One of Marc Savard's quirks was a habit of talking to his sticks, according to an ex-teammate. (Abelimages/Getty Images)

When Don Cherry began coaching the Boston Bruins in 1974, one of the first revelations was how the little things matter.

Grapes walked into the Bruins' dressing room one September morning and noticed a mess on the floor around the trainer's table, situated in the centre of the room.

One of the players had received a new shipment of 24 sticks. They were wood in those days. The player had then taken a small hacksaw and cut one sixteenth of an inch off the tops of the shafts of every stick, leaving sawdust and little wooden discs of wood all around the table.

Don said to the trainer, John "Frosty" Forrstall, "Frosty, who is the kook that's cuttin' one sixteenth of an inch off the tops of the sticks?" Frosty replied, "It's Bobby Orr."

To which Grapes said, "Well, in that case, isn't that interesting!"

Truth is, Don hated the mess, but admired any player who was that meticulous in caring for his stick.

Fast forward to 2007. Don and I are sitting at the Hockey Night studios with Scott Mellanby. Scott's now coaching with the St. Louis Blues, but that autumn the recently retired Mellanby was doing some colour commentary for CBC.

Scott got telling stories about Marc Savard. They had been teammates in Atlanta. I think Scott thought some of Marc's rituals were quirky. For example, Marc would come into the dressing room, walk up to the mirror and, in front of the whole team, say to himself, "Savy, Savy, lookin' sharp. Come on, big guy, team needs ya tonight!" Then he would grab a stick from the stick rack, and tell his stick the same thing. "OK, honey, looks like ya got four points in ya! Team's counting on ya!"

Don loved hearing these stories, and felt a kindred spirit in Savard and the way Marc spoke to his equipment. Don had been extremely finicky throughout his playing days about caring for his battle armour.

Two years ago, Don spent an entire Coach's Corner showing examples of Savard caressing and addressing his stick when he was sitting on the bench. Don said that when he was young he would actually take his favourite stick to bed and advised kids to do the same.

It's unfortunate Marc will not be able to play tonight when the Boston Bruins visit Toronto. He's sidelined with post-concussion syndrome. Don misses Marc, and so do the Bruins.

But one player who benefited from Savard's wisdom will suit up tonight. In his rookie season, Milan Lucic struck up a friendship with Marc as the two carpooled to games and practices. Marc filled those rides with advice and it has paid off. Milan, with 29 goals, has topped any individual goal-scoring year Savy ever enjoyed, and if he gets his 30th Milan will equal his best season, which came in 2006-07 when he notched 30 with the Vancouver Giants.

Tonight's lineup

ScotiaBank Hockey Tonight hits the air at 6:30 p.m. ET. Inside Hockey will profile Thomas Kaberle, and we'll set up our early games, Boston at Toronto (Jim Hughson, Craig Simpson and Elliotte Friedman) and Tampa Bay at Ottawa (Dean Brown and Greg Millen).

Glenn Healy will join Mike Milbury and Kelly Hrudey in studio tonight, and Glenn and Mike will be with Eric Francis on the Hot Stove. Pierre LeBrun's off this week.

A major announcement will take place in the first intermission of Game 2 when we unveil the top five communities still in the hunt for the Kraft Hockeyville 2011 title. That's part of our nightcap game: Colorado at Edmonton (Mark Lee, Kevin Weekes and Scott Oake).

Scott's guests on After Hours are Oilers Ryan Jones and Jason Strudwick. And one special note: as we enter the stretch run, Hockey Night in Canada has a few bonus broadcasts lined up. The first is on Sunday, when we'll present the Montreal Canadiens in Minnesota at 6 p.m. ET.

Enjoy.