Every time I mentioned a glaring example of a serious lack of heart, grit, character, and leadership...the kool-aiders freaked out. Do you still have doubt?
Could this obvious void now be any clearer? Make no mistake that is the reason for the trainwreck we all had to witness. So when Marc Savard is getting abused without an aggressive response, it's not just about an isolated incident - it's about what it says about this teams personality and leadership.

Here are the main culprits, and some additional conclusions regarding the state of talent and direction of this franchise...CAUTION: read on at your own risk, reality alert -

Claude Julien
This man has lived up to his past track record, it should be no surprise...this is who he is. Overly defensive, conservative, unable to adapt or modify his "system". The product on the ice is a reflection of his idea of how he wants his teams to play -cautious, robotic, unemotional, controlled, worried so much about making mistakes that they aren't even willing to protect eachother.

Chara
7.5 million ? Leader ? Captain ?

Bergeron
Was he on the ice against Philly in the last 3 games? I really can't remember.
The next time I hear about what a great player he is, think of Richards when you think of Bergeron. That illustrates the problem pretty clearly.

Hunwick
Being a good skater doesn't make you an effective NHL Dman. Just like too many others on this team he is way too soft-it just doesn't work like that. Especially paired with Wideman.

Wheeler
The poster boy of what's lacking on this team - ba-bye

Paille
good skater with great speed-otherwise useless ...him replacing Kobasew was ridiculous. Great PK guy, beyond that -nothing of value

Ryder
good sniping wrister- otherwise 3rd line mediocre at best

Wideman
Zero mental toughness

Sturm
Done

Dont forget the terrible play of Rask either. He had a chance to be clutch and wilted like wet cardboard. He deserves as much blame for this as any one on the team. Simply put he pulled the biggest choke in the history of sports....

"Bergy won almost 60% of the faceoffs he was part of"

"What happened to Chara?... Was he hurt?  Tired from working so much during the year?  ALL I know is that he did not appear to be himself for this series"

"Paille, Wheeler, and sturm are there for the speed that they can bring to the team"

Typical no nothing fanboy excuses, same as last year, same tired reasoning for another losing season , thanks for proving my point

BTW as far as bandwagon jumping - i've been following this team for 35+ years
which is most likely more than a punk like you has been around.

are you actually blaming bergy for this loss? he was second on the team in scoring. once krejci got hurt, he was the only center left. savard was useless because of his injury. turn your hate towards some other players

Stop and think for a minute? Is there another reason why no-one stood up for Savard?

Could Savard be the problem? Did he lose the respect of his teammates during the year. I know he was injured twice during the year, but he did little, and he is one the louder ones in the room. Are the others up to their eyebrows with him, perhaps.

It seemed pretty clear to me that Rask needed to be replaced by Thomas after Game #5 and Krejci needed to be replaced by a potential scorer (ie. Marchand, Hamill)...  

ok wensink....i agree with you specially the julien part...team was to much jeykll & hyde for my liking & i attribute that to julien,s circle the wagons approach....when things started goin bad he would pull the team in, have them playing on their heels instead of goin after it & the other team would just overrun them....same can be said about his choice of whitfield,instead of taking a chance & sending a spark he choose the reliable,defensive player....so wensink now that we got that out,where do we go from here? i say from day 1 next year play the kids as much as you can....the youth,talent,speed & euthsiasm of these kids could be the strong suit of this team....get them ready for the playoffs from day 1  theres no way that marchand or hamill should not of been NHL ready to replace krecji...if julien didnt reach down to the farm & bring up whitfield,larman & all the other reliable defensively players maybe they would of been

MY COLD HARD TRUTHS.
1.Julian needs to be fired
2. Chara stripped of the C
3. Rask learning not to be on his knees for every play.
4. Someone tell these guys to SHOOT THE BLOODY PUCK and stop squandering clean shots on net with the beautiful pass play!!!! (The 4 truth enraged me about this team the most all season).

the flyers skating into the zone with the puck then stopping,setting up for a pass with no pressure,i was goin bonkers!....i dont know how many times the dman peeled off this flyer,specially richards & specially chara on the OT goal gagne got....the flyers worked this to the T to many times to gain entry or a scoring chance,the dman had to stand up & pressure the puck! grrrrrrrr! another julien collapse on the goaltender moment!

U want the TRUTH? U can't handle the TRUTH!

Lack of grit...

I swear to God I was dreaming last night that I was watching the nhl network and there was a news flash - the Bruins signed Rob Ray.  They started saying that Thornton tenure with the Bruins would be over.