Boston common

Mediocrity leads to another Bruins coach being iced

Robbie Ftorek must have shivered last Thursday when he sat down with his morning coffee and a copy of that day's Boston Globe. There it was, a coach's worst nightmare blared in 36-point type on Page 1 of the sports section: GM SAYS FTOREK IS SAFE. In the story Bruins general manager Mike O'Connell did his best to quash the rumor that had been swirling around his underachieving team for weeks -- that Ftorek was about to be fired.

"Robbie's weathered the storm," O'Connell said. "It looks like we righted the ship a little bit ... I think that he's got the team in the right direction and I'm prepared to go with him for the rest of the year."

Predictably, less than a week after throwing his coach that life preserver -- and with just nine games remaining in the regular season -- the GM tossed Ftorek overboard on Wednesday and named himself interim coach. Now, the first lesson in the coaching handbook is to start hoarding boxes and bubble-wrapping your china as soon as your boss hands down one of those public votes of confidence. That's especially true in Boston, where truffles have a longer shelf life than hockey coaches. O'Connell is the franchise's 11th head coach in 18 years.

But in this case O'Connell's job-security pledge seemed to ring true, which is why Ftorek's axing was so shocking. After a nine-game winless streak from Feb. 15 to March 3, Boston won five times and picked up 11 points in seven games before a 2-1 loss to the Coyotes on Tuesday night. When they woke up on Wednesday morning the Bruins held the seventh Eastern Conference playoff spot and were virtually assured of a postseason berth.

Sneaking into the playoffs as a seventh seed is nothing to brag about for a team that started the season 19-4-3-1, but a few weeks ago the flatlining Bruins were on the verge of tumbling completely out of the postseason picture. Ftorek deserved a pat on the back, not a blindfold and a cigarette, for getting them to rebound and secure a spot. Getting rid of him would have made perfect sense three weeks ago. Not now, when the team has been playing as well as it has in months.

O'Connell made his decision after watching the Bruins' lackluster effort -- and some questionable line combinations by Ftorek -- in that loss to Phoenix on Tuesday. The GM has been perplexed by the team's lack of consistency. All season they have alternated stellar periods with stinkers, failing on most occasions to play solidly for 60 minutes. O'Connell plans to implement a simpler system and emphasize checking and fundamentals to his defensively challenged team.

But the Bruins' biggest problem -- lack of talent, especially on the defensive side -- has more to do with O'Connell and his superiors than with Ftorek's shortcomings. This is a franchise in chaos. Boston management was unwilling to spend what it took to keep the club's top goal-scorer (Bill Guerin), top goaltender (Byron Dafoe) and most bruising defenseman (Kyle McLaren) after last season. (The Bruins have also played most of the season without sparkplug Sergei Samsonov, who had wrist surgery in December.) In fact, ownership has told O'Connell not to sign anyone beyond September 2004, when the current collective bargaining agreement expires.

That parsimony mortgaged the Bruins' chances this season. It doesn't bode well for the their future, either. The team acquired defensemen Ian Moran and Dan McGillis before the trade deadline, but the Bruins still desperately need an imposing blueline presence. How, given his financial handcuffs, can O'Connell possibly lure a big-name free agent or deal for a star defenseman this summer?

O'Connell is hoping that his team follows a precedent set by the 1999-2000 Devils. With the team sputtering, Ftorek was fired two weeks before the end of the regular season. He watched from home as replacement coach Larry Robinson guided the team to the Stanley Cup.

Don't count on it. In recent weeks several players defended the job Ftorek did; the people inside the Boston dressing room are likely as bewildered by his firing as those outside of it. From his new perch behind the bench O'Connell may coax a bit more effort out of his team, but he'll see what Ftorek has surely known all season. The Bruins weren't laying the groundwork for Cup run early in the season. They were playing over their heads, and it will take more than a coaching change to turn the franchise around.

Sports Illustrated staff writer Stephen Cannella covers the NHL for the magazine and will contribute frequently to SI.com.

 

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