Mike O'Connell was on for a good half hour with the big show today and soon after Chris Nilan checked in with some interesting comments.
O'Connell started of by talking about one of the areas the Bruins in his mind were hurt was paying attention to details specifically saying during line changes and the play around the bluelines (I bet he was thinking of Gill's unnecessary icing that led to the faceoff right before the Habs goal; I know I was)
He talked about players who needed to step up and named two players specifically....care to guess? Murray and Rolston. Later on speculating about Murray's perceived value you get the impression the Bruins will make atleast a half assed effort on him. Still, I think it buh-bye to both from the sounds of it.
UFA's- he hopes to keep a 'few' of these players. Hmmmmm.....(by the way Nylander did have a concussion in game 2 hit by Bay-jin; and Samsonov got a minor one on that hit by Kommisarik. Few? sounds like the door is open and don't hit your butts on the way out.
He mentioned Raycroft as a top goalie and 'another on the way' in Toivonen; that the Bruins should be outstanding in this area for atleast another 7-8 years and that they have this local kid Kevin Regan they drafted in the 9th round who is headed for UNH who could be very good. He said with these two kids (Raycroft and Toivonen it's almost impossible for him to screw it up.
He mentioned how he purposely has composed the staff with Boston guys who have to hear 'it' (Gorton, Coady, Sullivan); he said they all are subject to the comments from Bruins fans in thier travels and said even his kids have to constantly deal every day with Bruins, Bruins, Bruins.
He said the reason the Bruins have become so strong drafting and developing players is because he only goes and watches them once or twice now (lightheartedness but truthful) and that he has great scouts in place who put a premium on being diligent on research and checking out the character and personality of the (top) players (specifically); Think of Stuart and Bergeron, Toivonen, Raycroft; he mentioned Morrisonn and how he has a chance to be a very good player and was used for Gonchar. He said the scouting staff budget has been increased as well as the overall scouting putting much more emphasis in this approach and it is paying off.
Speaking of Gonchar- he said he will be back no matter what the award in arbitration. He expects him to do well and get a raise but the Bruins will bring him back.
Interestingly, he talked about the Thornton bru-ha and said Joe said he could play and its up to the player with obvious input from the (medical) staff. I found it interesting how he thought Joe could have played better- MOC wants Joe to shoot more and become more of a threat the way Sakic is going off the side and willing to shoot quite a bit and keep defenses honest. He did mention how its a delicate situation but I found it interesting how he thought Joe could have played better. He had said that if Thornton was healthy the Bruins could very well have won.
MOC said his only complaints with the overall play were games 3 and 5. He gave Montreal great credit and mentioned how there defense were quick and the Habs played as a team. I read this as a direct shot at some of the Bruins defenseman and even the speed of the forwards. He said when you play a top 8 team like the Habs or any of the other playoff teams they are better than the bottom 8 because they do things better- and you have to be on your game and do the little things. He thought the Bruins battled hard but they didn't pay close enough attention to the details.
BERGERON- he talked about how level headed he is but made a couple of very interesting comments: 1) if he never improves and stays this way the Bruins would be very happy; 2) had they known he was this good they would have taken him with their first round pick.
FUTURE OF GAME: MOC said there is no reason for players to make $11 million a year; fans to have to pay $100 for a tix; and owners to lose $10 mil a year. He said there is enough for everyone to be happy and the game to thrive
MOC said they are presently going over what they think will happen with this team and will look at that but then get ready for the draft in June. After that who knows what will happen its going to be hard to tell.
Chris Nilan was on soon after and talked about Thornton. He had nothing but glowing word for Joe. Nilan said he had the same injury and could barely breathe he was in such pain- let alone play hockey. He thought KDP went to far and went on with a fantastic comparison of growing into it like Yzerman, Sakic, Messier, Modano. He said Joe is still young and these guys above didn't all win right away and it takes many personalities but Thornton has great guts and is a leader in toughness by doing what he did. Actually a bunch of very good points for Knuckles.
). IMO, you'll see maybe 4-6 guys back. i'll say 5 for now: 1 of odonnell or mcgillis (i think they will trade gill over the summer), knuble, donato, nylander and green.
