Savard/By S. Bradley
The saddest story of the Bruins’ 2010-11 Stanley Cup championship season just keeps getting sadder.
When asked during a pre-free agency conference call Thursday about whether he expects to have more definitive news on Marc Savard’s status over the course of the offseason, Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli’s voice sounded solemn as he explained that things will probably remain in a holding pattern with the concussed star.
“I would think at some point I will. I would say it would be status quo based on the things that I know right now,” said Chiarelli. “I would say, in all likelihood it would be status quo but things happen and we make contingency plans too.”
That Savard wasn’t healthy enough to start training camp last fall came as a surprise to all, and then that he was so severely affected by clean hit from Colorado’s Matt Hunwick in January added to what’s become more of human tragedy than a tale of an injured hockey player.
Even when he was playing, Savard never quite looked like his old self. That he’s still so far off from beginning any type of activity doesn’t bode well. Sources around Savard say that the center isn’t just affected by his own injury, but has a hard time watching any type of questionable contact in a hockey game.
Hopefully the Bruins’ Cup championship brought Savard some true joy during a rough patch in his life. The Bruins’ intention to get his name on the Cup should also serve as some consolation.
Stats
Regular season: 25 GP, 2-8-10, minus-7
Playoffs: DNP
Contract status: Signed through 2016-17 at a cap hit of $4,007,143
Best regular-season moment: Other than his first appearance of the season Dec. 2 against Tampa Bay, Savard’s most impressive moment came in Toronto Jan. 3. His goal with 4:30 left in the second period broke a 1-1 tie and stood up as the game-winner against the Maple Leafs. He was also plus-2 that night.
Best playoff moment: That Savard was able to make his way to Boston and take in a couple postseason games from a luxury suite with his kids was a positive sign for his off-ice life. Plus his sons made great protectors of the spoked ‘B’ logo on the floor in the Bruins’ dressing room.
Worst moment: Savard barely shook off any rust as he went along and Jan. 6 against Minnesota he hit rock bottom. His giveaway led to Cal Clutterbuck’s go-ahead goal for the Wild, and head coach Claude Julien had seen enough. Julien benched Savard for 10 minutes of the third period — the second time in a week Savard saw his third-period minutes cut due to ineffectiveness.
Regular-season grade: None
Playoff grade: None
Carnac says … love of the game could cause Savard to wait maybe as long as another calendar year before calling it quits, but the odds of him ever playing in the NHL again are pretty slim.
Jeff.
He was a point per game player.
I want Savvy back at a very nice cap hit of only 4 mil.
I love savvy and loved what he did for this team, but do any of you guys think that him not returning is kind of a blessing? getting his money through 2017 off the books and available for other players?
If anybody knows about coming into the league with a chip and attitude it’s Savvy. He would be a great golf coach. I wonder if the concussions has affected his one hundreds rounds a summer.
I hope, and expect, that once he recovers sufficiently to resume a normal life off the ice, the Bruins will find a place for him in the organization. He matured a LOT as his career progressed, and I think he would be a positive influence as a life coach to younger players who come into this league with an attitude and a chip on thier shoulder.
I think everyone feels very sad about Marc Savard. If he comes back, he needs to be healthy. The chances of him coming back are slim, I believe. I think Matt Cooke should never play in the NHL again.
I do find the differences between some concussion results (Bergeron) vs Savard to be interesting. I sometimes wonder if it isn’t partly related to where the damage in the hit occurs (part of the brain) and there is a huge part of me that wonders if Savard’s return was really too soon during the ’10 playoffs.
We may never know the answers but injuries like Savard’s make me hope the league will work out the best way to keep the game exciting but sanction dangerous hits in such a way that head injuries will become rare in the sport.
Auzure-
Insurance picks up a big chunk.
MK
Thinking about what might have been makes me want to do bad things to Matt Cooke, and I’m generally an easy going guy.
Matt, I’m somewhat curious about what Savard’s inscentive would be to retire, at least from a financial perspective. Even if he never plays again, he still has to have at least $10 mil. comming to him (even with his front loaded salary). If he retires, does he give that up? Or does the team cut him some type of settlement where he gets $x to retire? Or is there some type of injury insurance?
I don’t want to see Savard play in the NHL again. I will miss his amazing passing, the times when the puck magically appears on the stick of the player in the slot, the playoff OT winners. Savard has his life to consider though. I think he has serious brain damage, and if he gets to the point where he can be that premiere player again, I hope he joins a no hit league. He could end up with serious mental issues from another hit, although he already seems to be having them/memory issues. It’s tough to give up a dream, but he has kids too, he should enjoy them and move past hockey, as tough as that is. I want him to get healthy and then, just be happy with his family. Who knows, maybe the bruins would like for him to put on clinics. He’s a great personality, and when he gets it back, he can be a great ambassador for the game.
I think his on ice career should be over, regardless, but there is so much he can still do.
Until the aftermath from the Cooke hit I had no idea a concussion could be such a lingering and debilitating injury. It’s interesting to me that there’s no word on why the head injury continues to be such a problem with little or no improvement for Savvy so long after he went down. You see guys like Bergy and Krejc have similar issues and symptoms initially but they have managed to recover. Just seems like really shit luck for Savvy.
It’s sad looking at how many years he had left on the contract; everyone expected him to be a superstar in Boston for a long time. I hate looking back as a “what could’ve been” so I’m going to continue to hope Marc makes some sort of miraculous comeback.
I think he is done. It is a very sad thing to see somebody gifted in the game go out due to this kind of injury, but I don’t think he can risk sustaining another concussion and I am not even 100% certain he will ever be cleared to play again.
I suspect he may retire before the beginning of the next season, but he may try to wait it out longer before making it official.