In a National Hockey League that is more and more focused on high-end skill, the Bruins are short on it.
No, they’re not totally bereft of skill, not when they have a player like David Pastrnak on their top line. But there are holes in the lineup once you get past that top line. And with only so much money on hand and only so many skilled players available on the free agent market, it’s clear that focus was on adding more baseline, old–school competitiveness in mind.
Just how many games the Bruins win next season remains to be seen. But as the club tries to rebuild its roster that can one day compete at an elite level, the attempted retooling of the team’s psyche was fully evident with the signings of Tanner Jeannot, Sean Kuraly and Mikey Eyssimont.
All three are very different players, but all linked with the same kind of ready-to-play DNA.
Jeannot, the one player who was signed to a lengthy deal (five years at $3.4 million), and Kuraly (two years at $1.85 million) met with local reporters via Zoom on Wednesday.
Kuraly, in his second tour of duty with the B’s, was known for his high energy and scoring big goals despite not being a prolific scorer. When he left in the summer of 2021, the B’s were still very much in their contender window. They are no longer in that window, but Kuraly is excited about the challenge of trying to reopen it at some point. He looks to be a leader to some of the younger players that will be on the roster.
“My time in Columbus was no different than that. We had a ton of young players and a ton of highly skilled talented young players who were fun to be around. And I think it’s a two-way street with those guys. You can learn just as much from them as you try and teach them,” said Kuraly. “For me, it’s just show up and be yourself, do the things I do and not try to do anything outside of that. Hopefully that’s a good example for a younger player. Being in Boston before, I was lucky enough to be around a few of those Hall of Famers. Just by chance, I was in that locker room and got to learn form them when I was a young player in this league, players like (Patrice) Bergeron and (Zdeno) Chara and (David) Krejci and David Backes. Being around them, I realized how lucky I am and how lucky I was. Now, if you can be some sort of help to this next wave, it’s what you’d like to do.”
Kuraly is under no illusions about what the job is ahead of him and his mostly new teammates.
“Over the last few days I’ve gotten back up to speed of what the roster looks like and gotten the temperature and looking at the new additions, it just seems like this is a group that is going to do it by committee, which we did a while back,” said Kuraly, now 32. “And you see teams that are having success in this league, they’re competitive and they play hard and they’re not fun to play against. They keep coming wave after wave. They stop and they skate and they play on the inside, they do the right things and they play the game the right way. So I think that’s what we’ve got to do. We’ve got a collection of players that we’re going to try and all get on the same page. When you get five guys on the ice or three guys on a line on the same page and working hard, detailed, it’s tough to be beat and you give yourself a chance to win every night. So I think we’re going to be a team that does it by committee, work our butts off and have fun. And realize we’ve got a pretty cool opportunity.”
Jeannot is the throwback of the bunch. He dished out 211 hits for the Kings last year and is one of the fiercest fighters in the league. The 24 goals he scored for Nashville in 2021-22 now seems like an outlier year for the 28-year-old Jeannot – he hasn’t broken double digits since then – but it’s the physicality that interested GM Don Sweeney. And Jeannot knows that the hits, and what they lead to, are his bread and butter.
“The type of game that I bring, I bring a really physical game, hard to play against,” said Jeannot. “I try to make other guys know that I’m on the ice and feel uncomfortable, and maybe that makes them get rid of pucks quicker, put their teammate in a tougher spot. That tends to create more turnovers and gets the puck into my team’s hands a little bit more often. That’s the type of element I can bring to a line. And when we do have the puck, I can be hard down low, make plays down low and things like that and just try to put the puck in my team’s hands and create chances that way. As far as creating space for my linemates, it’s just from playing a really physical, hard-nosed game and throwing my body around and making sure guys are aware of my presence on the ice.”
Esdale passes
The local hockey community was mourning the passing of Hyde Park’s Dan Esdale at 83 on Tuesday. He was the former president of Mass Hockey and an executive board member of USA Hockey. But those who knew him said that mere titles cannot encompass all he dedicated to the sport in Massachusetts and beyond.
“Dan was so influential in the growth of hockey in Massachusetts,” said former Boston College coach Jerry York. “He helped set up the Massachusetts Hockey Hall of Fame and he grew the sport through all the Mass. camps that he ran. He was so well respected by college coaches, high school coaches and coaches from all over the country. Of all his waking hours, I would say 90 percent of them was taken up by hockey in some way.”
Paul Cannata, the former coach at Milton Academy, raved about Esdale’s tireless efforts, saying he had lobbied to incorporate some of the concepts that Canadians, Russians, Swedes, Finns and Czechs were doing.
“Dan’s fingerprints are all over the advancements in the game on and off the ice and the progress of U.S. players and coaches,” said Cannata. “Dan was a hockey giant living in the shadows. Absolutely crazy how one guy from Bajko MDC rink (in Hyde Park) influenced and brought together so many people and governing bodies from around the world. He would do anything for the players and coaches. He would do anything for the players and coaches and, along with Tim Taylor, John Cunniff, Herb Brooks and others, was 30 to 40 years ahead of where the game has ultimately gone. Virtually everything they dreamed about and worked toward has come to fruition and is on full display in the modern game we now enjoy.”
