Bruins Nation

According to NHL.com's NHL Insider, Bruins Defenseman Andrew Ference and Panthers defenseman Steve Montador will be in Tanzania playing with kids from July 1st through July 8th. They will be traveling via the right to play organization. However Ference won't be playing hockey, he'll be playing soccer.

The Bruins picked 8th, 35th (The Bruins traded the 38th and 69th picks to Chicago for number 35.), 130th, 159th, 169th (from Calgary) and 189th.

8th: Zach Hamill
35th: Tommy Cross (dude's from CT, the only american Chiarelli picked)
130th: Denis Reul
159th: Alain Goulet
169th: Radim Ostrcil
189th: Jordan Knackstedt

• Peter Chiarelli made the official announcement today that Claude Julien had been hired as the new head coach of the Boston Bruins.

• The NHL board of governors, after naming Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs as their chairman, revised four rules.

• The Boston Bruins also got new uniforms and logos. The new uniforms are from reebok and the first of their kind to be used in the NHL. Here is a picture of the new uniform. Here are the new logos:

TSN is currently reporting that the Bruins have hired Claude Julien to replace Dave Lewis as the next head coach. Julien last season led the New Jersey Devils to 1st in the Atlantic Division, but was fired by Lou Lamoriello. Lamoriello is now currently the Devils CEO, President, GM, and head coach. I'm not sure of the official reasoning for Julien's firing, but I think it was because Lamoriello wanted the glory of coaching the team in the playoffs. As everyone knows, I was pulling for Ted Donato, but Julien is obviously a more NHL experienced coach and a more reliable choice. I'm curious when Chiarelli is going to announce this one and what his selling points are going to be.

Also, Peter Chiarelli and the Bruins got a fantastic deal for Brandon Bochenski. A one year 600,000 dollar contract was reached by the two parties. For the Bruins in 06-07, Bochenski had an 11-11-22 line with a +3 in 31 games. He is a born goal-scorer and there is know doubt in my mind that if he is given a good amount of playing time, he'll score 25 goals next season. I'll give 600,000 dollars for that any day.

Even though Peter Chiarelli said over and over again that Dave Lewis would be coming back, we now know he was lying. Late Friday Chiarelli called Dave Lewis into his office and canned him. Dave Lewis and his assistant coach Marc Habscheid won't be behind the Bruins bench for next season, but they are still under contract and will somehow be working with the Boston Bruins.

Chiarelli stated in a conference call that his main reasons for firing Lewis was the Bruins inconsistency, their lack of aggressive play, and the lack of accountability. Even though I personally would have given Dave Lewis a second chance, Chiarelli is absolutely right about what he is saying. The Bruins were very inconsistent, they had barely and aggressive fore-checking, and coach Lewis never made any of the players accountable for their poor play. What Chiarelli failed to mention though is that many players struggled under Lewis' system. His defense first mentality I believe held back players like Bergeron, Sturm, and Kessel. Savard and Murray had great seasons but they probably could have done more. Every single defensemen on the Bruins also didn't play up to their full potential. Chara didn't fight once, and I believe because he was forced to play more then any other player in the league, he was unable to play as aggressive as he would have liked. Mara and Stuart were shadows of their former and probably future selves. Alberts should have had more of an impact on the team and Ference should have been allowed to handle the puck more. The only defensemen that played surprisingly well were the ones from Providence.

Peter Chiarelli says that he hopes to have Lewis' job filled by July 1st. The candidates according to the globe are Providence head coach Scott Gordon, former Devils head coach Claude Julien, Rochester Americans head coach Randy Cunneyworth, Former Bruin coach and Islander GM Mike Milbury, former Senators assistant coach John Paddock, and Harvard head coach Ted Donato. Currently the front runners are Scott Gordon, who has done a fantastic job with the PBruins (if you remember, Sullivan took the PBruins to BBruins route), Mike Milbury, who coached the Bruins to the stanley cup in 1990, and Claude Julien, who coached the Devils to a second place finish this season until he was ousted by the Devils GM, who he himself wanted to be coach during the playoffs. I would personally like to see Ted Donato become coach. The former Bruin is doing a great job with Harvard's team and has played with guys like Axelsson and Murray not too long ago.

All that can be said now is go Bruins!

Peter Chiarelli announced a couple days ago that he and Andrew Alberts have come to terms on a 2 year deal worth 2.5 million dollars. The 25 year old Defensemen will make 1.1 millions next season and 1.4 million the season after that.

Andrew Alberts was a very consistent defensemen last season, and even though he doesn't have anything particularly special to offer (like Chara and Ference) he is worth about a million and half. I expect Alberts to average 2 goals and 15 assists in each of the next two seasons.

Also, sorry I haven't been posting. The internet was down for a while and I've been really busy. Since the last post, the Anaheim Ducks beat the Senators 4 games to 1, becoming the first west coast team to win it all. And thus the Stanley Cup stays in the United States of America. Captain Scott Niedermayer was named the MVP of the playoffs. Jean-Sebastian Giguere will forever be a California legend. Teemu Selanne was even hinting towards retiring.

NEXT YEAR THE CUP WILL MAKE ITS HOME IN BOSTON!