2021-2022 Bruins Season Thread

cshea

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Pretty much all of the cases in the NHL so far that I've read are either asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic. On the Hurricanes all but one were completely asymptomatic. The testing protocol is catching a lot of cases that otherwise wouldn't be caught in the "real world". Which is a good thing of course, but it's not like there are rosters of players laid up sick either.
I guess there is 1 bad one somewhere among all the positives, but yeah, mostly asymptomatic or mild. Cassidy said he had a headache for a couple of days but that was about it.

I'm not sure what the right answer is here. Don't test asymptomatic, vaccinated players (all but 1 player in the league are vaccinated)?
 

cshea

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Sophia says the Bruins current plan is to stay in NY after the game on Thursday and not head to Montreal immediately in case more positives come back. I personally don't see how they can make the trip, unless there's no testing over the weekend. If they test, there is a very good chance a positive will come back and that player/staff member will have to stay in Canada for 2 weeks before being allowed back to Boston. The Hurricanes are dealing with this right now, Aho and another player plus a staff member are isolated in Canada and unable to return to the US.

View: https://twitter.com/sjurksztowicz/status/1471156668201410563?s=20
 

FL4WL3SS

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I guess there is 1 bad one somewhere among all the positives, but yeah, mostly asymptomatic or mild. Cassidy said he had a headache for a couple of days but that was about it.

I'm not sure what the right answer is here. Don't test asymptomatic, vaccinated players (all but 1 player in the league are vaccinated)?
Which tells you all you need to know about this pandemic
 

tonyandpals

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So what's the tipping point here for the Bruins as far as ppds/cancellations? It took 6 players before Calgary cancelled their next games, now three after they added 17 more.
 

cshea

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So what's the tipping point here for the Bruins as far as ppds/cancellations? It took 6 players before Calgary cancelled their next games, now three after they added 17 more.
There's no hard and fast rule. They seem to take each situation on a case by case basis. Part of why Calgary got shut down quickly is because in the short term they were supposed to play games in the US. To be honest, I'd rather be Calgary and have everybody get it all at once which forces a shut down than the slow drip of a player or two a day for a couple of weeks.

I would think internally the Bruins traveling party has serious reservations about the trip this weekend. I'm not sure if that's being factored in, or if they or the team has voiced concerns to the NHL/Players Association. They just implemented enhanced protocols today which means daily testing is back (had been every 3 days up to now). If they are forced to travel, there's a non-zero chance that a player/coach/staff member tests positive while on the trip and then gets stuck in isolation for 2 weeks in Canada, mising being home for Christmas. We have a veteran heavy team, many of which have young families so I'm sure they wouldn't be enthused about this possibility.

Another factor that works against the Bruins is their stupid fucking schedule. It's back loaded so there's not much room in the back half of the season for makeup games.
 

NYCSox

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Well there is the two plus week Olympics break which can be utilized if the players come to (IMHO the right) conclusion and bag the trip to China.
 

cshea

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Well there is the two plus week Olympics break which can be utilized if the players come to (IMHO the right) conclusion and bag the trip to China.
The problem with this, from what I've read, is arena availability. Arena's have booked events to replace the empty February dates. Disney on Ice is in Boston for part of February, for example.

The most likely Olympic outcome is the league still shuts down and players who want to go will go, everyone else stays behind.

Edit: Got that from Emily Kaplan

View: https://twitter.com/emilymkaplan/status/1471179626139553799?s=20
 

cshea

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Hall - Coyle - Pastrnak
Haula - Nosek - DeBrusk
Foligno - Studnicka - Steen
Froden - Lazar - Kuhlman

Forbort - McAvoy
Grzelyck - Carlo
Reilly - Clifton

Ullmark
Keyser

I think something like that? At least the D is Covid-free at this point?

Edit: Closer than I thought. Just flip DeBrusk and Foligno.

View: https://twitter.com/_TyAnderson/status/1471519807400992769?s=20


Also they can't call up John Moore due to cap constraints. This is another problem that needs to be addressed. If they aren't going to shut teams down, they need a cap mechanism to allow teams to ice a full roster. I think they have enough room for a Vaakanainen or another ELC type when the next positive case comes through tomorrow, but this is a serious problem league wide. They can't have teams playing one or two skaters short on a regular basis. The common refrain is "plan better" but you can't really plan for 25-50% of your roster getting hit with Covid at the same time.
 
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RIFan

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As of now, no plans to cancel the Canada games. They'll stay in NY tonight and practice there tomorrow and do a round of testing before leaving.

View: https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1471521767722307584?s=20


I know I'm beating a dead horse, but even if I tested negative tomorrow, there's no way I'd get on that plane.
I would fly them in a few hours before the game and immediately head to the airport after the game. Get them out before any test results can come in and strand them.
 

cshea

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I would fly them in a few hours before the game and immediately head to the airport after the game. Get them out before any test results can come in and strand them.
They have 2 games, Saturday and Sunday. That doesn't seem plausible.
 

RIFan

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They have 2 games, Saturday and Sunday. That doesn't seem plausible.
You're right. Was just thinking about Montreal. I think a hiatus until the New Year is the right thing to do, but I would seriously still consider my plan and go to Buffalo between games.
 

Salem's Lot

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I really don’t get the rationale of making players stay in Canada if they test positive for Covid. Why wouldn’t they just let the team fly them private out of there.

