Sturm, while not mean-spirited in his assessment, used no euphemism or varnish when stating what he had seen of Beecher through training camp and the start of the season. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, as a coach, I gave him opportunity,\u201d Sturm noted. \u201cQuite frankly, I thought he\u2019d be better \u2014 more effective. At some point you have to make a decision how to move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roughly three hours later, Beecher was outta here, along with the remaining three-fourths of his $900,00 salary cap hit. Low key, polite, and friendly, Beecher was popular with his Black and Gold teammates. If anyone left in his wake cares to grouse about how his departure was handled, or what an openly disappointed Sturm had to say about him, it\u2019s not going to cost Sturm the way it did on Cassidy in \u201822. The front office is making clear that compete is a priority.<\/p>\n
The Bruins are fashioning a different work dynamic now, a shift made clear with the March roster purge<\/a> that included captain Brad Marchand getting sent off to Florida, followed by the sandpaper hires of Tanner Jeannot and Mikey Essiymont.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was up to him,\u201d Sturm added about Beecher, \u201cas it is with every player.\u201d<\/p>\n Beecher\u2019s time here could be framed best as \u201cfailure to launch.\u201d Aside from the aforementioned skills he arrived with out of the University of Michigan<\/a>, he did not develop necessary the compete level along the wall, drive to the offensive net, fierce determination to regain possession of the puck, etc., that coaches talk about when wanting \u201cheavy\u201d players in their lineup.<\/p>\n Not everyone is going to be Sam Bennett heavy, because a large degree of the Panthers forward\u2019s nasty growl is probably more genetic than it is coached in or self-taught. For those who truly want to get in the game, stay in it, thrive, the grit-and-compete factor has to develop, unless they have such abundant soft skills that allow them to thrive. Then there\u2019s Oilers star forward Conor McDavid, the most skilled player today, whose compete game and skill game are in lock step.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the day, it\u2019s a go-out-and-earn-it deal<\/a>,\u201d a grounded, realistic Beecher said to this writer in August, pleased to have signed his one-year extension and have another chance, this time with a new coach. \u201cI\u2019ve got a season in front of me, I\u2019ve got to go and prove that I belong, not only in the NHL but on the Boston Bruins. I\u2019m really excited for it \u2014 it\u2019s a fresh start.\u201d<\/p>\n Fresh turned stale Tuesday. <\/p>\n Now the tough part begins for Beecher, either toughen up at the edge or be just one more skilled Bruins draftee left at the waterfront to say, \u201cI coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody.\u201d<\/p>\n SKILLS CLINIC<\/p>\n Chara looked to Lidstrom to complete game<\/p>\n Nicklas Lidstrom was some 10 years into his stellar NHL career, his name already on the Stanley Cup two times with the Red Wings, when Zdeno Chara became captivated by the Swedish defenseman\u2019s game. Chara was in his mid-20s, playing for the Senators, the hockey world already having sized him up as a big, fearless, brute force along the blue line.<\/p>\n It was clear then that Chara\u2019s gifts and reputation would take him a long way, keep him in the NHL a very long time. He wanted more of himself. He wanted to be like the great skilled defenseman who played for the Winged Wheels. <\/p>\n \u201cWhen I came in the league,\u201d recalled Chara, who played his first NHL shifts for the Islanders at age 20, \u201cI couldn\u2019t avoid watching guys who played like me, guys like Derian Hatcher, Chris Pronger, Ulf Samuelsson. Then I came to realize, \u2018OK, I want to become a more complete player and I need to add things to my game that I don\u2019t have \u2014 and I didn\u2019t need more mean and nasty or toughness.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd that\u2019s when I became obsessed with Nick Lidstrom<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n The desire to play like Lidstrom, explained Chara, was driven in part because of how then-Ottawa coach Jacques Martin insisted his club play. Martin\u2019s offensive scheme required that defensemen jump into the offense, a role not asked of Chara during his teenage years in Slovakia or when he first arrived in Canada to play junior or later with AHL Kentucky. <\/p>\n To play for Martin, noted Chara, a defenseman was mandated to join in the action, and it didn\u2019t matter which of the two blue liners on the ice at the time got after it. Attendance was not optional.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd at first I was like, \u2018What is he asking? Why me?\u2019 \u201d recalled Chara, who averaged 40 points in his final two seasons playing for Martin. \u201cThen I understood, \u2018OK, he wants me to jump in, and I need to join the offense \u2026 I [have to] learn how to join the offense.\u2019 Then I was on the power play, point, shooting, and at the net front. I had to start watching guys who did that \u2014 and Nick was the guy.\u201d <\/p>\n Lidstrom\u2019s game made simple, noted Chara, came down to skating, positioning, and anticipation. For a guy 6 feet 9 inches and around 250 pounds, one who always felt skating was an arduous chore, getting nimble on his blades took a lot of work. It was one thing to know how Lidstrom did it, to understand it, but something vastly different to learn it and implement it.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me watching Nick was like watching an artist create a beautiful painting,\u201d said Chara. \u201cThe Red Wings game would be on TV and I would not even watch the puck, I would just watch him. I remember wishing I had a 100-inch TV that would show the whole ice. I was just watching him. I didn\u2019t care about the system, I didn\u2019t care about who they were playing. I was just watching his behavior, his movements, his thought process.