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End of the road? Near-impossible situation earns Coffey pink slip
By Ken Klavon, CNNSI.com On a balmy Boston summer day last July, Harry Sinden was aglow as he gushed over his latest acquisition. Paul Coffey, a sure Hall of Famer, was coming to Beantown. He would be the tonic to bolster a sagging defensive corp, the much-needed quarterback to drive the listless power play and, more important, the man to assume the leadership role vacated when Ray Bourque was traded last season. "His strong play, particularly over the second half of last season, convinced us he still has plenty to offer the Bruins," said Sinden on July 13, the day Coffey inked a two-year deal for $4.5 million. Nearly five months later Sinden and the Bruins made the surprising admission that the Bruins-Coffey romance wasn't meant to be. Coffey was unceremoniously put on waivers this week, with a glint of hope that another NHL team on Thursday would take his career off life support. That didn't happen, which wasn't at all a surprise considering Coffey is 39, injury-prone and has rapidly deteriorating skills. Now the Bruins are left to execute one of four options: keep Coffey on the roster (highly unlikely), send him to Providence of the American Hockey League, negotiate a trade where another team picks up part of his salary or buy him out for $3 million. Simply put, Coffey's numbers in the 18 games he played this season weren't pretty. He had no goals, four assists and a minus-six plus/minus rating, including 30 minutes in penalties. But as he walked out of Pittsburgh's Mellon Arena on Tuesday after meeting with GM Mike O'Connell, Coffey accepted blame for being placed in an impossible situation. "I had a few nagging injuries that set me back at the start, but that wasn't the problem," Coffey told the Boston Globe. "It's not for lack of effort, but I never found a confidence level on the ice. It's all on me and nobody else." The mistake the Bruins brass made was believing the 21-year veteran could be a top-two defenseman. At this stage of his career, Coffey is better suited as a No. 5 or 6, one who could be most effective as a power-play specialist or one who plays a limited role. Last season in Carolina was a renaissance of sorts for Coffey as he amassed 40 points in 69 games. Finally healed from a nagging heel injury that inhibited his freestyle skating the prior three seasons, the man with the salient jaw showed flashes of the speed and breathless end-to-end rushes that was his signature touch on the NHL for so many years. Before Pat Burns was dismissed of his coaching duties on Oct. 25, the Bruins were a rudderless team. In the offseason the same question asked within the Bruins hierarchy the previous five seasons arose again: Should they continue to groom young players or take the chance at competing with a mix of veterans? Sinden decided Coffey had something left in his tank, but in his own rash to judgment, thought Coffey was the player of old. He wasn't. In his previous four seasons with Hartford, Philadelphia, Chicago and Carolina, Coffey averaged just 29 points per season, a far cry from his first 16 years in the league when he averaged 88. As injuries depleted the defensive unit this season, Coffey was asked to bear more ice time, more of the burden that accompanies a team battling through the pangs of growth. Incidentally, the Bruins were were 3-12-2-1 with Coffey in the lineup; 5-2-1-1 without. "Maybe Paul didn't have the support he needs around him," said O'Connell. "If we had a full complement of players all the time, it might have been a little easier for him. Or maybe if we were able to square him away with a solid defensive partner. But we couldn't provide that for him." The three-time Norris Trophy winner isn't ready to call it a career just yet. He stands just four goals shy of 400 and would like to add to his 1,531 career points. Interestingly enough, he is the second-highest ranked defenseman on the career points list, behind the man he supposedly replaced -- Bourque. Is it time to write Coffey's career eulogy, the eulogy of player who arguably revolutionized the defensive position the way Bobby Orr did in the '60s? "I still think I can play," said Coffey, after conferring with his wife. "He might go to a better team with a lot better supporting cast than he has here," said Mike Keenan, who inherited the coaching duties from Burns. When news of Coffey's plight spread through the Boston locker room, a pall set in. "He really helped the young guys and even guys like me when I got here," said Boston's Bill Guerin. "I really believe Paul Coffey still has a lot to offer someone." If not, here's a salute to the career of one of the league's greatest players.
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