Michael Hurley On The Adam Jones Show: Don't Hold Your Breath For A Seidenberg Return
CBSBostonSports.com's Michael Hurley joined Adam Jones to talk Bruins in the wake of the B's-Canadiens game on Monday night.
As exciting as that game may have been, and as much as the Bruins have seemingly figured out how to play better against Montreal, would the Canadiens represent an undesirable playoff opponent?
"I still feel like that's a team you don't want to see in the playoffs if you're the Bruins," Hurley said. "We know how they get under the Bruins' skin, and all the Bruins Monday night admitted, 'We knew that going in they were going to try to irritate us, yet they still succeeded.' For them to be unable to control that ... and be taken off their game ... it was a game where 5-on-5, the Bruins dominated. The Canadiens had nine shots on net in 5-on-5 play. So it's a game the Bruins could have dominated and rolled to a 3-0 win, but because they kept making these out-of-character mistakes, they had to battle shorthanded for much of the night.
"If you're the Bruins, I don't think you want to see those guys [in the playoffs]."
As for the 2-1 Canadiens win via shootout, why did the Habs go with Peter Budaj in net instead of Carey Price?
"My theory going on, if you want to talk wild theories, was that you don't want to put Carey Price in there and potentially have him get lit up, knowing that you'll have to come back here for a second-round playoff series where the crowd can really get on you," Hurley said. "Price still doesn't have a playoff pedigree or resume, so if something like that happened, who knows what it would do to his confidence? He's still building it coming back from that injury."
The conversation later turned to Dennis Seidenberg. Cam Neely was asked about a possible Seidenberg return on Felger & Mazz last week, and Neely didn't rule it out. GM Peter Chiarelli likewise said this week that a return is possible in the postseason and that Seidenberg is ahead of schedule.
Why are Neely and Chiarelli saying this? Is there a chance Seidenberg really returns from his torn ACL and MCL, which he suffered just days before the new year?
"To me, that was two guys who are the heads of the hockey operation that respect Dennis Seidenberg so much that they don't want to necessarily crush his dreams," Hurley said. "Seidenberg's a guy who is so competitive, and he's a guy who's not going to hear a doctor say 'no, you can't play' and just accept it. He's going to think he can play. So that's my guess, is that they aren't going to stifle that right now, they're going to let him give it an honest go.
"But realistically, he suffered that injury three days before New Year's Eve, so we're talking four and a half, five months of a torn ACL/MCL. We thought it was crazy a few years ago that Wes Welker could do it in, what, seven months? I think Adrian Peterson was considered ahead of schedule, and he was nine, 10 months. So I think five months is lunacy.
"When it comes to the time where Seidenberg feels he can get back on the ice, I think they might let him give it a shot in terms of non-contact situations and then really start to pump the brakes on that train, because it's just a risky, dangerous idea. I understand that they support him as a player and a part of the organization but you just can't do that to a player you just signed to a multi-year contract. And I don't even know the impact it would have, because his whole game is strength and being a rock. If you take his knee away and he's not at full strength there, it's almost sort of worthless to have him rush back to be out there and not be at full strength. So I really, really, really don't expect to see Dennis Seidenberg in the playoffs."