2021-2022 Bruins Season Thread

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chris hansen of goats
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A little misleading as there are probably a lot of guys who started out 1.3 PPG or so in their early 30s and then fell off a cliff thus pushing their overall 30s PPG down below 1.2.
 

burstnbloom

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Incredible. Marchand is such a special player. The craziest thing about him is if you look at the way Claude buried him and Bergeron back in the day. What do Marchand's numbers look like if he was deployed like a weapon instead of a defensive wing? His even strength numbers havent really jumped all that much since even his second year in the league. But Claude really deployed that line as a matchup line, eventually deploying them in the ozone only 46% of the time in his last full season. Once Cassidy came in, the first thing he did was change was put Bergeron and Marchand in the ozone 60% of hte time and Marchand on the power play. It's hard not to say he (and Bergeron) were deeply misused by Claude given what a weapon they both have turned into when deployed like the leagues best offensive players.

46822
 

lexrageorge

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A little misleading as there are probably a lot of guys who started out 1.3 PPG or so in their early 30s and then fell off a cliff thus pushing their overall 30s PPG down below 1.2.
Why is it misleading? It speaks to a remarkable consistency of high level play for an extended period of time in his 30's. I'll never understand why Marchand's offensive prowess is underrated here; this team would be a lot worse without him.
 

TFP

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Why is it misleading?
Because he's only 33 and hasn't gone through the end of career decline others have (for the rate stats). I bet if you measured that stat only through players age 33 season there would be a lot more who qualify.

That said, it's still impressive. Just not "only on Gretzky/Mario's level" impressive.
 

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chris hansen of goats
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Because he's only 33 and hasn't gone through the end of career decline others have (for the rate stats). I bet if you measured that stat only through players age 33 season there would be a lot more who qualify.

That said, it's still impressive. Just not "only on Gretzky/Mario's level" impressive.
Yeah this. Perhaps I wasn't clear enough.

And believe me I'm the last one to knock Marchand. He's up there with Ovechkin and Panarin as far as top LW goes.
 

PedroSpecialK

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Does his skate even touch OEL’s leg?

sidenote: OEL was getting bodied by Marchand all night and generally looked pretty far from a top-pairing dman, huge bullet dodged not managing to trade for him
 

Ferm Sheller

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Does his skate even touch OEL’s leg?

sidenote: OEL was getting bodied by Marchand all night and generally looked pretty far from a top-pairing dman, huge bullet dodged not managing to trade for him
His right knee comes up and makes contact with OEL's right hamstring. It's not particularly egregious and it probably wasn't intentional, but it does fall within the definition of a slew-foot.
 

BostonFanInCanesLand

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At least he will “have a hearing today” instead of being told he’ll have “an in-person hearing via Zoom” (like B.LeMieux). So more likely to be a fine or a 1-3 game suspension.
 

burstnbloom

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Judging by the way they've handled Subban this season I'm guessing it's not more than a $5k fine.
I wish I had this kind of faith in consistency. I'm betting on their inconsistency and saying 3 games.

It's not a traditional slew-foot by any stretch of the imagination. OEL doesn't go down because of contact with the leg, he goes down because Marchand is stronger than him, but he does go back over the leg and that's kinda shitty. Going to be a long week without him.
 

kenneycb

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The one thing going for Marchand (and I'm going off memory and the Athletic article, so please correct me) is that he hasn't been in front of DoPS for a couple years so his "repeat offender" clock should have been reset.
 

cshea

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I believe that only comes into play for fines, but I could be wrong. It's hard to untangle the web DoPS has spun with when/how certain standards apply.
 

burstnbloom

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The one thing going for Marchand (and I'm going off memory and the Athletic article, so please correct me) is that he hasn't been in front of DoPS for a couple years so his "repeat offender" clock should have been reset.
It has also been inconsistently applied. They say they dont use it to determine whether an infraction happened or not, but once they do - they take into account the player's history. It's going to be a problem.
 

cshea

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Blidh is out for tomorrow and "could be a little longer."

