Harry Sinden is a hockey genius.
Getting away for a second from the disappointing teams and fights he picked with his own players during the labor-war years of the '90s, there are some important things that should not get lost:
-- Harry was like (pardon the expression) a barroom fan in that, if he didn't think a player was worth x-amount of dollars, he wasn't going to be the guy that gave it to him. In a way, that's actually funny, him being so organic and disconnected at times from the market's inflation.
-- This is the biggy: Harry believed strongly in prioritizing strength down the middle of the rink. The Bruins always had depth at center, a dominant anchor defenseman, and usually solid goaltending.
Some examples:
Sinden managed to reinvent the Bruins' strongest position in steps in the '70s, first promoting Gregg Sheppard to fill Derek Sanderson's position. Sanderson returned from the WHA, but at the end of Sheppard's rookie season (1972-73), the Bruins were without Cheevers (WHA) and Dan Bouchard (NHL expansion to Atlanta), so he traded Fred Stanfield to Minnesota for Gilles Gilbert. He also reacquired Gary Doak and eventually got back Cheevers and Rick Smith, all members of the team Sinden had coached to the Cup in 1970. Andre Savard went to Buffalo for Peter McNab in an exchange of unsigned restricted free agents (Dan Paille was not the first trade with Buffalo, this was), and within five years Jean Ratelle, Sheppard, McNab and Bobby Miller were the four centers. He did it again with Pederson, Fergus and Kasper in the early '80s. After the upset sweep in the opening round by Montreal in '84, he augmented Pederson with Ken Linseman, and gave up Pederson in '87 hoping to win the Pierre Turgeon sweepstakes. The Canucks finished third from the bottom (pre-lottery), and Boston got Glen Wesley, who stepped right in at 18, and Cam Neely.
Orr's knee was ravaged by surgeries so, when the 75-76 season started off with Orr on ice and a 5-5-1 record, he did the blockbuster with the Rangers to get Brad Park. When the decade was closing, Park was amidst what should have been a Norris Trophy season after which Sinden took advantage of a career year by third goalie Ron Grahame and dealt him to L.A. for the Kings' first pick. Bourque slid to No. 8 and he had his next franchise defenseman. Also dealt Secord for O'Connell. O'C wound up setting a club record for Boston defensemen with points in a game (I think that's what it was), while Secord went on to become a one-time 50-goal scorer and iconic tough guy for the Blackhawks.
Geoff Courtnall had just become the Bruins' second LW to score 30 goals since Johnny Bucyk in the '70s (Charlie Simmer the other), and unlike Simmer was young, somewhat fast with his best days ahead. But at the '88 deadline, Sinden saw the Olympic influx coming and trade Court to the Oilers for Andy Moog during a season in which Reggie Lemelin had become a strong No. 1 goalie in Boston as a free agent.
Sinden always had a method to his madness in keeping with his blue print for strength down the middle, and Peter Chiarelli was wise to acquire Zdeno Chara and Marc Savard and build with existing centers Patrice Bergeron and then-prospect David Krejci. He was more lucky than good with Tim Thomas, who was kept around cleaning up messes that were meant to supercede Thomas. But Rask was a great acquisition, and while I expect Jeff Gorton deserves a lot of credit for what went on during that transitional summer, Chiarelli was definitely pulling the strings and some not so wisely. But he got the more important stuff right, and all of that reflects on philosophical agreement with the Sinden method of team building.
Under Chiarelli's watch, the strength of the Bruins was center, a dominant defenseman and solid goaltending.
That's the skeletal structure that worked for the great Western Conference powers of the '90s and is still what keeps the mere mortals in Cup contention today. Chicago's model is a little different in that, with a rare grouping of three elite-level wingers around one of the game's top centermen, they got away without having a second linchpin center, in part because of the era's best top three on defense.
The Devils and the Ducks won on the strength of an elite-level defense and goaltending. The Ducks with Kesler behind Getzlaf and post-Niedermayer/Pronger now resemble the great WC teams of the '90s.
The Bruins still have Bergeron and Krejci, still have Chara (we'll see how he bounces back from his injuries of 14-15) and Rask. The structure still exists, and with the infusion of highly motivated complementary players with an increase of overall speed and physical aggression, and apparently in a better position to achieve some consistency in performance by RWers, this is not a reinvention. More like an attempt at a resurgence. I look forward to it.
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