PerreaultForever

Boston's like that too. The bar is simply much higher in cities like that. They expect more. Washington boots the coach but not the GM so I guess they think they can have one more run???? I think Pittsburgh and Washington are both done.

I actually don't think he will be able to get much in a trade and will therefore not trade him. VO is next year's Vinnie Hinostroza.

Fair enough. Get VO 30 to increase his trade value.

So what are Sabrespacer’s thoughts on the team? Management underestimated their potential and missed an opportunity. Fill the holes and we can be in the playoffs next year. If they don't, we will be right back on the bubble (maybe in maybe out depends on luck and injuries) but right around where we are again. What is overall grade for the season? C+ Can't go higher for a non playoff team. What grade would you give Adams and Granato (including his staff)? C Adams gets an A last year but see first comment for this one. Granato on his own gets a B- as he has brought the team together and developed players well but he still needs to teach them how to defend and prevent goals, not just score them. What grade would you give the Forwards, the Defense and the Goaltenders? Forwards B (they get an A when they can play 2 way), D as a unit gets a D, but the top 3 get a B+, Goal was a D but Levi gets an A- for his small body of work. What grade would you give the Power Play and the Penalty Kill? PP B+, PK F. Who is your MVP? Tage. Who is your ROY? Power Who is your MIP (most improved player)? Cozens (Mitts gets runner up for his late season surge) Who is your unsung hero? Zemgus. Totally UNSUNG, but a solid constant and an exemplary role player. Might be his last season all the same. I get what people are saying about UPL but to me an unsung hero is more of a constant presence rather than a guy who had a hot streak but otherwise is inconsistent. Zemgus is just who he is, but you can also count on him every night to be who he is.

Damn I was hoping Tage going for 50 would give the game some meaning. Farewell to Kyle? idk, I guess I will watch so that I can say I saw all 82. Hopefully something entertaining happens.

Trade up or down might be worth exploring this year. Have to wait for the actual draft order to see where we end up.

Not surprised they were fired but I think they were in a bit of an unfair bind. Sort of like JBot with Eichel, they came in and they had to meet with and appease Crosby. I remember hearing somewhere that Burke felt they should tear down and rebuild for last season already but Crosby wanted another kick at the can, and then another and they really had no choice but to try for the playoffs again, even with an aging roster that had virtually no chance and few options to improve. Catch 22 all the way. Hope Burke goes back to being the loudmouth old guy on HNIC. He used to amuse me there with all his "truculence" comments. Watch Philly re-hire Hextall as President 🙂 🙂

Reinbacher is the best, I agree, but he will be gone before we pick (unless we move up places). Second round is probably where we can get some D for sure.

So unless we get lucky, it's lucky 13th. Axel Pelikka by Sportsnet's current rankings. Reinbacher will be gone before 13th. Too high for Oliver Bonk (2nd round pick if he slips). Not many D possibilities at that point. I kind of like Matthew Wood. Nate Danielson wouldn't upset me if he's still there at 13. I'm still BPA, but I'm hoping we can load up on several D men in this draft. If players are close, I'm going D over forward given what we already have and don't have in the system.

Oh are they back next year? I thought teams were changing 3rd jerseys every year - to sell more jerseys. But that's good if they are back every year. I love them.

The word "nothing" is a little too extreme. By not doing "anything" I suppose I should have worded that more as not doing nearly enough. Although I definitely feel he needs to make some big moves I think there is a real possibility he will stay the course of in house development. Your goalies will be Levi as the starter and UPL as the back up with Comrie sent down to Rochester. Your starting D could be Dahlin-Samuelsson, Power- Jokiharju, Stillman-Lybushkin, although he might add a lower tier FA for "depth". Maybe a Kyle Burroughs or Connor Carrick type. Maybe even Mayfield. A bottom end guy. and no forward activity at all aside from a re-sign or two and maybe a VO trade away. Not what I want, but wouldn't surprise me at all.

Nice to get the win so they could have the sweet send off for Anderson. That was a nice moment. (also happy Greenway did in fact give Tkachuk a little smack 🙂 ) and with that, the goat heads go back into the closet. Enjoy your retirement Craig.

It's definitely possible, but there are some holes that need to be filled. We all know what they are, we will see what KA does to fill them (if anything).

Starting Anderson is the classy move. Hopefully the team rallies with that and gives him a good send off. As always, somebody should smack Tkachuk. Just because.

I don't disagree with the overall assessment you made. The D and goaltenders is definitely their strength and forwards are thinner next year for sure. More likely the lines are: Marchand - ? - DeBrusk Hall - Zacha - Pasternak Frederic - Coyle - Lauko ? - Koppanen - Greer I think Hathaway might sign for a small discount as he has said he's always wanted to play in Boston and loves it there but you know, everyone has their price. Lysell is their wild card. Beecher, Poitras, Harrison all possible future centers (or wingers) but not sure any of them are ready yet (if ever). Bruins don't develop in the NHL like the Sabres. Really, one center away assuming Bergeron and Krejci are gone.

