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Post by homerdante on Dec 22, 2023 0:16:25 GMT -5
Looking forward to rooting against the dodgers for the next several years. They're easily the new Yankees.
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Post by homerdante on Dec 17, 2023 2:47:03 GMT -5
that was absolutely putrid officiating. Someone in the league office should be docking the pay of those clowns.
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Post by homerdante on Dec 2, 2023 21:45:44 GMT -5
they are TRASH this year against the empty net. Lindholm let Tavares walk right in behind him there.
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Post by homerdante on Nov 30, 2023 21:19:57 GMT -5
Zacha's finishing touch seems to be improving this year a bit. It's very encouraging.
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Post by homerdante on Nov 30, 2023 19:40:31 GMT -5
Lauko takes a lot of dumb penalties.
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Post by homerdante on Nov 27, 2023 20:39:48 GMT -5
Unwatchable play of late. This is one of those moments where it's easy to imagine that Bergeron would have had the gravitas and respect to stop a slide like this, but the team lacks that now.
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Post by homerdante on Nov 22, 2023 21:53:32 GMT -5
Tatum is so hard to root for. He goes into baby mode too easily, pouting body language, and misses free throws in crunch time.
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Post by homerdante on Nov 4, 2023 20:48:05 GMT -5
I missed the Anaheim game (not sure if that was worse, heard it was bad), but this third period is absolutely putrid. Wotherspoon looks like trash, shattenkirk looks cooked, Pasta makes a nice shot, then does his wooden leg dance that is supposed to be skating, loses it, trips the guy, game over just as we empty the net. come into the third 3-2, lost it 5-4, 3 gooals in ~3 minutes. Ullmark didn't look good during that stretch either. Frustrating game to watch tonight. Mediocre effort second and third.
Carlo did look great in the 2nd though. He's seriously stepped up his play this year so far.
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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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