loui eriksson – What's Up, Ya Sieve?

A Bruins Christmas Spectacular!

Chuck — Tue, 17 Dec 2013 15:56:53 +0000

From ugly sweater photos and awkward, Russian-accented renditions of “Jingle Bells”, lots of NHL teams are getting into the holiday spirit. Now comes the Bruins’ turn – and it’s a Christmas gem.

The Bear in the Gang – A Christmas Spectacular

In this Bear and the Gang Christmas Spectacular, the team is all gathered in a cozy winter cabin where holiday hijinks ensue.

There are so many things that make me happy about this video, besides the high-cheese log factor and tin-canned laugh track.

This picture…I can’t.

“You mad, tree?”

Bergeron flashing those pearly whites before going of into the meadows to put that weedwacker to work.

Ricola?

Pocket-sized Lumberjack Torey Krug. I hope you’re watching this, Dan Bylsma. Just give this kid a spot on Team USA already!

“It’s going down. I’m yelling TIMBER. You betta move. You betta dance!”

Dougie Hamilton as Reindeer #9. You know Bartkowski made him wear this. Speaking of..where is Barty in this video? Seems like this would something right up his alley.

“Out of all the reindeer, you know you’re the mastermind.”

The Bear getting friendly with Iggy. To be fair, if Iggy was sitting on my lap, I wouldn’t let go either.

“I’m going to love him and hug him and squeeze him!”

Carl Soderberg looking uber Swedish and confused. Just through it in a gift bag with some tissue paper and call it a day.

Gift-wrapping? Ain’t nobody got time for that.

Also confused – Loui Eriksson, lost in the snow. Granted this video was shot before he was concussed by Brooks Orpik, but still…it’s kinda funny? No? Too soon?

Buzzer Beater: Part 2

Chuck — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 16:33:59 +0000

Last night was Bruins vs. Penguins so you knew that both of us were going to have to weigh in.

The two best teams in the East faced off last night and the over arching theme was resiliency. After the Penguins tied it up with 0.3 seconds left to send it to OT, some teams would have been completely demoralized.

0.3 seconds? Seriously? Guys, come on….

Anywaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay….

Watching Crosby bang home the puck past Tuukka with infinitesimal time left to snatch away a point doesn’t feel good. It feels horrible actually. I was up, out of my seat at the Garden, shaking my fist angrily at Pants and her wine 400 miles away and feeling like this…

If I was a little girl and I had a bouquet of balloons, Sidney Crosby would be the guy with a pin standing over my shoulder waiting to pop them. Thankfully, the Bruins channeled their feels into victory. They were able to regroup, focus and then it was Torey Krug to the rescue.

Boom. You’re welcome.

Krug may be pocket-sized but there is NOTHING small about the way that he has been playing this season. His beautiful OT winner (the 1st of his career) was the 7th goal of the season for the Bruins. He is 2nd on the team in goals and 4th in overall points (15).

Mr. Krug, are you campaigning for Foxy Friday? Because you are making an excellent case for yourself.

Not to be out done, Loui Eriksson netted his 5th of the season and boy, was it splendiforous!

I don’t even care that his Movemeber mustache makes him look like a silent movie villain. Or is it more 70s porn star? He keeps scoring goals and I’ll forgive anything.

During the warm-ups, James Neal was trying to seduce me with his flowing locks hair and his face but I was not having it. Nope. I respect Nealer and how he plays…except when he is playing the Bruins. Last night, Nealmobile had 2 goals, including this wikkid one that induced major face-palming, raging, and a litany of expletives.

While our loyalties (and blog) are divided, there is one thing we can agree on.

Return of the Segs

Chuck — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 17:43:59 +0000

After his abrupt and somewhat surprising departure from Boston this summer, tonight marks Tyler Seguin’s return to Boston. It’s been four months since the fireworks of the July 4th trade that sent Seguin to Dallas Stars. The pain of that day still stings at times, but like any resilient New Englander, I just have to pick myself up off the floor, drink my iced coffee, and move on with my life.

I can’t lie – it hasn’t been easy. The fangirl in me dies a little bit every time I see him in that Stars’ sweater. It just doesn’t feel right or real to me. Green is SO not his color. He looks MUCH better in black and gold.

But the hockey fan/blogger in me understands full well why things happened the way that they did. In an ideal world, every player I loved would stay with their teams forever, win multiple Stanley Cups & all the trophies, and it would be all rainbows and puppies and adorable babies.

I pride myself of understanding a lot about the sport and about how things work from a management perspective, so I try to be as objective as I can in situations like this. I can’t take it personally. I don’t have to like it, but I have to accept it.

