Not surprisingly, questions about Bergeron dominated this week's submissions and I've tried to cover all aspects of that situation and a number of other topics relating to the club's first trip to the conference finals since 1992, in the latest edition of the Bruins Mailbag.
As always, I've done my best to answer as many of your questions as possible in this week's mailbag. I'd like to thank all the readers who sent in questions and apologize in advance if I wasn't able to get to yours. Please keep submitting your questions and I'll get to as many of them as I can as we continue on in the postseason.
Do you see Patrice Bergeron as the eventual heir to the Selke Trophy? Can the Bruins still win the Cup without him?
–James, Manchester, N.H.
Bergeron isn't a finalist for the Selke this season, but certainly deserved some strong consideration and was in the top three on my ballot. Assuming he is able to put his concussion problems behind him, at just 25, he should have plenty of strong seasons ahead of him and definitely has a good chance of winning a Selke at some point in his career. As for the Bruins' chances without him, they definitely will take a big hit if he is sidelined long or isn't able to return to the stellar form he showed in the first two rounds if and when he does get back in the lineup. The Bruins are still deep enough to get by Tampa Bay and even whoever comes out of the West without him, but it will be infinitely tougher doing it without Bergeron.
Who will really need to step up should Bergy be unable to play?
–bruinsfan33, Melrose, Mass.
Even with the Western semifinals lasting long enough to push the start of the Eastern final to Saturday, it appears unlikely that Bergeron will be ready for the start of the series. When he may return is impossible to speculate, as there is no concrete timetable when dealing with head injuries. And considering his past history of serious concussions and the long-lasting issues other players such as Marc Savard and Sidney Crosby are dealing with because of concussions, the Bruins are going to be very careful and cautious with Bergeron.
As for who will step up to fill the void, it will have to be a group effort. No one player will replace everything that Bergeron brought to the lineup. Chris Kelly will step into his spot between Brad Marchand and Mark Recchi and will have to serve as a shutdown center and try to continue the solid offensive production he's shown so far in the playoffs (4-3-7, plus-7 through 11 games). Tyler Seguin will move into the lineup and the Bruins hope his speed and skill will add a new dimension to the third line. David Krejci will assume many of Bergeron's duties on the penalty kill and Krejci, Kelly, Rich Peverley and Gregory Campbell will all have to try to maintain Boston's strong work in the faceoff circle, as Bergeron was one of the best in the league on draws.
Do you think that [Claude] Julien will try and keep the chemistry alive with the other lines and just let [Tyler] Seguin fill in Bergeron's spot? That would be the smart play in my mind since the fourth line is clicking, [Chris] Kelly, [Rich] Peverley and [Michael] Ryder are a great combo and [David] Krejci, [Milan] Lucic and [Nathan] Horton are finally firing on all cylinders.
–Josh
I have to disagree that putting Seguin into a second-line role at this point of the postseason and this stage of his development would be a wise idea. He is not ready to take on that kind of responsibility yet. He hasn't played a game in over a month and wasn't exactly putting up big numbers when he was last in the lineup. He had just 1-1-2 totals in his final 20 games of the regular season and no points in his final 11. That's not what the Bruins need out of their second-line pivot, especially not when that line is likely to be used extensively in a shutdown role against Tampa's top line.
Chris Kelly isn't as skilled or multifaceted as Bergeron, but he plays a similar style, has extensive experience, is very sound defensively and even has emerged as an offensive threat this postseason. Seguin, meanwhile, has shown some flashes of chemistry with Ryder and has the speed to complement Peverley, so that combination has a chance to be an effective third line without putting too much pressure on the youngster making his playoff debut. Those combinations also keep the changes to a minimum and don't disrupt the first or fourth lines. That's what Julien has used in practice the last couple of days, and that should be the lineup you'll see in Game 1 on Saturday.
More of a long-term question versus this year, but is there anyone in their farm system that people are really excited about? I bring this up as Bergeron's injury is a reminder of how important quality depth is. Also have the playoffs exposed any glaring holes that could be filled with that ninth pick?
–Rob
The Bruins have a pretty solid farm system, though many of the top youngsters have already seen some time in Boston. Beyond Seguin, Jordan Caron should be ready to make an impact next year, and Steven Kampfer should compete for a full-time role on the blue line. Matt Bartkowski, Yury Alexandrov, Ryan Button and David Warsofsky are other defensemen worth monitoring in the coming years, while Max Sauve might be the most talented of the forward prospects in Providence outside of Caron.
The two most exciting prospects in the system, however, haven't hit the pro ranks yet (other than a cameo in Providence after their junior seasons ended this year). Ryan Spooner opened eyes with a strong training camp last fall and followed it up with an excellent junior campaign, while fellow 2010 second-rounder Jared Knight also enjoyed a big year in the OHL. They're both a little further away from making an impact at the NHL level, but if they continue to develop at the pace they showed this season, they should definitely add some excitement to Boston's lineup in the coming years.
