Can the Bruins ever get a little love from the rest of the Boston sports universe?
This was supposed to be their big day. They were going to make a free agent splash. They were certainly going to lose some players – some of them even impactful players – but they were going to gain so much more.
And they did. But they quickly got outmuscled (good word to describe them in any context) by the world-champion Boston Celtics. Their TENNANT!!
While General Manager Don Sweeney was wheeling and dealing and losing players left and right, Wyc Grousbeck, the principal owner of the Celtics, announced he was putting his share of the team up for sale.
Also, Jayson Tatum and the team are finalizing his super max contract, which will be worth $314 million for five years. Oh, and the C’s were signing Derrick White to an extension.
Whatever the Bruins do, or did, that is bigger. Grousbeck and his group promised to bring us championship No. 18, and he delivered. Now, apparently, he’s ridin’ off into the sunset.
But let’s give the Bruins their share of love, shall we? They deserve it. Actually, they desperately need it. They seem to have written the book on postseason underachievement. And it’s not a mystery as to why. They can’t score goals, they can’t move the puck, and they couldn’t outmuscle Mickey Mouse, let alone Mighty Mouse.
A lot of this has to do with players who come up small in the big moments. Thankfully, they waved bye-bye to one of those guys Monday – Jake DeBrusk. And you can add Matt Grzelcyk too. The former is now a Vancouver Canuck and the latter a Pittsburgh Penguin.
DeBrusk was penciled in as a goal-scoring forward when he joined the team. But he proved to be a more-than-capable pain in the caboose too. First he wanted to be traded, then he didn’t want to be traded. When he was motivated, he could score. But when he wasn’t, he completely disappeared, which he did for most of the 2023-24 season.
The Bruins had all kinds of trouble clearing their own zone in the playoffs. They got away with it against Toronto, because no team comes up smaller than the Maple Leafs. They never had a chance against the Panthers. Turnover after turnover after turnover. It made you want to scream.
Grzelcyk, a big part of the problem, seemed to go backwards during his time with the team. And the only way he could move up the ice was if his dad took him in the Zamboni.
But Glory Be! Sweeney didn’t just sit there and watch his players skate out of the Garden. He lassoed two of the most coveted free agents in this year’s class, both from the Canucks: Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov.
Lindholm is described as a 200-foot center (meaning he would remind one of Patrice Bergeron). He’s good on faceoffs, which is something the Bruins really lacked last year. He may have only had 44 points for Vancouver last year, but the Bruins obviously hope that pairing him with David Pastrnak will bump that total up.
Zadorov is a hulking 6-6 defenseman who should not only pull his own weight on the ice, but inspire Charlie McAvoy to pull his. What happened last year against Florida was a disgrace. With any luck, that won’t be repeated, and the next time the Bruins play the Panthers, Sam Bennett will be checked into the cheap seats.
These two players, both in their prime, didn’t come cheap, which is the best news from this day. Lindholm will cost $7.75 million per season over seven years, the most Sweeney’s ever spent on one player; and Zadorov $5 million.
Drop the puck!
