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Boston Globe
6 days ago
- Sport
- Boston Globe
It is a crucial time for the Bruins. Is Marco Sturm the leader they need behind the bench? We'll see.
Advertisement Generally, it's a league tough on such newbies. Then again, we give you Kris Knoblauch, who has his Oilers in a second straight Stanley Cup Final since being hired roughly a month into last season. Like Sturm, he ascended to the job right out of the AHL. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Wild assumption here: If Sturm has his Black and Gold charges in the Cup Final for a second straight time in June 2027, I'll bet Bruins fans will be kind of OK with it. Though they are tough to please. I'll also bet Sturm would have a better shot at such success if the Oilers this summer deal Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid to Causeway Street. In the category of weird and meaningless coincidences: Sturm and Knoblauch were born 16 days apart in September 1978. Advertisement We do know Sweeney, much to his credit, has a sparkling track record for identifying the right guy at the right time for his team. He proved that with his hires of Bruce Cassidy and Jim Montgomery. He did so again with his interim appointment of Joe Sacco this past season. All three had NHL head coaching experience on their CVs. So hammer Sweeney all you want about his club's lack of playoff success, post-June 2019, including this year's DNQ, the first since 2016. Hammer away also on his club's record in the draft and in his costly misfires in the free agent market. But he has been at the top of his managerial game at the trade deadline — particularly this March as a seller — and in selecting who calls the shots behind his bench. Sweeney, in the club's press release, detailed that he wanted a coach who could maintain defensive structure (long a club trademark) and wring out more offense, someone who is a strong, respected communicator and able to connect with young talent. Related : He's convinced that coach is Sturm, and based on Sweeney's banked equity in making these picks, that's good enough for now. We can at least give the new coach the season opener, right? Hello? It remains a mystery why Sweeney had all of that in Cassidy, all of that in spades, then abruptly sent him packing following the 2021-22 season. It's commonly held that a number of the younger players found Cassidy's truth-telling a little too close to their fragile bones, a complaint that was nearly nonexistent here in the Montgomery era. Not a peep of that came up either the following June, when Cassidy led Vegas to its Cup title. Advertisement In the end, Established and effective pros tend to carry their games through no matter what the noise or flavor of the month behind the bench. That is often not true of those kids, and it is increasingly a kids' game. Sturm began coaching in 2018, five years after playing his last game as a pro (in Cologne, Germany), as an assistant with the Kings. He held that job for four seasons, one with John Stevens as bench boss, three with Todd McLellan, then segued to head coach in Ontario (Calif.), the Kings' AHL affiliate. The Reign enjoyed solid regular-season success, yet won only one of four playoff rounds, across his three seasons. Keep in mind, it's far more about development than W's in the AHL. Sturm's success there ultimately will be determined by how many of the prospects eventually become NHL regulars. During his own 938-game playing career, Sturm never made it beyond Round 2 in the Cup playoffs. Known in his Boston playing days as 'The German,' he was a fast, smart, and responsible center/wing who reached a career high of 55 points in 2007-08. His brand was emotion and intelligence, qualities that caught the Sharks' eye when they made him the 21st pick in the 1996 draft. He was considered the key acquisition in the notorious November 2005 swap in which the Bruins sent Jumbo Joe Thornton to San Jose. Advertisement Now Sturm is back in the Hub of Hockey, a known face whose coaching style and acumen won't be unveiled until the Bruins go live again in October. If they play like he played, the 2025-26 Bruins will be up-tempo, smart, and responsible in all three zones. Goaltending, well, that depends a lot on how all that speed, intelligence, and responsibility plays out around the cage manned by Jeremy Swayman and, presumably, Joonas Korpisalo. It is a crucial time for the Black and Gold, a franchise in retool mode and within a brick or two of a rebuild. The coach is just the on-site construction manager. Team president Cam Neely and GM Sweeney are the architects. If they've chosen the right guy in Sturm, the Bruins are back on course. If not, then it all falls down, taking Neely and Sweeney with it. Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at
Boston Globe
26-04-2025
- Sport
- Boston Globe
In Season 1, Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov provided the Bruins little return on their investment