View: https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1465361695031836673?s=20


DeBrusk and Haula would go back in with Blidh and maybe Marchand out. Don't think they need to dip into the Covid squad down in Providence yet, unless there's another unknown injury.

Hall - Bergeron - Pastrnak
DeBrusk - Coyle - Smith
Frederic - Haula - Foligno
Lazar - Nosek - Kuhlman

Something like that? Also, woooofff.
 

cshea

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Rask is back with the gang, though still hasn't been signed. He worked out with Goalie Bob, Ullmark and Swayman today and appears to be ramping up. Cassidy said Rask is at or ahead of schedule, and he was originally told January/February (which essentially means March) for a return.

We'll see how it plays out here.
 

Cotillion

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Ummm... okay... so any slewfoot should be 3 games going forward? right... right...

(insert Padme/Anakin meme)
 

locknload

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It's marchand. It was never going to be less than three. He doesn't get treated nearly the same way any other player in the league does.

I also think the NHL hates me I have tickets to Saturday night's game so they couldn't just do a two-game suspension and a large fine
 

durandal1707

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I mean, I'm not surprised. The National Headass League strikes again. That this gets three games while the kid gloves come out for Tom Wilson trying to decapitate people is par for the course.
 

Salem's Lot

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I mean, I'm not surprised. The National Headass League strikes again. That this gets three games while the kid gloves come out for Tom Wilson trying to decapitate people is par for the course.
Tom Wilson didn’t lick a Maple Leaf player on HNIC, and thereby insulting the man hood of all proud Canadians.

46838
 

burstnbloom

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I wish I had this kind of faith in consistency. I'm betting on their inconsistency and saying 3 games.

It's not a traditional slew-foot by any stretch of the imagination. OEL doesn't go down because of contact with the leg, he goes down because Marchand is stronger than him, but he does go back over the leg and that's kinda shitty. Going to be a long week without him.
should have bet.
 

Myt1

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Hahahaha. Best left winger in the league is out for three games on that.

Edit: “Speed heading toward the boards”!
 

Cotillion

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What’s even worse is we’ve now reset his “repeat offender clock”. So he’ll be even more heavily penalized the next time they decide to wheel out the Brad Marchand double standard.
 

cshea

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Zboril last night:

15:16 at 5x5
18-3 attempts
14-2 shots
8-1 scoring chances
2-1 high danger chances
87% xGF

He's only played 9 games and gets favorable assignments, but he leads the D in CF%, SF%, SCF%, xGF% so far. It's been a shit show of a season, but Zboril remains a bright spot.

Of course Clifton shouldn't be the one losing ice time to Zboril, but that's a separate conversation.
 

burstnbloom

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Do we know who the Providence Bruins are that have covid? I would like to see Studnicka play with the big club.
It doesn't really matter which players have it right now, they aren't bringing anyone up out of an abundance of caution. Sweeney said Prov. wasn't an option to bolster the roster in yesterday's press conference.
 

cshea

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No clue other than a lot of players and staff have it. Sweeney said yesterday that calling a player up from Providence was not an option. Even a currently negative player could be carrying it and it would be incredibly dumb to bring that into the NHL locker room (one which may already have covid issues).

The current roster is what they'll have to live with. Looks like Providence is locked down through the weekend at a minimum so the Bruins have to survive the next 2 games with what they've got. The only extra skater is Connor Clifton until Marchand is freed after Saturday's game. I have no clue what would happen if they lost 2 skaters before tomorrow or Saturday's game.
 

ColdSoxPack

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No clue other than a lot of players and staff have it. Sweeney said yesterday that calling a player up from Providence was not an option. Even a currently negative player could be carrying it and it would be incredibly dumb to bring that into the NHL locker room (one which may already have covid issues).

