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Post by SeaBass on Jan 13, 2021 8:35:40 GMT -5
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Post by Losing my mind on Jan 13, 2021 8:42:37 GMT -5
Oh shit. I think we are going to see more of this. The NFL plays once a week and had a hard time for several weeks. The more games they play, the more risk of exposing your teammates.
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Post by SeaBass on Jan 13, 2021 8:45:59 GMT -5
Oh shit. I think we are going to see more of this. The NFL plays once a week and had a hard time for several weeks. The more games they play, the more risk of exposing your teammates. For sure. I read that Rask and Halak will try their best to stay away from each other as. Can't have both goalies out.
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Post by SeaBass on Jan 13, 2021 9:33:20 GMT -5
The sound, perhaps more than the pain, alerted Kevan Miller that something was very wrong again with a knee he’d worked so hard to make right.
It was May 9, 2019. Miller was warming up in an ice-level hallway at PNC Arena. He was prepping for a 10-minute solo skate. It would be his first time on the ice since he broke his right kneecap vertically 35 days earlier.
Miller was in good spirits. Rehab was going well. The Bruins were leading the Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final, 2-0. Miller hoped to return for the Stanley Cup Final.
As Miller leaned on his right leg, the kneecap broke again. This time, it cracked horizontally along one of the screws. His leg buckled. Miller fell to the floor. He screamed.
“I’ll never forget the sound,” Miller said. “The sound was like a balloon had just popped. Everybody heard it.”
Twelve days later, Miller underwent surgery for the second time in two months. This time, Miller knew his season was over. So was his dream of playing in the Cup. Miller, held up by crutches, watched his team lose Game 7 at TD Garden.
“That’s what you want to do. You want to play and win the Stanley Cup,” Miller said. “Then to sit, after two injuries, in the stands for Game 7 to watch what happened happen, I can’t even put into words the emotions I had watching that. I still lose sleep over it.”
It was the unhappiest moment of Miller’s career. A year and a half later, it is the engine powering the defenseman’s comeback.
Hockey, Miller believes, owes him a Game 7.
‘That’s somebody else’s knee’ How many times can a man be broken? The repairs tell the story:
• Surgery in Boston to repair the right kneecap that broke vertically (April of 2019).
• Surgery in Vail, Colo., to repair the same kneecap after the horizontal break (May of 2019).
• Stem cell and platelet-rich plasma injections in Pensacola, Fla., to promote healing of (1) the fragment of the right patella that had sheared off and lodged between two anchor screws in the knee, and (2) the right quadriceps tendon that had frayed (December of 2019).
• Surgery in Vail to remove the patella fragment, reattach the quad tendon that had undergone further fraying, extract one screw and reinforce the other screw (March of 2020).
The cascade of operations started with what Miller thought was a bad bruise.
In Game 81 of the 2018-19 season, Miller started the second period at Minnesota’s Xcel Energy Center. Twenty seconds later, his shift ended after he tumbled into the boards.
Trainer Don DelNegro hurried to the scene. They hustled off the ice. DelNegro pushed and tugged on Miller’s knee. It didn’t hurt.
Miller returned late in the second for two shifts. He didn’t feel his usual explosiveness.
As a precaution, Miller underwent an X-ray during the second intermission. He could not believe what it showed.
“Clear as day, it’s broken. Right in half,” Miller said. “I was like, ‘That’s somebody else’s knee. There’s no way this is what’s going on here.’ Lo and behold, that’s what it was.”
Miller had surgery several days later. It started the recovery process. He planned to be ready for the Cup.
Miller learned the hard way that timetables for return are anything but guaranteed.
Peaks and valleys Miller is a self-made player. He was undrafted. The Southern Californian traveled across the country to attend the Berkshire School in Sheffield. He came to Providence on a tryout after playing at Vermont for four seasons. He is no stranger to long odds, or hard work.
But in this, he found a challenge he couldn’t simply work and grit his way past.
Return from injury is different for every athlete. Schedules for recovery are guides, not precise documents. So when target dates passed and Miller remained out of uniform, he realized the calendar wasn’t always his friend.
“I’d be lying to you if it didn’t wear on me for sure,” Miller said. “There were definitely some times there, some dark times, where it didn’t matter if I was at home or at the rink, I was rehabbing, things just weren’t good. I had circled so many dang dates on the calendar of, ‘Coming back. Coming back.’ I basically stopped circling dates and just focused on trying to be healthy again.”
Circling June 2019 and then seeing his Cup dream vanish represented the most painful of Miller’s missed dates. Subsequent milestones proved almost as vexing.
