Wicked Bruins Fan Archives

I did some photo editing for roughly 3-4 hours today. I got the last of the Bruins photos up.

- March 29th game vs. Penguins.
- Last Bruins practice of the season.
- Last Bruins game of the season vs. Senators.

I'll work on captioning them at some point within the week.

I haven’t been writing here lately because well, I kind of suffered a nerve injury to my left hand earlier last week.

My left pinky has that pins and needles feeling with an unhealthy side of numb and half of my ring finger has the same sensations. It will take a couple of weeks to fully recover.

As you can imagine I get annoyed typing with one and a half numb fingers. This is unfortunate as I need to type to keep this site updated. I never realized how much I use my left ring finger to type.

I am going to allow my fingers a couple more days to rest before I get all updated on the Bruins signings. (I was in the doctor’s waiting room when the signings of Mikko Lehtonen and Vladimir Sobotka were received on my cell phone.)

I’ll check back in soon.

I am not enjoying watching the Stanley Cup Finals. The Anaheim Ducks are leading the series 1-0, soon to be 2-0 since they just scored in game 2 tonight, and I do not like it.

I am not happy with the Ottawa Senators. Jason Spezza is not playing well. Dany Heatley is being like Spezza and not playing well either. Sami Pahlsson's goal was scored off of a turnover by Heatley who was trying to get the puck to Spezza.

I have been happy with the exciting play and physical hitting and things like that. But I'm just a bundle of nerves when the puck is anywhere in Ray Emery's zone.

There's less then five minutes to go in this game now. Hey, Spezza finally woke up and shot the puck. There was one play in the first period I believe, where Spezza had a wide open lane to the net and he elected to pass the puck back. That annoyed me way too much.

And the Ducks are going to Ottawa with a 2-0 series lead. Game 3 is on Saturday night. I most likely won't be live-blogging that game, but it will be a game-night decision.

I've been missing a little bit because of something personal, but hopefully I'll be back here and posting regularly by Friday. If not, you'll know why. I did do a couple of changes to the site this week that went unnoticed. Once I have everything situated where I want it to be, I'll post about it. Right now, it's not a real priority.

One more thing while I'm here, the Bruins are holding a draft party on Friday, June 22 at Jillian's. That might be worth checking out for Bruins fans.

Happy Memorial Day weekend to you all. I felt it was time to check in once again. I just read over the Hockey Notes in the Boston Globe. There was some interesting information in there about players and other things.

It seems the phone lines that connect Mr. Peter Chiarelli with the rest of the NHL have been a little active over recent days.

Chiarelli reported that at least three clubs called in recent days to inquire about his highest-priced players. "I tell them all pretty much the same thing: They're our core guys and I am not inclined to do anything," he said. The Bruins can't move Zdeno Chara or Marc Savard, who have no-trade/no-move clauses, without their permission. Marco Sturm and P.J. Axelsson also have considerable restrictions on when/whether they can be dealt. That leaves the likes of Glen Murray (due $4.15 million in 2007-08) and Patrice Bergeron (due $5 million) as the players with the least-fettered high-end contracts. Why three clubs calling in a span of 7-10 days? "Not really sure, other than maybe business is picking up again a little bit with the draft approaching," said Chiarelli.

To recap: That's Chara and Savard that can't be moved due to no-trade clauses. Sturm and Axelsson can be traded but are restricted to when and whether they can be traded. Murray and Bergeron have no restrictions or clauses in their contracts and can be moved.

Interesting who has no-trade clauses and restrictions, and who doesn't.

This next topic is one I skip over when reading on the HF Boards. I never quite understood Bruins fans' love affair with Sergei Zinovjev, as I was never completely impressed by him, and it's the subject of whether he'll come to the Bruins that always gets brought up again and again and again. Quite frankly, Zinovjev is the player that will just never go away for as long as the Bruins maintain his rights.

Internet reports circulated last week that Russian forward Sergei Zinovjev, his rights still held by the Bruins, signed a long-term extension with Ak Bars Kazan. According to Chiarelli, it remains his understanding through Zinovjev's Ottawa-based agent, Rollie Hedges, that the talented winger has an out in his deal that would allow him to return to the NHL. Meanwhile, said Chiarelli, the Bruins have continued talks with Hedges, and also received feelers from other NHL clubs interested in acquiring Zinovjev's rights.

Oh how I hope another team acquires Zinovjev rights. Maybe then the Zinovjev merry-go-round will come to a stop.

The last thing to touch on is the retirement of defenseman Brian Leetch. Leetch officially retired on Thursday.

I forgot Leetch even played on the Bruins last year until I started playing EA Sports NHL 2007 for the first time last night. Waiting for the Stanley Cup Finals has put me into hockey withdrawal that has forced me to the path of video game hockey.

The first move I did with my Dynasty mode Bruins? Trade Paul Mara back to Phoenix for Nick Boynton. The second move? Trade Brad Boyes to Ottawa for Mike Fisher. I tried to re-acquire Joe Thornton from San Jose for Alexei Zhamnov, but it was sadly rejected.

Hope everybody has a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend!

Did you know you could spend hours upon hours retooling style-sheets and templates and realize it might be time for some food. That happened to me tonight. The hours that I plan on putting in are only going to increase from here, and it should be all worth it when the end result is finally finished. During my food break, I actually stayed away from the computer for over three consecutive hours. Sweet.

As you should know the Anaheim Ducks won last night, solidifying their spot in the Stanley Cup Finals against the Ottawa Senators. I am rooting for Ottawa and more than ever before after this story surfaced onto my laptop yesterday morning. Both teams should have a great series though. And if you’re following the former Bruins, Sean O’Donnell and Sami Pahlsson remain in the playoffs. That’s all I have off the top of my head.

Avoiding my computer (and cell phone) for three hours made me miss some hockey news. I received a message on my BlackBerry (turn of irony coming up) from my friend in Nashville who “can kiss [her] Preds goodbye.” I’ve been talking to her consistently about baseball lately, and the last news I heard about the Predators was when the San Jose Sharks knocked them out of the playoffs. The Predators have been reportedly sold to the owner of BlackBerry, Jim Balsillie. (There’s your turn of irony. I actually feel bad now for owning a BlackBerry.) The Predators should remain in Nashville for next season, and then after that, it is unknown if they’ll be relocated.

I did read some Bruins news that said training camp will be opening September 14th! Training camp will be split again between Wilmington and the Garden, with more workouts at the Garden possible. I start counting down the days in July. But with the prospects camp in July, I may hold off until August.