Mark Streit:  B  Pretty much the same comments as Rivet,
less the goal part, and the fact he’s playing several minutes less than Rivet,
impressive nonetheless.  (B-)

Mike Komisarek:  B  Even he’s joining the rush more and
more, steady on the back end, albeit without the big hits we’re becoming
accustomed to.  (B)

Andrei Markov:  C+  Barely even saw him this week. 
Sometimes, that’s not bad, but when he’s arguably the team’s top defender, it’s
not so good. (B)

Sheldon Souray:  C  Not getting his lethal shot off as
often, and is missing more and more.  (B)

Guillaume Latendresse:  B+  Gotta give credit where
credit’s due, his best week by far. (C)

Steve Begin:  B  Looking more and more like the Begin of
years past, looks much better with Bonk and Johnson. (B)

Mike Johnson:  B  Still getting the job done at both
ends, how he came back after the knee on knee with Matt Greene, I’ll never know.
(B)

Radek Bonk:  B  Had a nose for the net this week,
despite getting nothing on the scoresheet, leaps and bounds better than last
season. (B)

Alexander Perezhogin:  B-  Best player this past week on
his line, and folks, that’s not a good thing. (B+)

Michael Ryder:  B-  Still not scoring, but was more
active in the play, unlike a certain player you’ll see below, way below. (C)

Sergei Samsonov:  C+  Trying to create chances, hasn’t
made much of anything out of most. (B)

Tomas Plekanec:  C  Not hurting the team in his reduced
role, not helping much either though. (B-)

Aaron Downey:  C  Mixing it up a little more, nothing
more really. (C-)

Garth Murray:  D+  He’s not getting the ice time he did
last year, but has done nothing to merit it either.  May see a callup to
take his place soon. (N/A)

Head Shots:  Bobby Orr jumped in to the debate on hits to the
head. The legendary defender is tired of seeing players injured and tired of the
lack of respect players show for one another. According to Orr, any hit to the
head should be a penalty, and the former Bruin defender has a point. There’s
nothing more dangerous in the game than a head shot, even if it’s a supposedly
legal body check that hits someone in the head. With the newer, hard plastic
coated pads, even a relatively tame hit can cause serious damage. More and more
often, players are being knocked out by hits and it’s no wonder he questions the
legality of those hits. This is an issue which will bear much scrutiny in the
coming months.

King of the Hall:  Patrick Roy is going to the Hall of Fame, and
lucky for him he doesn’t have to choose which team he’ll represent. Looking back
on his career, the winningest goalie of all-time is proud of his stints with
both the Canadiens and the Avalanche. Epitomized by his audacious wink in the
playoffs against the Kings in 1993, Roy led both his clubs to Cups in superb
fashion. Interestingly, though he’s been touted as a future NHL coach, a recent
interview on RDS had him insist he was more suited to coaching the junior ranks
and preparing kids for the next step, rather than moving into the NHL to coach.
On the other hand, the Hall of Famer will surely consider a management
opportunity in the future should one arise in the top league.

Boston Bust:  Pre-season pundits had the Boston Bruins as one of the
better Eastern teams; one with a chance of winning their division and
potentially challenging for the Cup. Just a few weeks into the season, the
floundering Bruins are desperately looking for some help between the pipes and
some spark to turn around the franchise. Recent years have seen the once strong
Bruins slowly decimated by poor trades. While this season was supposed to signal
a turn-around in this trend, the opposite has occurred, and the Bruins have
crumbled. Despite off-season moves to secure the likes of Marc Savard and Zdeno
Chara, there’s still a lot to be done in Beantown.