The other day, or last week, last month, or sometime in this decade that’s passed since March, the Bruins in-house media put out a handy primer on the impending free agents, both restricted and unrestricted. Today, let’s talk about the big two, from the perspective of their media chats since the B’s were ousted from the playoffs.
Torey Krug
I feel like his contract has been the big dark cloud hanging over the Boston Bruins for the length of the season. Krug has been vocal about the stalled talks between the two sides. He had to watch local boys Charlie Coyle and Chris Wagner get extended early in the season while he wasn’t getting a seat to the table. So, one can imagine that he has to start thinking about continuing his career outside of Boston, where he’s played for the entire 9 years of his professional career, where he loves the city, coaches, and his teammates. He knows his role and loves it.
In his media time, Krug talked about the importance of fit and being happy, even if he can’t game out the situation in a new place on a different team several years down the road. While he isn’t considering a a one-year or two-year deal making less money than he’s worth, which he’s already done, he knows that money isn’t everything and going to the wrong situation will make it hard to get up every day to play hockey. So fit is everything.
What’s also important to note is that Krug is part of the leadership group. Currently, he’s the longest tenured Boston athlete without a championship to show for it; he’s been to 2 Stanley Cup Final series in his time and has encountered disappointment both times. He wants to seal the deal here with this group in the future. Perhaps that’s why he cited some emotional attachment despite this contract being all about business, nothing personal.
There is still time to get a deal done but with each passing day, that window closes just a little more and it looks like Torey Krug will hit free agency and be on another team next season.
Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman to UFA Torey Krug… pic.twitter.com/UiVZJwR4nH
— Bucci Mane (@Buccigross) August 24, 2020
Zdeno Chara
Chara is a different matter. He’s not looking for a big deal or large amounts of money, he just wants ti play hockey in Boston next year and presumably for the rest of his career.
For the last two years, Chara has signed either team friendly deals or contracts laden with incentive bonuses for things like “playing in 10 games” and “making the playoffs”. While he sounded like he was a bit ambivalent about returning to hockey or the Bruins, he chalked that up to just being a emotionally drained after a loss and not having the right words at his disposal. The big takeaway from the big guy is this: he feels strong, he feels like he can contribute, and he feels like he has a lot to teach the next generation coming up about playing the game.
It’s clear that Chara wants one more shot at the Cup. Having been to the Final 3 times in the past 10 seasons, and only walking away with it once, he wants to hold that trophy one more time. He knew the Bruins didn’t play their best when they returned to play in the bubble but he was grateful for the player, coaches, and other personnel who gave up their time with family during this difficult time. He felt the team was playing better as they progressed through the playoffs. The Pause affected everyone.
Chara knows that he’s losing a step, which is why he continues to train hard. He maintains that he’s not a stats guy, that individual stats don’t interest him but using his various skills to be valuable to the team while following his dreams to play in the NHL. He and the Bruins both know what he brings to the team. He’s hoping to meet with Bruins management soon.
In short, I can’t imagine a scenario in which Krug stays at this point. While it is indeed nothing personal, it seems that if Sweeney isn’t actively talking to him and his agent, he’s not respecting him enough for Torey to stick around. As for Chara, I expect he’ll re-sign a great deal but will have to accept that his minutes will be fewer and that he may be playing lower in the pairings. Which is fine because he’ll still have a role in impressing on the young players which extends his legacy.
We had a fun little fiasco at work last week.
Our company is a behemoth that is the product of all the mergers in the world and has a mix of current offerings and stodgy traditional services, so the powers that be decided a new name & branding was required to modernize the corporate image. They’re probably correct.
So I get an e-mail early on Friday afternoon that is telling a group of VPs that their email addresses are going to change, and there is a meeting for Monday, while mentioning the new company name.
This was news to me, because the renaming had been kept secret.
So about 4 PM my phone starts blowing up with emails & teams-chat notifications. Like it won’t stop.
Everyone has suddenly been invited to a 4:30 company-wide meeting and my boss is hammering on everyone that they need to go.
