Bruins Choose Profits Over Playoffs

Bruins Choose Profits Over Playoffs
By Matt Brown, Boston Correspondent

Boston fans who complained that the Bruins could only put 2/3 of a top line on the ice this season can quit squawking. Now even that is gone.
Only hours after a heroic team effort in which the Bruins came from behind to tie one of the best teams in hockey, Bruins management ripped the heart out of the team by trading Adam Oates, Rick Tocchet, and Bill Ranford to the Washington Capitals for goalie Jim Carey, centers Anson Carter and Jason Allison, a 1997 third-round draft pick, and a conditional 1998 second-round draft pick, if Tocchet signs on with Washington after the season.
22-year-old Anson Carter was a standout with Michigan State before the Colorado Avalanche traded his rights to Washington on April 3, 1996. He has seen limited action with the Caps, but previously scored 19 goals and 19 assists this year for the Caps top farm club, the AHL Portland Pirates.
Jaason Allison, a 21-year-old center, was named Canadian Major Junior Player of the Year in 1994. He had 55 goals and 142 points in his final full junior season, but he has only seven goals in 86 games with the Caps over the course of four seasons, and just five goals and 16 assists in 52 games this year.
But there is little doubt that the 22-year-old Carey is the real center of attention here. He is a native of Dorchester, Massachusetts, and he led the NHL with nine shutouts last season. But his record this season is mediocre, at 17-17-3 with a 2.74 GAA. Since his flop in the playoffs against Pittsburgh, he has seen reduced playing time.
"I see them as potentially good, solid NHL players," Sinden said. "We made the trade for youth. For the future, we think it was time to take a run at a younger team with potential. We think we have a lot of very good players in that age group. And if we can solidify with some younger ones, it was time to do that."
While Oates and Tocchet were expected goners, the trade of Bill Ranford caught most Bruins watchers totally by surprise, and reactions ranged from disbelief to utter disgust. However, there is no truth to the rumor that Jeremy Jacobs, the Bruins owner who gave Harry Sinden a $100,000 Mercedes as a bonus last year, plans to have the car refitted with bulletproof glass.
It remains to be seen whether, as a result of this trade, the Bruins are a heart transplant candidate, or simply a brain-dead organ donor. If the Bruins manage to sneak into the playoffs, it will most likely be in spite of this trade rather than because of it. But that is hardly the whole story.
Face it, a team gearing up for the playoffs does not deal three of its four best players to a team directly competing with them for the last playoff slot.
Like everything else Bruins General Manager Harry Sinden does, this trade was not the simple six-player swap it appeared to be on the surface. As one Bruins fan put it, "There are lies, damned lies, and Harry Sinden."
Both Sinden and Capitals GM Dave Poile categorized this as a "buyer beware" trade, given that Oates and Tocchet were known to have contract problems brewing.
True to form, Tocchet has already said that he will not sign, and Oates asked that he not be required to play for the Caps their first game after the trade, with a hint that he will not suit up at all until the contract matters are resolved. Bill Ranford, in some respects the innocent victim in all this, dutifully dressed as backup for Washington the next day against the Islanders.
However, this is a "buyer beware" trade on both sides. You have to wonder why a team that is struggling on offense would deal a 22-year-old Vezina Trophy winning goalie with a 2.26 GAA for Ranford, an increasingly brittle 30-year old goalie who missed 20 games hurt this year, has a recent history of nagging injuries, hasn't had a GAA under 3.25 in seven years, and who has never had a GAA under 3.00 in a year he played more than six games. The answer is that Washington, or at least coach Jim Schoenfeld, were disappointed in Carey's playoff performances, and covet the "big save" ability and experience that Ranford brings to the job.
The Bruins front office is betting that a return to his hometown will be just the ticket Jim Carey needs to regain his form, mature in his position, and solidify his playoff performance. All well and good, as long as you remember that a 22-year-old player only becomes available when his current team gives up on him. Would Dave Poile take the risks with Oates' contract, Ranford's injuries, and Tocchet's contract and injuries, if he thought he was giving Harry a "sure thing" goaltender and two young rarin' to go centers? Don't forget, Dave Poile is the guy who sold Harry on Al Iafrate for Joe Juneau. We all know how that turned out for Boston.
