Now, this morning, KHL team Lokomotiv was departing aboard a plane just outside of Yaroslavl, Russia when tragedy struck again. Shortly after takeoff the plane experienced some kind of issue and crashed into the Volga River. On board was the entire Lokomotiv roster, including many NHL alum’s.

The biggest name among them was Pavol Dmitra, but also lost were former NHLer’s Ruslan Salei, Josef Vasicek, and Karlis Straskins. All told, 41 of the 45 people aboard perished.

This tragedy leaves the hockey world in shock and sadness. All we can do now is hope comfort will come to the family and friends of those who lost their lives today.

[Yahoo! Sports Page Story]

Prior to his concussion at the hands of Pittsburgh’s Matt Cooke, Savard was a point a game player on the Bruins top line. Following the first concussion, Savard was a shell of himself. Eventually a Matt Hunwick check ended last season prematurely for Savard. I know as a Bruins fan I’m pulling for Savard to recover and get one last crack at playing for the cup, but the prognosis is certainly grim.

The most likely explaination is that the two sides are slowly working the other until one is forced to give some kind of consession. From the Bruins front office’s point of view, Marchand is an exciting player, whose age and relative inexperience weighs heavier than his home town fan-following. From agent Wade Arnott’s point of view, Marchand is an exciting player whose burgeoning skills and ability to produce in the clutch will be a boon to the Bruins, or to any other team willing to pay him what he’s worth.

The question is what is he REALLY worth, and who stands to lose the most during the prolonged discussions? We all have our own opinions on whether he’s worth this amount or that amount, but in the end, there’s not much of a market for early 20′s pests who can score goals in a Stanley Cup Finals game seven victory… it’s just unprecedented.

Which is why as a fan, I can’t see why Boston doesn’t just swallow the pill and overpay. Even if you are overpaying for what you get from him statistically, the amount you get from jersey sales alone must be worth the risk. Besides, if he’s only as good as he was last year, wouldn’t you rather him playing for you than against you?

With EA Sports NHL 2012 slated to be released in just over a month (I’m a huge NHL video game nerd…) I thought it’d be fun to revisit the greatest NHL video game commercial of all time.

The link is here if you’d like to check it out.

This may not be significant to most of you, but for me, and my Bruins pride, I like to peruse these lists and bitch and moan about how this player or that player got overlooked or underrated. I can’t really do that with this list.

Quickly, here’s how the Bruins ranked.

Tim Thomas, who had to overcome being benched last season, was ranked #1 overall among NHL goalies. It’s decidedly satisfying to see a guy who at some points didn’t even have the support of his home fans finish the season so strongly that he would be ranked this highly. As Bruins fans, we see it, but it’s nice that the opinion runs wider than just us.

Zdeno Chara, after failing to overcome Niklas Lindstroms monstrous star in the Norris Trophy voting, nabs the top spot among D-men. This is only surprising because for a long time, Chara has had to deal with the weight of his potential. He may still have some detractors, but there’s very few, and the argument for him not being the best in the league is a thin one.  And if it wasn’t enough that he was ranked highest, at least 3 or 4 times players were compared to being “hopefully” their teams Chara.

When we get to forwards it gets murky.

Patrice Bergeron was ranked 18th, and far to low for my liking. I understand that the Center position is deep, but for anyone to rank Mikko Koivu or Jeff Carter higher than Bergy is out of their minds.

At Right wing, Nathan Horton gets the nod at 19th among Right Wingers, and a few spots AHEAD of Phil Kessel. This was another satisfying moment reading these rankings.  I had a few points of contention here though, as he was ranked BEHIND Chris Stewart, Claude Giroux, and Ales Hemsky.  They’re great players for sure, but none of those guys are as complete as Horton.

Left Wing was where I was surprised the most. It seems the lore of Milan Lucic has escaped the streets of Boston and worked it’s way into the imagination of the NHL. First, here’s a list of players Lucic was ranked HIGHER than: Taylor Hall, Simon Gagne, Cammalleri, Tomas Vanek, and Brendan Morrow.  Whether you believe one 30 goal season and a disappearing act in the playoffs warrants it or not, Lucic was ranked 6th among Left Wingers.

