From Bruins to Ruins : After 30 Years, Another Boston Tradition--Playoff Hockey--Crumbles Beneath Weight of Inept Team

BOSTON —  In a city where landmarks and traditions endure for generations, the Boston Bruins have been one of many constants.

There’s Fenway Park with its Green Monster. Faneuil Hall. The Old North Church. The North End, with its aromatic Italian bakeries. And the Bruins, propelled by a blue-collar work ethic, selling out the Boston Garden as they chase the Stanley Cup. The world might go crazy, but these things never changed.

Fenway Park still stands, although there is talk of replacing it. Faneuil Hall thrives as a market, the Old North Church is a tourist attraction and a stroll through the North End is still like visiting an Italian village. But the Bruins have missed the playoffs for the first time in 30 years, ending the longest playoff streak in professional sports.

Once, Bruin tickets were rare commodities. This season, thousands of seats are empty every game in the glitzy new FleetCenter. Fans won’t pay a league-high average of $52.58 to see a team that, with a 25-44-9 record might break the franchise record of 47 losses, set in 1961-62.

The Bruins’ faint hopes were quashed Thursday when they were eliminated from the Eastern Conference race. But they knew weeks ago another significant streak was over: For the first time since 1966-67--Bobby Orr’s rookie season and the last season they missed the playoffs--they will finish below .500.

“For the playoff streak to keep going is one thing. To stay at .500 is another. Ending that streak is almost worse,” said Mike O’Connell, the Bruins’ assistant general manager. “It’s alarming to see so many empty seats, but this place has 5,000 seats more than the Garden did. . . . It’s definitely a concern of ours and something we’re going to have to stay on top of and make sure that we get competitive, because right now we’re not competitive.”

Under Harry Sinden, their general manager since 1972, the Bruins always found ways to win. Sometimes they prevailed with a potent offense, sometimes by grinding. When they went to the Stanley Cup finals in 1988 and 1990 and the semifinals in 1991 and 1992, they were led by burly right wing Cam Neely, playmaking center Craig Janney and steady goalie Andy Moog.

Neely has retired, hobbled by injuries. Janney was traded to St. Louis. Moog was virtually given away with Gord Murphy, now a standout in Florida. Piece by piece, the once-mighty Bruins have been reduced to also-rans.

“I was so excited about coming here because the Bruins are an Original Six team, and it always seemed that they made the playoffs. You don’t want to be on the first team that didn’t make it after so many years,” said forward Jeff Odgers, who was acquired from San Jose last summer for defenseman Al Iafrate.

“We knew going into the season we were going to have to work hard, but no one expected we’d be where we are today.”

Said Ray Bourque, a five-time Norris Trophy winner: “We haven’t done much [in the playoffs] the past few years, but in the past we had some good runs and got somewhere. For me it would be the first year in 18 years that I’m not in the playoffs. It will feel strange.

“It’s been a tough year. We haven’t played good enough to be in the playoffs, it’s that simple. You’ve got to deserve it and right now, we’re not deserving.”

Their collapse didn’t happen overnight. It took years of misfortune, bad drafting and questionable planning to reach this point.

Of the players they chose first or second in the last 10 drafts, only three remain. A succession of deals that range from ho-hum to disastrous also undid them. Bryan Smolinski, picked 21st in 1990, and Glen Murray, picked 18th in 1991, were traded to Pittsburgh for Kevin Stevens and Shawn McEachern in 1995. Stevens couldn’t get on track in his hometown and McEachern, skillful but soft, went to Ottawa for Trent McCleary, who has eight points in 55 games.

“You look at guys around the league [traded by the Bruins] and you go back a few years and there’s still some guys playing well,” Bourque said. “Deals are made, and it’s sometimes tough to understand why they’re done when you’re a player. It’s always tough to see guys go, [but] I’m not in charge of making deals. I’m in charge of playing.”

