Reinforcements arrive at deadline
Hall, Reilly, Lazar give B’s roster shot in arm
No one knows what kind of impact the additions of Taylor
Hall, Mike Reilly and Curtis Lazar will have on the Bruins in the long run.
But for a team that has appeared to be running on fumes at times during this grinding COVID-dictated condensed schedule, the new blood did provide an intangible boost before the new players even donned a Bruin uniform.
“Were obviously really excited to get a player like that (Hall). For us, all the guys, it shows that management was trying to get some good players and make a good run at the playoffs,” said
David Krejci on Tuesday morning. “For players, it’s never a fun time, the trade deadline, leading up to it, but now it’s over with. Everyone can all relax with regard to that. But now it’s go time. The pieces we have now, we can all buy in and we can build something good in here.”
Krejci got the assignment to center Hall and Craig Smith.
“When you think of him, it’s definitely his speed. He’s pretty fast,” said Krejci. “He has a good shot. But just being out there today, we have one practice under our belt and worked on some things. And he can make plays. He has good vision, he’s a good passer. He’s got the whole package, so hopefully he can put it all together and start this thing off on a good foot.”
Coach Bruce Cassidy was feeling the juice as well. If he was to make a wish list, it might have looked something like what GM Don Sweeney acquired.
“To get a guy of Taylor’s magnitude, to give that extra layer of secondary scoring, was big for our guys,” said Cassidy. “That’s (Sweeney’s) department and risk of the future versus the reward of now, all that stuff, he has to make all those decision just like every other GM in the league. And we think he did a great job. We lose Anders
(Bjork) off our roster. He’s a hard-working kid, great kid. He was asked to change the way he played to a certain extent and did what he was asked, he just had other guys ahead of him. So we wish him luck in Buffalo. And obviously the second-round pick can turn into a good player. But to add Lazar as well, he’s a good depth guy, solid guy on the kill, he’s got five goals. I thought (Sweeney) did a real good job. And obviously, Reilly is a need right now with all our injuries back there, a good puck-mover, an area where we’ve been lacking a little bit, so I think our guys are excited. Let’s get them in the lineup and see how they go from there.”
The moves also create that much more competition. The plan was to have a youth movement, a rather ambitious one considering it was an organization that still fancied itself as a legitimate contender. It was going fairly well to start the season, said Cassidy, before injuries threw the season sideways.
Now they obtained three legitimate big-league players to address the issues that have cropped up. It’s up to some young players to face the challenge.
“Yes, we brought in three guys who are NHL players and now, as a coach, you’ve got to go talk to some players and say ‘Here’s a little bit of adversity for you. Now you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to stay in the lineup.’ And that’s hockey to a certain extent,” said Cassidy. “Everyone goes through that until they truly establish themselves. There’ll be a little bit more of that now because of injuries. We weren’t able to instill the mentality … now there are options. So it becomes a little more incumbent on the player to prepare himself and make sure when his number is on the board to play that he’s ready to go and help the team win and stay in the lineup. That to me is how good, successful teams at any pro level function and operate, that they have competition. It’s our job as coaches and the leaders in the room to make sure that competition doesn’t tear the room apart, which can be a task at times, depending on the personalities. But we have high-character guys, we brought in high-character guys, so it should be healthy competition.”
Rebuilding Hall’s confidence
Hall raised some eyebrows on Monday when he readily admitted that his confidence was a bit shaken from his time in Buffalo. Cassidy gave him the Welcome-to-Boston talk.
“I would think a guy like him who has scored his whole life is getting going offensively,” said Cassidy. “That’s probably how they’ve been measured their whole life, right or wrong, and that becomes the story. I’ve told him ‘Hey, you’re going to to play with good players here. But help us win games. That’s where we’re measuring it.’ We measure ourselves here with wins and losses, how we do in the playoffs. Yes, he’s an individual that will get judged by his point totals. But for us here, if you play well, do your job and help us win, I think the points will just come, because he’s done it everywhere. It was an off year for him and the Sabres. They went through some COVID stuff early, they changed the coach, changed the GM, all those different things. I don’t know how it affects a player’s psyche. But for us, it’s ‘hey, you’re in an organization that has expectations, you’re in a city that has expectations. We want those. We want pressure on us and we want to embrace that, because we’ve handled it well over the years. Help us win games by playing to your strengths.’ That’s the message we gave to Taylor. Hopefully that helps his confidence by A, winning and B, him making the plays that he used to make.”
Odds and ends
Cassidy started Hall on the second power-play unit on his strong side on the left with Krejci also on his strong side on the right. While it takes away the one-timer, said Cassidy, it creates more of an attack mentality, which is how he had success in New Jersey. …
The B’s are targeting Thursday’s game against the Islanders for Tuukka Rask‘s return. He has played only one period of hockey since suffering what appeared to be a back injury on March 7. …
Matt Grzelcyk (upper body) did not participate in the morning skate. …
Trent Frederic, who has been out with a non-COVID illness, practiced with the taxi squad to to get his conditioning back up. Cassidy said he could be available Thursday.