Bruins '21 OFFSEASON Thread

First up is the expansion draft. Most decisions are obvious:

protected-
Forwards- Bergeron, Marchand, Pastrnak, Coyle
Defense- McAvoy, Carlo, Grzelcyk
Goalie- Vladar

3 more forwards to protect and the candidates are Smith, Ritchie, DeBrusk and Frederic.

To me, Frederic is a no-brainer. The argument for Smith is that they probably wouldn't take him, but I wouldn't risk it for the other two guys. I'd probably leave whichever guy I thought had better trade value, because I'm thinking I don't want to pay either.

No, because we contractually have no choice but to protect him.

Either use John Moore or find a taker for him. If you are never going to use him, why would you pay him 2.75 mil?

They need more scoring and a puck moving defenseman. I think they really miss Krug.
I think the D pairings are better when you have 1 puck mover in each pair, like when they had McAvoy, Krug & Gryz as the puck mover for each pair.

Putting McAvoy & Gryz together this year left the other 2 pairs in over their heads.

I bring Rask back for a year if he is willing. It’s not wise to bank on a rookie goalie who got hot during a small sample. Ask Philly. That said I do believe he is the future between the pipes and should have somewhat of a time split next year (55%-45% Rask)

I protect Ritchie over Debrusk.

I look to upgrade with a bonafide top pairing guy on D, a 3rd line winger, and 2 4th line wingers


Unfortunate loss last night but honestly Reilly was functioning as our #2 defenseman- they weren’t going further than this round anyway. Carlo and Miller being down killed us for this series as the islanders started camping out in front and murdering us on the PP

I like your thinking on that. Khudobin + Swayman saves you a few bucks over Rask + Swayman. Plus that gives you a solid veteran to pair with the youngster. Then you can use the savings to shore up some other areas. They need more scoring and I agree the D needs to be tougher. The reason I say the puck movers are important is from watching guys like Tinordi flailing at the puck and being unable to clear the zone against the Islanders. The Islanders spent way too much time in the Bruins end. I know some of that is also on the forwards, but the D got really exposed in all facets of the game against the Isles. 

Rask played through a torn labrum. Will have surgery and be out until Dec/Jan.

So decision on him can be delayed. Says he wont play for another NHL team. So you probably just wait until hes recovered and sign him mid season if needed?

Still think you need a veteran. Teams with championship aspirations dont go into the yr with 2 rookie goalies.

On DeBrusk, my concern is that we are ignoring what he was the prior years and making a rash decision based on what MIGHT be an anomaly. Ritchie is what he is. Never really been much more. Never really been much less (save for the end of last year). JD HAS been more and you trade him based on one yr where he was bounced all over the place(part of that was HIS fault, sure)? Not sure that's a maximization of your assets.

From a expansion strategy POV, exposing JD does, in essence, protect the young D bc Seattle would seemingly take him (and you can only lose 1 player). So if it's more important to have Lauzon/Zboril than JD, okay. I get that.

Couldn't agree more. People mistake flopping all over the place to make saves as a great goalie, LOL.

All the players you wanted to say, "I don't want to play anywhere else" and "I don't want to maximize my value, it's not all about money at this point in my career" said those things.

So if you get extremely team friendly deals on Hall, Krecji, Rask you probably do that--after the expansion draft of course.

You're stuck with Coyle, and have Lazar another year, but the other wingers on 3rd or 4th line are all subject to change, even if you're saddled with Wagner too.

texs31, I hear you about Debrusk, it's hard to forget those moments of glory the Bruins had from him, but for some reason, he's another Charlie Coyle type it seems--leaves you dreaming on a few moments here and there, but ultimately he's complacent in some way that coaching (at least our coaching) can't seem to reach him. I was reading some Wild fan's blog about Coyle, and didn't it make me feel like we got suckered into Coyle's pattern, and also into Debrusks. Dreaming on a flash, hoping for more, but ultimately, those two guys are who they are it seems to me. I don't know that a change of scenery will change either of them for more than 6 months. It sure didn't with Coyle. It changed those 6 months, and now he's right back into mediocrity being overpaid. I think you expose Debrusk and hope The Kraken take him and his contract off your hands. He's not likely to find consistency here for certain--Cassidy seems at the end of his rope with him. The only way I think you don't expose him is if you think there is a trade you can make with any sort of asset return, but this seems unlikely.

