Bruins in 18-19

Dummy Hoy

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There are a bunch, but you're right, they don't really become stars. Not sure who expected Donato to be a star though? He's got a chance to be a serviceable NHL player who can play on the top 6 due to his hands and head. He's got to get stronger and he's got to work on his skating; the moving his feet is non-negotiable though.
 

veritas

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I was going to say Blake Wheeler but he left after 3 years and was a capable NHLer at that point. And he is a huge outlier as far as late-developing players go anyway. I did some poking around and couldn’t find anyone that notable, but it’s funny his Harvard teammate Alex Kerfoot is looking like a much better NHLer. Still not a star though
 

McDrew

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I wish I'd framed the argument as 3-and-4 year NHL players then going to the AHL and needing 1-2 years to move into form. There is a huge spike after 3 years of college hockey because of draft rights ending and players going to the AHL to take the next step (with a fiscal incentive of a contract), and I think that would have been a better discussion.
 

Eddie Jurak

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You’re right that we shouldn’t be writing him off, but he’s 22, almost old enough to not be a prospect. This isn’t baseball, most NHL players peak around 23/24. Many on this board have had legitimate concerns about players still younger than him being busts (Senyshyn, JFK, Zboril, Lauzon, etc). And there are 6 players on the Bruins NHL roster who are currently younger than him.
My point is more that you are demanding immediate success. He has 22 games under his belt, including an unproductive stretch of 11. It just makes no sense to already be wondering if he's going to be a bust.

For added context, the Bruins have played 13 games and their bottom 3 lines have been a mess throughout. Donato has a hand in that, but he's far from the only one. Outside of the top line and Krejci, they don't have a forward with more than 3 points.

Starting to talk "bust" because a guy with minimal pro experience has failed to thrive in a bad situation is ridiculous.

Brad Marchand opened his career with 0-0-1 production in 20 games, and in the playoffs with everyone hurt, Claude preferred to dress the corpse of Trent Whitfield. David Krejci opened his career with 0-8-8 in his first 32 games.
 
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veritas

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I am not demanding immediate success. Im pointing out that given all the information we have, odds are not great he’ll be a top 6 forward. I still think he’ll be a useful NHL player.

Marchand is one of the biggest outliers when it comes to late blooming players and Krejci was already almost a point per game in the NHL when he was Donato’s age. They’re not good comparables. Experience matters but age and previous success are much more important when it comes to projecting players.
 

cshea

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Today’s line shuffling:

Marchand - Bergeron - Pastrnak
Nordstrom - Krejci - DeBrusk
Heinen - Backes - Bjork
Wagner - Kuraly - Acciari

Blidh is up with the team for some reason.

They can shuffle the lines all they want but I don’t think it’ll change much. I really think they need to make a trade to address their depth problems.

Edit: Blidh is up as a regular recall. Head scratcher.

 

TFP

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Cassidy said Blidh was up as insurance in case Wagner can't go, as he's battling something.
 

Eddie Jurak

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I am not demanding immediate success. Im pointing out that given all the information we have, odds are not great he’ll be a top 6 forward. I still think he’ll be a useful NHL player.

Marchand is one of the biggest outliers when it comes to late blooming players and Krejci was already almost a point per game in the NHL when he was Donato’s age. They’re not good comparables. Experience matters but age and previous success are much more important when it comes to projecting players.
You are making a couple of mistakes here.

First, you are hanging an awful lot on a 1 year age difference, while undervaluing experience compared with age. I’d argue that over small numbers of games, such as we are looking at with Donato, professional and NHL experience matter more. There’s just a “getting up to speed” factor that is going to matter a lot on the early going of any player’s career, with rare exceptions.

Second, because you devalue experience early in a player’s career, you wind up making that argument that, to prove that he has a shot of being a decent second-line wing, Donato must step into the NHL and immediately and decisively outperform the early career production of guys who have gone on to much better careers in Marchand and Krejci. Even if his limited experience came mostly playing on lines 2-4 of a 1 line team.
 

cshea

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Blidh and Lauzon back to Providence.