Now, I implore you to not read too deeply into any of this. It’s just one hockey writers rankings, and we can and will find many faults with lists like these. The reason I visited this was to give us an idea of where the hockey world sees our team and our top players. Every month we tick through into the season, this list would change, but for now, the Bruins look to be at the top of the hockey world again.

Now that that’s out of the way, I’ll toss you guys one last bone until I’m back.

With the offseason creeping slowly towards a close and with camps and preseason seemingly right around the corner, it’s fair to look at how our team progressed or digressed in the offseason.  Assuming that Marchand resigns (and I’m confident he will), this team remains relatively unchanged aside from the departure of Ryder and Kaberle.  I, like many of you, think this team is better off standing pat. Regardless of any moves that may or may not be coming, we can assume this team will compete for glory yet again.

But what about the other teams in the East. There’s been a good amount of movement as teams posture to improve on their 2010-2011 seasons. Buffalo looks very different with Tim Connolly running for the hills and Christian Erhoff and Ville Leino donning the slug jersey. Montreal, as we’ve been accustomed too, made a few moves, losing Halpern, Pouliot and Hamerlick and adding Erik Cole and a few other role players. Toronto doesn’t even look like the same team, and Ottawa… well I don’t think we have too much to worry about there.

I believe this Bruins team will be a better team in all aspects of the game. They’re power play can only continue to improve, their PK and 5 on 5 game will be as good if not better, and in overtime, this team finally has confidence. I full expect them to finish first in the Northeast, and challenge Washington and Pittsburgh for the title in the Eastern Conference.

I’d like to know where we all stand on this though. Did they make the right moves? Would you have liked to see some more action on the front ends parts? Will anyone compete with Boston for the Northeast title? And how will Boston stack up against the other East powerhouses.

Let us know in the comments!

** PS ** I will be on here on my phone, so I can participate somewhat.  See you guys in 5!

“They know I want to be here. I know they want me here.”

The statement as a whole, which he was quoted as saying at the Stanley Cup DVD Premier, smells of confidence, whether genuine or manufactured. But despite this, we’re left wondering what in the world is taking so long? After all, he did have a phenomenal playoffs, outscoring a slew of recognized superstars with 11 goals in 25, including outscoring both Daniel Sedin (9) and Ryan Kesler (7), who both played the same amount of games. When playoff performances are judged at a premium, it’s rather perplexing when a deal is prolonged such as this.

But is it?

It’s difficult for the average fan to put in perspective how much of your time disappears after you win the Stanley Cup. I, like you, have never known the sweet taste of drinking from the glorious challis. Yet, if one were to think on it, the Bruins haven’t stopped going. Since winning the cup, the Boston Bruins players and brass have been spotted everywhere. From local appearances, Foxwoods, and several hometown visits, it’s not hard to imagine a distinct lack of time.

With all of that said, is it any real surprise that the two sides, which both sound confident a deal is forthcoming, haven’t had the time to really sit down and discuss what Brad Marchand’s really worth? I imagine as the furvor around the cup victory continues to dwindle, the amount of time The Bruins and Brad Marchands camps spend on this will increase exponentially.

In the words of Marchand himself, we can probably expect “getting something done in the next week or two.”

So how much does a trade affect the team mentally?

I’ve always contended that when ownership shows a commitment to winning, the team follows suit. If you’re in the locker room, wondering what you have to do to bring home the trophy, doesn’t a deal like the Kaberle one instill confidence that you’ve got what it takes to make a serious run?

Before the trade, our power play was dismal at best… after? It was a disaster. But you saw how guys like Milan Lucic (30 goals in the regular season), rookie Brad Marchand (21 goals and 41 points in 77 games) and leaders like Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara taking over games, responded.

I also contend that giving up draft picks is a much more sound philosophy than trading away prospects, yet is it worth it to watch those picks and prospects develop in another system for a crack at the cup?  If we’d finished the season and got beat by Montreal or Philly, I may have said yes.  It was a steep price for a player who gave little contribution to the overall success we had. But the fact remains, we persevered through the inept power play and often shoddy defense from a certain “short term solution” to win it all.

I pose a question. How important are trades like this to the team psyche, and can ownership and front offices affect a team merely by making a big trade, even when on paper, it doesn’t work out?