Dave Poulin with Boston Bruins again?

[none against]

Paul Shaheen
ROI (Research On Ice) reports:

--On Saturday's edition of the 'Satellite Hot Stove,' Hockey Night in Canada's brilliantly produced second period intermission segment, Globe and Mail columnist Eric Duhatschek, in discussing the now vacant Boston Bruins' GM job---Mike O'Connell was fired on Saturday afternoon--said former Notre Dame coach (and 13 year NHL veteran) Dave Poulin will be "highly linked" to the vacancy, along with Bruins great Ray Bourque.

Since stepping down from his job behind the bench at Notre Dame, Poulin has been serving in an administrative role for the Fighting Irish, but many observers don't see Poulin staying out of hockey for very long.

Poulin played for four seasons in Boston between 1990 and 1993.

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Also out there. People are talking about Ray Bourque being the next GM of the Bruins, with ex-Bruin Dave Poulin joining him as coach.

Interesting!

[Jon]

I hear Dahl, Pooley, Crowder and Fridgen are being tapped as assistants. :D ;)

(I'm in a weird mood tonight)

[puckeater]

One thing that you can count on. Whomever is introduced as the B's next GM has agreed to take the job with almost no authority to to act of their own accord. The Jacobs' family are used to pulling the strings and watching their puppets dance to please them. The postion should be advertised as GM/lapdog.

[gutless]

Noooooooooooooooooo...what about the fundraising for the Irish and their rink? They can't settle for another 8th play finish and get bounced in the first round at home!

[unh_hockey]

roboshark would be a perfect fit for GM

[Chris_NH]

My take is this. I'm the 1,375,332rd person to utter this line: "I used to be the BIGGEST Bruins fan..."

OK...what the organization does NOT need is a ceremonial PR appointment. By that I mean a marquee name done for PR effect. Love him to death, but Ray Bourque is just such a person. Poulin, to a lesser degree, is also tremendously respected. A popular 'name' does NOT a good pick make. And the Bruins are in such shambles now that Bourque and/or Poulin might do well to distance themselves from this franchise until ownership changes. Boston and New York might be under water from global warming (Algore says that'll be in 2036. Not 2035. Not 2037. But 2036) by the time Delaware North relinquishes control of Boston's once-beloved NHL franchise. But that's the kind of sea change that is needed here, a la The Patriots and The Red Sox.

In the end, I'd warn Bourque and Poulin away from these opportunities. In my view the downside exceeds the upside.

Chris in NH

[Patman]

poulin should come as close to this job as I am close to Guam... yeah that makes no sense, but I'm several thousands away from Guam and that's basically how far away Poulin should be from this job.

[Jeff_Jackson_for_Pres.]

Also out there. People are talking about Ray Bourque being the next GM of the Bruins, with ex-Bruin Dave Poulin joining him as coach.

Interesting!

Well, he couldn't be a worse pro coach than he was college! Maybe with players who have a developed talent it'll work. It certainly didn't work with younger, greener players who needed teaching and developing.

[jmhusker]

Paul Shaheen
ROI (Research On Ice) reports:

--On Saturday's edition of the 'Satellite Hot Stove,' Hockey Night in Canada's brilliantly produced second period intermission segment, Globe and Mail columnist Eric Duhatschek, in discussing the now vacant Boston Bruins' GM job---Mike O'Connell was fired on Saturday afternoon--said former Notre Dame coach (and 13 year NHL veteran) Dave Poulin will be "highly linked" to the vacancy, along with Bruins great Ray Bourque.
Given the way that Ray let Jerkemy Jacobs underpay him in the past, this would not surprise me in the least. It will be interesting to see if the fans start booing Ray when the Bruins continue to stink year after year.

The city of Boston needs to enact emminent domain and assume ownership of the Bruins for the good of the community. If that's not possible then they need to slap a fat surtax on teams that don't try hard enough to win.

[CLS]

Bourque is now an assistant coach at Cushing Academy. That's a well-run, successful, competitive hockey organization. Why would he want to leave that for the Bruins? ;)

Seriously, I wonder if thenTG&M guy had any real basis for this speculation. I think that Ray's name will come up every time the coach or GM position comes up, like Bobby Orr's did for a while. He'd be crazy to rejoin the Bruins in anything other than a PR or unofficial assistant capacity. He doesn't need the money and he certainly doesn't need the aggravation. He's a family oriented guy, and he's gotten to spend a lot of time with his family. He's also a pretty shy, sensitive, guy, not good attributes for a coach or GM. If he's got loyalty to anyone, it's to Harry Sinden, and it's pretty clear that Harry's pretty much among the walking dead. To be honest I can't think of one good reason for him to do it.