He thought he’d be ready for the 2019-20 season opener. He wasn’t.
Miller rehabbed and trained and skated, only to continue meeting on-ice resistance. For whatever reason, Miller could not exceed what he perceived to be 70 percent of his threshold. Further study showed the piece of patella and fraying quad tendon were limiting his power.
“There were times when I was like, ‘Doesn’t matter. I’m going to get back. I’m going to play. Everything’s good,’ ” Miller said. “Then there were times where, ‘Crap, I’m done. I’m never going to play the game again. That could be it.’ Anywhere in that spectrum, I’ve had every feeling between that and that, from high to low.”
Miller returned to the team after the stem-cell and platelet-rich plasma injections. He rehabbed, trained and skated with the hopes of playing sometime in 2020. Miller’s knee said no.
Teammates did their best to lift Miller’s spirits. There are only so many times, though, that an injured athlete can bear to be asked how he’s doing.
“It’s heartbreaking,” said assistant coach Kevin Dean. “Because he’s an emotional kid. You see him and think he’s there. Then he has a setback. You’re like, ‘Jesus.’ It’s just devastating to him. You can see it. He’d come to the games and you’d see it in his eyes. He’s there because he wants to be there. But you can see he’s frustrated. He would have made a difference for us. I believe that. Having his type of game he brings against a team that was forechecking like St. Louis, he would have been really effective for us.”
Support staff Adam Naylor, principal mental game consultant at Telos SPC, shares a joke with clients who are recovering from injuries: What stupid things will my teammates say today?
“The things we tend to say,” Naylor explained, “are either, ‘You’ll be OK,’ which is almost too warm and fuzzy, or, ‘Suck it up. You’ll be fine.’ Neither one of those are correct. I’m not sure we can always expect a teammate to hit that kind of middle ground really well — the, ‘Hey, you’re OK, we’ll see you soon.’ ”
Because Miller spent so much time in recovery limbo, he heard it all. At one point, it got to him.
The inquiries, despite their good intentions, reminded Miller he was, sometimes literally, an immobile object amid the NHL’s whitewaters. The season is always in motion: wins and losses, promotions and demotions, practices and morning skates. Because of his stops and starts, it was difficult for Miller to categorize his improvements as progress.
“You get this every time, every day in the locker room. And it’s just your teammates supporting you,” Miller said. “But it’s the same question: ‘Hey man, how you doing? What’s the news?’ It almost became where you hated hearing that. Because you just hear it. I’m appreciative of it because it’s your teammates or coaches saying, ‘How’s it going?’ You get it every day. So yeah, it was weird. And it got weirder by the injury. You’re around and you want to be there. You want to be in it. You want to sit in the locker room, enjoy the time with the guys, talk. But you’re not there. You’re not a part of it. You’re not playing. You’re not in it during practice. You don’t hear the jokes that go on the ice. It’s a bummer, for sure. You’re not trying to isolate. They’re not trying to isolate. They’re there to support you and care. I’ve been the guy on the other end of it too.”
His teammates and coaches noticed. Queries about his health went away. Conversations veered elsewhere.
“I tried to stay away from the hockey side of it. Because you could see it wasn’t an area of excitement for him,” said Dean. “He still knew he was a long ways away. I just tried to stay away from it and talk about things I knew excited him: hunting, fishing, his new house, his daughter. I tried to make it more personal. Because you can only get kicked in the teeth so long with the injury.”
His fourth procedure brought Miller to a crossroads. By then, he knew that playing last season, the final year of his contract, was out of the question. Even the pandemic’s extension of the playoffs was incongruent with Miller’s recovery.
For the entirety of the season, Miller could not once call himself a hockey player.
“If there’s significant time lost, there is a threat to one’s identity,” Naylor said. “Especially if we’re looking at a season or two or somewhere on those lines. If someone is a professional athlete, a high-level athlete, they often identify as being an athlete first. They rarely identify as being an injured athlete. So all of a sudden, you’re missing who you are for a bit.”
It was worse than that. There were times Miller felt he could not fulfill even more important duties: being a dependable husband and father.
Hitting the bottom Haley, Miller’s wife, needed help. She was eight months pregnant while watching over Remy, the couple’s 2-year-old daughter.
Her husband was on crutches. Doctors didn’t want Miller walking up and down stairs. Putting on pants was a chore. He was in poor shape to lend a proper hand.
