Feeling like a new Manny

Fernandez has his comeback in motion

By Fluto Shinzawa, Globe Staff  |  March 16, 2008

You can take that six-goal shelling against Montreal, the 26-save shutout of the Rangers, the 8-6 head-scratching win over Los Angeles, and the 4-1 season-opening loss to Dallas, and scrub them off Manny Fernandez's résumé.

Anything Fernandez accomplished in a Boston uniform prior to Dec. 12, 2007, were achievements credited to an unknown goalie.

"There was some stuff," said Fernandez, "that I just couldn't do without thinking, 'This is just going to rip apart. There's no way it's going to hold up.' "

Fernandez, acquired from Minnesota last summer for prospect Petr Kalus and a 2009 fourth-round pick, arrived in Boston as a weak-kneed goalie. Fernandez, who had popped the medial collateral ligament in his left knee three times during the previous season, believed (foolishly, in hindsight) that with a change in technique, he could keep his injury at bay while remaining a battle-ready NHL goalie.

But when pucks started whizzing past him during training camp, Fernandez first started to acknowledge that even the slightest adjustment to protect his knee was opening up a shooting area for big-league gunners. So just over three months ago, when a frazzled Fernandez finally relented and underwent surgery, the procedure revealed a ready-to-blow knee that was in far worse shape than he ever suspected.

"When they opened it up," said Fernandez, "the doctors said it was ripping every which way."

Last Friday, Fernandez practiced with his teammates for the first time since the procedure. He dropped into the butterfly position, kept his pads flush to the ice, and loaded off his left skate to slide to the right post - movements he could never make in his star-crossed opening days as a Bruin.

Pain, especially by the third time he ripped the MCL, wasn't the issue for Fernandez. It was the knowledge that if he pushed off his left blade while down in a full butterfly, the knee was certain to explode for good.

So instead of keeping his knee flexed, Fernandez would straighten out his left leg and push off his left blade, all while lifting his right pad to stay in ready position and cover up the five-hole.

He could never go into a full butterfly unless he was positive where a shot was coming from, so he even approached the coaching staff about having the defensemen play odd-man rushes differently. It got worse, as Fernandez's back and groin started to feel the effects of his compromised technique.

"I thought I could get around it," said Fernandez. "But as time went on, especially that Montreal game [a 6-1 loss Oct. 22], there was a lot of movement. A lot of side-to-side pushes where I just felt I was really out of place. Then I got a game, here at home against New York [a 1-0 shootout victory Oct. 20], where everything was straight on."

When Fernandez underwent surgery, it was assumed the 33-year-old would be out for the season. But he has been putting in time with physical therapist Scott Waugh and strength and conditioning coach John Whitesides, rebuilding the muscle around the knee to the point where he can employ full range of motion without a brace.

For Fernandez, who was expected to challenge Tim Thomas as the Bruins' No. 1 goalie this year, 2007-08 has had its share of nightmares. For that, blame the Wild for unloading damaged goods, blame the Bruins for pulling the trigger without completing due diligence (although 80 percent of the goalie's $4.33 million annual cap hit was covered by insurance), or blame Fernandez for trying to play around the injury.

But Fernandez is making sure it's not a lost season. On Friday, he hit the Ristuccia Arena ice before practice to work with Patrice Bergeron, Andrew Alberts, Petteri Nokelainen, and Alex Auld. Then he replaced his equipment with workout gear for a session with Whitesides. Fernandez is not eligible for a conditioning stint in Providence, so he'll have to rehab in Boston.

The Bruins have not finalized their 2007-08 plans for Fernandez, although if he continues to progress, he may warrant some playing time.

"The first thing Manny said was that he doesn't want to step on anybody's toes," said coach Claude Julien. "My answer to him was, 'You're part of our hockey club. You're not stepping on anybody's toes.' "

Fernandez has one more year on his contract, so it's expected he'll battle Thomas again next season. If not before then.

Trap catches his attention

Like most coaches, Claude Julien will snap shut tighter than a clamshell when queried about injured players, his netminding rotation, or other supposed state secrets.

But last week in Ottawa, when asked about Washington's neutral-zone forecheck, Julien turned into a wide-eyed puckhead. He didn't have a greaseboard to demonstrate, so he used the glass at the arena as his canvas and his finger for a brush, excitedly diagramming how the Capitals fall into their unique system, which coach Bruce Boudreau has used in both the NHL and AHL.

