The Boston Bruins are the very best staff within the NHL not coached by Bruce Cassidy.
They have received 11 of 13 video games, have 22 factors and boast a +23 objective differential. They are undefeated within the United States and 7-0-0 at house.
They are successful behind a brand new coach – Jim Montgomery – who most New Englanders couldn’t acknowledge if he lower them off in a Dunkin Donuts drive-thru.
They are successful with out their greatest defenseman, Charlie McAvoy, who’s MIA on account of what’s been known as a “complex” shoulder harm that required preseason surgical procedure. Without McAvoy, newcomer Hampus Lindholm has dominated defensively. The Bruins are +12 with Lindholm on the ice. He is No. 2 on the staff in scoring with 13 factors and leads in ice time with 24:13 per recreation.
They are successful after bringing The Band again collectively for what’s growing into one last run at their elusive second Stanley Cup. Bergy. Marchy. Krechy. Pasta. The Fab Four is clicking prefer it’s 2019.
They are successful with a stunning enhance from Jake DeBrusk. He has grow to be a “Team Player,” now that former Bruins coach Cassidy is conserving the warmth off Josh McDaniels in Sin City.
All this from a staff that was as excessive as 30-1 to win the Stanley Cup this previous offseason. That’s +3000 for individuals who have interaction in authorized sports activities betting. You can count on sports activities betting to begin in Massachusetts proper across the time the ice melts on Neptune. Enjoy the drive to Seabrook to again the Patriots in Wildcard Weekend. Here’s hoping they plow I-95.
To sum up: Bruins are good.
Perhaps too good.
“Vanity” varieties the basis of all sin and is taken into account in some religions the mom of all vices. Vanity angered the Greek Gods greater than burned souvlaki. It was Al Pacino’s favourite sin in “The Devil’s Advocate.”
And it doomed the Bruins within the Mitchell Miller fiasco.
Too many organizations signal or draft gamers with questionable, legal and/or reprobate backgrounds pondering simply by taking part in for “Team X,” stated reprobate will discover the lacking items to restore their character or fill the holes of their upbringing that have been dug by unhealthy parenting, abuse, or only a unhealthy string of DNA.
This occurred with the Bruins and Miller. If you’ve learn this far, you’re nicely versed within the particulars of Miller’s previous. Much higher versed than the Bruins have been after they opted to signal him final week with out something resembling a vetting course of.
Miller, now 20, racially bullied a mentally-challenged a Black boy over the course of a number of years. The legal fees concerned happened when Miller was 14. The ache and struggling Miller inflicted upon his sufferer continues in the present day.
Our first intuition right here – not figuring out all the main points and listening to from each Miller’s mother and father and the mother and father of the kid he abused – was to say “it’s time we stop holding people accountable for what they did when they were kids.”
But his will not be one other case of “Cancel Culture.” Rather, it was one other instance of a staff both ignoring or not being keen to look at all the things in a participant’s previous as a result of his potential was deemed definitely worth the danger.
How good might Miller be as a participant? One hockey insider informed me he might be a “top four defenseman” within the NHL.
That mattered little to his potential teammates in Boston. As if we didn’t want one more reason to laud Patrice Bergeron, he spoke out towards the choice to signal Miller when requested about it by GM Don Sweeney beforehand. And once more after the signing. Other Bruins gamers echoed Bergeron’s subdued incredulity. Yet they weren’t so subdued.
Finally, it stays unclear if the Bruins and NHL have been ever on the identical web page as to when or if Miller could be eligible to play within the league.
Gary Bettman, who holds the file for being booed on the most-consecutive Stanley Cup presentation ceremonies, was lastly in the correct when he made it clear Miller’s future within the NFL is much extra not than possible.
In his Mea Culpa press convention, Bruins President Cam Neely apologized Monday for making individuals “unhappy” with the Miller choice.
The emotions of the lots are the least essential concern right here.
“We like to take pride in what we do in the community, and we hold ourselves accountable,” Neely stated. “We dropped the ball and I’m here to apologize for that.”
Pucks. Balls. Whatever.
The Bruins believed Miller’s previous was “an isolated incident and that he had taken meaningful action to reform” however let him go Sunday based mostly on new data.
“The fact we didn’t talk to the (victim’s) family was concerning to me,” Neely stated.
When requested why the group didn’t attain out to the household earlier than the signing, Neely responded: “It’s a great question. Something I need to find out.”
Neely threw in a couple of extra qualifiers like “from everything I’ve heard” and “I was under the impression” when attempting to clarify the staff’s failure to totally examine Miller’s previous and current.
That thumping sound you hear is Blades backing the Bruins staff bus over Sweeney. He would probably be out of a job on account of this debacle if the staff weren’t taking part in so nicely.
On Tuesday, based on the Herald’s Steve Conroy, Neely spoke with the mom of the boy who was plagued by Miller, Joni Meyer-Crothers. Conroy Tweeted that Meyer-Crothers stated Neely apologized and so they had a “nice 45-minute conversation.”
That’s a strong first step within the journey past saving face on NESN and attempting to be taught from an avoidable, inexcusable, inexplicable, and unforced error.
Bill Speros (@RealOBF) may be reached at [email protected]
Source: www.bostonherald.com