As for return on investment, both players fell significantly short of the dollars stuffed in pockets, which is not to say their underperformances were the sole reason the Bruins missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016. Yet they were presented as the fix, the perceived stabilizing forces — Lindholm to drive the offense and Zadorov to bring spine to the backline — and it's now a roster unable to prevent another DNQ next season if the second verse of those two proves to be the same as the first. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'In both cases,' noted Sweeney, 'the conditioning, and the way training camp went, I'm not particularly happy with, so we're going to address it.' Advertisement If unclear if that's GM talk for, 'Show up here in shape for September training camp and be prepared to earn your dough.' That's about as blunt with the working help as managers or coaches dare get these days. Bruce Cassidy , during his successful tenure as the Black and Gold coach, was said to be much closer to the bone with his criticism, particularly when conversing face to face with his players. He was, by far, the most refreshingly honest coach in Bruins history when it came to answering media questions about the performance of individual players. Advertisement To that latter point, too much honesty (yep, that's a thing in pro sports) with his players likely played a factor in why Cassidy abruptly was canned three years ago, after initially being told, yep, he was good to go here for 2022-23. Beware the expression 'good to go.' Related : 'ROI for it, yeah, it's got to go up,' said Sweeney, addressing the short-changed return on investment on Lindholm and Zadorov. 'Ultimately, when you integrate those guys in here, you want immediate impact, for certain. But they started to grow into their roles, and understanding how they're going to impact our team going forward, and we need to do a better job surrounding them.' In the case of both hires, their play did improve as the season unfolded, though Lindholm's come-to-the-offense meeting came when the season already was kaput. Sweeney now hopes both return for training camp in better shape and can build on the momentum they eventually established. Zadorov on opening night lined up on the No. 3 defense pairing. That was, shall we say, curious. He was wildly undisciplined in the opening weeks, overzealous perhaps in his eagerness to justify his $30 million deal. He settled his game down eventually and better identified times and ways to make a physical impact. Advertisement Much to his credit, as underscored by Sweeney on Wednesday, Zadorov (the New Z) repeatedly stuck up for teammates, an ingredient achingly absent in the years since Zdeno Chara's (the Old Z) departure. Nonetheless, Zadorov still finished with a league-leading 145 penalty minutes, on a team that could ill afford a PIM imbalance on the game sheet. Lindholm, who disclosed on locker cleanout day that he was hindered much of the season by a back he injured in August, was of virtually no use on offense pretty much up to the March 7 trade deadline, By midseason, interim coach Joe Sacco regularly, and justifiably, used him as the No. 3 center. Who saw that in the fine print of his $54.25 million deal? 'I think we were all struggling in the beginning, couldn't find our game,' noted Lindholm. 'Tough with coaching changes, things like that, a lot of stuff going on, but in the beginning, for myself, I wasn't good enough, and I think a lot of guys could say the same thing. Overall, we've got to be better at the start of next year.' Lindholm added that 'he takes a lot of responsibility' within that collective failure and hopes to build on late-season success he had pivoting a potent line with Morgan Geekie to his left and David Pastrnak to his right. Lindholm finished 6-9–15 over the last 17 games. Specific to Zadorov's case, Sweeney is hopeful that the return to the lineup of fellow blue liners Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindhom will square the pairings, setting up Zadorov with a regular partner and defined job description. Nikita Zadorov (right) is 30. Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff 'He played with every different partner known to man this year that we put on the roster,' said Sweeney, who played a chunk of his career riding aside Hall of Famer Ray Bourque . 'And that didn't help him. It didn't help him settle his game down at times, certainly. Advertisement 'Could he get better? Absolutely. Do we expect both of them to get better and impact our team? Absolutely.' Sweeney again will be spending, perhaps liberally, when the UFA market opens at noon on July 1. More than once on autopsy day he noted the need to add at wing, in part because of the deadline departures of Trent Frederic , Brad Marchand , and Charlie Coyle , as well as the uncertainty as to whether Sweeney can bang out an extension with Geekie (RFA, career-high 33 goals). Notably, Sweeney did not say center was a point of concern, which points to a 2025-26 reset that includes a top-six forward group anchored by Elias Lindholm, Pavel Zacha , and likely Casey Mittelstadt . Is there an offensive rainmaker among those three? Debatable. The lead candidate, of course, will be Lindholm. If so, it will have to be the Lindholm we saw the last five weeks of the season. TOP 10 LIST Wins, losses early in draft The Bruins will pick no lower than No. 7 in the NHL Draft on June 27, with their spot to be locked in on May 5, the night of the lottery. They finished the regular season holding the No. 5 spot but could move up to No. 1 or 2, or remain at 5, or fall to 6 or 7. Apologies if you were told there would be no math. Joe Thornton , their last No. 1 overall pick (1997), ultimately played up to his franchise