The current roster is what they'll have to live with. Looks like Providence is locked down through the weekend at a minimum so the Bruins have to survive the next 2 games with what they've got. The only extra skater is Connor Clifton until Marchand is freed after Saturday's game. I have no clue what would happen if they lost 2 skaters before tomorrow or Saturday's game.
Ouch. So we play Nashville and Tampa with this lineup. Terrific.
 

RedOctober3829

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If they're still spinning their wheels around the deadline, it's certainly not worth spending assets to add to this team. In fact, a case may be made to sell in order to recoup assets to rebuild the team. It would pain me to do so, but I would try to see what the market would be for Patrice Bergeron and also guys with cheap term left like Craig Smith and Nick Foligno. Trading Bergeron would be a very tough sell to the fanbase, but if he doesn't know if he's coming back next year and you could get a useful young player/picks for him it would be irresponsible on Sweeney's part not to explore it. The big prize would be Pasta as he's got 1 more year left before he needs a monster deal. I would not look to trade him, but if you're overwhelmed with an offer for him it would be something to think about.

Going forward, the worst place a team can be is in mediocrity. Is a team with a mid-30's Marchand, Pasta and McAvoy as cornerstones enough to compete year in, year out for Cups or do they strip it down to the studs and rebuild around McAvoy? Do we even trust Sweeney and Neely to try to rebuild this team given what has transpired in drafting/developing?
 

ColdSoxPack

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If they're still spinning their wheels around the deadline, it's certainly not worth spending assets to add to this team. In fact, a case may be made to sell in order to recoup assets to rebuild the team. It would pain me to do so, but I would try to see what the market would be for Patrice Bergeron and also guys with cheap term left like Craig Smith and Nick Foligno. Trading Bergeron would be a very tough sell to the fanbase, but if he doesn't know if he's coming back next year and you could get a useful young player/picks for him it would be irresponsible on Sweeney's part not to explore it. The big prize would be Pasta as he's got 1 more year left before he needs a monster deal. I would not look to trade him, but if you're overwhelmed with an offer for him it would be something to think about.

Going forward, the worst place a team can be is in mediocrity. Is a team with a mid-30's Marchand, Pasta and McAvoy as cornerstones enough to compete year in, year out for Cups or do they strip it down to the studs and rebuild around McAvoy? Do we even trust Sweeney and Neely to try to rebuild this team given what has transpired in drafting/developing?
Good points. Does Neely have what it takes to fire Sweeney? I don't think Charlie Jacobs has the balls to fire Neely. Do you agree these changes aren't happening? If not, mediocrity is a likely destination. I keep imagining the Bruins with Lou Lamoriello running the ship. A ship that has sailed I'm sure.
 

Salem's Lot

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Unless Bergeron asks to get traded to a contender for one last run Ray Bourque style, they are not trading him IMO.

I also question how much of a desire that Neely has to sit through a rebuild. It wouldn’t shock me at all if he resigns if they miss the playoffs and Bergeron retires.

I would absolutely dangle Pastrnak if I had any faith that these guys could make a trade for a king’s ransom of futures, and then actually pick the right guys or develop those futures. We are currently seeing the results from the last time that these guys traded veterans for futures. The either picked the wrong guys, or screwed up their development. So while it might be the right move, I don’t want these guys to do it.

So until they know what Bergeron will do in the off-season, and unless ownership comes in and fires everyone (which will not happen), it’s going to be status quo at the deadline. They will be hanging around the playoffs because there are a lot of bad teams, and Sweeney will add a couple of depth pieces while trading picks that he probably would have screwed up anyway, or prospects that no one cares about.
 

cshea

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Good points. Does Neely have what it takes to fire Sweeney? I don't think Charlie Jacobs has the balls to fire Neely. Do you agree these changes aren't happening? If not, mediocrity is a likely destination. I keep imagining the Bruins with Lou Lamoriello running the ship. A ship that has sailed I'm sure.
I don't want Sweeney leading a rebuild. If that's where they are headed, he should be out. Throughout his tenure he's been a tinker on the margins guy, not guy who can acquire and build up a new core. The only elite player he's ever added is McAvoy. Everyone else was inherited. Bergeron, Marchand, Pastrnak, Krejci, Chara, Krug, Rask. The problems that ail the team today are the same problems that have ailed the team for the last 5 years, really. You can go through transactions one by one and he'd probably come out OK, but on the whole the inability to solve the depth problem year after year is a very bad mark on his resume. We're kind of in the position we're in because he hasn't been able to add elite talent and has also failed to properly supplement the elite talent he already had.

