First of all, there isn’t a GM in any sport on earth that hasn’t made mistakes. That Versteeg flourished in Chicago — goof for him. It was obviously a good situation for him, and he made the most of it.

Secondly, there are many who complain about Thomas’s contract, but if you compare it to other goalie contracts in the NHL, it’s pretty much middle-of-the-road. This for the probable Vezina Trophy winner. There is no doubt in my mind if Thomas wanted to go the free agent route, he would have hauled in lot more. I love Tuukka Rask, and I think he’s going to be a stud, but he’s 21 years old and still has a long way to go. Last thing I want the Bruins to do is pull a Cary Price with the kid. (Bob Gainey calls him “the future of the franchise.” You want Gainey for your GM? My God, what a freakin’ moron. Can you imagine Chiarelli putting that kind of public pressure on a kid like that?)

Thirdly, EVERY TEAM in the NHL has cap issues. I know a lot of fans see only their team as having this problem, but the Bruins are not unique.

Fourthly, Dupont is an agenda-driven hack who’s wrong half the time when it comes to dissecting the cap. He’s the last person I on earth I’d cite as a source.

You can argue that about any GM, unless he’s starting out with an expansion team. What’s important is what he does/doesn’t do with what he inherits. He demoted Peter Schafer; how many GMs would have hung on to him for money reasons alone? He didn’t trade Kessel, despite constant calls ::cough:: Dupont ::cough:: to do so. He didn’t put Tuukka on the hot seat, as Gainey did with Price. He stuck with the kids last year despite calls for trades from all sides. Paid off this year, didn’t it? He realized his mistake with Lewis, disregarded his pride, admitted it and hired Julien. We could go on and on.

Sure, he’s not a genius. No sports general manager is, IMHO. But he’s reversed a long downhill slide with the Bruins and reinstated a culture of winning, and I’m glad to see him get recognition for that.

It appears the crux of the problem is that you believed the Bruins “overachieved,” I believe they played to their potential. Phil Kessel at 21 scoring 36 goals isn’t an aberration; it’s part of the growing maturity of a guy who’s going to be a 50-goal scorer. David Krejci wasn’t a huge surprise to those of us who’ve watched him progress (including the Bruins staff). Michael Ryder (who Chiarelli signed) regaining his touch under Julien (for whom he’s always played well) shouldn’t be a shock. The only real surprise to me was the rapid progression of Matt Hunwick, and perhaps the instant contributions of Blake Wheeler (another Chiarelli signing).

I dunno, it appears to me you’re determined to see the glass as half-full, and leaking to boot. But winning the Stanley Cup is rarely something teams come out of the blue to do (the lone recent exception being Tampa Bay). It takes time and a series of building blocks (maturation and experience chief among them) to do so. Take a look at Detroit’s progression over the years and see how they worked their way toward where they are now. Heck, look at the Bruins’ own history, and see how the team came together in the late 1960s to “suddenly” become the powerhouse of the early ’70s.

(As for Schafer, I was pointing out how many people were shocked that he was demoted to play for Providence despite his big salary. The refrain I heard was how stunning it was that the Bruins were willing to absorb the cost for the good of the team. Many teams would have kept him with the big club, simply because of his salary; they wouldn’t want to pay that to a guy playing in the AHL. And there were also plenty of sideline GMs who wanted Fernandez cut loose and Rask installed in Boston.)