It can be tough to be traded as it’s always a major disruption in a player’s life and his career. For a guy like Dennis Wideman, it may have come as a blessing in disguise. Last year, the offensively-talented Wideman had some growing pains dealing with the playoff-anxious Bruins. Bruins fans were about as bi-polar in their treatment of Wideman as we’ve seen with any player in recent memory. No player went from goat, to hero, back to goat again as seamlessly as Dennis Wideman seemed to with the Bruins.
During the summer, Wideman was shipped to Florida in the Nathan Horton trade and for him, the disruption hasn’t dissuaded his attitude towards playing and tells The Boston Globe’s Fluto Shinzawa that he’s ready to go and continue improving in Florida.
“Last year wasn’t one of my better years,’' he said. “There were a lot of guys who didn’t have very good years last year. Mine, it just seemed, got shone upon a little brighter. That’s the way it goes sometimes.’'
As there are questions about work ethic with Horton, there are warts to Wideman’s game. When he struggled with his confidence last season, pucks bobbled off his stick. He lost his footing retrieving pucks. Forwards blew past him to create scoring chances.
But just as there is promise to Horton’s game, the Panthers recognized Wideman’s ceiling. In last year’s playoffs, Wideman led the Bruins in scoring with 1 goal and 11 assists, while averaging 26:02 of ice time.
“I think the last stretch run, I think I was almost a point a game in the last 20-25 games of the year,’' Wideman said. “Things just finally got better then. I started feeling good. Confidence was good. Things started getting better and better, then I had a good playoff run.’'
Mind you, the Panthers figure to still be rough around the edges, but at least if Wideman pans out they can hold this moral victory over the Bruins’ heads. Hey, you have to win at something these days, right?
(Photo: Elsa - Getty Images)