I'm not sure what to make of Neely. I don't think Neely is as involved in hockey operations as the public perception of the situation seems to be. I think he's kept in the loop, he is the boss after all, but he's given full control to Sweeney and does not meddle in hockey ops decisions.
 

RedOctober3829

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I don't want Sweeney leading a rebuild. If that's where they are headed, he should be out. Throughout his tenure he's been a tinker on the margins guy, not guy who can acquire and build up a new core. The only elite player he's ever added is McAvoy. Everyone else was inherited. Bergeron, Marchand, Pastrnak, Krejci, Chara, Krug, Rask. The problems that ail the team today are the same problems that have ailed the team for the last 5 years, really. You can go through transactions one by one and he'd probably come out OK, but on the whole the inability to solve the depth problem year after year is a very bad mark on his resume. We're kind of in the position we're in because he hasn't been able to add elite talent and has also failed to properly supplement the elite talent he already had.

I'm not sure what to make of Neely. I don't think Neely is as involved in hockey operations as the public perception of the situation seems to be. I think he's kept in the loop, he is the boss after all, but he's given full control to Sweeney and does not meddle in hockey ops decisions.
Hockey ops still falls under his watch, so I would think(or hope at least) both would be out if a change is made.
 

cshea

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Hockey ops still falls under his watch, so I would think(or hope at least) both would be out if a change is made.
That's fair, but he's also in charge of the the business side of the house, which appears to be pretty succesful.

This may be a bad comparison, I'm not as well versed in the Red Sox front office, but feels like Cam is more Sam Kennedy than Larry Lucchino. Sam's a business dude, Larry was a baseball meddling President.
 

RedOctober3829

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That's fair, but he's also in charge of the the business side of the house, which appears to be pretty succesful.

This may be a bad comparison, I'm not as well versed in the Red Sox front office, but feels like Cam is more Sam Kennedy than Larry Lucchino. Sam's a business dude, Larry was a baseball meddling President.
I think that's a fair comparison, but Sam is also not a HOFer as Cam is in his sport. I would think he would be more in on what's going on in hockey ops than Sam is in baseball ops. I don't think Cam necessarily meddles, but I would think Sweeney would bounce ideas off of Cam as Cam has a good sense of what might work or what might not.
 

cshea

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Yeah, sure. Cam is the president of the team so I'm sure he's aware of what's going on and provides his input. Similarly, I'm sure Sweeney weighs Cam's feedback appropriately when decision making, butultiamtely my belief is that Sweeney has the final say on hockey decisions.

Popular opinion is that both need to go if changes are made. I'm not sure that's entirely the case if Cam's not as involved in the hockey side as the perception is. I think the real question would be if Cam's the right guy to pick the new GM. Cam won the power struggle with Chiarelli and got his guy Sweeney in to run things. Sweeney's tenure has mostly been positive, and I think on the whole you can chalk it up as a good hire by Cam. Is he capable of picking a new GM to lead them through a rebuild?
 

lexrageorge

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The only times Sweeney has traded a notable veteran player for futures were the Milan Lucic and Dougie Hamilton trades. The Lucic trade was a smart one, dodged a bullet, really. Biggest problems with those trades were the draftees picked as a result; the trades themselves were fair value for the players involved. So I'd say his record there is incomplete.

I thought the draft scouting department was revamped after the 2015 draft fiasco.