The Boston Bruins are a professional ice
hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the National
Hockey League (NHL). Their logo is comprised of a black "B" in a black
circle with gold spokes radiating from the center. The Bruins got off to a poor start in the
new century. Despite a 15 point improvement from the previous season,
the Bruins missed the playoffs in 2000-01. They finished with 88 points,
which left them out of the playoff picture, in a tie with the 8th place
Carolina Hurricanes, behind the coaching of both Pat Burns and Mike
Keenan.
The 2004-05 NHL season was wiped out by a
lockout, and the Bruins appear to be in good position, with a lot of
space in the salary cap that will be implemented in time for the 2005-06
NHL season. The salary cap space was used to bring in big name free
agents such as Alexei Zhamnov, Brian Leetch and re-signing Glen Murray.
Early in the 2005-2006 season, backup goaltender Hannu Toivonen has
displayed his case, in relief of a struggling Raycroft, to be the Bruins
number one goalie for years to come. On May 26, 2006, former Ottawa Senators
assistant general manager Peter Chiarelli was hired as the new General
Manager of the team, and was introduced to the public on May 31.
However, it was also announced that due to pre-existing obligations to
the Senators, he would not be able to fully take over the job until July
15 at the earliest, which is after the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.