“When you speak of low points,” Miller said, “those six weeks and three times on crutches you can’t really go up stairs and whatnot, sleeping down in my guest bedroom, those were the times when things were not great. You can’t help out with the kids as much. My wife was awesome. It was hard on her. It was hard on my family. That was probably the hardest part.”
His spirits rose when son Wyatt was born. Days around his family in their Colorado home helped Miller take his mind off his condition.
Miller needed time more than anything. Aligning his recovery with the NHL schedule wasn’t going to work. In that way, the pandemic and its obliteration of normalcy worked in Miller’s favor.
He stopped circling dates. Miller accepted the short-term peaks and valleys of good days and bad. The family moved to Utah, just outside Salt Lake City. Miller, an outdoorsman, marvels at the area’s beauty.
By late summer and early fall, Miller felt he could be a hockey player once more. At times, given what he had thought before, it was almost too much to believe again.
“There were times when I was like, ‘Doesn’t matter. I’m going to get back. I’m going to play. Everything’s good,’ ” Miller said. “Then there were times where, ‘Crap, I’m done. I’m never going to play the game again. That could be it.’ Anywhere in that spectrum, I’ve had every feeling between that and that, from high to low.”
The trouble was that Miller did not have a contract.
Getting a deal Teams do not line up for a 33-year-old defenseman who has missed more than a season and who has had his knee fixed four times. The end was a very real possibility.
“The mental pressure eventually got to the point where, ‘This season’s over, man. You don’t have a season. It’s been a year since you’ve played,’ ” Miller said. “Those things are like, ‘Well, what do you do now?’ You start to worry about those things. You try not to let it affect you. But I’d be lying to you if I told you it didn’t.”
Miller focused on his recovery. Agent Peter Fish, meanwhile, studied Miller’s options for the new season. He saw a market.
“Every team needs someone like Kevan,” Fish said.”Tough as nails. A leader. Someone you know you’re going to throw out on the ice and he’s going to kill penalties, block shots, fight. Everybody needs someone like that. There were teams, I knew, that would want Kevan.”
A Black-and-Gold reunion was the likeliest outcome. Miller liked the Bruins. The organization knew Miller better than anyone, from his character to his knee.
On Oct. 9, Miller signed a one-year, $1.25 million deal. It includes a $250,000 bonus if he makes the roster for at least one game. He can earn up to $550,000 in additional bonuses depending on the number of games in which he appears and if the Bruins make the playoffs. Nothing is guaranteed for a physical defenseman with an injury history like Miller’s.
“It takes a real special individual that has the type of mindset and passion to get through something like this. I mean it,” Fish said. “He is just a fierce warrior. He was not going to let this be the end of his career. The amazing thing is he never got down. He was never, ‘Woe is me.’ He never complained. He just kept saying, ‘I’m going to come back. I’m going to get better.’ He obviously went through some disappointment trying to make it back for the Stanley Cup a couple years ago. But that’s why people in the locker room, management, everyone respects Kevan so much.”
It takes a village Miller needed help to get back to where he is now. It is an ample roster: Haley, his children, his parents, Fish, DelNegro, Dr. Matthew Provencher in Vail, Colo., former Bruins trainer Scott Waugh, his teammates and coaches.
“If I didn’t have the support system that I did, we wouldn’t have this conversation right now,” Miller said. “It’s, ‘Thanks for coming. Thanks for enjoying your time in the NHL. You’re on your next thing.’ ”
Miller’s experience proves that healing requires not just medicine’s miracles but the restorative power of friendship. After the first day of camp, Patrice Bergeron, the Bruins’ next captain, started the post-practice stretch. Bergeron invited Miller to join him in the middle. All of Miller’s teammates clapped their sticks on the ice.
“I almost got goosebumps watching him,” Brad Marchand said on Day 1. “Not only did he come back, but the form he’s come back in. He’s an absolute animal right now. Watching him out there, he hasn’t missed a beat. He looks incredible. To be in the position he was in, where he really didn’t know what way it was going to go, there was potential for it to be career-ending. He looks awesome. I was so happy for him. Not just today. Today we got to see it all in action. But just the way he’s been able to come back and the story he’s kind of written for himself, it’s very impressive. I couldn’t be happier for him.”
Miller has been flying. The staff has paired him with Jakub Zboril. They want Zboril, 10 years Miller’s junior, to absorb his partner’s work ethic, bravery, intensity and commitment.
It could be the No. 3 pairing for the Jan. 14 opener against New Jersey. Miller has waited for the date for a long time.
