Veruca Salt: “Hey, Daddy, I want an Oompa Loompa! I want you to get me an Oompa Loompa right away!”
Mr. Salt: “All right, Veruca, all right. I’ll get you one before the day is out.”
Veruca Salt: [whining] “I want an Oompa Loompa now!”
Does any of this jibberish, which came from Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, when the tyrant-child/spoiled brat Veruca Salt made foolish demands, sound familiar?
Well, that’s what it’s starting to sound like around here with fans talking about the Boston Bruins, particularly head coach Claude Julien and his boss, general manager Peter Chiarelli.
“We want our championships. And we want them now!”
Pathetic jibberish.
Have Chiarelli and Julien had a banner winter? Nope.
Chiarelli risked not signing an expensive “rent-a-scorer,” to replace Jarome Iginla, and it backfired. Just watch the Bruins during shootouts. It looks like they are sending up 25 renditions of Dennis Seidenberg, the ultimate defensive defensman.
And Julien appears to be in a mini-slump when it comes to his complex defensive formations, which have folded in crunch time in several blown leads the last month.
These two are at the top of their profession. Chiarelli’s construction of his roster borders on legendary, with free agent signings and through the draft. And Julien, who is honest as the day is long, has been consistent since the day he was hired.
Since not making the playoffs with a 35-41-6 record in 2006-07, your Bruins have finished 339-186-74. Included in that impressive performances over the last eight seasons, have finished first in their division four times, second once, third twice and fourth (this season) once. Oh yeah, more importantly the Chiarelli-Julien “Stiffs” have been to two Stanley Cup Finals, winning one and two minutes away from a Game 7 in the other, only two Junes ago.
If anybody has earned a mulligan, it’s this duo, who are connected at the hip, apparently.
The Bruins have not met expectations from the first week of the season. Quite frankly, I haven’t quite understood the lack of aggressiveness that has personified this franchise for seven or eight decades.
But these seasons happen from time to time and playing the blame game, because remember, “we are winners” here in New England, is oftentimes an amateurish attempt at explaining it.
The Bruins decided that the nucleus of the franchise — Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Zdeno Chara and Tuukka Rask — were worth $7 million apiece for the next half-dozen or so years. If they didn’t pay them, they would be gone.
They decided Dennis Seidenberg and Brad Marchand were $4 million guys going forward.
And then there is the biggest enigma, Milan Lucic, whose power forward style has disappeared all too often. And he’s pulling in $6 million this year and next.
It could be argued that this winter, none of those guys has played to their salary, be it related to injuries, mediocre linemates or lackluster player.
The Tyler Seguin Blunder, as I called it last week, was a mistake. The Bruins had three years to mold him into the “Bruin Way,” with many resources at their behest (see Bobby Orr and Ray Bourque).
Today, the frustrating — yes frustrating! — 2014-15 Bruins are in eighth place in the final playoff spot, below everyone’s expectations. And with Krejci’s knee injury, which has him shelved at least through the end of March, it doesn’t look good.
But there are a lot of guys still around, including a few “kids” like Dougie Hamilton, Torey Krug and Riley Smith who have injected some life from time to time into this core group.
Maybe, if the Bruins stay on this path, big changes will occur. Maybe some of the $7 million guys get dealt away. It’s a business.
But two guys I haven’t given up on are two key faces of the franchise, the architect and the coach. They deserve the benefit of any doubt. Have we really forgotten where this franchise was — three seasons out of the playoffs and three others not getting past the first round — not too long ago?
New England has reclaimed its place as “Titletown” recently, with the Red Sox (2013) and Patriots (last month), putting together special seasons and post-season performances. It’s official: We are spoiled … again.
As for my answer to Bruins fans who demand change now, I return to the Willy Wonka scene at the top of this story with Veruca, her dad and the great “Violet Beaureguarde.”
Mr. Salt: “All right, Veruca, all right. I’ll get you one before the day is out.”
Veruca Salt: [whining] “I want an Oompa Loompa now!”
Violet Beauregarde: “Can it, you nit!”
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
You can email Bill Burt at bburt@eagletribune.com.