Krejci
There’s only positive news in regard to rehabilitating Boston Bruins center David Krejci.
Offseason hip surgery was a success and Krejci said today after an informal skate at Ristuccia Arena in Wilmington, Mass., that he’s been working out in the gym for a while now and that physically he’s 100 percent.
But there’s some frustration because he’s still under orders to only go 60 or 70 percent in on-ice workouts. Last week he did some light drills on the ice a couple days and today he took some shots on rookie goaltender Tuukka Rask before going for his off-ice workout.
“I’ll be playing in October,” he said. “I would say mid-October, but it’s hard to say. I just started skating.”
Offseason tidbit: Krejci spent the bulk of his summer rehabbing, but also went home to the Czech Republic for a couple weeks and hung out with his buddies, including some camping. While in Boston, he spent a lot of time enjoying the nightlife and sampling the best cuisine in the Hub.
Position battle: Entering his third NHL season, Krejci could challenge Marc Savard for No. 1 center status when healthy. Heck, some would say he was the Bruins’ top pivot for most of last season. Krejci could also challenge to get on the top power-play unit, especially because of the chemistry he has sometimes shown with Savard in 5-on-3 situations.
Projection: Krejci, a diligent worker, will be back by at least the middle of October. And depending on his ice time should challenge for the team’s lead in scoring and make it difficult for the Bruins not to use him more on the power play. Krejci’s development will go a long way toward helping the Bruins determine if they want to re-sign Savard or maybe even trade him before he becomes a free agent.
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[...] The Bruins Blog: Some news and notes on rehabilitating Boston Bruins center David Krejci. Looks like he should be ready to go for the B’s. [...]
Fair enough, good point. But i do read up as much as i possibly can on reports from the practices, and whenever the PP was discussed, it seems to me that changes only occurred when the lineup made it necessary, and it wasnt in the strategy aspect of the PP. i do remember maybe 1 different look throughout the year, but true to form he didn’t give them what is in my opinion enough game time to let the chemistry develop. Either way, the bottom line is that the PP was not the same as it was during the season, its easy to defend with some pressure (and has been ever since claude started using it, well its essentially the same as lewis’s PP too). Some practice using a different look throughout the season might have benefited them during the playoffs when a change was necessary. Sure the second unit has a mostly different look to it, but the playing time is far less.
The Axe experiment was fine for a few games and I totally get the concept of what Julien and the players want to do on the PP: move the puck around the perimeter through Savard, and find the seams, maybe a give and go. He needed another lefty to do that, or a guy like Savard who is righty. Fine, but in retrospect (although I defintiely thought it was true back then too) he should have given more effort than what is perceived to revamping the PP, or just tweaking it to fit his PP personnel. It could have helped in the playoffs and certainly would have helped against other teams during the season that pressure the PP too much and make it ineffective. Or at least go more to the second unit.
Wow, I forgot Sturm on my powerplay lines. He Kessel-Bergeron-Sturm for a second unit. Not bad.
Matt, half of the comments get cut off on the right side. The advertisements are on top of them.
//Instead of Axe, he really should have tried to give the PP a few different looks//
Perhaps he did. Did you attend every practice session and coaches’ meeting?
Even if Krejci does progress (and I’ve been a huge fan since he was a rookie), I’d hate to lose Savard. Why trade away such a great playmaker just because you’ve got another who’s good as well? And didn’t Savvy say last year that he’d consider a lesser salary to stay in Boston?
I think a lot of the guys deserve more PP time, but I also think that for the most part (read: excluding the Axellson experiment) Julien has done a pretty good job managing playing time and the PP. Instead of Axe, he really should have tried to give the PP a few different looks instead of trying to repeat the same old stale PP and wait for Chia to find him a lefty. Sure the PPP was still pretty good over teh course of the season, but its easy to defend and as a result faltered in the playoffs. Having some experience with different looks could have kept the PP going in the playoffs and maybe could have saved them the embarassment of what became a playoff loss to the Whalers.
I think Krejci should be on the first powerplay unit. Make it Recchi-Krejci-Savard up front. Have the second unit be Kessel-Bergeron-Lucic/Ryder. Krejci deserves those extra minutes.