“I’m sure I’ll have a flood of emotions: good, bad, worried, not worried, excited, whatever it may be,” Miller said. “I’m looking forward to pulling that jersey over my head again, getting back out and competing. I’m excited as I’ve ever been to play again. I can’t wait.”
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Post by SeaBass on Jan 13, 2021 10:11:46 GMT -5
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Post by SeaBass on Jan 13, 2021 11:38:59 GMT -5
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Post by SeaBass on Jan 13, 2021 11:44:28 GMT -5
Kulhman on the 1st line is just a money thing...will probably go on the IR tomorrow. All of the teams are using their cap expert to the fullest these days. Need to save every penny.
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Post by SeaBass on Jan 13, 2021 14:26:57 GMT -5
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Post by SeaBass on Jan 14, 2021 8:26:41 GMT -5
Saw something like this elsewhere. Big questions
What happens if Zboril and Lauzon can't handle top minutes? What happens if Charlie gets hurt? Can Rask still control his net? What happens if Studnicka can't handle the 1st line? Where does Bjork fit in? Did Jake get some balls? Will Frederic make an impact this year?
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Post by RascalHoudi on Jan 14, 2021 10:07:44 GMT -5
Saw something like this elsewhere. Big questions What happens if Zboril and Lauzon can't handle top minutes? What happens if Charlie gets hurt? Can Rask still control his net? What happens if Studnicka can't handle the 1st line? Where does Bjork fit in? Did Jake get some balls? Will Frederic make an impact this year? What happens if Zboril and Lauzon can't handle top minutes? -then somebody else steps in. Gryz has a good history working with Mac What happens if Charlie gets hurt? -Ouch. Next man up. Vaak gets a chance to shine. Can Rask still control his net? -of course. No need for concern here. A more relevant question is can Halak still keep up his previous level of play. What happens if Studnicka can't handle the 1st line? -This is only a short term issue until Pasta returns anyway. -somebody else steps in. Swedish Chef Bjork Bjork Bjork is probably one of the first choices. -if that doesn't work, then you try somebody else. Butch isn't afraid of switching things up. My grandmother would look good playing on a line with Bergy and March. Where does Bjork fit in? -Swiss army knife. Can fill in on any line in case of injury. Did Jake get some balls? -I will leave that to you to do the reacharound and find out. We can only hope so. Will Frederic make an impact this year? -will be dependent on either injuries that give him an opening, or if the B's are getting pushed around too much he will get a chance to log some 4th line minutes.
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Post by SeaBass on Jan 14, 2021 11:12:13 GMT -5
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Post by kjc2 on Jan 14, 2021 12:35:24 GMT -5
Saw something like this elsewhere. Big questions What happens if Zboril and Lauzon can't handle top minutes? What happens if Charlie gets hurt? Can Rask still control his net? What happens if Studnicka can't handle the 1st line? Where does Bjork fit in? Did Jake get some balls? Will Frederic make an impact this year? I think the answer to the first three questions is the same. We’re screwed if we don’t have a quality partner for Charlie, we’re screwed if Charlie gets hurt and if Tuukka is not in the right state of mind we’re screwed. I think we can work around or work with the other four questions.
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Post by orym on Jan 14, 2021 14:12:29 GMT -5
Saw something like this elsewhere. Big questions What happens if Zboril and Lauzon can't handle top minutes? What happens if Charlie gets hurt? Can Rask still control his net? What happens if Studnicka can't handle the 1st line? Where does Bjork fit in? Did Jake get some balls? Will Frederic make an impact this year? What happens if Zboril and Lauzon can't handle top minutes? Vaak is our man. What happens if Charlie gets hurt? Vaak is our man...just kidding we're screwed. Can Rask still control his net? Yes. What happens if Studnicka can't handle the 1st line? I think by the time we figured that he couldn't, Pasta would be back and Stud would be where he is more comfortable. That said, I think Stud is going to do fine up there with Bergy and Marchy. Where does Bjork fit in? I agree with the swiss army knife comment. Move him up or down as needed. Did Jake get some balls? No. Will Frederic make an impact this year? I think he does. I think he comes in and provides some toughness and energy. Just hope when he gets in there he doesn't take too many stupid penalties.
