With some exciting youth sprinkled throughout the roster, the Bruins could really make a push this season.
Then again, Sean Crowe will probably tell me Jeremy Jacobs will find a way to mess it up. Although I don't necessarily doubt it, if Jacobs can just chill this season and not try to "change the franchise for the better"—you know, like trading Joe Thornton—then the B's will be on the right track.
Timmy-T and Manz Ferdinand hunker down in the bunker of twine
In between the pipes, the Boston Bruins are older than anyone may actually know.
Although he only has three NHL seasons of 30 games or more, Tim Thomas is 34 heading into the season—just teetering on that point in time when goalies start to lose their edge. Because he was such a late bloomer however, Thomas may have an advantage, as he's come within two wins of posting back-to-back 30 win seasons. Although his GAA was high in 2006-07 (3.13), Thomas worked to control the game better last season and drop it to a manageable 2.44.
Although Thomas is barely above average when it comes to starting goalies in the NHL, he wins games much like Chris Osgood of Detroit. In a division like the Northeast, which could be tight this season, that's what you need.
Manny Fernandez will be rounding out the goalie tandem—and as history shows, Fernandez does his best work in pairs. The 34-year-old is coming off a season cut drastically short by knee troubles, so it'll be interesting to see how he bounces back.
Fernandez has worked well in the past riding the tandem bicycle with Dwayne Roloson in Minnesota. If he can come back healthy, Manny could produce a solid 20-win season with 40-45 games of work.
If either of those two run into injury problems, then former-Leaf Tuuka Rask should be ready to step in. To be honest, we all saw it coming last season, when he debuted against the Leafs and stopped 30 of 32 shots to crush his former team. Although the added insurance of Alex Auld will be missed, Rask should be able to step in ably in the event of an injury.
Bergeron's back in black after (Rock and Roll) Train(ing) hard
There was probably a better AC/DC reference in there somewhere, I'm just not sure what it was.
Sign up now to receive our Boston Bruins newsletter. All the best articles, videos, and podcasts from around the web delivered to your inbox twice a week.
9 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete