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Post by homerdante on Oct 21, 2023 20:32:11 GMT -5
Why can Debrusk not keep his act together? I thought the immaturity pretend to be Seguin days were behind him, but here he goes again. Late for a team meeting. Sweet!
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Post by homerdante on Jul 1, 2023 18:06:44 GMT -5
I'm with you on the "vibe" of this offseason, Tizzle. Feels like offseason before last. Loaded up on mediocre vets, no kids even really getting a shot. We actually have a couple of interesting kids right now who need to have an opening when they're ready, but if your nhl roaster is loaded with cheap refuse you have to pay, and you're completely against the cap, unless you get injuries, you don't have room to take on even the cheap first year player money if your cap is already full. That is what lead to Reilly effectively blocking other players. From reading about the P Bruins last year, there are some guys there who most likely still need a little seasoning, but if one makes a breakthrough this year, and you've got shit vets ahead of them, they never get the call. Merkulov, Lysell, Poitras, Brett Harrison, Mason Lohrei all seem like higher ceiling candidates, none of whom are probably ready to be given the full time job out of camp, but none of them are also going to sniff a chance without injuries with this type of roster construction. Especially on D right now, we're overloaded--we almost need to trade a couple away--there's no shot Lohrei gets a look. Yeah, right now we're maybe a signing away from blocking Lauko. And personally I'd rather play Zboril than Forbort. The higher ceiling guys are likely a bit away. I'm no expert (or even close) but people seem to think Merkulov could play right now and that Beecher is close. McLaughlin definitely is blocked right now with those guys. Again, not likely to be stars but could contribute. Harrison seems like he might be close to being able to help. But again, I'm going off what people tell me. Yeah, I've read most of them probably need a little more time. Of course one could always surprise you in camp, but that's the 10% probably outcome, the 90% if that they all need more time at Providence--based on what I've read. Lysell started out like a rockstar, and then going to the world cup or whatever it's called totally derailed him, and he had a crap rest of year. I've heard all of them can use a little more time for the most part, but that a couple are close, and might be ready mid-season. That's what I meant about blocking all of the spots so the mid season call up isn't even possible. You've also got guys like Steen and Heinen and others shoving, and the Bruins under Neely and Sweeney have been more of a seniority based promotion club rather than the hot hand. I don't think they're going to be all that great this year anyway, most project them nipping at the 7-8 spot in the conference if the cards fall the right way. Why force vets into that mess instead of trying to identify your next core behind Mac and Pasta, etc.? Forbort should have been on waivers and dumped down into Providence to get some more time for one of the new guys and see how they respond to a new coach and new system. If you're gonna throw spaghetti against the wall, throw new, young spaghetti, that way if it sticks, it's worth keeping. Sweeney likes to throw the old stuff, and when it sticks you barely want it for a half a season.
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Post by homerdante on Jul 1, 2023 16:00:23 GMT -5
I think therein lies the difference. If the young guys outperform them they can easily be buried The problem is, guys need a chance to play or they can never "outperform" anyone else. A couple of years ago, yeah Reilly's contract was an issue, but Zboril and Vaakanianen never got enough chance to play, when imo each would have proven to be better players. I'm with you on the "vibe" of this offseason, Tizzle. Feels like offseason before last. Loaded up on mediocre vets, no kids even really getting a shot. We actually have a couple of interesting kids right now who need to have an opening when they're ready, but if your nhl roaster is loaded with cheap refuse you have to pay, and you're completely against the cap, unless you get injuries, you don't have room to take on even the cheap first year player money if your cap is already full. That is what lead to Reilly effectively blocking other players. From reading about the P Bruins last year, there are some guys there who most likely still need a little seasoning, but if one makes a breakthrough this year, and you've got shit vets ahead of them, they never get the call. Merkulov, Lysell, Poitras, Brett Harrison, Mason Lohrei all seem like higher ceiling candidates, none of whom are probably ready to be given the full time job out of camp, but none of them are also going to sniff a chance without injuries with this type of roster construction. Especially on D right now, we're overloaded--we almost need to trade a couple away--there's no shot Lohrei gets a look.
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Post by homerdante on Jun 28, 2023 18:52:05 GMT -5
Dojnt know if the price would be the same (I would think similar) but I'd rather have Nosek. Lucic's face-off percentages are getting bad, and he doesn't add much else except "toughness" Why would he be taking face-offs? Do you know something we don't? I did a quick google, Lucic is a wing, not a center.
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Post by homerdante on Jun 28, 2023 16:37:41 GMT -5
If he convinces PB37 to come back, I don't care if Lucic plays a single game. Sadly, this has a "distract the fans from a reset by bringing back an old fan favorite" smell. Hope I'm wrong. They seem to like having a veteran presence in the lower six forward group. If the money is low and the term is short--as a fourth liner--it's hard not to think the deal could be ok for a tight money year. Imagine Frederic picking up a few things from him.
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Post by homerdante on Jun 28, 2023 0:37:37 GMT -5
I'm not a huge hockey guy, yet giving Bertuzzi a big deal is basically giving Coyle and Hall big deals no? Hoping he matches his career year and the fact he improved for a short run after getting them? He misses a bunch of games. His injury history might make you pause a bit, yeah. From what I read, the injury last year many categorized as a fluke sort of hit by a deflection break of the wrist or something if I remember correctly. A lot of people are going to point at the fact that he's been on a bad Detroit team his entire career, and has still put up goals. His +/- certainly screams that. Most are keying in on his style of play, attitude, and chemistry with Pasternak (who unlike the Krecji-Hall chemistry is not getting broken up anytime soon--i.e. pasta going back to Europe to play like Krecji did), so you're banking on that chemistry you saw. I agree, it's a risk, even if he's 28. Sometimes it feels like Sweeney has never met sunk cost fallacy he doesn't want to hold onto for dear life though--"gave up a first, MUST RESIGN HIM!" Has not worked out too well for him.
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Post by homerdante on Jun 27, 2023 11:04:18 GMT -5
I readily agree that Hall was not Backes. Not even close. The Bruins got some value from him, my primary point in my first post is that he was a negative WAR (relative to his contract--i should have said underperformer) type of player in terms of the Bruins paying him as a 3-4 WAR sort of hockey player, and he was giving you 1. That's my overall contention. I also get annoyed that the one year he had a 90 point season, which seemed to be a lull year in the league before the McDavid express got rolling--everyone seemed to think that was who he is. The Bruins hoped to catch lightning in a bottle with him, and looking at his career, he's just not a perennial Hart candidate. His career year was a fluke. He's likely never hitting 90 points again. It's about like the former sluggers everyone dreams on finding the hitch in their swing and bringing them to MVP contention. These are low probability outcomes.
He can probably give you 40-50 points, maybe 60 in a good year, but his likely statistical outcomes if you had to try to forecast, are not favorable for him being worth 6 mill ever again. That's it. The Bruins in hindsight overpayed, they guessed wrong, and now they're out from under the last two years of his deal. We're all thrilled!
I was reacting to CDJ cherrypicking one statistic, as he's often done in Bruins threads. Hall came back from a long vacation (injury) and was flying all over the rink--he had more rest and juice in his legs than anyone else on the ice and he was playing third line, and had an ok playoff series--I don't think anyone had a great playoff series on the Bruins, but Hall and Bertuzzi numbers wise were two of the best on the team. I'm judging Hall's play based on his entire tenure with us and career. He's not a JAG or zero WAR type, but he's not worth his money by any metric, even one playoff series where he was well rested and no one else was.
I'm fine with admitting he's not a total loss on the order of a Backes, but I'm also over the hyperbole from the Bruins administration and the media that he's going to have another 90 point season. Never was going to, never will.
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Post by homerdante on Jun 26, 2023 21:45:57 GMT -5
Taylor Hall was by far their best player in the playoffs, I’m fine with the move but to pretend he’s a JAG is bizarre and quite frankly not accurate They used the 3rd line in a shutdown role that they were very effective in. By far the line with the most defensive zone starts. If he wanted to free wheel instead of playing his role you would have been calling him a bad teammate. Also I’m not gonna criticize him for what amounts to a coaches decision when the coach still has shit running down his leg from the playoffs He disappeared in the last two games of the playoffs, he admittedly had solid games in three and four. For the blackhawks to take him without the Bruins retains salary clearly means they think he still has something left in the tank relative to his salary. Who knows, playing up on the first line maybe rebuilds his value some and lets him get one more contract. If he were really the all caps Taylor Hall the hockey journalists have to infer in every mention of him, he played on the second line with Krecji and Pasta instead of Zacha. He forced his way up there with performance in a third line role where he makes the opposing teams look terrible. He never forced that conversation--granted the long injury absence. Sure, lay him on Montgomery too, Monty has the most shit on him at the moment after fumbling the greatest regular seasons record in a first round. I'd rather see the Bruins spend 6 million in a different way. I'd rather see them spend Coyle's salary in a different way too. The thing with Hall every talking head repeats over and over again was his one season with NJ. Everyone always hopes he might be a 90 point player, or his first round pick pedigree stuff. Looking over his career stats, he just never deserved to make the money he did based on performance. It was always based on hope with him, and he didn't deliver. Was he fine in spots? Sure. Is fine in spots 6 million? Not a chance, not in hockey in a hard cap league. I want at least 30 goals a year for that money, consistently, every year 30. I'll be surprised if Hall ever puts up 30 again.
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Post by homerdante on Jun 26, 2023 20:15:22 GMT -5
There IS a statistic that the analytical folks at the Athletic put together and Hall was far from a bust. Worth his contract? No. But that had as much to do with usage. Barelyvused on PP but mostly bc others just happen to be better. Does that metric take into account that he was on the third line, and so playing against the other teams 2nd or 3rd D pair most of the time? Because at 6million per, on the third line, he should have had a lot more than 16 goals, sorry, for me he's a bust at that salary. It's somewhat sad if you can't even crack the powerplay too at that salary. For him to not be good enough to be on the powerplay is pathetic. He's just too expensive with too little talent and performance. Sweeney extrapolated from a small sample size that first year he arrived when he was on fire playing with Krecji, and they looked into the future and thought he would maintain that and return to his previous form. It was a wager and it did not go well.
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Post by homerdante on Jun 26, 2023 17:30:45 GMT -5
Thank God! Good Riddance to both!
I know you can't really say on these past two teams these guys were "the problem" per se, but they also were not part of the solution, and they made WAY, WAY more money than either of them were worth. From a WAR perspective, if there was a similar metric in hockey, each of them were tremendous busts, and getting out from under them at all is a massive win for a team that needs some salary cap wins right now. Massive negative WAR players. Bye Bye!
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Post by homerdante on May 22, 2023 2:40:19 GMT -5
There has got to be a point where ownership and high level leadership determine what the players need, without polling the players on which coach would be their best buddy. Mazzulla seems like he was too close with the players. Someone needed to come in and address some of the culture issues. Tatum pouting, after how many years in the league? Brown being a crap free throw shooter years in. Both of them melting under pressure. I despise listening to either of them speaking in press conferences. They both act like they've already won something after, so far at least, only achieving regular season honors. I said in another post I feel like we got the Arods of this generation, and I stand by that. He was a whiny wimp, and so are Tatum and Brown. They're on their third coach who can't reach them or change them. Maybe Smart needs to go, put the leadership squarely on them and see if they can handle it. Maybe they feel on some level like Smart is the leader, I really don't know, but the team needs some shaking up to see if either Brown or Tatum respond. I'd rather seen it blown up at this point after watching this culture for enough years now, but without a talent evaluator like Danny, you wonder if Brad could get multiple drafts right, so see if you can roll another Ortiz type who shows up for the big moments. We don't have that player now. There are only so many Pedroias and Ortizs per generation.
