Category — steve begin

Begin/By S. Bradley

In bringing in Steve Begin to, in essence, replace Stephane Yelle, Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli was trying to make his fourth line younger, faster and more forceful without suffering a drop-off on the penalty kill. In that respect, Begin fulfilled his role with the 2009-10 Bruins.

However, the offensively challenged Bruins could’ve used a little more finish from their grind line center, and Begin could’ve made up for his lack of scoring with more stretches of physicality on the forecheck. [Read more →]

PHILADELPHIA — Prior to the Bruins departing for Philadelphia for Game 3 and 4, winger Shawn Thornton sat in the Ristuccia Arena dressing room after a practice and wondered how Blake Wheeler would fare on another line after spending a couple games in a trio with Thornton and Steve Begin.

After all, Milan Lucic had skated a couple of contests on Boston’s grind line and then just a couple games after he switched units he buried the game-winning goal in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series with the Flyers. Thornton wondered out loud if he and Begin should be getting some sort of assistant coach credit or paycheck.

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BOSTON — Winger Marco Sturm’s scoring woes (one goal, 23 games) have been well-documented. So how disappointed must the veteran winger have been after he both left today’s game with a lower-body injury and then watched Steve Begin take his next shift next to Mark Recchi and Patrice Bergeron and score the game’s first goal?

Begin should at least have dedicated the goal to the German speedster, who did not return the rest of the day.

“I didn’t think about it, but if you want I can do it. I’ll go tell him,” Begin said with a smile after Boston’s 5-4 overtime win in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series with Philadelphia at TD Garden.

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Familiarity has been a key component in how the Boston Bruins have built their roster. Whether it’s players who skated for the Ottawa Senators when Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli was there, players from the Ottawa area or ones that have skated for head coach Claude Julien at any of his previous stops, first-hand knowledge of track records weighs heavily in the Bruins’ decision to add a player. [Read more →]

If Begin looks like this, he'll make the Bruins happy.

It’s not just the broadcasters who voted for the Jack Adams Trophy who noticed what a great coaching job Claude Julien did with the Boston Bruins. The winner of the NHL coach of the year award has also caught the eye of potential free-agent acquisitions, as winger Steve Begin explained today after inking a one-year deal with the Boston Bruins.

Begin, who played for Julien with Montreal for a couple seasons, is hoping to follow the path of his former Habs teammate Michael Ryder, who signed with the Bruins last season partly to be reunited with Julien and bounced back into form after an off season in Montreal the year before. [Read more →]

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Boston Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli was originally going to wait until later tonight, but after seeing TSN reported the deal, he announced Steve Begin has been signed to a one-year deal.

Last season Begin skated in 62 games for Montreal and Dallas and posted 7-5-12 totals. But around here, he’s more famous for his crosscheck to the back of center Marc Savard toward the end of the 2007-08 season that severely limited Savard’s effectiveness in the seven-game playoff series in the spring of ’08.

“Players are good. It might take them a little bit of time to get over it, but once they’re off the ice, they jell pretty quickly,” said Chiarelli. “I don’t see any problems there.” [Read more →]