[mark]

Well, he couldn't be a worse pro coach than he was college! Maybe with players who have a developed talent it'll work. It certainly didn't work with younger, greener players who needed teaching and developing.

But that's one of the Bruin's problems - they don't have much "developed talent" - they trade that away when it's time to pay.

[Jeff_Jackson_for_Pres.]

But that's one of the Bruin's problems - they don't have much "developed talent" - they trade that away when it's time to pay.


Oh. :eek:

[Haunted]

poulin should come as close to this job as I am close to Guam... yeah that makes no sense, but I'm several thousands away from Guam and that's basically how far away Poulin should be from this job.
No, it makes sense. And is completely correct.

Like I said when I heard the news on the firing: 1 down, 2 to go.

[Greg Ambrose]

I think the Bruins should emulate teams in other professional sports. Over the past couple of years, several teams in the NFL have raided the Patriots for coaches - Romeo Crenel, Eric Mangini, etc. Same goes for baseball, with teams grabbing assistant general managers from successful teams and tapping them to run the show. Why not hockey? If Jacobs is smart (?), he'll look at the most successful franchises in terms of scouting, trading and developing talent and grab some second banana off on of those organizations.

Beyond that, it is going to take years, maybe decades, for the B's to attract a following. The Bruins are dead last on the totem pole in Boston and will remain there for a long, long time. That is what 30+ years of ineptitude will do for you.

BTW, obligatory hockey content. One of the guys to go if there is a major shakeup with the B's is former UNH captain Sean Coady ('81), who is the director of pro scouting for the Bruins. Sean was a hard nosed defenseman in his day and took a turn as a UNH assistant coach in the late '80's. He had a big hand in recruiting players such as Bellegarde, Mitrovic, and Amodeo who began the rejuvenation of UNH Hockey after the dismal years. Haven't seen Sean in years, but he was and probably still is a great character.

[Skate79]

Dave Poulin isn't walking through that door and neither is Ray Bourque. No GM worth his salt is going to take the Bruins job and no high profile coach is skating through that door either. The Jacobs family has done more to ruin pro hockey in this city than any other Boston ownership group and that includes the woeful John Y Brown and his tenure with the Celtics.

My guess is that Sinden will choose Gorton to remain full-time because no one else will want it. Sullivan will probably remain as coach. And the team will continue its downward descent into hockey hell.

[puckeater]

Obviously, the "one down" is O'Connell. Who are the other two? Jeremy and Li'l "Tommy Boy", or Sinden and Sullivan?

[Haunted]

Obviously, the "one down" is O'Connell. Who are the other two? Jeremy and Li'l "Tommy Boy", or Sinden and Sullivan?
Jacobs and Sinden. The only constants since the Bruins stopped winning.

[KnowItAll]

Given the way that Ray let Jerkemy Jacobs underpay him in the past, this would not surprise me in the least. It will be interesting to see if the fans start booing Ray when the Bruins continue to stink year after year.

The city of Boston needs to enact emminent domain and assume ownership of the Bruins for the good of the community. If that's not possible then they need to slap a fat surtax on teams that don't try hard enough to win.


My god... This is amazing, there IS a tax that Massachusetts legislators had not yet thought of. AND I like the condition that you attatch to it, "team s that don;t try hard enough to win" and the legislature of course will decide if they try hard enough.

[Hux]

One thing that you can count on. Whomever is introduced as the B's next GM has agreed to take the job with almost no authority to to act of their own accord. The Jacobs' family are used to pulling the strings and watching their puppets dance to please them. The postion should be advertised as GM/lapdog.

The Bruins are in the situation they are in now because Jacobs did just the opposite. Jacobs has been an absentee landlord until recently when his son took up residence on Causeway Street. Sinden is the puppet master, and since day one Jacobs pretty much went along with whatever he wanted to do. Lately he has gone along with whatever O'Connell and Sinden wanted.

The only way the Bruins will ever be competitive again is a total house cleaning, and a reengineering of Jacobs' thinking regarding owning a professional sports team. He has no interest in assembling a team to win the Stanley Cup, he only wants one that is competitive enough to compete for the Cup. His primary concern is the sale of tickets, hot dogs, and beer. As long as the team makes it to the second round of the playoffs he is happy.

He is not an egotist, and the bottom line of SportServe and Delaware North are far more important to him than any silver chalise. Until he develops his ego and feels driven to win a cup, the Bs will be a 500 team at best.

T