Morning Skate: Namesake

I’ll be honest - when I opened my email to see “JOHN GRUDEN NAMED AN ASSISTANT COACH FOR THE BOSTON BRUINS,” I did a double take.

While my brain knew it wasn’t that same, more famous (infamous?) John Gruden, it’s not exactly the most common name in the world, so it took a few seconds to parse things out.

Instead, it’s the Minnesota native, former Bruins draft pick John Gruden who will be helping out behind the bench this season.

The B’s selected Gruden in the 8th round back in 1990, and he played 59 NHL games for the B’s between 1993 and 1996.

Also on those 1993-1996 teams? Don Sweeney and Cam Neely. Hmmmmmm...

If Blaine Lacher ends up being the new goalie coach, it’s probably time to start asking questions.

Anways, welcome to the non-football John Gruden, who joins Joe Sacco and Chris Kelly as Jim Montgomery’s assistants, provided there are no changes to the status of those two.

Today’s discussion topic

I love absurd trade proposals.