Pick any and all synonyms for “anguished” and the Bruins braintrust was nonetheless feeling it on Tuesday, greater than every week after the record-setting crew was shockingly bounced from the playoffs within the first spherical.
But in talking to reporters on the Legends membership within the Garden for the primary time since that fateful Sunday evening, it was clear that the harshest and most unenviable highlight was on coach Jim Montgomery. At one level, CEO Charlie Jacobs praised the job of his administration crew – president Cam Neely and GM Don Sweeney – for the job they did in placing collectively the 65-win crew, however the kudos didn’t lengthen to the coach. Maybe that was an oversight, however it felt telling.
Whether or not that places Montgomery on the recent seat as quickly as coaching camp opens in September with a roster to be named later, the coach willingly dove into the white warmth that was ready for him.
First up was his determination to stay with goalie Linus Ullmark till Game 7. Sweeney – who made some extent of claiming the failure was a collective effort – mentioned that no matter bodily problem was bothering the netminder, the administration and training employees obtained every day medical studies on Ullmark and so they had been snug with letting him play, from a bodily standpoint.
But regardless if he was bodily able to taking part in, Ullmark clearly was not taking part in on the Vezina-caliber degree that he’d performed at through the common season. Was there remorse in not going with Jeremy Swayman earlier than he did?
“In hindsight, absolutely,” mentioned Montgomery. “There’s an added mental grind in the playoffs and it takes a toll. That’s what I learned through this grind. The expectations that were put on our team going into the playoffs, there’s a price you pay. Everyone does. And I think we are going to learn from this, everybody, players, especially me, I’m going to learn and I’m going to have to help the players push through, which I didn’t do this year.”
Throughout the yr when each Ullmark and Swayman had been on their strategy to successful the Jennings Trophy as the very best goalie tandem, Montgomery was prepared to offer goalie coach Bob Essensa the credit score for selecting his goalie on a nightly foundation. But he made it clear on Tuesday that, although the choice is made collectively, the buck stops with him.
“I make the final decision. I’m the one that picks the starter,” mentioned Montgomery. “It’s not Goalie Bob’s decision, but I really rely on him heavily … we discuss this as a staff. I will talk in the playoffs even more with Sweens and Cam (Neely). And in the end, he wins Games 3 and 4, so you have two days off, you think Game 5’s going to go well. I personally spoke with Linus and he answered me a real honest question and took ownership of where he was at in Game 5. And what he relayed to me made me believe that you learn and grow and he was ready to grow and lead us to a Game 6 win. And that in the end is what made me decide that he was our goaltender for Game 6.”
Montgomery took each a micro and macro overview of what he perceived as his failures.
“Specifically, in hindsight you can go back and look at everything,” mentioned Montgomery. “But the two things that came to mind are, I’ve already talked about the toll on the goaltenders and going to Sway a little earlier. What game that is, that’s debatable and that’s hindsight. Not starting with my normal lines for Game 5. I have my logic with why it made sense, but it didn’t help us with our start, obviously. So that I learned from. And I think I could have switched the ‘D’ pairings on who the matchups were with a little bit quicker. We were shutting down one line really well, we weren’t shutting down another line really well. We did for two games, but we didn’t for five. Those are things that really stick with me. But the number one thing is my job is to get players to elevate their games and I didn’t do that.”
While he could have regretted letting Ullmark speak his manner into Game 6, he didn’t query his determination to let captain Patrice Bergeron, who had suffered a herniated disc in his again within the last common season sport, return to the lineup when he was medically cleared for Game 5. And he mentioned Bergeron, who wound up struggling within the three video games he performed, didn’t give him a lot wiggle room.
“After Game 3 I called Patrice. We were in Florida and I said, ‘I know you’re doing better. I’ve seen the video of your rehab skates. If we won Game 4, is it prudent for us to give you more time?’ He said, ‘What do you mean? And I said, ‘Do we not play you in Game 5.’ He said ‘Monty, I’m playing Game 5,’ ” mentioned Montgomery. “That was enough for me. You don’t keep Hall of Fame players out of the lineup.”
Changes coming
Whether the Bruins study from this catastrophic loss or not, it’s clear a number of the gamers will probably be taking these classes elsewhere. Sweeney mentioned he’s acquired no timetable for when he wants to listen to Bergeron’s or David Krejci’s plans, including he’ll function with contingencies in thoughts like he did final summer time. But with overages and incoming salaries, the B’s have nearly $5 million below the cap. That’s with out Bergeron and Krejci or RFAs Swayman and Trent Frederic below contract.
Cap flexibility will probably be maybe Sweeney’s No. 1 job this offseason, which implies some gamers with appreciable salaries must go.
“Our goal for this season was to put the absolute best roster together and try to take a real legitimate run. And we failed. No question. So we have to pay that forward a little bit,” mentioned Sweeney. “That might mean we’re instituting younger players, that might mean roster changes we’d like to make. That might mean we’d like to sign (the three deadline acquisitions) or other unrestricted players. We have to address the two RFAs and Frederic and Swayman, which we will do. And roster changes are likely coming. We’re not going to be the same team. But our mandate internally is we have a really strong core of guys that hopefully will continue to grow, will take leadership responsibilities moving forward regardless of whether Patrice and David walk back through the door. Because they need to.”
Said Neely: “I think we can still be a competitive team, but there’s a lot of work to do this summer.”
Owning the ache
Jacobs was requested what his father Jeremy, the chairman of the NHL Board of Governors, considered the painful loss.
“Like all of us fans, he wants answers. He wants to understand, ‘How could this possibly transpire?’ I feel, personally, the same way. I feel incredibly disappointed. We, in that regard, feel the same way,” mentioned Jacobs. “On many levels, I feel accountable for the fan base here and responsibility to deliver the best club that we can for the people of Boston and New England. I do feel like our management pushed all the right buttons this year to deliver the best possible team we could for our fans.”. …
Sweeney mentioned that he’s acquired no impending selections on his assistant coaches. It’s nonetheless to be decided on whether or not they all return.
Source: www.bostonherald.com