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Post by homerdante on May 19, 2023 21:51:59 GMT -5
To be a fan of a team in the NBA is so thankless. You wait for years to get your draft picks, have an evaluator that can draft the talent, and yet, you just don't know what's inside that talent. Then a few years later you find out that talent has no heart, and no brains. Then you have to wait for the cycle all over again, and hope the next time you get the talent, it has brains and heart. So disappointing...we got Arod this time instead of Ortiz. ugh!
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Post by homerdante on May 17, 2023 21:50:24 GMT -5
Oh good, pouty faced Tatum is back.
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Post by homerdante on May 17, 2023 21:49:21 GMT -5
It's so hard to root for the laundry when these idiots are wearing it. Brains...don't...work...
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Post by homerdante on May 17, 2023 21:18:28 GMT -5
What happened to "One of the best players in the world"? Took a quarter off? Do the best players in the world do that now?
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Post by homerdante on May 17, 2023 21:08:30 GMT -5
What happened to this team at halftime? WOW!
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Post by homerdante on May 1, 2023 17:49:20 GMT -5
His decisions seem completely indefensible to me. I'm not sure how anyone takes the other side on this one.
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Post by homerdante on May 1, 2023 17:31:50 GMT -5
His last month of the regular season was off too. It's difficult to peg exactly when he went into his end of season decline, but it clearly extended into the playoffs.
Take a look at last season's playoffs too against Carolina. Zero points last year too, zero points this year. He fades. It's what he does. 2 points -3 in his one playoff series with the Ducks too. He's not a postseason winner.
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Post by homerdante on May 1, 2023 15:46:56 GMT -5
I agree with your idea from the other thread, CDJ. I think it's blow it up time. At least blow up this core, and soft rebuild around Pasta, McAvoy, Swayman, Carlo, Zacha, etc.
Krecji and Bergie retire. Get major haul for Ullmark. Try to find someone who wants veteran leadership who will take the twilight of Marchand's career. Look for trade partners for Lindholm--he's somewhat young, might be a market for him if you eat a little bit of his salary (his contract wasn't horrible but also wasn't great). Look for a partner for Hall, but that will be tough with him getting some no-trade protections as I recall. Look for a partner for Coyle. Maybe someone wants a vastly overpaid third line center, I don't know, you might have to buy him out. He's got 3 years left we're stuck with. Blessedly Foligno is gone. One of the worst contracts since Backes. DeBrusk is only 26, but he feels like he's got a fragile mindset. I don't know which way you go with him. Bertuzzi melted in the playoffs, I'm moving on from him unless there's some argument that he grows up, he's only 28. I think he probably wants too much money. Frederic is RFA, depends on how much he wants. He's probably a third line guy, so I wouldn't go very high on him, and definitely not long term. Lauko and Greer give you ok performance for their respective lines based on their salaries. Lauko is RFA, if it stays a low number, you probably bring him back.
You're probably stuck with Forbort at an absurd number, and Grzelcyk too, less absurd relative to performance for Grz.
Clifton is likely gone unless his number stays low, but honestly I don't want him.
That leaves you with a group of Pasta, DeBrusk, Zacha, Frederic?, Lauko, Greer up front for next year. McAvoy, Grz, Carlo, Forbort, Zboril on D so far.
Pasta 11,250,000 McAvoy 9,500,000 Carlo 4,100,000 DeBrusk 4,000,000 Zacha 3,500,000 Grz 3,687,500 Forbort 3,000,000 Frederic? Zboril 1,137,500 Lauko 764,167 Swayman Big raise, was 925,000 this year.
4.5 overage from Bergie and Krecji bonuses from 22-23 That's ~46,687,500 (NOT including raise for Frederic and raise for Swayman.
~$85,090,323 is projected cap for next year, which is an increase of a million.
I doubt all of those movements could occur, but that would give you a good deal of space to rebuild and bring up your 3 viable prospects and see what they have. Lysell seems like he needs a second line spot at least.
I bet that's just to much to hope for in a year, but it's certainly pointing in the direction I think they need to head.