billing, though not until he was wheeled to the Sharks. The Bruins also nabbed Sergei Samsonov at No. 8 in the same draft, and the Magical Muscovite was named the 1997-98 Rookie of the Year. Advertisement Samsonov's career wasn't nearly as productive as Thornton's, but he was a solid, effective choice. Marian Hossa (No. 12, Ottawa) might have changed the fortunes of the franchise had he been chosen to be Jumbo Joe's right winger. Oh, to dream. Related : Beginning with that 1997 draft, the Bruins have made seven picks in the top 10 and twice selected players who turned out to be busts — Lars Jonsson , D, (No. 7 in 2000) and Zach Hamill , F, (No. 8 in 2007). Both were the biggest misses of their draft classes. Painful miscalculations. Their other three picks in the top 10 all turned out to be primo choices: Phil Kessel (No. 5, 2006), Tyler Seguin (No. 2, 2010), and Dougie Hamilton (No. 9, 2011) Not a single one of the five picks in the top 10 who made it spent their full careers in Black and Gold. Samsonov, who wore the Spoked-B for 514 games, was the lone pick who actually ended up playing the majority of his career as a Bruin. The five other Original Six franchises, dating to 1997, totaled 44 picks in the top 10, with the Blackhawks topping the pack with a dozen. Only five of those 44 were No. 1 overall picks: Patrick Kane , Chicago, 2007; Auston Matthews , Toronto, 2016; Alexis Lafreniere , NY Rangers, 2020; Juraj Slafkovsky , Montreal, 2022; and Connor Bedard , Chicago, 2023. As for who made the most hay from their high picks, that barroom debate looks like a tossup between the Blackhawks with their dozen and the Maple Leafs with their seven. Advertisement Chicago, with the third pick in 2006, selected franchise center Jonathan Toews . With Kane coming aboard the next year at No. 1, the Blackhawks went on to win the Stanley Cup three times (2010, '13, and '15) with Toews and Kane their offensive kingpins. In the same timeframe, the Maple Leafs connected on all seven of their top-10 picks: Nik Antropov (No. 10, 1998), Luke Schenn (No. 5, 2008), Nazem Kadri (No. 7, 2009), Morgan Rielly (No. 5, 2012), William Nylander (No. 8, 2014), Mitch Marner (No. 4, 2015), and Matthews. Nice piece of hitting, 7 for 7. Antropov retired after logging 788 games. The other six remain active. Career games for all seven to date: 5,689. ETC. This plus/minus tough to defend Among the most important tasks awaiting the Bruins' bench boss in 2025-26: untangle the train wreck that was Mason Lohrei's defensive game. A fluid and bold skater when wheeling through open ice, and perpetually shot-ready, Lohrei tops the organization's short list of emerging young talents. He's big (6 feet 5 inches, 220 pounds), eager to jump into opportunities on offense, and, oh, did I mention he likes to shoot? But then there's this: Lohrei's minus-43 plus/minus. Ouchamagoucha. It not only was the worst plus/minus among all Original 32 skaters, it was by far the worst on his own team, the most important lens through which to view plus/minus. Of all the other skaters with the Bruins from the season's October puck drop, the next worst was Andrew Peeke's minus-10. By comparison, Peeke looked like a Norris Trophy candidate. Related : While we're on this subject, Casey Mittlestadt played 18 games in Black and Gold after his March 7 acquisition from the Avalanche and rolled up a minus-17. That's a pins-in-the-eyes pace of minus-77. If he's going to be a regular pivot in the top-six rotation, and that appears to be on the fall menu, then Coach TBD will need to sketch out some basic rules of defensive engagement and spacial awareness. Or at least arrange for Mittelstadt to have a long lunch with Patrice Bergeron . Now, the asterisk that must be attached to Lohrei's minus-43 pertains to the protracted absences of fellow defensemen Hampus Lindholm and Charlie McAvoy . Because those two were out of the mix for a combined 97 games, the coaching staff for most of the season didn't have the luxury of easing Lohrei into more favorable matchups and easier minutes of work. He was force-fed an average 19:32 of ice time, amounting to an extra, say, 8-10 shifts per game that too often led him to the invisible fourth zone on the ice — the Twilight Zone. Lohrei's game upon return will be best suited for third-pairing minutes and in relief duty at the power-play point. Above all, he needs to sharpen his read-and-react time in the defensive zone — unfortunately, that processing skill is something that cannot be tuned up in the offseason. 'Obviously, it's a learning experience,' said Lohrei, reflecting on the overall season and the added time he received. 'Getting those minutes in this league and playing with that kind of responsibility, there's ups and downs to that. So, learn from it, continue to grow, and get better. Mason Lohrei (left) is 24. Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff 'You can work on all the different intangibles that might help you with doing it,' he added, when asked what it will take to improve his defensive structure. 