It turns out that yes, the company name was changing, and the person who sent the first email included a mail list that included our entire department, revealing the secret plans to 1000 unsuspecting employees. Upon realizing this, the company officers hastily scheduled a 90-minute meeting for all 48,000 employees announcing the change, and decided to bump up their press releases to Monday morning. (meanwhile, I’m thinking – ‘I gotta pee’ just as the meeting stats. So by the time the 90 minutes were almost up, I was literally hopping around the room hoping not to miss anything important)
They didn’t have the rights to the new domain name until Tuesday, so the website for this new high-tech juggernaut was a patent attorney’s website that looked like it was designed by their grandma in 1996.
They also hand-waved around the new NYSE ticker symbol – AFAIK it still hasn’t changed.
That’s a cluster fuck, but a damn fine clean-up job! Hilarious no doubt!
Ooo, is your company going to bring Angelfire back to greatness?????
Krug is gone, and that is okay. It’s a shame we didn’t win a Cup with him, but he played some great games as a Bruin and we will all look back on him and his play and smile.
Chara’s situation is weird, only because he’s up there in age (for an NHLer) and no one knows when the next season will begin. I can see him leaving Boston if another club with a better shot at the Cup offers him a sweet deal. It would hurt, but this is a business.
I’m not so sure on that – I see Chara as being amenable to a home-town discount. He’s been here for 14 years and has mentor relationships with a lot of players. Boston is as close as any team to the Cup outside of Tampa. So a 1 year deal that’s a questionable roll of the dice for a player whose name is already on the Cup? Doesn’t seem all that compelling unless the alternative is to be out of the NHL. (Though to be fair, I did not really hear Chara’s last soundbyte on the matter).
Krug has been signalling for a while that he’d not budge too much on price, and Sweeneely don’t appear to be trying very hard.
Hi folks,
I was in a groove at work and completely forgot about ya! Don’t feel bad though – I also forgot the one-to-one meeting I had scheduled with my line manager …
Looks like we have to accept Krug won’t be with the team next year. We need an offensively-minded D-man though. Who? Is there anyone in the system? I’m not really up on the youngsters atm.
Chara will surely stay on in some sort of coaching/mentor capacity when he finishes playing.
D’oh! But I suppose a “sorry, I was working so hard I forgot about the meeting” excuse is a good one to say to the manager!
So, re the boss… I talked to the court appointed attorney in charge of the foreclosure sale. He assured me that we won’t be locked out on the day of the sale. He invited me to attend the sale where he can introduce me to the new owner or the bank’s representative. I’m relieved. The wife will get dough to me someday. I just knocked out a couple nice welding jobs, so I have a couple sheckles to get me through. No is a bit stressed over snags in the sale of her house, but we will muddle through.. Muddling was my major.
Glad to hear the attorney is looking out for you. Fingers crossed the new owners are also understanding!
Well, at least there is a little window of time to play with. I’d want to keep the important stuff nearby where I can see it before the bank takes over the old place – regardless of what they claim now.
No kidding! I’m taking evening classes in “Drinking things that get muddled”. We’re starting on Juleps tomorrow!
It was probably our last sunny and warm evening of the year yesterday so I sat outside quaffing lager & lime. It’s not seen as a very manly drink but I don’t care, and if it’s good enough for the Beatles …
Morning all. Think I’ve said my goodbyes to Krug. No matter what happens, I hope Krug and Marchy continue their “who is shorter?” rivalry.
I think I’m also starting the process of the long goodbye for Chara. Certainly going to be weird for a bit when he does retire. Much like I couldn’t imagine baseball without Papi, it will be hard to imagine hockey without Chara.
I hope Chara stays around after retirement in some capacity.
Yeah, the boos form Habs fans in the Centre Bell every time he touches the puck…the good ol’ days!
Greetings sincere from Monroe Bridge!
It sure feels like Krug is on the outside looking in, like a kid with his nose pressed against a candy store window. He’ll be sacrificed to the need for size. Thing is, bigger isn’t always better (ahem, cough, Ritchie brothers, cough cough). So, while I’m pretty sure Krug is gone the Bruins are going to need a veteran guy on the back end besides Zee. And I don’t mean John Moore. I’ll check the free agent scene out asap as I have no idea who is available.