The Bruins got little for defenseman Garry Galley in 1992 or in 1993 for Moog, who has excelled for Dallas. Moog feuded with Coach Brian Sutter and was a strong voice for the players’ association in the 1994-95 lockout. It may have been coincidence that Sinden--a management hard-liner--dealt Moog to Dallas for Jon Casey, who lasted one season before leaving as a free agent. “I find that hard to believe,” O’Connell said of the theory Moog was traded because of his union activism.

Seeking defensive help, the Bruins traded center Joe Juneau, who scored 102 points in 1992-93, to Washington for Iafrate, who was limited by injuries to 12 games over three seasons. Desperate for a proven goalie after Blaine Lacher fizzled, they sent Sean Brown, Mariusz Czerkawski and a 1996 first-round pick to Edmonton for Bill Ranford. That was fine, until Ranford took them to salary arbitration this season. Although the Bruins won and later signed him to a long-term deal, the relationship was irreparably damaged.

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“He was not happy with the results and said some things in the paper, and then [Rick] Tocchet made it known he wasn’t happy,” O’Connell said. “And [Adam] Oates was unhappy. Then, with injuries we had whenever we seemed to get it somewhat together, it just capsized.”

They stayed within a few points of the top eight teams in the East, despite losing Heinze, who suffered an abdominal injury after scoring 17 goals in 30 games; and despite a shoulder injury suffered by Bourque. “That’s the frustrating part. It was there for us all year and we couldn’t get going,” Odgers said. “Nobody really pulled away. It was always right there, so that if you put four or five wins together you’d have been right back in it.”

Coach Steve Kasper also saw the playoffs within reach. “I thought in the beginning, although we struggled, we could come around,” he said. “It never did because, with injuries, we never had the same lineup.”

Wounded feelings hurt as much as wounded bodies. Tocchet hinted he wanted to be traded to a contender, a desire that intensified after Kasper benched him for a game in November. Oates--whose play in the first 30 games was described by O’Connell as “a majority uninterested”--wrote his ticket out of town when he said of management, “The guys upstairs aren’t doing their jobs. . . . We’re not good enough.” He was stripped of his alternate captaincy and on March 1 was traded to Washington with Tocchet and Ranford for forwards Anson Carter and Jason Allison and goalie Jim Carey.

Reaction to the deal was mixed, even within O’Connell’s family. “I had a lot of explaining to do with my children,” he said.

However, he saw no alternative. “He questioned if we were doing our jobs, and that’s a legitimate question. The difficulty I had with it is basically coming out and saying his teammates are no good,” O’Connell said. “That’s what I addressed with Adam. I said it in a closed locker room. I told the players usually when you have a problem with a player you keep it private. Since he made it public, I was not going to let it go.

“If you look at the whole Oates scenario, yeah, he was a great player. But we’re in last place with him. People think he was a great player, but you look for how many championships a great player wins.”

Oates won none in Boston. It’s possible Bourque won’t, either. He’s 36 and recently signed a two-year extension, through the 1998-99 season, which would be his 20th with the team.

“It’s a great town to play in and it’s been very enjoyable. Hockey-wise it’s not as enjoyable as in the past, but there’s always the hope things will improve,” Bourque said.

The Bruins’ immediate prospects are iffy. They have two first-round picks in June but traded their 1998 pick for Anders Myrvold and the often-injured Landon Wilson.

Owner Jeremy Jacobs recently told the Boston Globe he’s pleased with the performance of Sinden and O’Connell. Kasper’s future, though, is less clear. “As we’ve said all along when we’ve struggled, it’s not the player, the coach, the scouting, management. It’s a combination,” said O’Connell, who is expected to succeed Sinden in a few years when the 65-year-old general manager retires. “Yeah, Steve could do a better job. We all can.”

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Streaking

The Boston Bruins’ 29-year playoff streak ended last week. A look at the NHL’s longest playoff appearance streaks:

* 29--Boston Bruins, 1967-68 through 1995-96

* 27--Chicago Blackhawks, 1969-60 to present

* 24--Montreal Canadiens, 1970-71 through 1993-94

* 21--Montreal Canadiens, 1949-50 through 1968-69

* 20--Detroit Red Wings, 1938-39 through 1957-58