'But at the end of the day, it's just about doing it, and, you know, in the summer there's not a lot [of that] you can focus on. I want to be more consistent in it. I think I can defend, and [have] shown that I can defend against really good players, but it's about 82 games and going out there and doing it every night and not having any lapses. It's frustrating when you do.' Cronin a person of interest for Bruins' job Bruins general manager Don Sweeney's list of prospective coaching candidates remains hermetically sealed. Meanwhile, one of the finalists in Sweeney's coaching search in 2022, Greg Cronin , was abruptly dismissed last Saturday two years into his Anaheim tour, despite adding eight wins and 21 points to the Ducks' totals of last season. Proof again, success doesn't always breed job security. There could be coaches out there reluctant to take on the rebuild and resurrection of the Spoked-B brand, but the Arlington-born-and-raised Cronin is decidedly not one of them. 'Hey, I'm a coach, right?' said Cronin, 61, reached late in the week by telephone. 'All these openings, I'll throw my hat in and see what comes back. I mean, heck, I'd be doing handsprings and jumping over rainbows if I got the Bruins' job. I'm a Boston guy, and for a Boston guy, that's hitting the lottery times 10!' Related : Interim boss Joe Sacco , another Boston guy, remains on the list. Boston guys John Tortorella , Peter Laviolette , and David Quinn (qualified under Comm. Ave. birthright citizenship) also are expected to submit résumés. Loose pucks Bruins CEO Charlie Jacobs remained resolute Wednesday when asked if he would consider rescinding the 4 percent blended price bump for 2025-26 season tickets. Nope. Rising costs, he said, necessitate the increase, even after the 9 percent bump imposed a year earlier. Look, we get it, ticket pricing is a pure supply-demand play, and the price will keep bumping up as long as the demand remains in lockstep. The much smarter play would have been a year ago, presenting 9 percent as a three-year price fix through 2026-27 (average 4.33 percent per annum). A 13 percent wallop over these two years, especially now with the DNQ cross-check smacked across the fans' backs, might just be the one that shoots down the box office's Black and Golden goose … Average distance (air miles) between the four playoff series in the East: 326. In the West: 1,042. Yep, they travel in luxury, no question, but the 3:1 ratio underscores that the hockey life out West is a long haul. The shortest one-way hop in Round 1: Tampa to Sunrise (183 miles). Longest: Edmonton to Los Angeles (1,366 miles) … Amid his back-and-forth defense Wednesday of Bruins draft choices through the years, Cam Neely revealed he wished there'd been more time taken, more scrutiny by front office and scouts at the draft table, in 2015 after the club opted not to deal higher in the draft (likely to land Boston College defenseman Noah Hanifin at No. 5). 'What we should have done, looking back,' noted Neely, 'we should have taken some time out and said, 'Look, guys, let's regroup here. We didn't move up, we have three picks in row [Nos. 13, 14, 15).' I think it was very new for everybody. We stood backstage for those three picks. What we should have done was get back to our table and said, 'Are we OK with our list?' These are things you try to learn from.' Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at
Yahoo
19-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Katherine Legge fails to qualify, but will still run NASCAR Xfinity race
Katherine Legge was aiming to qualify for Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity race at Rockingham in the No. 32 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet. It's part of a plan for her to run a dozen races this year between the Cup and Xfinity Series, but things did not go her way. Legge bobbled at the tricky exit of Turn 2 and lost valuable time in the process. Her 23.397s lap was still enough to beat five other drivers, but due to a lack of car owner points, she ended up being one of the two drivers to miss the 38-car field. The other driver who failed to qualify was Dawson Cram in the No. 74 Mike Harmon Racing Chevrolet. Advertisement However, her DNQ is not the end of the story. Legge will still take part in Saturday's race -- the first NASCAR Xfinity race at Rockingham in 21 years. With financial backing from e.l.f. cosmetics, a ride swap was made possible with another Chevrolet team. She will instead pilot the No. 53 Joey Gase Motorsports Chevrolet, which was originally qualified by veteran journeyman driver J.J. Yeley. Katherine Legge, Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet Katherine Legge, Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet Getty Images Getty Images The team is scrambling to get the seat ready for Legge in this unexpected swap. The green flag is set to wave just after 4 p.m. EST. This will be Legge's sixth career start in the Xfinity Series and her first on an oval since Richmond in 2018. She did compete at the Phoenix oval earlier this year, but that was in the Cup Series. Advertisement Connor Zilisch earned pole position for the Xfinity race, beating Parker Retzlaff by just 0.001s. However, a flat tire after his pole lap means Zilisch will have to start from the rear of the field. And making his first NASCAR start in nearly seven years, Kasey Kahne qualified an impressive fourth on the grid. Read Also: Dejected Stewart Friesen wonders if it's "freaking worth it anymore" Kasey Kahne eyeing more NASCAR races if Rockingham goes well 130 races later, Tyler Ankrum snaps winless streak in Rockingham Truck race The return of Kasey Kahne: Highlighting his best moments in NASCAR To read more articles visit our website.
