He's creating some hubbub - A few suggestions for what ails Bruins 1 Edition

• Published in: The Boston globe
• Main Author: Kevin Paul DuPont-Kevin's e-mail address is dupont@
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston, Mass Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC 12.11.2006
• Subjects: Boston Bruins; Lewis, Dave; Professional hockey
• ISSN: 0743-1791

The Florida front office, which has coach Jacques Martin holding down the GM job with Mike Keenan now out of there, has been poking around for candidates to help run the show in Sunrise. TSN recently reported that Bruins assistant GM Jeff Gorton was on Florida's interview list, but Gorton has offered only "no comment" when asked if the Panthers have formally evinced interest. One strong possibility could be for Ken Hitchcock, Martin's longtime pal, to take over the bench, allowing Martin to focus exclusively on administrative duties. Hitch now is a $1.1 million-a-year scout for the Flyers, after getting shooed out from behind the Philly bench. Any club interested in hiring Hitchcock as coach would first have to settle on a price with Flyers ownership. Hall of Fame defenseman Tom Johnson on the impending induction (tomorrow) of left winger Dick Duff into the HHOF: "A real fast, smart player. He had all the attributes - get around, make plays, score. He wasn't tough, but he was small [5 feet 10 inches, 163 pounds] and small guys weren't expected to be tough. That was OK. Now, heck, in this league ... he'd be scoring a ton of goals." As good as Duff was, said Johnson, ex-Bruins winger Rick Middleton was even better. "Nifty should be in there," said Johnson. "He was a classic winger - he had balance and smarts. Heck, in the '80s, all we had was Middleton and [Barry] Pederson doing the scoring. I don't know why the Hall keeps rejecting him." Look for the Ducks, possibly as soon as the next day or two, to move Russian winger Stanislav Chistov, chosen No. 5 overall in 2001 by Anaheim's former front office. Chistov is lightning fast - a quality the Bruins could use in large lumps - but not one to follow the defensive tenets of Ducks boss Randy Carlyle. He is on the books for only $800,000 this year and next, which also makes him attractive for the close-to-the-cap Bruins. Word around the league is the Ducks will let the 23-year-old Chistov go for a draft pick. Low risk with potential high reward.