In trading forwards, the Bruins gave up 100 points to gain 25 and a whole lot of calendar time. Oates was leading the Bruins again in scoring with 70 points, and Tocchet had chipped in 16 goals and 14 assists between maladies. Anson Carter and Jason Allison could muster all of eight goals between them, and two of those came against the Bruins last week. Allison was a highly touted prospect coming out of junior, but suddenly his reputation is in the gutter, supposedly because his skating skills don't measure up. Neither has Carter set the US Air Center aflame.
Fortunately for Boston, it just isn't that simple. Remember the phrase about success in business -- "location, location, location." Well, success in NHL hockey is "ice time, ice time, ice time." Think back at the number of pluggers who blossomed into All-Stars just by moving from the third line to the first line at the right time, or when traded to the right team. The classic example for the Bruins was Al Secord. A bruiser and grinder with the Bruins, he became a scorer and an All-Star with the Blackhawks because he got the ice time. There is an excellent chance, or so the Bruins think, that given the ice time, of which they got little in Washington, that either Carter or Allison or both could begin to live up to their previously advertised potential. Hey, it could happen!
Another important aspect of this trade is draft positioning. The Bruins hold their own first-round pick, and that of the Hartford Whalers, who are still suffering from the "Glen Wesley" hangover. The Whalers are also fighting Washington for that last playoff spot, and any trade that helps Washington hurts Hartford, potentially giving the Bruins a higher draft pick to squander along with their own, which is looking more lottery-likely with each passing game.
And then there is youth. At the press conference announcing the trade, Harry talked a great deal about youth and age. "We've been thinking about having to make a move to have some youth in the organization for quite a few months. I think that probably called us to action," general manager Harry Sinden said.
It was here that Harry made the most sense, although there is a sneaking suspicion that Harry was egged on to a degree by certain Boston media members who have harped endlessly about the age factor on the Bruins, and by Harry's recollection of the collapse of the great Celtic Dynasty when the big three (Larry Bird, Robert Parish, and Kevin McHale) all got old together fast.
"The youth Harry's talking about, I think this team badly needs," Steve "Master of Understatement" Kasper said. "Whether we'll be a better team on the ice right now remains to be seen."
Obviously, Sinden's point that making the playoffs (or not) wasn't the deciding factor in Steve Kasper's fate had to make Stevie's part in this a little easier to bear.
"I can tell you this," said Kasper, "Morale in that locker room will be better. Obviously, the last week's been very tough on our team. I think it's time for me to go through the locker room now and give all the players a pat on the back for making it through. That distraction has been removed."
I'll bet they are just lining up at the door for that one.
In Boston's defense, Sinden's premise is to rebuild the team from the goalie on out, following the example of New Jersey with Martin Brodeur and Florida with the Beezer.
But there is a significant difference: each of these teams had a stronger and more experienced core defense, and both used systems which rely on strong backchecking, while the Bruins style has always relied on strong forechecking. This Bruins team and coach have yet to prove that they can consistently employ a backchecking style game in and game out.
A further handicap is an almost universal lack of the team speed needed to play both a forechecking and backchecking two-way style. The sad truth is that even Patrick Roy would look more like the Patrick of last Fall in Montreal rather than the Conn Smythe winner of this Spring in Colorado, if he were playing for the Bruins. The more accurate appraisal is that a world-class goalie puts a strong team over the top, but may manage to keep a pathetic team out of the cellar. See also: Bill Ranford, Edmonton Oiler.
The saddest part of this trade is the total disregard of the loyal Bruins fans. The people who buy the tickets spoke loud and clear last Thurday with the ovations they gave to Oates. They wanted Adam to stay. In reality, that only hastened his departure.
Just like letting Joe Mullen go this year, before he could score goal number 500 -- Sinden deprives fans of what little pleasure they could get from this team. They had to dump Adam before he scored his 1,000 career point (he was 16 points away when traded) to avoid total embarrassment. Now they can potentially be embarrassed when he does it for the Capitals.
