The tweet above feels relevant to setting the stage for Joe Sacco filling in. The big additions in the offseason were Lindholm and Zadorov, only one of which can be considered part of a size trend, and somehow people took that addition and compounded it into a narrative of “beefing up everywhere,” even though the Bruins’ established players had shown NHL ability above anything else.
This team has players who have performed in pace-based style games, so Joe Sacco should be facing the same expectation as we hoped for before the season. Is the agility of the players a factor in the disparity of play? Sure—who wouldn’t want faster players? But this team can win by maximizing the agility they do have and, more importantly, relentlessly focusing on the details.
The real doubt that should be had: is a shifting of the coach’s handling of players going to be good enough to overcome inevitable coaching flaws? Sacco was in charge of an underperforming penalty kill unit and still will be as head coach, so there are going to be issues schematically at times. But the future here is Sacco’s passionately candid emphasizing of simple north-south (shot volume, smart dump-ins expecting imminent forechecker) offense and net-front clearing on defense.
The team’s record should not be making GMs of all of us. The Bruins have enough to get into the playoffs, and any coach would have been the one responsible for the situation.
Flavin Media 
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