Bruins Banking On Belief Being Impetus For Season Turning Around
WILMINGTON (CBS) -- Only those present in the Bruins' dressing room before and after practice Wednesday at Ristuccia Arena know for sure what coach Claude Julien's message was.
And we'll never know what internal things were fixed like Julien promised after the Bruins' 5-4 loss to San Jose on Tuesday because the coach said "if it's internally, it's internally" during his post-practice media gathering.
But you can draw a pretty good conclusion about the theme of his words to his players since they fell to 8-8-1 by listening to how Julien responded to a question about the sports-radio-created cliché that says because he's in his ninth season and the team is losing, the players are tuning him out.
"If that was a reason and they were tuning me out, I'd be the first one to want to be out of here," Julien said. "That's not the case. I can tell you that's not the case and I really feel good about the response I'm getting from players as far as believing. Right now we have had to fix what we do out there. That's the main thing and every game is a little bit different: focus, determination, a little bit of everything. But we are a .500 club. We're not in last place, we're still in the position here where we can improve ourselves.
"So we can continue to be negative or we can be more determined to improve. That's what we're looking to do here is, 'how determined are we to improve?' And that is what we have to show here moving forward."
If Julien's getting the players currently under his tutelage to believe, then he is still one of the premier coaches on the planet. Because it has to be difficult for the mainstays of this organization to look around the room and see Frank Vatrano in the spot once filled by Milan Lucic; Kevan Miller and Zach Trotman in the spots once held by Dougie Hamilton and Johnny Boychuk; Zac Rinaldo in the spot once filled by Daniel Paille.
But Zdeno Chara isn't blaming the roster turnover for Boston's failings.
"We always, we've been able to adjust to changes or players," he said. "That's part of the game. It shouldn't be an excuse and certainly it's not. We have good enough players that we can be better and have a better record."
The talent drop-off, though, is pretty accurately reflected by the Bruins' record. They win as much as they lose and they're far away from that Presidents' Trophy-winning team of two seasons ago. Their shortcomings aren't just in the defense corps. Up front things haven't been great either, despite the Bruins' ability to seemingly score at will, especially on the power play.
Against the Sharks, Julien decided to shorten his bench. Zac Rinaldo and Tyler Randell, who had scored a goal earlier in the game, didn't see the ice in the third period. Rinaldo has brought little to the team most of the season. Randell has at least shown some ability to get around the opposition's net and create chances (plus score three goals). Julien, though, can't rely on them to be conscientious in the Boston end. In Julien's view, the chances of Rinaldo or Randell providing a spark during a comeback is outweighed by the risk of a defensive mistake. Both players expressed belief that their coach did the right thing.
"It's just the way hockey goes," Rinaldo said after practice. "Coach thought that was the best way to play the bench and the best opportunity for us to win. So I'm on his side, I'm on the Bruins side, and he did what he needed to do to try and get the win. Obviously it sucks, me not playing, but he did was best for the team, what he thought was best for the team, so I'm on his side."
Julien similarly played Ryan Spooner only during man-advantage situations in the third period. Julien criticized Spooner's 5-on-5 play at both ends of the rink in a game that the Bruins needed to play heavier.
"That's what I have to balance as a coach is giving him the ice time that he deserves and make sure he gets a fresh start every game and say 'we're still working with this guy.' But I have to coach," Julien said. "No. 1, the fans want to see us win. I think our ownership and upper management want to see us win. That's part of my job. If they tell me by sitting him out, I'm hurting our chances of winning, then we have an issue that we have to talk about. But that's not the case. It's just me coaching."
To get this team into the playoffs, Julien is going to have to do a coaching job better than the one he did in 2008-09 to win the Jack Adams and maybe the best one of his career. Not since he decided to scratch Phil Kessel for a couple of games in the 2008 playoffs has Julien had to manage ice time and walk the line between developing young players and winning. Last season, the Bruins found out the hard way what happens when the coach can't trust every player. They nearly ground Tuukka Rask to dust by playing him every game because they didn't believe in Niklas Svedberg. That tactic didn't even get the Bruins into the postseason.
More three-line third periods and similar workload increases on the reliable defensemen (as few and far between as they are on this team) and the Bruins might find themselves in a similar situation. Their best players will be worn down and their younger players won't have gained enough experienced.
And the playoffs might still be elusive.
If there's such a thing as a team spokesperson in hockey, that's typically the man who wears the captains' C. Chara isn't ready to give up just yet and he foresees a turnaround before it's too late.
"Absolutely. Absolutely. It's been done before," Chara said. "We just obviously, it's kind of like a slower pace right now. But absolutely I believe in this group, these players we have and certainly the mistakes we can correct."
There's no secret what Julien's message is to his players and what the Bruins have to do to turn their season around. It's also becoming apparent that belief is only going to get this band of miscast replacement parts so far.
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.