Seriously, what’s to stop a player in quarantine from renting a car and driving across the border so that they can be with their kids on Christmas? US Border Patrol won’t care. The car rental company would still rent them a car. Wouldn’t that potentially just expose more Canadian citizens to Covid then just letting the team charter them back to Boston immediately?
 

kenneycb

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I assume the theory is they should be quarantining and doing any of that runs the risk that they interact with people and knowingly spread Covid to others. If you make an exception for crossing the border, what other exceptions are people going to push for? That's like 30 seconds of a thought experiment from me so I imagine the logic has plenty of holes.
 

burstnbloom

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I'm about 2 weeks away from being ready for the Bruins to tank the rest of the season and try to build around McAvoy, Pasta, Marchy next year.
There is nothing coming off the books in the offseason, though. This same roster is likely coming back unless some pieces get moved.

The only money coming off is Bergeron and Debrusk. One assumes whoever they get for Debrusk will be of similar cap value. I don't think "tanking" this team really means anything for next year. The real tank is NEXT year. Bring me Conor Bedard!

47370
 

cshea

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Quebec pulling the plug on fans in the Bell Center would seem to pave the way for a cancelation of Saturday's game.
 

Salem's Lot

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Quebec pulling the plug on fans in the Bell Center would seem to pave the way for a cancelation of Saturday's game.
This is why I really wish that they stuck with the divisions that they had last season for one more year, and just had Buffalo play in Hamilton Ontario or somewhere else in Canada. This is going to turn into a cluster fuck for the next couple of months now with teams having to cross the border.
 

FL4WL3SS

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There is nothing coming off the books in the offseason, though. This same roster is likely coming back unless some pieces get moved.

The only money coming off is Bergeron and Debrusk. One assumes whoever they get for Debrusk will be of similar cap value. I don't think "tanking" this team really means anything for next year. The real tank is NEXT year. Bring me Conor Bedard!

View attachment 47370
Ok fine, I'm aligned :D
 

Frisbetarian

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I’ve never seen a team take so many harmless shots on net.
This is spot on. Publicly available data shows the Bruins are near the top of the league in shots per game (2nd on NHL.com), but closer to the bottom in high danger/slot shots. The percentage of shots they attempt from the slot is extremely low, and when they do get shots down low, they either miss the net or have the shots blocked at a high rate. They have real trouble getting slot shots on net, but interestingly have done a good job getting their outside shots on net.

Another potential issue going forward is the Bruins defensemen, who have scored the highest percentage of team 5 on 5 goals in the NHL, currently have a very high true shooting percentage (goals/shot attempts) at 2.4% vs league average of ~1.6%. This suggests there will be some regression in the future unless things change.
 

cshea

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That seems to be a common theme from recent years. On the flip side, they are typically among the best defensively at supressing high quality shots against.

Is this something that can be addressed by tweaking the system/structure that Cassidy has in place, or is it simply a dearth of talen beyond the supserstars?
 

Frisbetarian

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That seems to be a common theme from recent years. On the flip side, they are typically among the best defensively at supressing high quality shots against.

Is this something that can be addressed by tweaking the system/structure that Cassidy has in place, or is it simply a dearth of talen beyond the supserstars?
The percentage of shots from down low has been decreasing in recent years, and I do think it's related to strategy/coaching to some extent. I wish I could say more, but it's interesting/informative to look at the pre and post shooting location data for players the Bruins acquired over the past few seasons.

An aside, but you're doing a great job with the data here. Kudos.
 

cshea

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The percentage of shots from down low has been decreasing in recent years, and I do think it's related to strategy/coaching to some extent. I wish I could say more, but it's interesting/informative to look at the pre and post shooting location data for players the Bruins acquired over the past few seasons.

An aside, but you're doing a great job with the data here. Kudos.
Thanks, I'm not great with numbers but love consuming all things hockey and enjoy reading and trying to learn the new analytical tools to evaluate hockey teams and players.

I'll take a look at the shot charts for some of the new guys. That'd be an interesting comparison. Coaching wise, I've always kinda wished they sacraficed a few more chances against for a little more pop at the other end of the ice. Guess that was easier to say in the past years when they the goaltending was more rock solid than this year. I don't want full run and gun while disregarding the defensive end, but just a little looser.
 

tonyandpals

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Sucks. I blame my cousin who last came up from NC for a game in 3/14/2020 and is here now for the 12/21 game.
 

NYCSox

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Hearing more and more that Olympics will be bagged. I guess there are arena availability issues that might preclude a league wide shutdown and full make-up but it hopefully allows these postponed games to be spaced decently.
 

Salem's Lot

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Hearing more and more that Olympics will be bagged. I guess there are arena availability issues that might preclude a league wide shutdown and full make-up but it hopefully allows these postponed games to be spaced decently.
They’re going to have to open up the CBA to do so. The players bargained being able to go to the Olympics.
 

BostonFanInCanesLand

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No details yet. Hope it was a relatively minor (and successful) procedure. I guess the swelling had gone down enough for the physicians to determine the extent of the damage.

Zboril was playing well and was earning minutes. I still think he can play on McAvoy’s left but he’ll need to work his way back up to the first pair.

Hearing Bruins' Jakub Zboril, injured on 12/2, has had knee surgery