With the Bruins still in the midst of their COVID-impacted shutdown, B’s president Cam Neely spoke with the media on Wednesday about a number of topics — including possible revisions to the NHL’s current COVID protocols and the state of Boston’s roster.
Here are seven takeaways from the Zoom call:
Neely offers candid look at COVID protocols
The Bruins’ shutdown is currently slated to be lifted on Sunday, but given all that we’ve seen over the past few weeks — it’s far from a guarantee that the NHL’s plans to restart games early next week are going to get off the ground, at least not without some complications.
Even though the Bruins are slated to have at least seven players currently in COVID protocols back in time for Monday’s matchup against the Penguins, a return to action and the resumption of testing also opens the door for more positive cases — and even more roster reshuffling.
"It's tough to say what's going to happen coming out of this Christmas break," Neely said. "Hopefully the positive test numbers start to drop dramatically, and guys are careful over the break, not just on our team but across the league. At some point, we're going to have to start living life and dealing with this as best we can. But we've got to get back on a regular schedule here at some point."
Neely’s comments in regards to “living life” touches on a sentiment that has been shared by a number of other sports leagues dealing with the ongoing COVID surge.
Last week, the NFL led the charge when it came to overhauling testing protocols — with the league announcing last Saturday that it would stop mandating weekly COVID-19 tests for asymptomatic vaccinated players.
Such a measure would likely be popular among many pro athletes and teams, with Detroit Red Wings executive vice president and general manager Steve Yzerman questioning the NHL’s stringent testing protocols last weekend.
"I really don't know what the right thing is,” Yzerman said. “At the end of the day, I think — and now I'm getting political — but at the end of the day our players are testing positive with very little symptoms, if any symptoms at all." "I don’t see it as a threat to their health at this point. I think you might take it a step further and question why are we even testing, for guys that have no symptoms."
The NBA — while not making as drastic a move as stopping all testing aside from symptomatic personnel — does seem to be willing to adjust its protocols in due time as well.
Even with the absurd number of players entering into health protocols over the past two weeks, NBA commissioner Adam Silver has pushed back on the notion of a league-wide shutdown — noting that the proper move is to potentially adjust the current quarantine timeline and other protocols in order to get players back in action over a shorter timeframe, especially if they're vaccinated.
"Frankly, we're having trouble coming up with what the logic would be behind pausing right now," Silver said. "As we look through these cases literally ripping through the country right now, putting aside the rest of the world, I think we're finding ourselves where we sort of knew we were going to get to for the past several months, and that is that this virus will not be eradicated and we're going to have to learn to live with it. That's what we're experiencing in the league right now.''
Silver added: “I think they're already realizing that you can move away from the 10-day protocol when you have players who are vaccinated and boosted. It seems the virus runs through their systems faster. They become not just asymptomatic but, more importantly, they're not shedding the virus anymore. That's the real concern in terms of others. And so we are actively looking at shortening the number of days players are out before they can return to the floor."
When asked his opinion about the merit of continuing to test asymptomatic players and the headaches that come with more and more players landing on the COVID-19 list, Neely noted both the pros and cons in terms of drastically overhauling the current framework in place.
"I think that's one of the reasons they were pushing vaccinations was to help obviously with any of your symptoms or help avoiding any kind of hospital visits or stays," Neely said. "I look at all these other businesses across the globe, whether it's office towers or whatnot, I don't think people are testing every day to go to those into those environments.
"Sometimes you feel like we're looking for trouble, we're looking for problems when you're asymptomatic. On the other hand, I certainly appreciate the concern for others. But like I said, not every place of business is testing to go into work."
Of course, even though the enhanced testing currently in place is the best avenue when it comes to limiting the spread of the virus, Neely acknowledged the fatigue that has set in among just about every facet of the team when it comes to this latest surge.
"The stress and just the uncertainty of, 'Am I going to be able to play, am I gonna get yanked from the bench?' It's been a lot since the bubble in Toronto," Neely said. "Everybody's life has changed dramatically, specifically I can speak to hockey players and the travel party and what we have to go through just to get games played, which I guess is understandable. But it does take its toll on you mentally, there's no question.
"You want your family to be careful because you want to be careful because you want to play hockey games, so they have to sacrifice along with you as well. That's where it gets a little challenging, I think, for everybody. "This is the world we're living in. But at some point, we're gonna just have to start living our lives. If someone is ill, make sure that they stay away and do take care of themselves."
2. As expected, Bruins 'disappointed' about Olympics decision
When factoring in the recent surge in COVID cases, the restrictive quarantine measures in place in China and a backlogged NHL schedule in need of more dates to place postponed matchups — the NHL’s decision to curb player participation in the 2022 Winter Olympics shouldn’t have come as a surprise.
And yet, even though most players would likely acknowledge that skipping the Winter Games is the right call at this juncture — that doesn’t make it any easier of a pill to swallow.
"In just talking to a number of the guys leading up to the announcement, just with all these games being canceled and the fear of the Olympics being canceled, they were disappointed," Neely said. "Some players, they're thinking they're gonna make a team, could be their last chance to play in the Olympics. I think it's disappointing for those guys and others that want to play for their country. But they certainly understand the circumstances."
