There has been much speculation about both of these players, by analysts and fans alike. Why can’t Lucic perform at a high level without Krejci? Why can’t Krejci stay on the ice? Why can’t Bruins Management find and keep a top-line RW to play with these two? It’s fair to say that Krejci’s inconsistency and the struggles of Milan Lucic have not exactly been mutually exclusive. However, I believe that keeping them apart might be the answer we’re looking for in 2015.

Lucic admittedly struggled to find his identity last year. In an interview with Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe he cited a couple of reasons for his struggles, one being that he relied too much on David Krejci. It was obvious while Lucic was on the ice that he lost his way a little bit, however I don’t entirely blame him. Over the last few years the coaching staff has seemed to want to transform his playing style; they’ve tried to tame the ferocious enforcer in him too much and it almost got to the point where he forgot entirely what it’s like to be that player. They’ve wanted to see more leadership from Looch, and see a more balanced, level-headed skater. I believe it’s this urging from coaches along with his dependence upon Krejci that has lead him to be too cute and try to play a finesse game, rather than his more natural fast, heavy style.

The coaching staff didn’t exactly make it easy for Lucic to overcome the loss of Krejci. He must have played on about 15 different line combinations in November and December, having to skate alongside the likes of Craig Cunningham, Seth Griffith and even Mr. Locker Room himself, Chris Kelly. None of those players are necessarily going to give Lucic that spark of life or enthusiasm he was missing. Finally we saw him click with Ryan Spooner and David Pastrnak in the second half of the season, and the three of them put on quite a show! Fans screamed for a faster, younger game? Coaches urged Lucic to step up as a leader? It looks like all it took was a nice healthy serving of some spoon-fed pasta and Looch’s ailments were cured.

Now as for Krejci, I’ll admit that I personally have been pretty hard on him. There may not be a more clutch Playoff performer in the entire league, but his play during the regular season is up and down. In the two seasons that the Bruins made the Finals, Krejci scored 49 points in 47 playoff games! However, since then he has just 26 goals in 127 games and was unable to score in two playoff series in 2014. Much like the boost that Lucic was given from the kids, I think a change of scenery will do wonders for Krejci’s game.

He’s a player who is widely viewed as one of the best playmaking Centers in the game, and his $7.25mil/yr contract backs that up. Of course, he was given that kind of money to be starting for the Bruins and not shuffled back and forth between second-line duties and the injured reserve. For the past two off seasons this team has tried, and failed, to land an elite RW to start with Krejci and Lucic. I believe the solution to that problem might be right under our noses. Rather than spending time and money investing in some new question mark, why not use the resources we have and move Krejci over to RW? Sure he’s a great three-zone player and he’s solid from the face off dot, but with his kind of dynamic skill set and the $$ the Bruins have invested in him he should be able to play any forward position.

Reilly Smith seems to have plateued and it would be foolish to break up our new energetic “second” line. Krejci playing alongside Bergeron and Marchand could prove to be one of the most deadly lines in the league, and with the boatloads of talent those three possess they should be able to capitalize on dozens of scoring chances.

Don Sweeney and the Bruins management team have a lot to chew on this offseason and quite a few big decisions to make, especially in regards to contract negotiations (despite Peter Chiarelli being gone the team is still in a pretty tight spot against the cap). It would be prudent to focus the team’s money on the young talent it already has, and sign Dougie Hamilton, Torey Krug, Ryan Spooner and David Pastrnak to long term deals. Those players are part of the core of the team that will carry it to success in the future. Bigger holes to focus on filling through free agency would be a backup goaltender to play behind Tuukka Rask and at least one more D-man who could play a top-4 role.

Here are my proposed lines entering the 2015-2016 season:

1) Marchand   Bergeron   Krejci
2) Lucic   Spooner   Pastrnak
3) Kelly   Soderberg   Eriksson
4) Smith   Talbot   Connolly
D1) Chara   Hamilton
D2) Seidenberg     ?
D3) Krug   Miller

Whether I’m right or wrong, I hope the Bruins figure things out this offseason and give us all something to look forward to in October. I’ll be sure to keep up with whatever new developments come our way, but until then enjoy the rest of Stanley Cup Playoffs, and let’s all hope for more game 7’s!

Later- Jegs

All of us have been beaten over the head and bludgeoned to death with this friggen story. Now that the NFL’s investigation has reached a verdict and we know what Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the rest of the Patriots punishment is, I really don’t see a reason for Patriots Nation to stress out too much.

For one thing, Brady will appeal his 4 game suspension and it will probably become 2 games. Regardless of what type of power the league thinks it has, he is a player with no other offenses and has plenty of a case in his favor to reduce his penalty. In regards to the team being fined $1 million, (while I’m sure Robert Kraft isn’t happy with it) that isn’t exactly a fine that’s going to sting the organization too badly. Kraft can write a check to the league and move on, and it won’t put much of a dent in what the team will do long-term. Finally, there’s the 2 draft picks (1st round in 2016 and 4th round in 2017) that the team will have to forfeit; Belichick regularly trades out of picks and can easily find a way to draft 8, 9 or more players next year and beyond.

A large part of this whole investigation has been centered around the so called “court of public opinion”. Roger Gooddell and the league owners backed themselves into a corner with the egregious mismanagement of offenses to Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson and Greg Hardy, and now they seem to be overcompensating for their mistakes. Let’s face it, there’s a huge difference between a bit of clever (and possibly deceitful) gamesmanship and a serious criminal offense like aggravated assault, child abuse, or even murder. The New Orleans Saints bounty scandal from a few years back was something that was seriously harming players and putting them in very dangerous situations, this is simply about how much air is in a leather ball.

We can even look to other sports and find examples of relatively “harmless” plays that are on the borderline of proper sportsmanship. In baseball teams are constantly trying to steal others’ signs to gain an advantage. There’s even been a few times when the classic hidden ball trick has worked, and MLB hasn’t punished teams for attempting these. In the NBA we see a player inbound the ball off a defender’s back and scoop it up for an easy layup, or slide into the paint at the last second and take a flop to lead to a charging foul. While many of these things may be viewed as “unfair” by fans and analysts alike, they are within the parameters of the rules. I believe a large part of that “legality” can be credited to the human error created by the authority that referees/umpires have, which the leagues have ultimately empowered them with.

That being said, the NFL has gone to great lengths to uphold the integrity and consistency of the game, especially when it comes down to enforcing rules and making the appropriate calls in regards to penalties, TDs and hits to the head. The league certainly has the most in-depth replay system of any major sports, and there are constantly new controls being established to try to keep the human element out of the equation. I can’t help but ask the question- Why hasn’t the handling of the game balls been addressed prior to something like this happening? How the NFL could have continued to allow individual teams to be responsible for the footballs is beyond me, especially when it is such a simple task to put in the hands of the officiating crew.

Shame on you NFL for not being able to control one of the most elementary aspects to the game of football. Perhaps Gooddell needs to take a deeper look at himself and fix the problems he has allowed to linger, rather than point the finger and be so quick to place the blame on someone else. For the second straight offseason our attention is being diverted to distractions and arbitration over non-football related issues. The one common theme: Roger Gooddell’s unchecked ego.

Sincerely, Jegs