\u201d<\/p>\n The goal of all that, \u201cwas to become more Chara-slash-something-closer-to-Nick.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEven though I realized I would never be like Nick,\u201d added Chara, \u201cI think I improved in that department.\u201d<\/p>\n It was Lidstrom, the Hall of Famer now age 55 and seven years older than Chara, who stood at the retired Bruins captain\u2019s side in Toronto a couple of weeks ago and officially welcomed him into the Hockey Hall of Fame<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cNick Lidstrom,\u201d said a sincere Chara, \u201cis my idol.\u201d<\/p>\n ETC.<\/p>\n Sharks get good second look at Celebrini<\/p>\n The Bruins on Sunday will be in San Jose, where former Boston University forward Macklin Celebrini has thrived in his sophomore NHL season. Entering the weekend, the 19-year-old center from North Vancouver ranked third in league scoring (13-18\u201331), behind only veteran superstars Nathan MacKinnon (36 for the Avalanche) and Conor McDavid (32 for the Oilers). Impressive company.<\/p>\n \u201cLooks to me like he made a good decision to turn pro when he did,\u201d mused legendary BU coach Jack Parker<\/a>, 80, who was well into retirement when Celebrini spent 2023-24 as a Terrier. \u201cThe Sharks got themselves a pretty good player.\u201d<\/p>\n Lexington\u2019s Will Smith, ranked second in Sharks scoring (7-13\u201320) as of Friday, also turned pro with San Jose after spending only the \u201823-24 season at Boston College. The Sharks chose Celebrini at No. 1 in the 2024 draft. Smith went No. 4 in \u201823.<\/p>\n \u201cIf a kid is ready and wants to go, he should go,\u201d said a matter-of-fact Parker, who had countless discussions on that subject with lower- and upperclassmen over his 40 years behind the Terriers bench. \u201cI have no problem with that.\u201d<\/p>\n What the blunt Parker doesn\u2019t like to see is college kids dashing out the door before their game is NHL ready. Even more discouraging, he said, is to see players bopping from one school to another, enticed by more NIL money or what they perceive as a chance to build their NHL bona fides because they perceive a school is a better fit with more playing time or, say, a chance to post more points.<\/p>\n The recent NCAA rule change, allowing players with Canadian junior experience to play college hockey, also is not to Parker\u2019s liking.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re seeing a lot of change,\u201d said Parker, recently inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame<\/a>, \u201cand I\u2019d argue it\u2019s not all for the better.\u201d<\/p>\n On Wednesday, in their road trip wrap-up, the Bruins will get their third look at Islanders defensemen Matthew Schaefer. The sublime freshman was tied for the rookie scoring lead (15 points) with right wingers Ivan Demidov (Montreal) and Beckett Sennecke (Anaheim), and tied for 12th among blue liners overall, entering Friday. Schaefer has a very bold offensive game, not afraid to attack the net off the wing like a forward \u2014 the kind of player, noted Islanders coach Patrick Roy<\/a>, \u201cI would pay to see.\u201d Schaefer is putting some long-needed buzz back into the sleepy franchise in Elmont, N.Y. If he keeps it going, he\u2019ll become a lock for the Calder Trophy (Rookie of the Year), an award that has gone to only two Islanders defenseman \u2014 Denis Potvin (1973-74) and Bryan Berard (1996-97) \u2026 Entering Friday\u2019s game in Los Angeles, the Bruins\u2019 Morgan Geekie had 14 goals, second only to fellow forward Nathan MacKinnon\u2019s 16 for the Avalanche and tied with Bo Horvat (Islanders) and Leon Draisaitl (Oilers). Geekie\u2019s two goals Wednesday in Anaheim<\/a> brought to 47 his total across 99 games since the start of last season. Yet there has been no mention of Geekie, proud son of Strathclair, Manitoba, suiting up for Team Canada at the Olympics in February. After scoring 33 goals last season (T26 on a list including Canadian\/Penguins star Sidney Crosby), he wasn\u2019t on Canada\u2019s summer Olympic info meeting in Calgary, which happens to be his offseason home. Granted, Canada has a deep list of roster candidates, but 47 goals in 99 games? As of Friday morning, the great Sid the Kid had 45 in his last 99 games. No one\u2019s putting Geekie ahead of Crosby, but from here the Bruins winger looks like a perfect fit as Team Canada\u2019s 13th forward at Olympus \u2026 Zach Hyman, finally back off the injured list and in the Oilers offense again (0-2\u20132 in four games), has authored three successful children\u2019s books over the years. The titles: \u201cThe Magician\u2019s Secret\u201d, \u201cHockey Hero\u201d, and \u201cThe Bambino and Me.\u201d Yep, we\u2019re talking that Bambino, the one with a prodigious appetite for wolfing down hot dogs and slugging home runs. Hyman has been on author\u2019s hiatus for a while, busy raising a family and helping the Oilers to back-to-back Stanley Cup Final visits. It sounds like he has another book in him. If so, the bet here is that the title will include the words \u201cCurse\u201d and \u201cMaple Leafs.\u201d It could be his autobiography, given that the Maple Leafs opted to let him walk as a free agent in the summer of 2021, and all he has done since is prove that he\u2019s precisely the player they should have kept in hopes of ending a Stanley Cup drought dating to 1967. The Red Sox, for those who don\u2019t remember, dealt that Bambino<\/a> not long after winning the World Series in 1918 and didn\u2019t win again until 2004. Someone ought to write a book about it. Sounds like it could be a best sellah.<\/p>\n![\"Red](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ZZVZB4FNIAI6DB3N74HMJQ3STA.jpg\")
Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom retired from the NHL after the 2011-12 season.AP\/Associated Press<\/p>\n![\"Rookie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/SW5GJDPT3XN2M2XRED5SMC5YQI.jpg\")
Rookie defenseman Matthew Schaefer arrived at the weekend with seven goals and eight assists for the Islanders.Nick Wass\/Associated Press<\/p>\n