"Their forecheck resembles the Finnish team's forecheck," said Julien. "The first guy will go over to the D that's got the puck, cut off the parallel D-to-D, and force the D to go up ice. Then they'll lock up the other side and lock up the middle. The second winger is pushing him to that side and bringing him right to one side of the ice in the neutral zone. Then you get to the point where you've got no one to pass to."

Julien was sketching a scenario in which Washington sets up its forecheck when opposing defensemen (let's say Zdeno Chara and Dennis Wideman) look to break out from their zone. Once Wideman passes the puck to Chara, Washington will send its first forechecker in deep between and under the defensemen, preventing them from working the hinge or playing parallel D.

The second forechecker will steer Chara, the puck-carrying defenseman, toward the wall. Meanwhile, the third Washington forward - the weak-side winger - will shut down the forward on the far wing (Glen Murray in this scenario). One of the Washington defensemen will step up and shut down the center (Marc Savard), while the other blue liner will collapse toward the wall to clog up the puck-carrying defenseman and the left wing (P.J. Axelsson).

"If you get caught carrying in there, you don't have any options," Julien said. "You've got to try and get the red, dump it in, or get the aerial. You've got to stay away from [the trap]. You've got to move the puck quick and keep them from getting in that setup. You've got to keep chipping it.

"The Finnish do it so well. During the World Championships on the big ice, you think you've got room. But then it becomes races for loose pucks. It's a real good forecheck. It's interesting. The longer you hold on to the puck, the less options you have."

Rugged Neil is likely to remain on Senators' payroll

Ottawa has gone without Daniel Alfredsson (groin, hip, back), Dany Heatley (shoulder), and Jason Spezza (groin) for stretches this season.

But perhaps their biggest loss is a guy who is never mentioned in the same sentence skillwise as his talented teammates: Chris Neil.

The third-line forward has missed the last 11 games with a bum right knee and is not expected back soon. The Senators have gone 5-5-1 without Neil, who had smoothed some of the more jagged parts of his rough-and-tumble game and developed into a hard-to-play-against grinder.

Neil, a sixth-round choice of the Senators in 1998, didn't always have a well-rounded game and wasn't the best-conditioned forward around. But after a slow start in Grand Rapids, Ottawa's minor league franchise at the time, Neil recognized that he needed to dedicate himself to fitness and hard work if he wanted an NHL job. He's since developed into a million-dollar player ($1.1 million annual cap hit) who will merit a raise when he approaches unrestricted free agency after next season.

"You can't trade for those kinds of guys," said Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli, who has his own version of Neil in Milan Lucic, the object of countless queries from GMs around the league. "You have to draft them and develop them."

Snipers like Heatley aren't exactly handouts, but they're easier to find than bump-first bruisers who can skate, hit, fight, and provide some touch around the net. Consider Neil's 2005-06 season - 16 goals, 17 assists, plus-9, 204 penalty minutes - then look at some of the few comparables: Anaheim's Corey Perry, Vancouver's Alex Burrows, New Jersey's David Clarkson. They remain with their original franchises and are not expected to be moved any time soon.

Etc.

Count Bruins goalie Manny Fernandez among those curious to see how youngster Carey Price, handed the No. 1 goaltending job in Montreal when Cristobal Huet was shipped to Washington for a second-round pick, handles the crushing pressure of backstopping a Cup-ready Montreal club. Fernandez lives in Montreal, so he knows how the job can turn wanna-be Patrick Roys into kindling. Fernandez is friendly with Jocelyn Thibault, the French-Canadian goalie once seen as Roy's replacement. "I remember talking to him, thinking, 'Boy, you've got big shoes to fill.' But he was fine with all that," recalled Fernandez. "Then I talked to some guys when he was in Chicago. He wasn't sleeping at night anymore."