When it all comes down to it, though, money is the root of all Delaware North Companies, Inc., the corporate owners of the Bruins. And the fact is that the Bruins dumped off $7 million in salaries for an outlay of around $3.5 million. Do the math, and add to that the reported $14 million that the hockey team alone made last year, on the backs of fans paying the highest ticket prices in the leagues -- don't even count the parking and concessions. Case closed.
How did this all come to pass? Why would a team struggling to make the playoffs deal a future Hall of Fame center, a goalie with two Stanley Cup wins, and one of Wayne Gretsky's best pals to Washington?
It all was triggered by a single goal.
The Bruins played one of their best games of the year against the Avalanche, but lost on a dribbler of a goal in overtime with just 3.8 seconds remaining.
After the game, during a fairly routine post-game interview, Adam Oates let loose with the blast heard 'round the hockey world, letting out the secret that the Bruins weren't exactly the strongest club in the league, and it wasn't the coaching, it wasn't the players, it was the management team that had not gotten the job done.
Well, that went over big. Bruins Assistant General Manager Mike O'Connell fired back with pointed comments about Oates not supporting his teammates, claiming that Oates was in effect saying that his teammates weren't good enough to play along side him.
The recriminations continued from there, with Mike trying to embarrass Oates in the locker room in Chicago, pointing to other players and asking Oates if this guy or that guy were good enough.
While some traditionalists might feel that Oates violated the sanctity of the locker room with his public airing of discontent, and point to Raymond Bourque's quiet leadership as a better example of perseverence, this is unfortunately the nineties. Oates' comments were far tamer than those of players like Wayne Gretzky, Brett Hull, and others. That doesn't make any of them right, but it does point out that hockey players do have freedom of speech in this brave new world.
The difference is that Boston management still deals with discontent in classic Stalin-style -- exile to Siberia, or someplace similar. Any difference of opinion on a player's part is treated as disloyalty, even if that player has led the team for five years without a discouraging word.
Of course, Harry and Mike can say whatever they want about a player - call him a floater, lazy, washed up, and that is "management's prerogative." They vilify Oates for non-specifically saying that some of the Bruins players aren't as strong as players on other teams, and then Mike and Harry blithely ship the same players down to Providence with no pangs of guilt whatever. In fact, this is exactly what Oates was complaining about, rather than the player's skills themselves. Listen: "A guy that was on my left wing three days ago just sat out a game in the minors. Is that any way to treat people?" Oates is talking about P.C. Drouin, a rookie who went from first line in the NHL to benched in the AHL three days later. Even though this is the kind of stuff you see in Dilbert's Book of Bad Management, they say Oates is the one disrespecting Bruins players? Please.
Hockey has changed, but not for the better, in this regard. Players are no longer indentured servants (well, not as much), owners are no longer sportsmen, and GMs like Sinden and O'Connell are busy trying to stay one step ahead of lawyers and sleazeball agents in the blame game.
Mike O'Connell spoke as if he were concerned that Boston's players were upset by Oates' remarks. That hasn't seemed to be the case. Ray Bourque hoped that Oates would stay put. "I hope I don't have to worry about that," Bourque said. "I know what the guy's meant to this organization. I know what he brings to the rink each night. I know how hard he competes. I want to keep playing with him. You don't want to lose anybody with that amount of talent and that ability."
Well, what's one more disappointment for Ray anyway? Certainly nothing worth getting embarrassed over, at least in Harry and Mike's opinion.
Washington certainly knows what they want out of the trade. After the tie game between the Caps and Bruins, Washington coach Jim Schoenfeld was clearly sold on Ranford: "There was a guy on the other end that made sure we only got one point. ... Ranford played great," he added. "If you had to pick the difference in this game, it's pretty obvious it was Bill Ranford."
Following the trade, Schoenfeld was even more optimistic: "If I'm a Washington Capital and I hear that Rick Tocchet, Adam Oates and Bill Ranford are coming to my team, I'm a Washington Capital that has a lot more confidence today than I had yesterday. I think it's going to be a big boost for our team."
So far, it is anything but a big boost for the Bruins, in spite of Steve Kasper's "High Hopes" attitude. The team came out and showed Jim Carey what it is like to be a Bruins goalie – pure hockey playing misery, as they helpd stake him to a 4-1 deficit in the first period, before he was unceremoniously yanked in his first game. Welcome home, Jim.