previews my favorite NHL the Boston Bruins. Personally I think the pieces are in place for the Bruins to win Lord Stanley's Cup.

The Boston Bruins were the surprise team of the 2008-2009 season. Boston finished first in the Eastern Conference, and was one victory away from winning the President’s Trophy. Even though they suffered an early playoff exit, the Bruins were able to grab some hardware, as goaltender Tim Thomas won the Vezina Trophy, Zdeno Chara took home the Norris Trophy, and Claude Julien won the Jack Adams Trophy as the NHL’s top coach. This year the Bruins will not take anyone by surprise, as they are expected to compete for the top spot in the East.
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Looking ahead to 2009-2010, Boston’s offense is comprised primarily of young players coming off excellent seasons. David Krejci, Boston’s 2nd round pick in 2004, averaged nearly a point per game as a sophomore and should continue to improve. He should return from hip surgery by the end of October at the latest.

Fan favorite Milan Lucic enters his third season with the Bruins with high expectations. Lucic is already drawing comparisons to Boston legend Cam Neely and could reach 50-60 points this year with 150 penalty minutes. It is hard to believe Lucic is only 21 years old.

Another young player from the 2004 draft class, Blake Wheeler, had an excellent rookie season. The 23 year-old Wheeler recorded 45 points in 81 games and was an impressive +36. Wheeler has been bulking up this off-season and will only get
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Led by four-time all-star Zdeno Chara and emerging star Dennis Wideman, the Bruins can score from the back end and they can also play responsible defense. Chara and Wideman combined for 100 points and a +55 rating. Chara, last year’s Norris Trophy winner, is firmly entrenched as one of the league’s premier defensemen. Wideman, coming off a breakout season, will need to limit his turnovers and play a more physical style this year.
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Tim Thomas finally got some respect last season, winning the Vezina Trophy. It would be hard to ignore the 35 year-old’s contributions, as he led the NHL in goals against average and save percentage. Thomas earned a hefty raise this year and should remain one of the premier goalies in the NHL.
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Prediction:

Ceiling – Boston has the potential to win the division, conference and Stanley Cup. They have basically the same team as last year, including many young players that should only improve.

Floor – It’s tough to imagine a scenario where the Bruins do not make the playoffs. With so much talent offensively, defensively, and in net it is unlikely they would drop past 6th or 7th place in the conference.

Note: According to oddsmakers, Boston has the second best chance to win the Eastern Conference and the fifth best chance to win the Stanley Cup.

The Bruins have not won a Stanley Cup since the 1971-72 season, yep the Bobby Orr era, so a championship would be a nice change of pace.

Bruins in 6?

Neil from the illegal curve predicts that the Bruins will win in 6. I am going to say Bruins in 5 because Boston has not lost to the Habs in regulation all season and they for the most part have dominated them. Bruins beat them in Offense, Defense and goaltending.

Prediction:

Overall, the Bruins’ offense (especially on the power play), should be the difference maker. As we all know, special teams is always of upmost importance come playoff time. The Habs may have a chance if Price catches fire and steals the series, but the likely outcome will be the B’s heading to the second round and Price heading to Crescent St. for a smoke.

Bruins in 6

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Tim Thomas with a highlight save.

Check out this save from former Vermont star Tim Thomas as my Boston Bruins beat the dirty Flyers today 4-3. I remember a few weeks ago people were chirping about how the Bruins were falling and how they had run out of gas and that the Devils and Capitals were going to pass the Bruins in the standings and in about a week's time the Bruins go out and beat the Flyers and the Devils. Look Eastern Division the Bruins have awaken from their late season slumber.

1. Boston Bruins 106 Won 3
2. Washington Capitals 99 Won 1
3. New Jersey Devils 98 Lost 4
4. Philadelphia Flyers 92 Lost 1
5. Carolina Hurricanes 91 Won 6
6. Pittsburgh Penguins 90 Won 2

Tuukka Rask snaps.

This is the latest snap that everyone in hockey is talking about. Tuukka Rask is the goalie of the future for the Boston Bruins. Funny thing is that Rask was not suspended for his antics on the ice. You have to wonder if the same clowns that run the WCHA are also running the AHL.

Boston Bruins prospect Tuukka Rask won't be suspended for his meltdown after Friday's AHL Providence game against the Albany River Rats.

Rask, the Bruins' top goaltending prospect, went ballistic after a 1-0 shootout loss. He was outraged that referee Frederic L'Ecuyer for allowing goals by two Albany players during the shootout.

Video of the incident made the airwaves Tuesday. In it, Rask screams at L'Ecuyer, smashes his stick against the goal's crossbar, then against the glass next to the Providence bench and tosses a crate onto the ice.
Coach Rob Murray told the Providence Journal on Tuesday the AHL said Rask would not be suspensed. A fine remains a possibility

Where is Phil?

I got this from the Bruins beat writer today. You have to wonder what a maintenance day is? I have been trying to get some clarification on this one. Hopefully it isn't anything serious and Phil has been sick the last two seasons.