3. Bruins looking to make most of new three-week window to schedule games
With the Olympics now ruled out, the Bruins and the rest of the NHL will now look to make the most out of the three weeks in February that were once set aside for the Winter Games.
Even though many teams will have to parse through the calendar to find available dates in their venue, the Bruins should be able to find the necessary window in order to slot in their four games that have been postponed over the last two weeks.
"I think there's a handful of dates that are available to plug some games in there if necessary. That's a good thing,” Neely said. "Obviously, probably most of the buildings have similar issues where they thought that it was gonna be dark for three weeks so they booked what they could. "I think we have six or eight dates if I'm not mistaken that we could maybe plug some games in.”
As for the potential of pushing up a few more games in this February window in order to lessen the strain that comes with a slew of matchups in March and April …
"I certainly hope they stick as many games in February as possible for all the teams, but for us specifically,” Neely noted.
4. Bruins 'haven’t heard anything' regarding reduced capacity at TD Garden
As the last two years have shown us, a lot can change in the span of just a few days. But as of right now, Neely said that the Bruins haven’t heard anything about reduced-capacity measures being implemented at TD Garden due to this Omicron variant.
"I'm not sure yet. Haven't heard anything," Neely said. "I know that they've issued some city mandates that we've got to start following by January 15th. But reduced capacity, I haven't heard that. I certainly hope that's not going to be the case."
Currently, TD Garden will only need to adhere to the City of Boston’s new COVID mandate which will take effect on Jan. 15 — in which fans will need to show proof of vaccination in order to gain entry to the arena.
5. Secondary scoring stands as lingering issue
When it came to assessing the state of this Bruins’ roster, Neely singled out a familiar fault when it comes to Boston’s shortcomings.
"We've seen an uptick in goaltending which has been great," Neely said. "Our specialty teams are maybe not exactly where we historically like them but they're pretty good right now. Everybody talks about it, it's the secondary scoring.”
Even though we’ve made the argument on this site that the Bruins’ offensive contributions (or lack thereof) have been a byproduct of some brutal puck luck — Boston could also help itself out quite a bit by generating more high-danger chances.
Currently, the Bruins rank 23rd in the league in 5v5 high-danger scoring chances per 60 minutes of play with a rate of just 9.97. In a far-from-shocking development, the top-four teams in the league in terms of 5v5 high-danger chances / 60 are all faring pretty well in the Hurricanes, Maple Leafs, Lightning and Panthers.
Of course, high-danger chances are not always generated off of crazy dangle-fests or any other uber-skilled sequences — but rather off of simple, ugly sequences such as netftont drives and other scrums near the crease.
Fair to say, those types of plays have been few and far between for the Bruins so far this season.
"That's an area that really needs improving upon…to be honest with you, we've got to start thinking about scoring some ugly goals,” Neely said of Boston’s secondary-scoring woes. “Sometimes we get a little too fancy; we pass the puck too much, pass up opportunities to put pucks on net.
"Got to start driving the net a little bit more, in my opinion. That's where you get those ugly goals, that's just the way it is. "You've got to put pucks on net and you've got to get to the net, you've got to drive to the net and you've got to be committed to doing that. I'd like to see that a little bit more."
6. “Intimidation” needed on current club
When posed with a question regarding the lack of toughness on this current roster — especially when compared to, say, the 2010-11 B's club that pantsed the Canucks and plenty of other teams during that memorable campaign — Neely shifted gears a bit when it comes to roster composition, noting that the 2021-22 Bruins can still add a hard-nosed element without necessarily using opponents’ faces as speedbags night in and night out.
"Overall, intimidation is something that when you talk about 2011, you had that not only on the backend, but you had it in the forward group too," Neely said. "That's an area that we've discussed that if something becomes available that we think can not only help you play but also bring that element, I don't think would be opposed to it, for sure."
The Big Bad Bruins may not be coming back anytime soon, but Neely noted that Trent Frederic’s play against Calgary back on Dec. 11 stood as the ideal template of how some lineup regulars can add some sandpaper to Boston’s style of play.
“I think you see when Trent Frederic's engaged - you watch him play in Calgary and you say, 'OK, this is a player that we think can help contribute and bring some physicality but also bring a little skill.' That line played really well in Calgary," Neely said. "I don't know why we can't see that a little bit more from Trent. I know he's trying to figure out the game himself."
7. B’s still having discussions with Rask
As for our favorite topic when it comes to the looming decision on Tuukka Rask, Neely added that Don Sweeney has been in communication with Rask’s representatives — but no formal contract offer has been put on the table quite yet.
Even though Rask has been a familiar face at Warrior Ice Arena over the past month — even taking part in a number of practices with the main roster just ahead of the COVID pause — the timeline for Rask’s return was always set for late January or early February, with the veteran netminder likely needing more reps before Boston opts to hand him an offer.
"I know Don and Tuukka's agent had some discussions," Neely said. "I don't think they've talked contract just yet. Certainly wanted to see Tuukka ramp up in practice and whatnot. Unfortunately, what's gone on with the pause here, he's not getting NHL shots on him right now. I think that's what he was looking forward to was to get ramped up a little bit more these last few weeks of December and early January."