Bruins DieHard: Changes Are Needed, And Will Come When B's Season Ends
BOSTON (CBS) -- "Incredible Failure."
Those were the words of Boston Bruins CEO Charlie Jacobs halfway through this current season. After Game 81 on Thursday night, truer words have never been spoken.
The Bruins have gone from a Presidents Trophy last year to likely not making the playoffs this year in disgusting fashion. Granted, Ottawa can lose Saturday afternoon and the Bruins could beat the Lightning in Tampa, sneaking into the postseason in the process, but c'mon, do you really think either of those scenarios are going to happen?
I don't, and if you do, I have a bridge that I travel over every day that I want to sell you.
Hamstrung by the salary cap (their own doing) and with a roster full of too many players not performing up to the standard that Boston fans -- and the Bruins themselves -- are used to, this team is on the precipice of MAJOR front office chances.
Does Peter Chiarelli get to keep his job and try to make the needed changes that will get Boston back to the playoffs next season? And if so, does he still keep the mantra that as long as he is here, Claude Julien will be here?
One thing I will say about the coach is that he is one stubborn SOB.
We all know that since the opening round of the playoffs in 2011, it's been Claude's way or the highway -- and damn anyone who questions his methods. To this day, he refuses to change those methods. Young and inexperienced players shall remain in the background, seen but not heard. Older players who brought the Bruins and Julien success, they can move to the front of the line despite age or the fact they are no longer what they once were.
The problem is, those methods no longer work for this team. The Bruins are a team that needs the infusion of young talent. They need to let those young, inexperienced players make their mistakes during the season so when the time comes for the big games -- the important playoff-making games and the playoff tilts themselves -- they will have the knowledge, experience and wherewithal to contribute.
Just think back to February 2, 2015, Super Bowl XLIX. It once again looked like the New England Patriots were about to lose another championship game in the final minutes. But their coach puts all of his players in a position to make a play should they be on the playing surface in that big spot. When the game was on the line, it was an undrafted cornerback who saved the day for the Patriots.
This is the thinking that must be applied as the Boston Bruins head off into the sunset this season and onto next. Julien says you cannot live in the past and play in the past; well my thinking is you cannot coach the same way you have in the past. The league has evolved and should you not evolve with it, you become stagnant. That's when everyone runs by you.
Right now, the Bruins have been passed by a lot of teams, including the Florida Panthers team they lost to Thursday night, despite the fact they are not yet playoff material.
Now, we wait for everything to play out on Saturday. By some stretch of the imagination, the Bruins could possibly wiggle their way into that eighth playoff spot. But even then, it will only be a matter of time before elimination hits. If it's mental and physical fatigue that has hit the Bruins, as Julien iterated Thursday, then making it in to play the Rangers means it's only a matter of how many games before this season ends.
Some sort of change must come to the Boston Bruins, whether it be the personnel in Hockey Operations or the personnel on-ice. What we've seen this season is unacceptable and must be dealt with promptly.
Ric Duarte has covered hockey and the Bruins for various media outlets since 1986. You can follow Ric at BruinsDieHard.com and on Twitter @bruins_diehard.