Grade: Incomplete
When I gave Marc Savard a midseason grade of F, I took no small amount of heat for doing so. While I stand by what I said at the time, Savard's second concussion in a year, this time at the hands of former teammate Matt Hunwick, leaves no doubt that any attempt to grade his season in a manner like his teammates is unfair to Savard.
I'd talk about the highlights of Savard's season, but, alas, there weren't any. He played 25 mostly subpar games, posted a team-worst -7 (despite playing less than a third of a season), and was a shell of the player who had Boston's offense humming like a well-tuned engine from his arrival in 2006 until his 2010 injury at the hands of Matt Cooke. And though the Bruins won the Stanley Cup without any help from Savard, there was little question that he was badly missed; the power play struggled in the regular season and playoffs without his crisp passing on the top unit.
Savard's days as a hockey player are probably over. He's been having memory problems, and wasn't up for traveling with the team in the playoffs. He just turned 34, and though his best hockey attributes (passing skill, hockey sense) both age well, the lack of progress in his condition seems to make playing in the 2011-2 season out of the question. A comeback after that is possible, but I suspect that Savard will probably elect to retire and get his life back in order.
The Bruins are trying to get Savard's name on the Stanley Cup (along with Steven Kampfer), which would be a fitting tribute to a player who was critical to the franchise's resurrection in the late 2000s.
I leave you with this, which I suspect will be the last highlight of Marc Savard's playing career:
Marc Savard OT goal 5/1/10 (via NHLVideo)