On Hockey
Ryan Lambert
This was a chance to get back on the front of the sports pages.
When the Celtics stunk, the Bruins could have a sense of camaraderie with their TD Banknorth Garden neighbors. Neither of them were getting the attention that the Patriots and Red Sox were getting, and that was understandable enough.
Now they have to share a building with the newly-crowned 17-time world champion Green, and Boston's Big Three might as well be every major franchise except the Bruins, who seem doomed to be perceived as perennial sad sacks.
Even forcing Game 7 with the Canadiens or winning the East, as they did a few years ago, won't break this cycle for the increasingly hard-to-please Boston bandwagon-jumpers. They want all-star players (see: Garnett, Kevin) and titles (see: everyone who doesn't wear Black and Gold).
Michael Ryder is currently not an all-star player, though, and he alone won't win the Bruins anything.
Bruins fans inexplicably had Marian Hossa, who signed a sweetheart one-year, $7.4 million deal with the Stanley Cup champion Red Wings, coming to Boston for a litany of reasons, none of which ever made much sense. But the Bruins had to sign someone people would recognize.
Sure, Ryder's on the good side of 30 and will be for most of this contract, and he's a two-time 30-goal scorer. But this year his numbers dropped precipitously, to just 14 goals and 17 assists. In his previous two seasons, he scored 18 and 17 power play goals with 3:14 of extra-man ice time per game. This year, just one with 2:04 per.
Habs coach Guy Carbonneau isn't the biggest Mike Ryder fan in the world, having famously demoted the wing from top-line duties to fourth-line fill-in to healthy scratch and back for much of the season. But there must have been a reason he was benched three times in the Bruins-Canadiens series.
As ugly as the road to the Carbonneau-Ryder divorce was, it probably will be all sunshine and lollipops now that the Bonavista, Newfoundland, native is back with his three-time former coach Claude Julien. The Bruins bench boss spoke of the team's newest acquisition with heartfelt admiration on Tuesday.
Signing Ryder was probably a good move for the Bruins in theory. He is clearly capable of scoring a lot of goals (something the Bruins lacked), he's not afraid to throw his body around (122 hits last year in 70 games) and he can skate well enough to keep up with anyone on the Bruins.
He could be slotted into the first line as trigger man for Marc Savard's many glorious passes that have long gone squandered. At the very least, he provides more firepower alongside the returning Patrice Bergeron. But he, like a number of Bruins, plays absolutely no defense (to the tune of a career -24).
Why were the Bruins so eager to throw him the kind of money Boston fans have been begrudging the equally underachieving Glen Murray for the better part of three years? When players struggle in contract years, their paychecks usually don't increase by roughly 33 percent. Ryder, who will need to be reborn in Boston, was certainly worth a flyer, but $4 million a year isn't a flyer, even when NHL salaries are skyrocketing.
Julien and GM Peter Chiarelli may like his lightning-quick release, his presence along the half boards opposite Savard on the power play, and his determination along the boards in the attacking zone, but that doesn't suddenly make this contract make the least bit of sense.
If he wanted security, there was nothing to prevent Chiarelli from offering him a three-year contract for shorter money, or he could have tried to outbid the other teams who wanted him for short-term deals. But $4 million a year was likely more than he was offered by other teams, and three years was certainly the best he could have hoped for.
The Ryder contract also likely has hamstrung the Bruins from signing someone to fill the role they actually needed most: top four defenseman. Of course, with Toronto GM Cliff Fletcher's hilarious signing of career minor leaguer Jeff Finger to a $3.5 million a year contract, top four defensemen quickly became unaffordable. And they have yet to re-sign restricted free agent Dennis Wideman, whose salary will surely put the Bruins up against the cap ceiling.
This could end up great for Chiarelli, and look as good as Savard's bargain basement $5 million a year salary, or it could just be another awful Glen Murray deal. The Bruins, along with Ryder, are praying for the former.
Ryan Lambert is an Eagle-Tribune sportswriter. E-mail him at rlambert@eagletribune.com.
