A month had passed since the Boston Bruins were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs by the New Jersey Devils for the second consecutive year when Brian Burke, then working for the National Hockey League, announced outside a hotel in East Rutherford, NJ, that the league was about to crack down on the interference that was ruining the game.
The Devils, coached by Jacques Lemaire, had become a hot topic of discussion as his team bore a hole through the 1995 playoffs with a series of “upsets” and were now halfway to a shocking sweep of the heavily favored Detroit Red Wings in the Cup series.
A core member of the dynastic Montreal Canadiens of the 1970s, Lemaire was a decade into his coaching career when he tweaked his forecheck to bring the best out of the Devils who, while lacking a generational superstar like Guy Lafleur, were more like those Montreal teams than commonly supposed. They could skate and were big, strong, deep and talented throughout their lineup.
The core of that lineup was, like Montreal’s, a suffocating team defense built around goaltender Martin Brodeur and Scott Niedermayer, Scott Stevens and Ken Daneyko, GM Lou Lamoriello’s version of Montreal’s legendary Big 3D of Larry Robinson, Guy Lapointe and Serge Savard. (Puckmover Brian Rafalski would supplant Daneyko in an evolved version of the Devils coached by Robinson.)
Citing New Jersey’s tactical physicality away from the puck and calculated forecheck – Lemaire’s 1-2-2 was not, as often mislabeled, a neutral-zone trap – a reporter asked Burke if this new initiative by the NHL to curb interference was targeting the Devils.
“No, the New Jersey Devils are playing beautiful hockey,” explained Burke. “What we’re trying to do is stop guys like Don Sweeney from running 90 feet across the ice to block players trying to check Ray Bourque.”
Shellshocked was I to learn that the big, bad Devils who were gumming up the game against more aesthetically pleasing teams like the Mario Lemieux-led Pittsburgh Penguins were, according to the NHL, everything that was right with hockey at a time when everyone and his sister seemed in particular to hate what New Jersey was doing to the game and in general had an opinion on how to fix the sport.
The same reporter – by now you should have guess it – asked Sweeney and coach Jim Montgomery during Wednesday’s breakup presser if, given how Charlie McAvoy was paired during the playoffs with Hampus Lindholm, Mason Lohrei and Parker Wotherspoon, they hold a belief on what kind of defense partner best suits McAvoy’s game. After all, the Maple Leafs and the Panthers made it a point to run at McAvoy like he was the only Bruin out there.
“I mean, for quite a long time, the other team targeted Ray Bourque every goddamn night,” said Sweeney, inadvertently reminding me of Burke’s June 22, 1995, remarks. “Let’s be honest, that’s what happens in the playoffs. They know what key components on other rosters are, and they’re going to try and attack it. That’s an opportunity for other players to take a step forward.”
Or the 83-foot width of the old Garden – sideways in Sweeney’s case.
“Charlie embraces that opportunity to play against the best players and to hopefully stare them down,” added Sweeney, alluding to the courage with which Bourque played the game and comparing McAvoy’s matchups to those faced this season by David Pastrnak. “That’s what the playoffs are, and we’re trying to do the exact same thing to the other side.”
Montgomery considered it premature to be determining McAvoy’s defense pairing for 2024-25.
“I think that, you know, part of your question is Charlie McAvoy wanting to be and having the ability to be Scott Niedermayer and Scott Stevens is why he’s so valuable and so talented, and that’s why I think he can mix and match with a lot of people,” said Montgomery.
Then let’s also be honest. Under high-end competition, McAvoy gets drawn into trying to do too much. Since Zdeno Chara left the organization, Matt Grzelcyk has probably been his most-consistent defense partner. But neither was available for this playoff season, so McAvoy saw every left shot the Bruins have with NHL experience.
About The Author
Leave a Reply