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Post by homerdante on May 1, 2023 0:02:27 GMT -5
For some inexplicable reason, the fabric of this team revealed itself in game 2. Montgomery had 5 games to respond to game two. Plan around it, watch tape, coach--do his job. He failed. He could not reach this team. He's not the only one who had trouble reaching teams with this core. Cassidy couldn't over and over again. You can say, well then it's not the coach, it's the players. That's probably partially true at least, and now with a change in leadership, we'll find out. I'll always appreciate the legacy of Bergie and Krecji, and simultaneously regret it in some ways. They were chokers, and guys who tried to be overly tough instead of taking rest, preparing for the playoffs. I'm deaf to their narrative. I'm growing deaf to Chris Sale's too. You can only listen to the same thing, the same BS and not see action from the speakers so many times, then it's obvious who they really are. These guys were chokers, and did not demand accountability from people who didn't deliver over and over and over again.
Lindholm was trash from about 75% of the way through the season. No idea why. Someone needed to get into the guys face. Ask him for more. He's just an example. There are a dozen of these guys who stopped improving, stopped correcting tendencies. One strategy by the Panthers completely broke a team billed as one of the best in history. They could not make adjustments. I've never heard anyone in any sport say their game on some level wasn't about adjustments. The Bruins stayed in one track and didn't adjust. It's was painful to watch and I found the team embarrassingly bad.
Ullmark ought to be traded if a major haul is possible. He's not a playoff goalie. If the system can get restocked at all by moving him it should happen. Still stuck with so many bloated contracts relative to performance I don't know that the team has a shot until Coyle, Foligno, Reilly, et. al are cleared off and a couple of prospects turn into something.
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Post by homerdante on Apr 30, 2023 21:18:38 GMT -5
If they could run it back again, I think a less historical year and a Cup run could easily happen. But with the cap problems, and questions on Bergeron and Krejci, not realistic. Hope they retire. This core wasn't good enough. They really weren't. I've never wanted to root for a team harder than this year, and kept getting let down over and over and over in these playoffs. This wasn't the only year either. Playoffs just seemed to lead to vanishing performances. Need some new leadership and see if Pasta and McAvoy can evolve with better leaders.
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Post by homerdante on Apr 30, 2023 21:03:32 GMT -5
and finally, two years in a row, Ullmark can't do it in the playoffs. Fairweather regular season goalie. His responses after that abortion of a mistake that gave game 5 away made me done with him for good. He was so unwilling to take responsibility. "That's just what happens..." I'm afraid we're going to lose Swayman as an RFA this year because of Sweeney sucking at contracts. Decent at trading, horrid at contracts.
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Post by homerdante on Apr 30, 2023 21:00:32 GMT -5
Still put this series on Montgomery,. Shuffling lines, playing abad and hiurt Ullmark, pulling Dryz for Clifton in game 6. Too much panic. Too many nonsensical decisions. He was horrid this series. Literally, horrid. Made some of the most indefensible decisions. How many years do we have to put up with him as a coach. Good with young players, ok, sure, but trash in playoffs. I don't want him behind my bench.
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Post by homerdante on Apr 30, 2023 20:58:14 GMT -5
We witnessed history - perhaps the all time choke in the history of the NHL. This is one of those "where were you when"...moments - in the worst sense. I don't realistically think I'll ever see a worse choke in hockey.
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Post by homerdante on Apr 30, 2023 20:53:09 GMT -5
One of the worst chokes in the history of the franchise with as much talent as they had. Montgomery is not a good coach. Fairweather only. He's the Arod of coaches. Great when it doesn't matter.
Thrilled Krecji is done. He's not good anymore. Wish Marchand was right behind him. He doesn't look good anymore, not compared to his salary or his past performance.
The future looks bleak.
As much as I love Bergeron and many of the things he's done, for such an incredible player, he did so little come playoff time because of not be able to manage injuries (this is career long, not just this season). Tried to play through too much, rather than taking the last bit of a season to get healthy and come back for playoffs, he tried to out tough guy things. 1-3 in Stanley cups because he was always playing broken.
Three Bruins right there on the last goal and lost the puck.
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