Cup can help Bruins
Opportunities in absence
Assuming no calamitous injuries befall any Bruins players in the final week of the World Cup of Hockey — “There’s no question it’s a risk,” said GM Don
Sweeney on Thursday, “you’ve got your fingers and toes crossed” — the glorified summer tournament will be beneficial to the B’s in two basic ways.
First, of course, Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand should return from Toronto brimming with confidence and in peak form after performing so well on Canada’s No. 1 line centered by Sidney Crosby.
The World Cup has been remarkably good entertainment, with the players buying in to an event that, essentially, means nothing except a big chunk of cash for the league and the Players Association.
The tourney was badly tarnished by the dismal showing of Team USA — basically a team of high-end grinders going up against the All-World talent of Canada. Not a fair fight. And, not to pile on, but it’s still incomprehensible that Phil Kessel, after nearly winning the Conn Smythe Trophy, was snubbed.
The ratings have been poor. (A great showing by the Americans would have meant somewhat better numbers south of the Canadian border.) So it remains to be seen whether Gary Bettman & Co. can convince themselves the World Cup will represent a worthy replacement for NHL Olympic participation — and spare the league the bother of a two-week shutdown and the 13-time zone journey to South Korea in 16 months.
As for the positive impact the World Cup will have on the Bruins, it comes at a perfect time for a team very much in rebuilding mode. The delayed arrival in training camp of the B’s World Cup participants means more opportunity for the young players who represent the future of this franchise to show their stuff.
“Without question, there are going to be guys who will earn extra looks, longer looks, and that’s good for us,” said B’s director of player personnel John Ferguson.
“It’s going to be a little bit easier to allocate ice time in preseason games this way. We haven’t brought in an exorbitant number of players to fill in, either. I hesitate to pick names, because you’re always going to leave guys out, but there will be a number of guys who need to show what they can do. We’re going to give them that chance and it’s exciting.”
The Bruins dive right into the preseason, playing tomorrow night vs. Columbus at the Garden after just three days of practices. It’s the first of four games this week, a stretch in which a very good crop of young prospects can either make a bid for an NHL paycheck this season or show that they aren’t yet ready.
Because a half-dozen incumbent players likely will not be on hand, or won’t be asked to play the early exhibitions, youngsters who in a regular year might only get to play one game may be in the lineup for two or three.
“It should be, and is, an opportunity for these younger players,” said Ferguson. “They all want to have the opportunity to show what they can do at this level, at least in the preseason. So (the World Cup absences are) kind of nice in some ways.”
The Bruins are a team very much in flux, in need of an ongoing infusion of young talent. In stark contrast to the recent past, the organization features a fairly lengthy list of kids who appear to have NHL futures.
“Without question, looking at our organizational depth chart, it has been significantly enhanced from what it was 2-3 years ago,” said Ferguson. “Some of those guys are already here now on the team; others aren’t here yet.
“You’re going to have some real good, healthy internal competition from players who last year proved they could put themselves in position for this look.
“And you’ve got guys who played 20 or 30 (NHL) games last year and they’re looking to move that up to 60 or 80. There are players who had outstanding years in Providence who are looking to prove they’re ready to make the jump. You’ve got others who got maybe a little less ice time for us in Boston but are maybe in position to take over a bigger role.”
The Bruins need a bunch of these players to take bigger roles. We’ll get a pretty good idea in the next week or two which ones are ready to do so.