Please no to chara as a future GM. This organization already has far too many former bruins in front office/coaching/scouting roles. I actually feel like it’s becoming an issue in forming different opinions and bringing in different play styles of players. It seems every year this teams play style mirrors the previous year and they have the same issues.
I would really like them to starting bringing in more outside perspectives.
Understood. And generally, I agree.
Sinden and O'Connell were "insiders." See the record.
Peter Chiarelli was an "outsider." See the record.
"Insiders" Cam Neely and Don Sweeney have had NINE years to figure it out. Apparently, they still seek counsel from Harry.
They blow.
Their head coach is not a head coach.
Jim Montgomery is far better suited to the classic "good cop" assistant role, which would also allow his considerable offensive talent to flourish, as it did in St. Louis.
The Boston Bruins, from roster construction to player personal, are so far away from contending/elite status, so far away from teams like NYR/FLA in mental and physical toughness, it isn't true.
If allowed to do so, this management will run the franchise into the ground as surely as Sinden/OC did, and it will be left to Charlie Jacobs to go outside the organization, again, to find someone with no history here, no association with Sinden, no fealty to the old man, and no reason not to reclaim the DNA of Boston Bruins hockey.
Which is precisely what Peter Chiarelli, Claude Julien, and Zdeno Chara -- outsiders all -- did upon their arrival. Everything else flowed from that commitment, transforming a moribund franchise from a joke to a team Bruins fans could believe in with passion, and which NHL clubs had to reckon with.
They had goaltending. They could defend. They could score. And they'd kick your ass in.
In a word, BBB Redux had
swagger.
Do you associate Don Sweeney's Bruins teams, in any way,
ever, with "swagger"?
Yes, the league has changed, blah blah blah.
Chapter Two includes the reasons why I believe Zdeno would be a superlative General Manager.
Eventually.
He's ultra-competitive. I defy anyone to find a more competitive athlete and individual than Zdeno Chara.
He's a proven winner, Stanley Cup champion and future Hall Of Famer. He played with a broken jaw.
As Captain of the Bruins, he discarded the term "rookie" and its demeaning accoutrements, while simultaneously demanding accountability and the very best from all involved.
At 47, his exercise and nutrition regimen remains meticulous and at the forefront of sports science.
He runs marathons. He speaks seven languages fluently.
HIs diet consists mostly of... Plants and seeds.
By all counts Chara is also a great leader and a good man, the person largely responsible for creating the Bruins' vaunted team "culture," a person active in his community.
Finally, he's one smart motherf*cker.
Smart enough to understand the Bruins as presently constituted lack the necessary mettle to be a truly elite team, and smart enough to look outside TD Garden for better results.
He's not a coach.
He's a GM.
Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion,