Jack Todd: Bruins bought 65 wins for nothing

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It ended with a thud, on the 8:35 mark in a Sport 7 time beyond regulation that ought to by no means have been.

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The mighty Boston Bruins, one of many nice regular-season groups in historical past, bowed out within the first spherical after Florida’s Matt Tkachuk received a battle behind Jeremy Swayman’s web, the puck got here out to Carter Verhaeghe and with one swipe, the Bruins had been gone — their magical 65-win, 135-point season a heap of ashes.

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If this was the swansong for future Corridor of Famer Patrice Bergeron, it was a rotten, awful, stinking approach for it to finish.

It was additionally the second time in every week that the No. 1 common season workforce was ousted within the first spherical by a bunch of outsiders from south Florida, following the elimination of the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks by the Miami Warmth.

The President’s Trophy nonetheless looks like a curse. It has been in existence because the 1985-1986 season and in that span, the workforce with probably the most regular-season factors has received the Stanley Cup solely eight instances and solely the Detroit Purple Wings have received each trophies greater than as soon as.

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We are actually a decade faraway from the final workforce to drag off the feat, the 2012-2013 Chicago Blackhawks, however the Bruins appeared completely different — just like the 1976-77 Canadiens, the one workforce to win 60 or extra video games and a Stanley Cup, a workforce so good they might not be crushed in a playoff collection.

Improper.

From the beginning of their collection towards the Panthers (a workforce that appeared destined for the draft lottery a few months in the past) the Bruins had been a workforce taking part in with clenched hair. Goalie Linus Ullmark, who led the league with Vézina numbers within the common season, led his workforce in jitters when the playoffs started — however he had loads of assist.

Ten seasons of President’s Trophy failures would argue that the common season and the postseason are actually so disparate you can’t construct a workforce for each, that 65 wins in 82 video games exhausts a workforce, bodily and mentally, to the purpose that it’s merely not prepared for what follows.

Then once more, perhaps these Canadiens groups of the now distant previous weren’t merely higher — they had been additionally more durable.

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A bit of honesty goes a great distance: God bless Rick Bowness. He has the misfortune to teach one of many laziest, most entitled teams of overpaid athletes in all of sport and after the Jets had been bounced from the playoffs, he went proper at his downside kids, saying he was “disillusioned and disgusted” after seeing “the identical crap we noticed in February.”

Bowness complained repeatedly that there was “no push-back” from his workforce as they bowed out to the Las Vegas Knights like a workforce that couldn’t wait to get to the golf course. However Winnipeg’s charmers, led by ex-captain Blake Wheeler, had been fast to push again when their coach instructed the reality, whining that Bowness ought to have saved it within the room to spare them public embarrassment.

The Jets have to blow up that core. Wheeler, Mark Scheifele and Nino Niederreiter are all unrestricted free brokers after subsequent season, whereas Pierre-Luc Dubois is an RFA now. Wheeler produced six factors in 5 playoff video games, Niederreiter and Dubois 4 every, Scheifele a single objective in 4 video games.

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It’s a difficulty for the Canadiens, who might wish to swing a deal for Dubois. How has he been affected by that toxic Jets tradition? Is he taking his cues from Wheeler and Scheifele particularly, or he’s mature sufficient to go his personal approach?

Lies, rumours &&&& vicious innuendo: If Auston Matthews actually was, as he claimed, “proud” and “excited” to have a seven-figure contract to push sports activities betting, why did he refuse to reply questions on it from the Fifth Property’s Bob McKeown? And is anybody stunned that Matthews was the primary energetic NHL participant to carry out his paw for playing bucks? ….

As one observer who felt that Will Smith and the Canadiens had been destined for one another, I used to be very disillusioned in Smith’s play towards Sweden within the U-18 last. …

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There’s one benefit of the chance that the Crew That Shall Not Be Named makes it to the ultimate towards the Oilers: the look on Gary Bettman’s face if he’s caught with two Canadian groups and TV rankings of 0.06 south of the border. …

Right here’s your handy-dandy information to robust Canadians within the NBA playoffs: Jamal Murray — actual robust. R.J. Barrett — getting robust. Dillon Brooks — pretend robust. …

Simply once you’re virtually prepared to love baseball once more, MLB video crops out the Oakland A’s followers who had been protesting proprietor John Fisher and the workforce’s impending transfer to (the place else?) Las Vegas.

Heroes: Carter Verhaege, Brandon Montour, Roope Hintz, Leon Draisaitl, Klim Kostin, Matthew Tkachuk, Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler, Andrea Neil, Mirra Andreeva, Rick Bowness &&&& final however not least, the good Patrice Bergeron, who shoulda been a Hab.

Zeros: Auston Matthews, Kyle Dubas, Mark Scheifele, Blake Wheeler, Aaron Rodgers, Tucker Carlson, Dillon Brooks, John Fisher, Claude Brochu, David Samson &&&& final however not least, Jeffrey Loria.

Now and endlessly.

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