Sweeney stands pat on deadline day
Bertuzzi to make B's debut against Rangers
As the wildest trade deadline period in NHL history was inching to a close on Friday, Bruins’ coach Jim Montgomery was asked if he gave GM Don Sweeney a wish list for any more players.
“I don’t think I need to,” said Montgomery. “It’s been Christmas every day here for the last week.”
Indeed, like most of the league’s executives, Sweeney did his heavy lifting prior to Friday, swinging the two-fer with Washington for Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway last week and then picking up Tyler Bertuzzi from Detroit on Thursday. Sweeney said that there were some more moves he contemplated on Friday, but he ultimately he’d already made enough enough improvements to a very good team.
“We’ve had some moving parts over the last 10 days or so and we wanted to make sure that if we tinkered any further that we were doing it for the right reasons and it really fit with us and not be disruptive,” said Sweeney.
Now it’s a matter of making sure everything keeps moving in the right direction with the new players assimilating themselves into this juggernaut. Orlov and Hathaway have certainly fit in almost perfectly. Bertuzzi will make his Bruin debut on Saturday in a marquee matchup with the New York Rangers, who loaded up with Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko.
All three of the new players have a little bit of history with the B’s. Orlov took out former Bruin Kevan Miler with a high hit in the 2021 playoffs. Hathaway delivered a hard check that knocked Brad Marchand out of a game last season. Bertuzzi and Marchand have gotten in each other’s faces on a number of occasions.
But once the Black and Gold sweater is donned all is forgotten, said Marchand.
“That’s the one thing with hockey players,” said Marchand, who was deemed good-to-go for Saturday’s game after leaving Thursday’s contest for precautionary reasons. “I don’t know how it is in other sports but, typically, everyone’s a good dude. You get the odd bad apple. In this organization especially, they don’t bring guys in that are bad people. It’s one of the first things they look at and they make sure they’re going to fit in the room. The last thing you need is someone coming in and interrupting what we’ve built here. And (Bertuzzi) is not that guy. I think there’s a mutual respect for what guys do on the ice and then when you become teammates, it’s weird, you’ll instantly fight for a guy or sacrifice your body for him. But that’s just the hockey culture and the way it is.”
Bertuzzi took part in his first Bruin practice on Friday. It was an optional session, but he’ll be in the lineup against the Rangers, skating left wing on the Charlie Coyle-Trent Frederic line. He played with Tomas Nosek in Grand Rapids and is from the same Sudbury, Ontario city as Nick Foligno.
Bertuzzi excited
Bertuzzi recognizes that he and Marchand have very similar styles that may grate on opponents but are endearing to teammates.
“I knew he was a good guy,” said Bertuzzi. “He’s tough to play against, but luckily were teammates now so hopefully we can do it together.”
It was a tough start to the season for Bertuzzi, who has 4-10-14 totals in 29 games. He broke one hand in the second game of the season and, when he returned, he broke the other hand seven games later.
“Once I got back, I got into the groove of things and I’m feeling a lot better now,” said Bertuzzi.
Bertuzzi should be making his debut in a fun, charged atmosphere with the nationally televised game (ABC, 1 p.m.). The 48-8-5 B’s may have made themselves the clear favorite for the Stanley Cup, the Rangers clearly believe in themselves with the moves they’ve made in the last couple of weeks. After having Kane’s debut by the Ottawa Senators on Thursday at MSG, the Blueshirts no doubt will be coming in with a head of steam.
“They’re deep. They made some big moves. Their top six is really offensive and then they have some really good depth guys who are tough to play against, some big D men who play hard with (Jacob) Trouba and (K’Andre) Miller and (Ryan) Lindgren. And obviously (Adam) Fox is one of the best offensive D-men in the league,” said Marchand, who has kept a close eye on the league’s transactions. “They’re definitely a big contending team and that’s the thing about the East. There’s got to be eight teams that legit have the potential to go to the finals. They’re one of those teams. They put themselves in that race and obviously, with the addition of Kane, he’s a game-breaker, he’s got a ton of experience and he comes up big in big moments. Always tough to play. He can take over a game at any point in time. It’s a huge addition to the group, especially with the way him and (Artemi) Panarin play together, so I’m sure once they get that chemistry going together again, they’re gong to be dangerous.”
The momentous trade deadline is now in the rear view mirror. The stretch run begins on Saturday with two teams who have lofty ambitions. Buckle up.
Taking a breather
Montgomery said that once they get through Saturday’s game and the upcoming four-day break, he’ll look hard at giving some of his older players some games off. The B’s play back-to-backs in the each of the last five weekends. He said he’s already broached the subject with Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci and Sweeney.
“After this weekend we’ve got back-to-back every weekend with travel. If we can save on travel and miss a game and we’re in this position we’re in … those are things we’re going to look at it,” said Montgomery.