Hannu Toivonen was once expected to be the Bruins' franchise netminder - an athletic, confident, 6-foot-2-inch puckstopper - but he was wheeled to St. Louis for prospect Carl Soderberg. Now it appears his future may rest with yet another franchise. Toivonen (5-7-3, 3.48 goals-against average, 85.7 save percentage) is having a subpar season as Manny Legace's backup. The Blues already had 21-year-old Marek Schwarz, their first-round pick from the 2004 draft, developing in Peoria, and last week they added Missouri native Ben Bishop, the sky-scraping ex-Maine goalie (6-6), to the fold when the third-round pick from 2005 signed a three-year entry-level deal, forgoing his senior year in Orono. By next season, Schwarz may be ready to challenge as Legace's No. 2 man. And next year, the Blues will want to develop Bishop in Peoria, possibly leaving Toivonen the odd man out. Toivonen will be a restricted free agent at the end of the year with little hope at a significant raise via arbitration.

He can see plays developing. He can see formations being mapped out when his coaches go to the board. And he can certainly see punches when they're thrown. But Milan Lucic, who sometimes wears glasses away from the rink, might have to wear contact lenses in his future years. Lucic is slightly nearsighted, with an emphasis on "slightly." As a frame of reference, he stood in front of his stall and pointed 25 feet across the room to the greaseboard, where he could see the line chart of the opposing team. What he couldn't see was some inch-high scribbling that read "#37-P.G.M.," a cryptic message for Patrice Bergeron. "Maybe next year," said Lucic, of going the contacts route. "But I can't stand putting them in your eyes, taking them out, putting them in. That's probably the main reason why I don't have them now." Because of Lucic's age (19), laser surgery is not considered a viable option; his vision is likely to worsen before stabilizing in later years.

The last-place Lightning made a pit stop at the Garden last week, the first time the Bruins had played the Bolts since GM Jay Feaster kicked off his makeover. First, Feaster re-signed puck-moving, minutes-eating defenseman Dan Boyle to a six-year extension worth $6.67 million per season. Then he convinced Brad Richards to waive his no-trade clause, sending the center and goalie Johan Holmqvist to Dallas for goalie Mike Smith and forwards Jeff Halpern and Jussi Jokinen. Feaster's next piece of business will be to re-sign franchise man Vincent Lecavalier to a long-term deal. Lecavalier, one of the NHL's top 10 players, will become an unrestricted free agent after next season and will command big-time bucks. If his asking price is too rich, Lecavalier will become the 2008-09 version of Marian Hossa, the most highly pursued UFA-to-be, come next year's trade deadline. But as much talent as Hossa has, Lecavalier is a unique blend of size, strength, and hockey sense who should be Tampa Bay's centerpiece for at least as long as the Lightning have committed to Boyle.

Hard to believe that slick-moving Ottawa defenseman Wade Redden, who racked up 30 power-play points in 2005-06, can't even get on the No. 1 man-advantage unit these days. During Ottawa's 4-1 win over the Bruins last Tuesday, Andrej Meszaros and Cory Stillman manned the points on the top fivesome. Redden will be unrestricted after this season and projects as too expensive to be brought back by GM Bryan Murray. The Senators are working on re-signing forwards Chris Kelly (UFA) and Antoine Vermette (RFA), and will also have to ante up for Meszaros, who is RFA-bound and due for a big payday. One way Murray could free up cash is by finding someone willing to take a gamble on beleaguered goalie Ray Emery . . . Results of an informal poll among Boston forwards: The toughest shutdown duo in the Northeast Division is Montreal's Mike Komisarek and Andrei Markov, not Ottawa's Chris Phillips and Anton Volchenkov. Last offseason, Markov cashed out, winning a four-year extension at $5.75 million per season. Komisarek will be unrestricted after next season, and Montreal GM Bob Gainey knows better than to allow the rugged Long Islander to hit the open market . . . Fernandez was the third goalie selected in the 1992 draft. The first: ex-Bruin Jim Carey, taken 32d overall by Washington . . . Everett Silvertips bad boy Kyle Beach, teammate of Bruins prospect Zach Hamill, is considered a top-10 pick in the 2008 draft because he can score, fight, and chirp. Last year, Beach touched off a firestorm when he called Lucic, then the alternate captain of the Vancouver Giants, a hunchback. Lucic has been diagnosed with Scheuermann's disease, which causes curvature in the upper back . . . The usual resident of this space is away for this Sunday and the next, spending a well-earned family vacation at the Grand Canyon. Hey Dupes, did you find the Bruins' offense at the bottom?

Fluto Shinzawa can be reached at fshinzawa@globe.com