Report: If Bruins Miss Playoffs, 'Full Front Office Change' Could Follow
The Boston Bruins are in the midst of a treacherous skid, going 1-4-2 in the month of February, accentuated Wednesday night with a shootout loss to the worst team in the Western Conference after failing to score in 12 rounds of the shootout.
Clearly, the Bruins look to be worlds away from being a Stanley Cup-caliber team, and it's gotten to the point where they don't even necessarily look like a playoff team. They're currently just three points ahead of the Florida Panthers for the final wild-card spot in the East, and their struggles have prevented them from gaining any separation in the standings.
And if the Bruins continue to slip and ultimately lose their spot in the postseason, there could be some major, major changes in the front office. TSN's Darren Dreger reported this during intermission of the NBC broadcast on Wednesday night:
"If the Bruins don't qualify for the postseason, then absolutely you could see full front office change in the offseason. We're talking about the dismissal of Peter Chiarelli or the head coach, Claude Julien. Both these guys know the amount of pressure that they're feeling right now. They know it because they're living it."
Clearly, Bruins ownership is treating this season seriously, and Charlie Jacobs' assertion that missing the playoffs would be unacceptable was no joke.
Marc Bertrand and Scott Zolak discussed Dreger's comments on Thursday's show.
"I'm telling you right now, a playoff run for the Bruins should not save the job of Peter Chiarelli. Should not happen," Bertrand said. "They get in and go on a little hot run, they get into the Eastern Conference finals, who knows, you miss Montreal in the first round, crazier things have happened in the NHL playoffs."
"But if you're winning and you keep it together and you do it over a stretch of time, you get credit for that," Zolak replied.
"Yeah, you get credit for that, but I think that the moves that he made to put some of these guys in place ... they have the worst cap situation in the NHL. That's his doing. That's the GM's problem. And so, do you want him to try to fix the problems? Do you want him to start making trades for some bigger-name, bigger-salary players? We've seen how that works out for him -- not well."
"He has derailed what should be great years for the Bruins. They have taken a step back because of their roster management," Bertrand said. "If you're thinking about firing him if you don't make the playoffs, then just fire him now. And don't get into this situation where you don't want him there and you thought you were going to fire him but then you went on this little run so you have to keep him. And then you're just stuck in an awkward situation. So go ahead and do it now before the deadline."
Listen to the full discussion below: