Id be willing to pay up for elite young talent like those 2 STL Dmen. i have to think being a trade asset has been the Subban plan all along (especially being inherited now by a new GM) and St Louis could use more goaltending, probably immediate help better for them but even a prospect like Subban too. Id move another good young non roster player, they just had 6 of the top 52 picks in the '15 draft. a noted strong/ deep draft. Two 1sts + two 2nds in the 2016 draft (Edm #2 in '16 or 17 their choice) one of the many infamous 3 pairing truculent D on the Bruins roster now. we keep Krug and Colin Miller. Eriksson, Chara, & Marchand all possibilities as of now. its still way too early. Id like an extension for Eriksson but it just seems predetermined that he's out. not really sure why. as for only being a move or two away. this roster is a move or two away from being the Presidents Trophy winners right after losing the Cup to Chicago. Krejci is a monster when he's right and not having him + garbage play and an apathetic attitude lead to a non playoff team last season. Also Claude. none of this applies if the team checks out, but I don't think they have. Claude is noted for having a fairly simplistic system that utilizes team play and unspectacular play over any kind of unforced turnovers. chip and chase in all three zones and utilize the back play. boring but effective?...?.unless you have stupid unforced errors, which is a major issue right now. Irwin, Morrow, Trotman, Miller are all too happy to feed the opposition the puck when there's no one even around pressuring them. it's maddening. they still have a deep F group + a coach that utilizes a deep F group. Simple D play but can't make dumb/unforced errors. Chara has helped calm down the dumpster fire. Seidenberg? Seidenberg and Krejci have been the 2 big question marks in my mind since the end of last season. Krejci is leading the league in points and Seidenberg had back surgery. I don't feel good about what Seidenberg will be when he comes back. also Tuukka. clearly struggling but looked better last night. he's still an elite goalie. i like sticking this thing out and seeing what happens. Pastrnak doesn't get enough mention around these boards. He's already awesome and it looks like w/ some wheaties and John Whitesides he'll improve rather drastically.
chara needs a wheel alignment, new tie rods, and tires.. his 4th gear doesn't work. krejci is a good player, but in clodes system, he is hindered. marchand is a pest and those players are usually better on a moar balanced team. subban the goaler is way overrated at this point. seidenberg's injury hurts the team tenfold. krug, is a player i really like but haven't seen enough yet. tuukkkka, gets my beezball award for the most strike-outs (not a great thing in hockey) i don't think clode sees xmas as the b's coach. the b's have a multitude of draft picks next year and should work on total rebuild. i could see them trading tuukka, marchand and chara. in my humble opinion.
Matty great post on the Bruins........... Rediiis great reply and SORRY guys I hate the Bruins..........lol They beat my Canucks in Game 7 in Vancouver to Hoist the Stanley Cup........ *STOP* BUT Bobby Orr was the BEST .................
V.V., had to give you the plus on that, however, you did not use officially proscribed nomenclature. They are "the hockey team from Boston". Red, as usual, a pithy and jocular summation. I'm not quibbling on your Subban point, I'm expanding it. Almost all prospects are overrated. They are like back-up QB's; everyone loves 'em. That is, until most of them get on the field.
Damn, V.V., (I'm gonna call you Larry going forward), I wish I had a good logical reason for hatin' that team. But, I don't. Been hatin' 'em so long I cannot change now. Sorry, Matty, nothing personal.
i do not haterize teams, i haterize players, coaches and gms. sometimes owners. damn, the b's seem to have hit 4 out of 4.
I am a firm devotee of haterizing on select teams. The hockey teams from Boston & Philadelphia and the football team from Miami fit the bill. It should be noted that this - at least in my mind - a backhanded form of a compliment. I care a lot for one team, and I like a few others. Some just have my respect. Most teams, however, are not even worthy of expending much emotion on at all, e.g., the Dallas Stars; even though by rights I should haterize them, but I don't. To me, that's disrespect. When I state that I haterize those two hockey teams, I am at the same time acknowledging that they're worthy of my opinion. The football team from Miami? ... I just hate that team.
i love all Bruin talk, good or bad. thanks guys. welcome [del]Larry Lava[/del] VV, i remember you from the 'ol days. again, welcome. hard to argue w/ a lot of those posts Rediis. i love the response. Subban tbd. Chara, could be. Tuukka, we disagree. Cload, pretty good chance you're right. Krug is great here and fills a much needed PP role. ideally a 3rd pairing 5v5 player. he plays more here unfortunately.
I think Tuuka is taking to much blame for what happens in front of him. I believe he is elite and should stay as a key member of the core. Gustavsson is going to be a solid backup if he stays healthy, so really Subban could be dealt for any upgrades. Right now the entire Boston production company is being contributed to by a hand full of players; Krejci, Krug, Bergeron, Hayse , Spooner, Pastrnak, Miller, Chara and Eriksson are the scoring and production leaders while at the same time; more than half the team hasnt done a thing, i mean nothing as far as getting points. This is the problem in Boston, imo, and is whats causing the drought. It could be blamed on Claude, but in his defense he doesnt have all the horses to run out 4 solid lines. The top 6 are good, the 3rd line is watered down and the 4th is not contributing a thing, imo. Claude is probably doing the best he can with what he's got, but bottom line to me is the roster is stacked with non-productive players outside of the regulars. After having said all that, nothing cures all and faster than winning, but i still think a few moves are inevitable and if they (the higher ups) stand pat, what you see now is what you are going to get throughout the season. I was amazed at how unbalanced the scoring production was a the B's roster, that isnt going to cut it in my opinion.
I think BOS drafted the best G in the class in '15 with Darth Vlader. G no longer has the trade premium it had a few years ago, but the organization is stacked at the position. If Subban wows 'em in P-town then his hype & value will continue to rise. Unless there's some Garth wannabe out there willing to swing a Vanekesque deal, they're better off - in the long run - by being patient. I think a few small trades would be doctoring primarily to make it appear that they're being proactive. I do not expect any major trades until February. In one offseason they went from having an average-to-poor pipeline to one that's overloaded with high-end talent. If some of them distinguish themselves in Juniors this year, then they have more than enough ammo to deal for a real difference maker. My view may be too heavily influenced by my Sabres-induced patience, (which was actually a defense against going absolutely nuts), but I believe that'll get them back to contender status. I hope BOS fans are sophisticated enough to realize that one year of pain is not that bad. Or, I hope their FO is thick-skinned enough to ignore the hew & cry.
I still have a tough time putting him on the top tier. He's had a year + out of a strong system and he didn't do anything special. Schneider and Varlamov have been better with worse teams in front of him for example. Good, sure. There has to be a cut off on how many can be elite. It's a problem league wide. There are about 20 Pastrnaks right now, and another 5 waiting to get ice time in the top 6 in affiliates. This was a beautiful thought to read this morning.
I agree, and I think he got way too much credit before that. Boston still hasn't even stockpiled young players yet. It's still a very average system. None of the dmen project to effective top 4 duty in the next 2 or 3 full seasons. Bergeron and Krejci are going to be on the decline at that point. It's a real tough team to project. If they're going to contend in 2 years or less, Seabass and co. are going to have to evaluate the kids correctly and cash them in. Otherwise they're going to have to stock the bunker and wait it out. I think Ericsson will be the first one traded. Just never fit in Boston that well and I have no idea how to even use him on a line effectively with that roster. The goalie market is soft, so Rask stays. I'm not sure how Chara gets moved before the offseason without 25-50% retained unless Boston takes a bunch of bad money back. Marchand will have very good value to a few strong teams in the WC in my opinion. Krejci's contract is a beast and playmakers that don't pot goals often have limited value. He's not going to get anything much better than Spezza got Ottawa as it stands right now, unless a huge portion of that cap hit is retained. Seabass and Don have their work cut out for themselves. Most of the good players look like they would have to be traded for sideways-type deals. They don't have enough high end prospects to make a move for a game changing talent or core type player. It's going to be just as easy to make things worse than to improve them. Seems to me the best bet is to use a whole bunch of retained salary on 2 current veterans to by a developed young player+. Claude isn't going to last much longer, I say cash in Eriksson and Marchand at 50% retained so they can get a real player back. Going back to STL. I would think a realistic expectation of return would be Bouwmeester in a package going to STL around Marchand for example. Colorado has a number of good young players of varying skills at the blueline. They need some two-way help up front to stabalize the mess. There could be an opportunity there. I'm guessing PC will want one of his boys from Boston (Chara retained for Ference ++). I'll save the rest for the trade speculation thread.
i think Tuukka was very strong last year. He was severely overused and still kept them in games that they didn't necessarily have any business being in. The season prior he won the Vezina. The season prior he almost won a Cup and probably would've been the Conn Smythe winner. Thats not a very far off hypothetical as you well know bob from that '13 Final. Hard to argue against Schneider as top tier elite already, he doesn't get enough credit. Varlamov blehhh. Tuukka all day over him. Rinne, Price, Tuukka, + maybe Schneider, maybe Lundqvist. thats my list. its exciting having so many good kids in the league. i love it. and this is my biggest concern. I'm assuming that "the plan" is to overpay in FA but getting [del]a[/del] multiple top 4 D doesn't just happen easily. I thought there was a problem w/ the D and the age of the D last year when the best of them was 21 years old. now he's playing in Calgary. if the first part of that statement is true then Im absolutely on board w/ the 2nd part. sounds good to me but Im worried that Seabass and the Don have burned that bridge already with their draft day shenanigans gone public. Should've taken that Edmonton deal.
hoping you're right. i like this sneaky pick myself. throwing darts picking goalies. let's not forget Zane Mcintyre sharing Providence duties. He's very highly regarded, whatever that's worth. please please please please please. hoping the NYI have a terrible start and there's pressure on the Garth and he makes more bad decisions. I would like to maximize the Tuukka, Bergy, Krejci window but the past few seasons has taken its toll. Imagine this roster w/ Seguin on it. Hamilton too. the problem that i find w/ this fan base, maybe its all fan bases, is that the ignorant ones are the loud ones. lots of very knowledgeable hockey guys here but so many loud stewpid Sullys at the same time.