As for this year's ninth pick, I don't think anything that happens in this year's postseason will have much of an impact on who the Bruins chose with that pick. While top-10 picks occasionally make the leap directly to the NHL, most need additional time to develop. Unlike football or basketball, draft picks in the NHL are rarely used to address immediate needs because of the time needed to develop prospects. By the time those young players are ready to contribute at the NHL level, the big club's needs have often changed from the time when that player was drafted. And when you're picking that high in the draft, it's even more important to focus on the getting the best player possible, rather than reaching for someone who might fit a positional need.
The perennial question facing hockey, and football, remains how to curtail super-aggressive hits – blows that can cause concussions and even shorten a player's career. The growing medical consensus on the seriousness of concussions is also disturbing. A difficult issue largely because both games are intrinsically violent. I personally felt the hit on Patrice [Bergeron] was unnecessarily brutal; yet the perpetrator skated off without any sanctions. Yet we can't cheer wildly when a Bruin is the one doin' the dishin' either. Do you agree the check was over the top? If not, where do you come down on the issue?
–Jay Hamlet
It's definitely a complicated issue. There's no doubt that player safety is an area of great concern in the game today and there have been far too many deliberate attempts to injure with head shots in recent years that have contributed to the rise of concussions. I'm not sure I would put Claude Giroux's hit on Bergeron in that category, however. It was a little late and there can certainly be an argument made whether it was necessary to deliver it. But I wouldn't characterize it as "brutal" or "over the top." The Bruins didn't feel that way either. Peter Chiarelli called it "a shade late" and Claude Julien said it was "borderline."
Julien also added, "I just wish sometimes that we don't want to take the physical part of the game out of it." I agree with that sentiment. I want to see injuries, especially head injuries, reduced as much as possible, but I also think we have to tread carefully in how much we change the very nature of the game. It is a physical sport and the physical elements are a large part of what makes it such a great sport. I'm all for looking at ways to reduce some of the "protective" equipment like hard elbow and shoulder pads that can be used as weapons and I have no problem with the rules added to eliminate blind-side hits targeting the head or applying harsh penalties to the players who cross the ice and deliberately attempt to injure an opponent. I don't feel this particular hit falls into that category and I fear going too far and eliminating hitting altogether.
Physical play is an intrinsic part of the game, and unfortunately physical play is going to lead to injuries. There's no way to completely eliminate that danger without altering the very nature of the game.
Do you think sitting [Tomas] Kaberle for a game would help to get some effort out of him? How do we get what we paid for from this guy? I would honestly rather see [Shane] Hnidy play 2:37 than Kaberle lace up his skates.
–Jon
Kaberle has certainly been a disappointment thus far in Boston. He hasn't been the impact offensive defenseman the Bruins thought they were acquiring, his defense has been suspect at times and he certainly hasn't helped elevate the power play. Still, he remains one of Boston's top six options on defense and is capable of contributing more than Hnidy at this point.
Hnidy is a decent veteran insurance policy when injuries strike, but the Bruins can't afford to continue to tax the rest of the blue line by dressing a defenseman Claude Julien doesn't feel comfortable playing more than a handful of shifts each game, and that might be all the workload Hnidy can handle after playing just a few games this season due to a shoulder injury in camp.
Kaberle, for all his faults, is still averaging 17:40 a game in the playoffs and is a plus-5. His game should also be better suited against an opponent like Tampa Bay, where his passing skills could actually be a valuable asset in helping the Bruins' breakout get through the Lightning's 1-3-1 neutral zone trap.
Will Marc Savard ever play hockey again? And if not what kind of chances does my personal favorite prospect Zach Hamill have at getting into the NHL finally?
— cheapshot
It's way too premature to speculate about Savard's playing future. The Bruins will give him as much time as he needs to recover and the priority at this point is truly about his quality of life and being able to live without any ongoing post-concussion symptoms. Hopefully he will be able to resume his career and return to the level he played at prior to his injuries, but any decision on that front will be made by Savard and his doctors at some point in the future. Chiarelli did say over the weekend that Savard may rejoin the team during the upcoming conference finals. I think it would benefit both Savard and the rest of the Bruins if that comes to pass and he is able to be around the team again, contribute some advice and feel a part of this postseason run.
As for Hamill, his prospects aren't looking too good at this point, at least not for making it in Boston. He was among a handful of the Black Aces sent home last week as the Bruins trimmed the number of extra players they're keeping with the club for the playoff run. That shows where he has fallen on the depth chart, as Jordan Caron, Jamie Arniel and Trent Whitfield continue to practice with the big club, in addition to Tyler Seguin, who will move into the lineup with Patrice Bergeron sidelined. Hamill's entry-level deal is up after this season. The Bruins will retain his rights as a restricted free agent, but they may be ready to move on from the 2007 first-round pick. I still feel Hamill could make it in the NHL and he's shown flashes in his time in Providence and brief cameos with the big club, but with the Bruins' depth at center in the system it might require a change of scenery to put him in a situation where he can become an NHL regular.
To submit a question to Douglas Flynn for future mailbags, click here. You also can ask Douglas a question via Twitter at @douglasflynn.