Boston’s depth, while a tremendous asset, stifled Seguin. When you’re playing behind Krecji and Bergeron, it ain’t exactly easy to distinguish yourself. Seguin was a boy amongst men and he wasn’t doing enough to make himself irreplaceable.

In Dallas, Seguin has the opportunity to be the BMOC, and let’s face it, we all know that he’ll relish it like a hot dog. He is playing on the top line with all-star Jamie Benn, while in Boston he was relegated to the 3rd line.

I hope that the trade served as a bit of a wake-up call for Seguin. While we can’t really blame him for the partying and the hijinks he got himself into – I mean the guy is 19 years old, rich, Stanley Cup Champ, hot like fire in a city filled with college girls – the maturity just wasn’t high on the list of priority For a team that needs to win and win NOW, the Bruins just didn’t have time to wait for him to grow up.

Chara ain’t getting any younger and with their 2011 Stanley Cup win and their Finals appearance last year, this Bruins team needs to strike while the iron is hot.

In Seguin, they had a talented player not quite living up to his potential but with an exceptionally high value for a team looking for a young center. What Bruins were desperately lacking was a strong winger to complement their top line centers.

Enter Dallas Stars and Loui Eriksson. Some phone calls were made. A deal was reached and it was so long Seguin and hello Loui.

The season is still young so who knows what the ending will be to this hockey tale. Seguin has 15 points so far with the Stars. Eriksson has only 3.

The season is long and I’m not worried. I think that each team is going to get exactly what they needed.

Fireworks of a Different Kind

Chuck — Fri, 05 Jul 2013 20:27:39 +0000

Yesterday was America’s birthday. There were barbecues, patriotic music, fireworks, waving flags…and one very big trade.

Yesterday, the Bruins decided to have their own pyrotechnic display when they traded former 1st round draft pick Tyler Seguin, Rich Peverley, and prospect Ryan Button to the Dallas Stars for Loui Eriksson and three prospects – Joe Morrow, Reilly Smith, and Matt Fraser.

Yea, girl. That’s exactly what I said.

At first, I was confused and perplexed. Did the Bruins really just give up their #2 draft pick and ship him off to the Lone Star State?

During the recent NHL Draft, I had a feeling that something might be brewing. After Bruins’ GM Peter Chiarelli called him out, you could tell that the organization wasn’t feeling Seguin and his utterly disappointing post-season performance.

Chiarelli called into question Seguin’s professionalism and work ethic – but what he was essentially saying is Tyler Seguin needed to stop being Tyler Seguin and start being more like Patrice Bergeron.

But no way did I actually think that the Bruins would trade away one of their most popular players so quickly. I thought for sure that they give him a year to get his ish together, grow up a bit, and then go from there.

okay…so maybe I take that back…

After the initial shock wore off and the eyebrow crinkling ceased, I took to the interwebs to obtain the knowledge I needed to fully understand why something like this might happen.

What I’ve concluded is simple – it’s all about the benjamins.

Seguin is set to begin a six-year, $34.5 million contract next season. Peverley is in the midst of a contract that carries an average annual value of $3.25 million through the end of the 2014-15 season. Eriksson’s contract runs through end of 2015-16 season and has an average annual value of $4.25 million.

You know that WUYS don’t do no math but basically what I’ve been able to deduce using my fingers, toes, and abacus, is that the Bruins will save around $4 million in cap space. With the salary cap decreasing next season, the Bruins needed to reduce salary to re-sign Tuukka and Bergeron, which let’s face it are a more integral part of the team’s success than Seguin. Bruins also are in need of a winger with the departure of Horton and Jagr. With this trade, they now have about $9 million to work with.

Even with addition of the 27 year-old Eriksson, the Bruins are still way light at wing. I’d bet good money they use some of that $9 mil surplus to sign a winger off of the free agent market. Just a few names up for grabs – Ignila, Clarkson, Ryder, Clowe, Cleary. It will just be a matter of finding the best fit, both financially and organizationally. To play on this team, you have to be a certain kind of player.

Now while I understand why something like this happened, it doesn’t mean that particularly thrilled about it. I feel like it is the Joe Thornton Conundrum all over again.

I like Seguin and I think he’s enormously talented, if a bit undisciplined. Maturity takes time to develop. Not all players are Bergeron and Landeskog who come into the league already acting like they’re 30. I kind of have this feeling that Bruins are abandoning Seguin at a time when all he really might need is a swift kick in the ass and a dressing down by Cam Neely. Then maybe he’s wake up and pull it together.

On the other hand, maybe they have given Seguin that dressing down. Maybe they have given him that chance and still nothing changed. As fans, we may never know the truth.

So for now, I wish Seguin the best of luck in Dallas and look forward to the first instagram photo of him wearing a cowboy hat.