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Post by RascalHoudi on Jan 14, 2021 14:25:19 GMT -5
Saw something like this elsewhere. Big questions What happens if Zboril and Lauzon can't handle top minutes? What happens if Charlie gets hurt? Can Rask still control his net? What happens if Studnicka can't handle the 1st line? Where does Bjork fit in? Did Jake get some balls? Will Frederic make an impact this year? What happens if Zboril and Lauzon can't handle top minutes? Vaak is our man. What happens if Charlie gets hurt? Vaak is our man...just kidding we're screwed. Can Rask still control his net? Yes. What happens if Studnicka can't handle the 1st line? I think by the time we figured that he couldn't, Pasta would be back and Stud would be where he is more comfortable. That said, I think Stud is going to do fine up there with Bergy and Marchy. Where does Bjork fit in? I agree with the swiss army knife comment. Move him up or down as needed. Did Jake get some balls? No. Will Frederic make an impact this year? I think he does. I think he comes in and provides some toughness and energy. Just hope when he gets in there he doesn't take too many stupid penalties. Once Pasta comes back I can envision Studs on the 3rd line while Ritchie goes to the Taxi squad with occasional 4th line appearances.
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Post by SeaBass on Jan 14, 2021 14:36:13 GMT -5
I just hope Bruce lets the kids play. They are going to have rough days for sure but let them figure it out.
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Post by madmarx on Jan 14, 2021 16:26:05 GMT -5
I just hope Bruce lets the kids play. They are going to have rough days for sure but let them figure it out. 100% Butch needs to keep throwing them out there
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Post by orym on Jan 14, 2021 16:27:03 GMT -5
What happens if Zboril and Lauzon can't handle top minutes? Vaak is our man. What happens if Charlie gets hurt? Vaak is our man...just kidding we're screwed. Can Rask still control his net? Yes. What happens if Studnicka can't handle the 1st line? I think by the time we figured that he couldn't, Pasta would be back and Stud would be where he is more comfortable. That said, I think Stud is going to do fine up there with Bergy and Marchy. Where does Bjork fit in? I agree with the swiss army knife comment. Move him up or down as needed. Did Jake get some balls? No. Will Frederic make an impact this year? I think he does. I think he comes in and provides some toughness and energy. Just hope when he gets in there he doesn't take too many stupid penalties. Once Pasta comes back I can envision Studs on the 3rd line while Ritchie goes to the Taxi squad with occasional 4th line appearances. I think you are right but I'd like to see Ritchie take a taxi right out of town and never look back
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Post by KSJ08 on Jan 14, 2021 16:39:55 GMT -5
Once Pasta comes back I can envision Studs on the 3rd line while Ritchie goes to the Taxi squad with occasional 4th line appearances. I think you are right but I'd like to see Ritchie take a taxi right out of town and never look back For me that's for Kulhman Waste of a spot in the lineup. Nothing but some speed/reckless hitting, other than that NADA!!! JMHO
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Post by kjc2 on Jan 14, 2021 19:15:15 GMT -5
Ritchie has to bring the nasty, we need him to be good enough to play and stick up for the boys.
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Post by SeaBass on Jan 15, 2021 9:21:18 GMT -5
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Post by SeaBass on Jan 15, 2021 9:27:21 GMT -5
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Post by kjc2 on Jan 15, 2021 13:28:20 GMT -5
Not sure if anyone mentioned but I thought Grz played well but I thought he had several chances to take a bigger slipper and elected to go with the wrister, I think he has a good slap shot and he has to show it once in awhile on the PP.
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Post by madmarx on Jan 16, 2021 17:18:28 GMT -5
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Post by KSJ08 on Jan 16, 2021 20:03:13 GMT -5
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Post by skemack on Jan 17, 2021 12:13:35 GMT -5
I love it! Good on Voracek to call out the reporter as I for one am sick and tired of the lack of accountability the media has these days.
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Post by SeaBass on Jan 18, 2021 7:19:49 GMT -5
Got this baby for Christmas. Finally sat down and listened to it all while cleaning the man cave. A little staticy and one skip near the end of side one but a great listen for sure.
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Post by SeaBass on Jan 18, 2021 9:17:10 GMT -5
Anders Bjork expected to be the Bruins’ No. 4 left wing prior to the season opener. Because of Craig Smith’s unavailability, Bjork played most of that game, a 3-2 shootout win at New Jersey, as the No. 3 right wing.
Two days later, Bjork got the nod to be David Pastrnak’s fill-in on the first line. He lasted for just one period, ending the game as the No. 2 right wing in place of Ondrej Kase. Bjork may be the No. 3 left wing on Monday against the Islanders.
Jack of all trades, master of none.
Injuries to Pastrnak, Kase and Smith, the top three right wings, have forced coach Bruce Cassidy to employ Bjork as an every-line, left-and-right rover. It’s the job Danton Heinen once fulfilled with greater results. Through two games, Bjork has pinballed around the lineup, mostly because he hasn’t done enough to gain traction anywhere.