Practice lineup, with Shane Hnidy and Matt Hunwick as the two spare defensemen:

Forward lines:

1.) P.J. Axelsson Marc Savard Blake Wheeler
2.) Mark Recchi Patrice Bergeron Chuck Kobasew
3.) Milan Lucic David Krejci Michael Ryder
4.) Shawn Thornton Stephane Yelle Byron Bitz

Defense:

1.) Zdeno Chara, Dennis Wideman
2.) Andrew Ference, Steve Montador
3.) Mark Stuart, Aaron Ward

Goalies

Tim Thomas
Manny Fernandez

UPDATE: Phil Kessel was given a maintenance day today. He was the only Bruin not to practice today.

Check out this ugly jersey.

I was watching the Bruins beat the Habs 3-1 today and I couldn't get over how ugly the Montreal Canadians Jerseys were. I never seen anything like this before, these are God awful.

Apparently these eye sores are the "barber pole" retro jerseys and socks featuring the distinctive look of narrow red, white and blue horizontal bands used by the team in 1912-13.

What's Kessel worth?

With former Golden Gophers Phil Kessel in a contract year one of the question is what will Kessel sign for? The Bruins are going to have to show him the money. I also think that Kessel is a more complete player than Staal.

Kessel makes fast progress
Jordan Staal's new deal in Pittsburgh - $16 million for the next four years - will be the starting point for Kessel's talks with the Bruins. Selected second overall in the '06draft, just three slots ahead of Kessel, Staal, on the day he agreed to the deal, had career numbers of 52-39-91 in 204 games. Kessel's numbers the same day: 54-52 -106 in 192 games, and Kessel this season has made his mark as a bona fide game-breaker. The bet here is that Kessel gets a two-year pact that averages upward of $5 million, or gets pushed out to five years/$30 million. Quite a turnaround for a kid who suited up for only four of seven playoff games last spring.

Two Gophers and one Eagle.

They are not all on the same team but they had a hand in the out come of the game as the Boston Bruins remained hot and beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2 to sweep the home and home series against last year's Stanley Cup runner up. Yep the Bruins are tied with the San Jose Sharks for the NHL's best team.

Former Golden Gopher Blake Wheeler continues to impress the naysayers as Wheeler added another assist on David Krejci's 14th goal of the season. David Krejci is also second on the Bruins in points with (14 goals - 27 assists - 41 points).

Former Boston College Eagle and Sioux killer Chuck Kobasew assisted on Milian Lucic's 11th goal of the season.

Former Golden Gopher and current Penguin Alex Goligoski remained hot as he assisted on Dustin Jeffrey first goal of the year.

Former Wild Goalie Manny Fernandez is impressed with the Bruin's season so far:

"It is unbelievable to do what we are doing," Fernandez said. "Looking at those numbers kinds of scares me... you don't want to be the one to drop the ball."

Fernandez improved to 9-0-0 at home. Boston has only two regulation losses since Oct. 30 and its winning streak is its longest since March 9-28, 1973.

With the home-and-home sweep over the Penguins, the Bruins also moved into the top spot in the NHL with 62 points, one more than idle San Jose.

"When you have that kind of talent on the other side ... you have to be extremely disciplined and I like the way we responded," Bruins coach Claude Julien said.

Milan Lucic works Tim Wallace

You just have to love the Pittsburg homer announcers the fight wasn't as close as they would like you to believe. Wallace had his ass handed to him. What you don't see that lead up to the fight was Lucic was yapping at Sidney Crosby and Wallace was sent out by the coaching staff on the next face off to confront Lucic. The rest is history. The legend that is known as Milan Lucic grows.

According to hockeyfights.com Tim Wallace is a former Notre Dame Fighting Irish players and is an american from Anchorage Alaska.

Bruins getting balanced scoring.

Check out how balanced the Boston Bruins scoring has been so far going into the new year. The Bruins play good defense, score a lot of goals and have a great two headed monster in goal. Prediction: Bruins win the Stanley Cup. Boston Bruins Hockey Blogger Brian Metzer breaks down the Bruins offensive prowess.

They (Bruins) are getting contributions from up and down their line-up and have six players with 10 or more goals. They also have eight players with 20 or more points and eleven with at least 15. The slick passing Marc Savard, who is still under-rated in my opinion, paces their forwards. He is joined by the surprising David Krejci, a break out third year player in Phil Kessel, rookie Blake Wheeler and the reclamation project, Mike Ryder who probably has many GMs wishing they would have given him a jingle on July 1st.

Bruins 2 Thrashers 1 (Kessel scores again)

Former Gopher Phil "the thrill" Kessel scores yet another goal, that's number 22 on the season as the Boston Bruins beat the hapless Thrasher 2-1. Also, former Golden Gopher Blake Wheeler remains hot as he added an assist on Michael Ryders goal. The Boston Bruins have now won 8 games in a row and are marching towards a division title.