US – Friday, September 3

Murphy’s Law: On board with the B’s

Remember when the Bruins beat the Red Wings last month in a game many referred to as a “statement game” for Boston? Guess what? Every time a team plays the Bruins now, that’s a statement game for that team, no matter who they may be. The Bruins lead the Eastern Conference, and have the second-best record in the NHL. Many hockey insiders are looking at this squad as one of, if not the deepest in the NHL, and for this scribe — who wasn’t exactly praising him after his first season here and wondered out loud if he was the Jacobs’ second choice for GM when he was hired — it’s high time I and others in the NHL and Boston media start giving Peter Chiarelli credit for assembling that deep roster and putting the Bruins back on the map.

Chiarelli has done a spectacular job of assembling this team. They’re three-deep at center with Marc Savard, David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron and have three legit snipers in possible Hart Trophy candidate Phil Kessel, Marco Sturm and Michael Ryder. Not to mention an old school Bruin in Milan Lucic. Though Chiarelli didn’t technically sign him, he was instrumental in bringing in a perennial Norris Trophy candidate in Zdeno Chara on defense. He also traded for Denis Wideman (in a trade your truly criticized), in exchange for Brad Boyes, who was a blossoming star and the Bruins only quality goal scorer at the time. But while Boyes is still scoring in St. Louis, Wideman has become one of those highly coveted puck-moving defensemen and also a minute-eater on the ice, relieving Chara and allowing him to be more effective.

Between the pipes, Manny Fernandez (another move I questioned) has become a dependable option to early Vezina and Hart Trophy candidate Tim Thomas. But by far Chiarelli’s best move was to hire Claude Julien as his coach following the 2006-07 season. Julien did a solid job in Montreal, and then an even better job with New Jersey, but was still somehow fired by both teams. Chiarelli knew though that Julien could bring structure to this team and help put the pieces together. They’re still not even where they want to be and should be if they keep this pace up, but things are coming together for the hockey residents of the TD Banknorth Garden. 

In Boston, Chiarelli should start to mentioned in the same breath as Red Sox GM Theo Epstein or the Celtics and Patriots staff who have built champion rosters and continue to do so. But if the Bruins continue on this path and become perennial contenders, Chiarelli may deserve equal praise because he came into an absolute mess. In only two and a half seasons he has the city of Boston showing it’s a hockey town again and has put together one darn good hockey team.

While the Jacobs family deserves credit for immediately putting to rest recent rumors of Brian Burke coming to Boston and joining or maybe even running the Bruins, sources tell Murphy’s Law there was still that looking over your shoulder atmosphere for most of Chiarelli’s first two seasons here as the Bruins GM. The purse strings may have loosened up top, but the leash was still short and that’s why those rumors still surfaced despite the great start by his team. But even with an uncertain job security hanging over his head, Chiarelli was able to put this team together, and, as it appears hopefully, now gain some job security.

Again, this scribe is just as guilty as the next for not noticing the job Chiarelli was doing over the last two seasons. In fact, looking back on that dramatic seven-game series with Montreal last spring, one in which the Bruins surprised the hockey world coming back from a 3-1 series deficit to force Game 7 — and in the process creating a buzz around the team once again — there were signals there that this team wasn’t just earning a moral victory, but that maybe they were actually good enough to advance to the second round.

Chiarelli was waiting for the elevator with his staff after Game 7. But he wasn’t sitting there looking proud or just happy to be there this late in April. No, Chiarelli was steaming.

“We didn’t come here to lose,” I remember him telling me. “We can beat this team. We should’ve won, but we made bad mistakes.”

This, after a 5-0 loss. But Chiarelli knew this team was that good then, and I’d hate to see what he says if they don’t make the second round this season. Chances are though, it’s the Bruins who may be trying to protect that 3-1 series lead then.

James Murphy is the co-host of the on the Inside Hockey Radio Show, heard every Saturday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on “NHL Home Ice” XM 204 and Sirius 208, The Team 990 in Montreal, and 1120 AM WBNW in Boston. You can also listen online at www.team990.com or http://www.youcastr.com/profile/insidehockey. Join Murphy and co-host Todd Carroll this week when they welcome on Chicago Blackhawks Assistant GM Rick Dudley, Rick Westhead (Toronto Star), Steve Zipay (Newsday), Patrick King (Sportsnet.ca), and Conor McKenna (Team 990). For more information, go to www.insidehockey.com.