Kalman: In Pursuit of Cup Contention Neely, Jacobs Should Be Willing To Endure More Pain
BOSTON (CBS) - The Detroit Red Wings, who currently trail their Eastern Conference first round series with Tampa Bay 3-1, have won three series in the Stanley Cup playoffs in the six seasons since they went to the Stanley Cup finals and lost to Pittsburgh in 2009.
They've qualified for the postseason 25 straight years, but they've gone longer than the Bruins since they were last a true Cup contender. Still they make Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs, whose team has failed to make the playoffs two straight years, a little jealous.
"What you admire though is their evolution vs. the revolution and so far as that's concerned you admire the fact that they've been on a consistent course," Jacobs said during a joint press conference with CEO Charlie Jacobs and president Cam Neely at TD Garden on Wednesday. "I think we admire that, and I think Cam is playing a similar role now."
The Bruins came one standings point shy of being in the playoffs instead of Detroit. Reaching the playoffs would've provided valuable experience for the Bruins' younger players and given them that 1 percent chance to make a 2012 Los Angeles Kings-like run to glory. But outside of that longshot long run, making the playoffs wouldn't have cured what ails the Bruins one year into the reign of general manager Don Sweeney.
The Bruins are short on NHL-ready talent and they're short on vocal leadership. In terms of a positional breakdown, the defense corps has major flaws that need to be addressed and might take a year or two more to fix. Sweeney understands this and he's often stressed development and patience in his proclamations about the state of the team. Even if Sweeney's plan seems far-fetched to outsiders, Neely, who promoted his ex-teammates to replace Peter Chiarelli one year ago, supposedly has faith in the strategy to resuscitate the Bruins through drafting and developing.
That's why it's disconcerting to hear Neely respond to a question about a possible third straight playoff absence this way:
"I think that's more maybe still spinning your wheels at that point," Neely said. "So we know how important it is to improve our club. We have to go do it and it's by addition. It's also by some of our players that played for us this year, they have to get better too."
Neely a couple times referred to the stage much of Boston's core is at and the need to supplement them for a Cup run before they're past their expiration date. This group obviously consists of Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Zdeno Chara and Tuukka Rask. If Loui Eriksson re-signs, he'd be part of this group. Brad Marchand will be there if he signs an extension between now and the summer of 2017. Hopefully for the Bruins Neely doesn't think that Sweeney's going to be able to grow these pieces in his garden and have them ready for fall. In case Neely and the Jacobs men weren't paying attention, the Bruins had some of these pieces, but Tyler Seguin and Dougie Hamilton now call a couple Western Conference cities home. It took a lot of luck and a little skill for the Bruins to land those two pieces and they were sent out of town under Neely and the Jacobs men's watch.
Yes, Chiarelli made the Seguin trade, just like he risked a salary-cap penalty to sign Jarome Iginla, and re-signed Dennis Seidenberg, Chris Kelly and David Krejci to rich contract extensions. However, he didn't do them in a vacuum, and when Charlie Jacobs talks about hockey operations being a collaborative effort, that means everyone around and above Chiarelli is at fault for such franchise-altering decisions.
Similarly, when Sweeney is tasked with rectifying the salary-cap crunch and deems trading Hamilton (a restricted free agent the Bruins could've at worst utilized for a better trade package for the here and now) and Milan Lucic, the GM can't be expected to replace those players on a whim – not last summer or this.
The Bruins have some salary cap space to use this summer on free agents, but they also have to work on Marchand, Eriksson and Torey Krug. They have prospects at Providence, college players who've made the jump to the pros (hello Danton Heinen) and some draft picks from last season that might be ready to challenge for a NHL job in the fall. David Pastrnak and Frank Vatrano look ready to continue their development in the NHL full-time. But not many Cup contenders count four or five first- or second-year players on their roster. It takes a mix of young and old, and it takes time to mature and jell and it sometimes requires sacrificing in the present for a better future.
The Bruins have won the Cup once in 41 years of Jacobs rule. A large chunk of their streak of 29 straight years in the playoffs came during this ownership's time at the helm, but the Cup only came to Boston after a lot of pain. There was one year out of the playoffs before Chiarelli took over. Then one more playoff-less season and three seasons of coach Claude Julien, including the 2010 collapse from 3-0 up on Philadelphia, before the triumph of 2011.
The Bruins might have a plan better than the Red Wings. If Neely and the Jacobs men are willing to be patient and endure a little more pain, and back up their words of faith in Sweeney with action, their glorious Cup-contender future might be realized. Interfering with the plan though could knock the Bruins back to the time when it was OK just to make the playoffs, or it could bring on something worse.