I suspect Cassidy will keep the lineup intact for Thursday’s game, but I’d like to see more tinkering. The whole team is struggling to score at the moment, but the Bruins last 5x5 goal scored by someone other than the 1st line was the Philly game on 10/25. I’d like to give Bjork a look on the top line. He has some experience there, seems to be playing reasonably well despite having a turnstile of linemates (lost a goal last night on a quick whistle). They seem to be reluctant to move Pastrnak off the top line other than a few in-game shifts, but dropping him down may help the Krejci line’s finishing issues. Krejci’s line has played well but with no results. Pasta is an elite finisher, let’s give it a whirl. 63 - 37 and a traffic cone is still a top 3-5 line in the league, and they will always have 63 - -37 - 88 in their back pocket if they need it.

Marchand - Bergeron - Bjork
DeBrusk - Krejci - Pastrnak
Heinen - Nordstrom - Backes
Wagner - Kuraly - Acciari

I think that’s the look I’d try for the next game.
 

LogansDad

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Not to nit pick, and just as cool, but the numbers in the lining are the Bruins' Stanley Cup championships.

Very, very cool jerseys, my wife now has an idea for a Christmas present.
 

Haunted

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I still think we have a growing Tuukka problem, but if the team plays like that it won't matter much who's in net.

McAvoy's return should help and it was great to see Jake DeBrusk play well, but that was a tough game to watch last night.
 

TheRealness

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Also, JFK has been recalled. Reached the “try the kids again” point of the 3C competition.

He's not exactly lighting it up in Providence. In 9 games, he has 1 goal, 3 assists and is a -2. Still, probably better than Backes (ugh).

They need to make a trade. The third line is just a vacuum of suck right now at center.

I still think we have a growing Tuukka problem, but if the team plays like that it won't matter much who's in net.

McAvoy's return should help and it was great to see Jake DeBrusk play well, but that was a tough game to watch last night.
Yesterday was just a weird game for the goalies. Both Halak and Rask were downright awful. Maybe keep them away from the marijuana dispensaries before the games?
 

The Long Tater

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I still think we have a growing Tuukka problem, but if the team plays like that it won't matter much who's in net.

Tukka has been given a leave of absence for a personal reason. Maybe that explains some of his play. Per NHL.com
 

cshea

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Zboril up for the road trip. JFK and Lauzon also will stay with the team (they were sent down yesterday as a paper move to bank some cap space). Rask back too, so Vladar returned to Providence.

 

veritas

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With Chara out we're looking at something like this on D tomorrow night:

Grz-Moore
Lauzon-Krug
Zboril-Kampfer

With McAvoy/Miller/UV hopefully returning soon, there's no reason to make a trade, but this is going to be interesting. And not good interesting. I don't think there's any reason to lean on that top pair minutes-wise. Give the kids a shot to play real minutes, they're probably going to lose anyway.
 

cshea

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The penalty kill is the biggest concern in the short term. Chara, Carlo has Miller are leaned on quite a bit on the PK. The Avs went 3-3 last night on the PP, all after Chara left.

Edit: Also, Chara left in a brace

 

PedroSpecialK

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Brace and walking on his own... based on absolutely nothing, that sounds like a potential MCL sprain

/knocks on wood furiously
 

cshea

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Looks like Connor Clifton is on a plane to Dallas.


He would be the 12th D to be on the roster this year. They’ve played 18 games.

Chara
McAvoy
Moore
Krug
Grzelyck
Carlo
Miller
Kampfer
Vaakanainen
Lauzon
Zboril
Clifton

Edit: Oops forgot Grzelyck
 
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TheRealness

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Looks like Connor Clifton is on a plane to Dallas.


He would be the 12th D to be on the roster this year. They’ve played 18 games.

Chara
McAvoy
Moore
Krug
Grzelyck
Carlo
Miller
Kampfer
Vaakanainen
Lauzon
Zboril
Clifton

Edit: Oops forgot Grzelyck
That's ridiculous. The Bruins can not keep their D healthy.

Also, as an aside, dafoomie is absolutely obnoxious on twitter when not posting videos. The McQuaid "miss me" stuff is stupid.
 

Salem's Lot

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That's ridiculous. The Bruins can not keep their D healthy.

