Another Banner Year For Bruno?

I was just about to post a diary about this!  Great minds, etc, etc...

I agree with the article and you too -- bruno isn't going to have as good a year as last year.  There's just too much incoming talent, and he's too slow.

Here's what I think is going to happen:  bruno will start the season on the top 2 even strength lines, but he's going to get pushed to the 3rd by one of the youngsters before the season ends (im guessing hlinka or wolski will play left on the 2nd line with statsny and hejduk, and svatos, richardson, or wolski will play right wing on the top line with sakic and smyth).  However, bruno'll continue to play on the top PP unit though, where his positioning, hockey sense and chemistry with joey really make him valuable.

On the other hand, all this talk of lines is silly -- Q doesn't keep lines together for entire periods, let alone from game to game.  We'll see how things fall out, but I think bruno will turn into more of a PP specialist that plays on the bottom 2 lines this season.  and he won't be resigned after this year.  :(

so, that anonymous hero is me

I completely agree about the speed/intelligence point.  Bruno probably conserves more energy than any other player on the ice because he's not constantly flying around everywhere.  He can't.  He just skates to the best spot he can find, passes or shoots and starts over.  A very economical player, and a perfect fit for the Avalanche last season.

I'm obviously in the minority here.  Bruno is one guy that just doesn't translate well to the stat sheet.  At first glance you could say that he's a product of Sakic's greatness.  This is true, of course.  However, it's not true in the sense that Jes believes.  Like a lot of players that ride the coattails of superstar line-mates, points can come from the least of contributions.  Morrow would stack points because he would pass it off at the blue line and Naslund/Bertuzzi would create the play.

But that doesn't apply to Bruno's contribution last season.  He wasn't the beneficiary of 2nd assists.  He served as a direct catalyst to a lot of Sakic's production.  This is one area of hockey (DD will appreciate this) where statistics don't paint the entire picture unless you evaluate his primary assists versus secondary assists.  The weakest point in hockey is the second assist from a guy who did nothing to create the scoring chance.  Bruno single handily fed Sakic in the slot many, many times.  Yes, Sakic finished but Brunette made some heroic efforts to place the puck for him in a scoring position.

What's different this year?  He's going to have some predictable injury because he's a year older?  I think that's a stretch.  He's going to have a different first line mate?  Let's think about this, we are going from Wolski to Smyth on the first line and that makes Bruno's game less effective?  I'm not seeing the logic there myself.  Bruno was a man on an island in the corners last year.  Svatos and Wolski constantly floated in the crease and away from assisting the puck carrier behind the net.  Smyth not only will give Bruno more support on the boards but he's a magic man where?  Yes, in front of the net.  If Bruno's office is behind the net then Smyth's is certainly in front of it.  Sakic?  Well if Smyth can take more shifts doing the dirty boxing on the boards then Sakic is free to do more skating in front of the net himself.  I can see no situation where that doesn't lead to better things for Sakic himself.  It made me sick to my stomach last year to watch Svaots and Wolski waiting for a pass in the crease while Sakic and Bruno battled along the boards.  Sakic's skill set, age, health and every other rationalization under the Sun requires that he be in the scoring areas of the ice.

Anyway, Bruno had awesome numbers last year and at first glance it may look like he's the beneficiary of Sakic's presence.  But to me, that's a very symbiotic relationship and Sakic relied as much on Bruno for such a great year as Bruno relied on Sakic.  Don't be surprised if Brunette has even better numbers.