Success will depend on Dafoe and youngsters - Byron Dafoe - Boston Bruins hockey team - Brief Article

1998-99 RECORD: 39-30-13 (3rd in Northeast); lost to Buffalo in Eastern Conference semifinals.

FIVE-YEAR RECORD: 171-156-49 (.520, ranks 9th in NHL in that span).

GOOD NEWS: In forwards Joe Thornton, Jason Allison, Anson Carter and Sergei Samsonov and D Kyle McLaren, the Bruins don't have a player who is older than 25. While each has suffered through down periods, they also have played great games. Most important, the group shares a common mind-set: This is the year they blossom into NHL stars. The Bruins will stress sound team defense and-assuming team MVP goaltender Byron Dafoe is re-signed--should be one of the league's toughest opponents to score against. McLaren is the future two-way leader of the defensive corps. It currently features Ray Bourque, playing his 21st and perhaps final season, Don Sweeney, a free agent next summer, Hal Gill and rookie Jonathan Girard, who will be the Bruins' most dangerous and creative defenseman since Bourque was in his prime.

BAD NEWS: The team made no effort to keep free-agent center Tim Taylor, who signed with the Rangers, Then the Brutus let Dmitri Khristich walk away because they didn't want to pay him $2.8 million. Money was again the driving force when the club offered Gill and RW P.J. Axelsson only 10 percent raises. After a one-week holdout, Gill signed and reported to camp. But Axelsson remains in Sweden. And then on the first day of camp, it was revealed that Allison had a badly sprained ankle and wrist tendinitis. He missed most of training camp.

WORKING OVERTIME: When the Bruins are hitting all cylinders on defense, they can turn the middle of the rink into a quagmire, allowing little room to skate or make plays. Under coach Pet Burns, the team allowed 2.25 goals a game the last two seasons. But the Bruins have some young offensive talent, and kids like Samsonov and Allison must be allowed to develop--even if it means some risky maneuvers that might leave the club vulnerable on defense.

SEE A DIFFERENT GAME: Wayne Gretzky said, "One hundred percent of the shots you don't take, don't go in." The rest of that thought, of course, is that any puck shot toward the net has a chance of going in the net. But the Bruins didn't get the message last season. For example, Khristich, Allison and Samsonov took a combined 461 shots. Anaheim's Paul Kariya shot the puck 429 times by himself. Burns would like to see his players shoot more and quit trying to make the perfect extra pass all of the time, a tactic that too often meant a turnover.

AFTER 82 GAMES: Assuming Dafoe is in front of the net and Allison is healthy, the Bruins could be in the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since 1990. There certainly would be justice if Bourque could close his career by hoisting the Cup.

GRADING OUT

COACHING        A
FORWARDS        C
DEFENSEMEN      B
GOALTENDERS     A
SPECIAL TEAMS   B
FRONT OFFICE    C

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