Also, as an aside, dafoomie is absolutely obnoxious on twitter when not posting videos. The McQuaid "miss me" stuff is stupid.
Is he the same guy that posts about how our young players keep getting hurt because we don’t have an “enforcer”? Even though nobody fights anymore, the Bruins lead the league in fighting majors (I think Jack mentioned that the other night), and if someone actually does throw a cheap shot most of the time they turtle anyway and laugh as you sit in the box? I hate how so much of our fanbase thinks this is still 1975. The game is becoming more like soccer (I mean that as a compliment, I probably probably follow soccer as much these days as I follow hockey) whether they like it or not. Speed and skill are the most important attributes for players to have. Guys like McQuaid are dinosaurs.
 

cshea

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Yeah, I follow him for the videos, but his solution to pretty much every problem is more fighting. I thought he was going to have total breakdown when they traded McQuaid.
 

cshea

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It has only been 3 games, but JFK is not looking like a short term solution to the center problem. Through 3 games with JFK on the ice:

77% Ozone start
CF: 35%
Shots: 16-8 opposition
Chances: 18-8 opposition
High Danger chances: 10-0 opposition
Luckily goals are 0-0 (can stretch it to 1-0 if you give him credit for the Heinen goal in the Vegas game where he had changed off behind the play).

D is probably the more immediate concern, and I hate to heat a dead horse, but the third line is still a major problem.
 

TheRealness

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Is he the same guy that posts about how our young players keep getting hurt because we don’t have an “enforcer”? Even though nobody fights anymore, the Bruins lead the league in fighting majors (I think Jack mentioned that the other night), and if someone actually does throw a cheap shot most of the time they turtle anyway and laugh as you sit in the box? I hate how so much of our fanbase thinks this is still 1975. The game is becoming more like soccer (I mean that as a compliment, I probably probably follow soccer as much these days as I follow hockey) whether they like it or not. Speed and skill are the most important attributes for players to have. Guys like McQuaid are dinosaurs.
Yes, he also gets very political.
 

cshea

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John Moore is not skating this morning. Looks like we’re running 12 deep tonight.

Krug - Clifton
Lauzon - Grzelyck
Zboril - Kampfer
 

Ale Xander

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A 40+ year old getting some rest in November/December isn't the worst thing in the world. Also get some playing time for the young guys, maybe trade bait will develop.
 

cshea

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Left Shoulder. He couldn’t take draws when he tried to come back, and grabbed it a few times when he was killing a penalty.
 

cshea

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Today’s injury updates:

- No update on Bergeron, obviously he won’t play on Wednesday.

- McAvoy and Vaakanainen are traveling to Detroit to meet the team, but just to practice. They won’t play Wednesday either. Both are “Questionable” for the weekend.

- Miller will play Wednesday.
 

Salem's Lot

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Today’s injury updates:

- No update on Bergeron, obviously he won’t play on Wednesday.

- McAvoy and Vaakanainen are traveling to Detroit to meet the team, but just to practice. They won’t play Wednesday either. Both are “Questionable” for the weekend.

- Miller will play Wednesday.
Good news on Miller playing. Hopefully it bumps Kampfer out of the lineup. I’d like to see Zboril with an actual NHL defenseman.
 

cshea

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Bruce said it’ll be either Clifton or more likely Zboril coming out.

Lukewarm take here:

Kampfer hasn’t been that bad.
 

Salem's Lot

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Bruce said it’ll be either Clifton or more likely Zboril coming out.

Lukewarm take here:

Kampfer hasn’t been that bad.
I forgot Clifton was up. I don’t think Kampfer has been that bad but he is what he is, an AHL defenseman. I would just like to see if Zboril play at this level with a veteran NHL defenseman like Miller and see if his game elevates.
 

PedroSpecialK

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Kampfer should definitely be drawing in over Zboril and maybe Clifton, agreed. It's just astounding that we're on D #12 on the depth chart when including Zboril and it isn't even December.
 

cshea

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Cassidy doesn’t trust Zboril. He played 10:53 in Dallas and 10:59 in Arizona. Clifton played 18:53 and 20:02. That is a significant gap considering they have the exact same experience. Based on that, I assume Zboril comes out.

The silver lining to the injuries is that we get a tiny bit of a sample on the kids in the system. Lauzon is promising. Clifton at the very least has “grit.” Vaak looked good in his abbreviated stint. A lesson learned here is that the deadline trades of mid-late draft picks for the Nick Holden’s of the world are probably unnecessary.