Bjork had one shot in 13:56 of play during the opener. He had zero attempts in 10:58 of ice time in Saturday’s 2-1 overtime loss. Only the injured Kase (4:40) played less.
“It is a tough ask,” Cassidy acknowledged. “Especially for a guy that hasn’t been in the league a long time. There’s guys that are good at that. They establish themselves. They move around a lot. It’s just the way it is. They don’t change the way they play. They just adapt to their linemates.”
Bjork takes a back seat to no teammate when it comes to acceleration and top-end speed. He does not mind sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong. The puck jumps off his stick.
But instead of stitching his strengths together into a trustworthy skill set, Bjork has submitted a jumbled portfolio of disparate assets. The result: Neither player nor coach can say, with much definition, what Bjork is.
Trent Frederic, on the other hand, has announced his identity with an exclamation point. Frederic has played most of his shifts like he’s in a bad mood. Consequently, he’s grabbed the No. 4 left wing position by being a better stylistic fourth-line complement than Bjork to Sean Kuraly and Chris Wagner.
Elsewhere, even though Jake DeBrusk has been hushed through two games, the No. 2 left wing will get his opportunity to ride with Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron against the Islanders on Monday. Jack Studnicka, a healthy scratch in Game 2, is on track to fill Kase’s spot in New York. Cassidy classified Kase as doubtful after the right wing took a hit to the head from Miles Wood on Saturday.
This leaves Bjork, in all likelihood, to skate on Charlie Coyle’s left side on the third line. Forecasting how Bjork will play in that spot is more difficult than predicting when a ray of sunshine will pierce a blanket of clouds.
“Anders just has to get an identity where, ‘OK, I’m going to be hard on pucks, use my foot speed, chip in offensively, be a reliable defensive player. Then a coach can use me anywhere,’ ” Cassidy said. “That’s basically what we’re asking him. Because someone has to play. Pasta’s out. Kase’s out. Smith was out. Someone has to go in there. (Karson) Kuhlman’s not even with us. He’s a guy we would have looked at. If Anders is going to be in our lineup and an NHL player every night, he might be that guy that has to move around a little bit.”
This is not an easy request. Every player enjoys the clarity and comfort of a defined role. It may be unfair for Cassidy to select Bjork as the forward who has to move around the lineup.
But Bjork is in this spot because he hasn’t seized prior opportunities at locking down a permanent position. Other young forwards have experienced similar wheel-spinning shifts: Heinen, Frank Vatrano, Ryan Donato. The Bruins traded all three.
As recently as Saturday, Cassidy believed Bjork could complement Marchand and Bergeron temporarily. Bjork served more like a third wheel.
“You’re expected to go in on a first line and contribute offensively. I’m not sure he’s there yet,” Cassidy said. “So now, you get moved around because you can chip in there. But maybe you’re better suited down the lineup with a different job description of checking and secondary offense. So that’s a little bit of where we’ve got to find out where Anders best fits. In his own right as an individual, he has to establish an identity for himself so he can fit in at one spot. Then we’ll go on to the next guy who could play that role. It’s a two-way street there. It’s a little bit on both of us, the player and the staff, to make sure we’re doing the best we can for him.”
Bjork has 110 games of NHL experience. He is in the first season of his second contract: a three-year, $4.8 million deal.
By now, Bjork should be well aware of NHL identity and job description. So far, clarity is not on his side.
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Post by orym on Jan 18, 2021 10:55:11 GMT -5
I love it! Good on Voracek to call out the reporter as I for one am sick and tired of the lack of accountability the media has these days. That was pretty funny! They have to keep the media honest with a little bit of this type of stuff here and there!
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Post by madmarx on Jan 18, 2021 16:47:08 GMT -5
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Post by kjc2 on Jan 19, 2021 8:07:17 GMT -5
These projections sound great and all but I’m sure I saw something last week about us being at or near the bottom in the prospect pool out of 31 teams. I hope Zeny makes it as I do with every Bruins pick but how often do we see a first rounder make it in the league six years after his draft year. He didn’t stand out with Providence, topped out at 26 points I think. I thought maybe his ceiling was a fourth line checker in the NHL but props to management for seeing more and believing this guy can be a player for us. Zboril appears to be an exception to the rule when it comes to a first rounder making it 5 and half years after his draft year. With that said, he’s a defenseman who typically take longer to develop, also there was zero room for him and I think he probably had some maturity issues early on.
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