Zdeno Chara is still playing at a high level and, given his strict adherence to working out, his performance shouldn’t fall off in the near future. But Chara will be 38 when the playoffs next dawn and, though the end of his career is still off in the distance, it’s coming sooner than Bruins fans want. He won’t be hard to replace, he’ll be impossible to replace. Chara is a generational talent who should have won the Norris Trophy more than once. His unique blend of size, toughness and skill should get him into the Hall of Fame. Needless to say, the Bruins will be a much different team when Chara is not patrolling the blue line. That’s the inevitable bad news. The good news is that the B’s have some promising defensemen on the roster. After a bright rookie season, Dougie Hamilton looks as though he will develop into an elite blueliner. And Torey Krug has carved out a very effective niche for himself. But the next generation was on display at the B’s recent development camp , and it looks very interesting as well. Yale’s Robbie O’Gara, a 2011 fifth-round pick, is “a diamond in the rough,” in the words of Providence coach Bruce Cassidy. Boston University’s Matt Grzelcyk, a 2012 third-rounder, had his development stunted with a season-ending shoulder injury in January, but he has enough impressive traits to have been named BU’s captain for his upcoming junior year. One European prospect who flew under the radar with the excitement over this year’s first-rounder, David Pastrnak, was Linus Arnesson, the 6-foot-1, 185-pound Swede the B’s drafted in the second round in 2013. General manager Peter Chiarelli mentioned Arnesson, along with forwards Pastrnak and Anton Blidh, as a player who stood out for him in camp. The plan for Arnesson, who likens himself to Chicago’s Niklas Hjalmarsson, is to head back to his homeland next season to play in the Swedish Elite League, though the B’s would like to get him a taste of training camp in September. The 19-year-old played in the lower division the last two years, but his Djurgardens club made it into the top tier for next season. Like all prospects, Arnesson has work to do, but his progression has been strong. “I went and saw Linus play last year early in the season and we’re all excited about his mobility,” assistant GM Don Sweeney said. “He goes back and defends really well. They played him in a lot of key situations, especially defensively. Now, we’re starting to see a lot more of his confidence come out with the puck. We’ve talked to him a lot about the offensive blue line ... (and) encourage him to realize that there’s a lot offensively that he hasn’t tapped into yet. “He’s a real aggressive player on one-on-one situations, even 2-on-1 situations and we’re going to build in patience a little bit and get him to understand. He’s got great gap control, but as (Providence assistant coach) Kevin Dean would say, he sort of blitzed at times and we’ve got to get him to back off, just to allow a play to develop a little bit rather than put himself in a situation.” The Swedish game is notoriously defensive-oriented, but Arnesson believes his game is ready to flourish. “I think it’s just coming naturally,” Arnesson said. “I think I’m getting more and more confidence in the offensive zone. It’s coming to me more easily this year.” Arnesson’s time in the NHL is not now, and he’s fine with that. He’ll go back to the Elite league and continue to hone his craft for another year. “Then after that,” he said, “I want to try and play in the NHL, or at least the AHL and work my way up from there.” Right now, there’s no rush. But the time is coming when Arnesson and his young peers will be needed to make good on the their promise. CANADIENS LOSE invaluable LEADER WITH gorges’ departure Josh Gorges’ skill set is not so special that the Montreal Canadiens won’t be able to replace it. But it will be interesting to see how the loss of his leadership will affect the Habs going forward. Anyone who ever ventured into the Montreal dressing room, especially in bad times, surely couldn’t help but be impressed with Gorges, who’d stand and answer questions forever while some of the team’s stars took a pass on such accountability. And in the days leading up to his trade, it became even more clear how much he bled bleu, blanc et rouge. He refused a trade to Toronto, opting instead for a move to Buffalo of all places because he couldn’t bring himself to play for a team that had been such a hated rival of the Habs. Brendan Gallagher, whom Gorges and his then-fiancee Maggie hosted in their home for two years as the young forward grew up and became accustomed to life in the NHL, spoke glowingly of Gorges. “You could see watching his interviews and reading his texts he was sending me that Josh really did play with his heart,” Gallagher told the Montreal Gazette. “He left it all on the ice, every single shift, and I think that’s what he wants everyone to realize — that he loved being a Montreal Canadien, loved being a part of this organization, loved everything that came with it. “He played that way every night. He was willing to sacrifice his body and do whatever it took to win. He’d have loved to bring a Stanley Cup to this city. In his mind, it was getting close, so the trade was tough for him.” To make matters worse, the Habs lost their captain, Brian Gionta, who signed as a free agent with the Sabres as well as his heir apparent in Gorges. So who’ll be the next player to wear the ‘C’ on his sweater? P.K. Subban should be the captain someday, but he may not be ready for it, especially when you consider he was still getting benched last season. Carey Price, who admirably survived his baptism by fire as a youngster to become one of the league’s elite netminders, is worthy of the honor, but the individual pressures of the position make a goalie less than ideal for the job. “For us to lose (Gorges), we are going to have a void to fill, but we feel we’re capable of doing it,” Gallagher said. “It puts more responsibility on guys like myself, younger players, who have to understand that we have to step up and take on some of the responsibility that Josh seemed to take care of very easily.” bostonherald/sports/bruins_nhl/boston_bruins/2014/07/linus_arnesson_figures_in_bruins_succession_plan
Posted on: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 11:11:35 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015