Boston Globe
25-02-2025
- Sport
- Boston Globe
With Bruins leaning toward being sellers at trade deadline, players acknowledge the ‘business' of hockey
'Even in the best years,' noted Marchand, who Tuesday night will log his 1,088th regular-season game, all of them as a Bruin, 'guys are moved . . . things happen.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Marchand later added, 'It's part of the game. It's part of the business. Not a part you always love, but at the end of the day, it is what it is.' For a team careening toward its first postseason DNQ since 2016, and in dire need of infusing crucial speed, youth, and top-end talent into the lineup, it's inevitable that a body, two, three or more will be on the move in these next 10 days. It's not official yet, but these look like selling days. All of it is the consequence of a season that never got on track for a variety of reasons, including overestimation of roster talent and depth, the lackluster contributions of pricey July 2024 hires Elias Lindholm and Related : There was also the extra large dollop or two of bad luck, underscored on Sunday when GM Don Sweeney delivered word that injured defenseman Hampus Lindholm, who cracked a kneecap Nov. 12, will be lost for the season and that fellow blue liner Charlie McAvoy (shoulder injury/infection) will not be seen for the foreseeable future. Advertisement Consider McAvoy out of the duration, too, unless 1. he heals up sooner than anticipated; and 2. Sacco somehow, some way, keeps the Black and Gold in the multi-team .500 mosh pit mixer in the fight for one of the Eastern Conference's two wild-card seeds. Indeed, every team across the league deals with injuries in the crash-and-burn NHL. Yet few experience the dastardly 1-2 punches to the chin and nose of losing their Nos. 1-2 blue liners. Both Lindholm and McAvoy have their shortcomings — noted here on a fairly routine basis — but both are nonetheless the club's top two defensemen, particularly in terms of helping to generate offense. They're being paid a combined $19.5 million this season. Sacco now is left with a quirky patchwork six-pack back there that makes opposition forwards ever the more thirsty for offensive zone time. Sweeney and team president Cam Neely, still empowered to call all roster shots, have the ability to move everyone on the roster except forwards David Pastrnak and Elias Lindholm, as well as backliners McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm, and Zadorov. Marchand, the second-year captain, per can be dealt to any of 23 teams. Per his contract, he is allowed to designate eight teams he will not accept in trade. He, like Frederic, is on course to become an unrestricted free agent July 1. The Bruins could deal him prior to the deadline, keep the assets, then turn around and sign him to an extension on July 1. Following the workout in Brighton, Marchand acknowledged the chance he could be dealt, expressed his desire to be a Bruin for life, and also reiterated the sides have continued to talk about a new deal here. Otherwise, he didn't care to add details. Advertisement 'I've always planned on playing here my entire career,' he said. 'That hasn't changed. They're aware of that. I think everyone's aware of that. It's a gift to be playing for this team. I take a tremendous amount of pride in it so, yeah, it's always been a goal [to remain a Bruin].' Related : Geekie, finishing up the two-year, $4 million UFA deal ($2 million cap hit) he signed in the summer of 2023, noted how much he and his wife enjoy the city, and how much he, too, wants to stay. 'Everything about this place is everything I dreamed of and more — the guys in the room, the memories I created, the friendships,' said Geekie, who set a career high Saturday night with his 18th goal. 'I'd love to be a Bruin as long as I can, but at the end of the day it's a business. They are going to make business decisions and that's above my paygrade, so I am just going to go out there and do my job and have fun while I do it.' Asked if he were disappointed to not have been signed to a contract extension here, he added, 'They've got decisions to make and I don't think I'm more important than anybody else. Like I said, I am just trying to do my job out there and not get too tied up in that.' Frederic, 27, has been Bruins property since being drafted (No. 29) in 2016. He is on an expiring two-year deal ($2.3 million cap hit) and stands to become an unrestricted free agent July 1. Like Marchand, he could be dealt now (to any of the 31 other teams) and signed here again on July 1. He is from St. Louis, where Advertisement 'I'm obviously aware of the situation,' said Frederic, after acknowledging his desire to stay here. 'If something happens, I'll react off that.' The 27-24-7 Bruins, losers of their last three (0-2-1), face off against the playoff-bound Leafs (35-20-2, best in the Atlantic Monday morning) at 7 p.m. The clock is ticking. Time flies, and right now, so could a few bodies. Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at