We can go that route but unless we go all in I'm more inclined to spread the money around on mid level guys that fill holes and roles and let the homegrown talent we already have be the core with the (eventual) big salaries. This is why I'd go after a guy like Nosek. He's everything we wanted Cody Eakin to be but he wasn't. PK instantly improves.

Meier would be good, but he's going to be expensive and in demand. Doubt it's viable. But who's killing penalties in that line up????

i've been expecting Boston to fade for a while and yet here they are in record setting season. Everyone talks about Bergeron and Krejci coming in on those team friendly deals, and they are a factor, but there's a few other things that have made Boston what they are. Lindholm in his first full season has been incredible. Arguably their best D man and way better than anyone realized coming out of Anaheim. Carlo and Gryzlyk also playing their best hockey of their careers. Even without Orlov added their D is very very good and will mostly be back. Ullmark obviously a big part of the story. They actually have too many goalies. They lack top scoring offensive prospects (maybe Lysell, maybe) but they also have a bunch of young bottom six guys like Lauko ready to take over from the Folignos and others that won't be back. Zacha has shown he can replace Krejci, so all they will really be missing is Bergeron. One good free agent like maybe ROR and they'll be almost as good as this year. In many ways they are the antithesis of the Sabres. Vezina goaltending, deep and solid D with mediocre offense aside from Pasternak As opposed to bad goaltending (prior to Levi), thin D and multiple offensive threats. Total opposites.

idk where you get the idea of him being a bad person from. Is it perhaps just the name? Anyway, to your question of how team mates feel....... idk about this character bs, I just know he has been outstanding in Boston and if they win the cup he might very well be a big part of that. Exactly the type of player we need.

Ya, not a starter but a solid veteran to take 1/3 to 1/2 of the regular season load. A Swayman/Ullmark type situation ideally only the other way around.

They haven't had much to play for over the last month so it's hard to say if they are playing as good as they can or not. Seasoned playoff team with a playoff goalie I wouldn't count them out just yet.

I know, that was discussed many times earlier. It's an odd comment because usually it's the other way around. Learning to play defense in the NHL is the hard part. Lots of hotshot rookies have come into the league and been fine offensively and then taken steps back as they learn defense. idk, maybe Granato is right, but it's the exact opposite of what Montgomery says in Boston and I've heard others over the years say the same thing. My own view is in line with that and imo Granato has it backwards if that is what he truly believes. So next year we will see if he can get the "easy" part done as the offense was just fine this year but the D was not.

You know, I would have said that about Bertuzzi but I've been watching all these Boston games and he isn't the player I thought he was. I figured they just got him as a 4th line net front big dumb body in case Foligno can't play but he's been incredibly good and seems team oriented. They have him on a line with Pasternak and not only does he go to the dirty areas he makes a lot of quick and smooth (often blind) passes right onto Pasternak's stick and often through traffic. Guy is a very good playmaker and he would fit here using Thompson as the sniper the same way. He has much better vision and awareness than I thought. I didn't forget Savoie, I'm just not into another development year. If he's quite good he takes the 3rd line center spot and if he's maybe but maybe not fully ready he's the first injury sub on the top lines. Kulich might also be there, Rousek, idk, but to me you get a deep call up roster and not just scrubs. Main point is I want to win and make the playoffs next year not wait for the year after.

There are a number of different ways to take this team and turn it into a solid playoff team. You have to spend in free agency though and they won't. But for the sake of the dream: One option: Skinner-Mitts-Tuch Thompson- Cozens- BERTUZZI Peterka-Krebs-Quinn WOOD - NOSEK - HATHAWAY Samuelsson-Dahlin Power-ORLOV CLIFTON-Lybushkin Levi-ANDERSEN Obviously, it would never happen but ANY of those pieces would be great. Yes, I have several players currently on the Bruins here but they are all FAs and there is no way the Bruins can afford to keep them all, if any of them next year. Secondary Options: Girgensens stays on the 4th line. Greenway stays somewhere. COMPHER is another guy I would target as 3C or 4C depending on how you structure it. Goalie could be VARLAMOV or JARRY . Similar players in style for the same positions as plan C options, but that line up above could win the division next year.

I will answer this. I think everyone agrees the team has to improve defensively. If Granato was teach offense first then defense it's quite possible that instilling a more disciplined team D system will result in diminished offense. Part of the reason we scored as much as we did was our free wheeling guns blazing style that often burnt us with counter attacks. It's hard to have both defense and offense and a balance needs to be struck. idk what their plan will be, maybe they think they can win 8-7 every night but it's never worked before.