Some thoughts after letting the dust settle on a disappointing Cup run.

With age creeping up on the top core and not much in the system to replace them I suggest a 2 year window of getting after it with an expectation of a rebuild to an extent after that. Bergeron can't be expected to be great forever and it seems like he doesn't have an extra gear for the playoffs already. In the past he was usually playing thru injuries late in the year, that doesn't seem to be the case this year.

The great news is that the B's have a lot of cap space and some very good pieces that seem willing to play at a discount, Hall, Krieji and Rask all have made that clear. Rasks injury makes for an interesting side note that I think tizzle hits on the head making Rask an insurance policy and ends up saving the B's a lot of money. He isn't washed up, only wants to play with the B's and will be out for a while. That all adds up to a below value contract in my eyes unless he would rather retire. Remember, Thomas had the same surgery before his allworld 2011 season at an older age. Swaymen Rask could be the best tandem in the league with a healthy Rask.

Hall should be signed long term and hopefully in the vicinity of 5m, my hope is we can get Kreiji for 2 more years for the same 5per before he ends his career playing back home. This will assure that the B's have 2 top lines that can compete with any other top 6 in the NHL. Outside of the top 3 they need an infusion of guys that are going to be harder to play against than the current group on the 3rd and 4th lines. Trent Federic is a guy who could really step up and surprise next year but they might need some new blood on the bottom 6. Is Coyle ever going to live up to that contract, we can only hope. Bring in 2 more new guys to compete a little harder than those who were there this year.

I would like also like to see Reilly back on D also and with the cap space and the fore mentioned money saved on home town deals it shouldn't be a problem.

I am really concerned that Carlo and his concussions are a big worry moving forward and that really sucks. But Bergeron went thru it for a while when he wa younger and came thru ok so maybe Carlo will also, The B's need him on the ice and his game is improving when he is out there.

The real challenge is building the D back up. In house guys either need to get and stay healthy while others just need their games to mature and become more reliable. We know the names so I won't bother but there is some talent there and the B's will need someone to step up out of that group. That being said they need to either sign or trade for at least 1 maybe 2 top 4 Dmen. I hate to trade Debrusk when his value is low but there is interest and maybe they can get lucky. There are a few guys in free agency that might not cost a lot that would fit what the B's need. Whether that is a guy like Montour who played in Buffalo with Hall or a Oleksiak who is more of a D first guy or a veteran solid all around player like Goligoski or Martinez, the B's need to upgrade their D in a big way.

Bottom line is the B's really need to do everything they can to maximize the next year or 2 and sell out the future to a degree if we are going to get another Cup any time soon. It will be a while after that. The good news is they have the cap room and the players willing to sacrifice a few bucks to make another run at it.

That makes me feel a little better about his contract

www.audacy.com/weei/sports/bruins/bruins-mock-offseason-expansion-draft-free-agency-more

Scott McLaughlin playing mock GM. Here are at least some thoughts for constructing for next year.

--handshake deals with Hall and Krecji before Expansion draft, sign them afterward for team friendly deals.
--Rask when healthy for team friendly, or decide you want experience during season, sign Jonathan Berneir type
--create good 3rd line, do NOT leave 3rd and 4th solely up for competition for the kids. He wants Blake Coleman, thinks TB can't afford to keep him, and he wants Nick Bonino
--He wants Jamie Oleksiak to accompany McAvoy on top pair, and Jake McCabe. (thinks Martinez bidding goes too high for Bruins to fit him under cap)

Losing Debrusk in trade to free up space, Ritchie, Senyshyn, Kase all non-tendered; Kuraly walks; Lauzon likely is lost to expansion.

Sounds conflicted on Reilly, but ultimately thinks money better elsewhere.  Thinks problem with signing Bernier is that you have to expose Vladar to waivers, OR, you have to stash Swayman in AHL, when you really want Swayman getting the bulk of your games.  He prefers the Rask approach.

So there's one man's plan.

Me too...I'm not enough of a hockey contract buff to know if there are performance clauses in the NHL?  As in the MLB, where you could give him % or hard # of games played bonuses, with a lower base?  Is that a thing in hockey?