2022-23 Bruins Season

FL4WL3SS

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The result of this stretch will likely tell us whether this is a record-breaking regular season or "merely" a great one.
It's not as tough of a stretch as folks are making it seem. Playing in Montreal is always tough, but they suck this year and Florida is not as good as they have been. Carolina and Toronto are obviously good, but I'd also argue that the lighting are as beatable as they have been in years.
 

cshea

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I worry that they are looking for a lhd with how much love forbort gets. They certainly seem to value him far more than they should but if they want a lhd doesn’t it make sense they are doing it to “upgrade” gryz? That would be a mistake.
Yeah, it took me by surprise when I listened to the podcast and Friedman threw it out there.

I don't know where an LHD acquisition would fit in. Lindholm/Grzelyck/Forbort are pretty firmly entrenched as the top 3 plus they have Zboril and Reilly as depth. If anything, I thought a righty depth guy a la Josh Brown might be of interest to them since they are thinner on the right. The depth there is basically Stralman than kicking Zboril or Reilly over to the right.
 

burstnbloom

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Yeah, it took me by surprise when I listened to the podcast and Friedman threw it out there.

I don't know where an LHD acquisition would fit in. Lindholm/Grzelyck/Forbort are pretty firmly entrenched as the top 3 plus they have Zboril and Reilly as depth. If anything, I thought a righty depth guy a la Josh Brown might be of interest to them since they are thinner on the right. The depth there is basically Stralman than kicking Zboril or Reilly over to the right.
The only way LHD really makes sense is if its to push Forbort out of the lineup and I dont know if its worth the opportunity cost to upgrade the easiest 14 minutes at 5v5. It's hard to understand. I agree some RHD depth would be really useful. They are perilously thing on the right side.
 

McDrew

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The B's have scored 41-63-68-3 goals by period (1-2-3-ot) this season. I think their clear strategy is to get sustained offensive zone time to tire the opponent out with multiple shots per zone entry and then capitalize on mistakes. The significant increase in movement by the D compared to last year also helps that.

Is there a way to look up "goals scored by someone not on the ice when the puck entered the offensive zone"? I feel like with the Bruins there have been a number of goals where they've managed to get a line change in after zone entry and someone off the bench ends up scoring.

Alternatively is there an "average zone time when scoring a goal" stat?
 

Chainsaw318

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Montgomery’s willingness to mix the lines as soon as the 2nd draws my attention, and seems rare for my memory of mostly B’s teams?

Pastrnak got shifts with Bergeron and Marchand early, then rotated back to his own line, while I think we had a shift or two of Hall, Coyle and Foligno, which is a combo that interests me, as Coyle and Hall can possess and skate, and Foligno can cash in chances around the net.

Though when Nosek is back, maybe you stick with the 4th line of Nosek-Foligno-?, as that combo has been very productive.
 

IdiotKicker

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Yeah it seems like almost every game we're seeing line shifts throughout the game if things aren't working. I think one of the underrated positives in this approach is that from a mental standpoint, it doesn't make a line change an indictment of a specific player or line. It's just - "Hey, we're always looking for an edge, and so if we can generate good matchups by moving things around each game, we're willing to do so." It also makes a move down the lineup into less of a permanent thing, as there are plenty of opportunities to still play with guys higher in the lineup later in the game or in subsequent games. No one gets banished to the third line, never to be heard from again. Cassidy occasionally did this stuff, but it was mostly reserved for the playoffs when thin scoring required them to move a bunch of players around under 63-37-88. From my memory, Claude was even more rigid.
 

joe dokes

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Yeah it seems like almost every game we're seeing line shifts throughout the game if things aren't working. I think one of the underrated positives in this approach is that from a mental standpoint, it doesn't make a line change an indictment of a specific player or line. It's just - "Hey, we're always looking for an edge, and so if we can generate good matchups by moving things around each game, we're willing to do so." It also makes a move down the lineup into less of a permanent thing, as there are plenty of opportunities to still play with guys higher in the lineup later in the game or in subsequent games. No one gets banished to the third line, never to be heard from again. Cassidy occasionally did this stuff, but it was mostly reserved for the playoffs when thin scoring required them to move a bunch of players around under 63-37-88. From my memory, Claude was even more rigid.
Sometimes, it's hard for me to distinguish an actual line switch or just a post-PK odd combo, since Krejci, Hall and Pastrnak dont play much PK. But considering how often I;ve seen Montgomery talking about it, it's more likely an actual switch for a few shifts.
 

cshea

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He doesn't switch lines as much as it looks like. Essentially what he does is doube shift Pastrnak. That sometimes leads to a trickle down if one of those shifts goes long. Since 88 has been split from the top line, Montgomery will send 88 out with 63 and 37 situationally, like after an opposition icing. It's basically the nuclear line. And in fairness, Cassidy did this too. 88's TOI at 5x5 is usually always higher than 63 or 37. It's just for the bulk of Cassidy's tenure it wasn't as noticeable because he was double shifting him off of the top line, not on to it.

They essentially played last night with 5 lines.

Marchand - Bergeron - Smith
Marchand - Bergeron - Pastrnak
Zacha - Krejci - Pastrnak
Hall - Coyle - Frederic
Foligno - Koppanen - Greer
 

kenneycb

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Once again shows that hockey players are the best. Down to earth and willing to offer more than just standard professional athlete speak.
I’d argue hockey players are the worst of all with athlete speak and, at least until recently, have been encouraged to not have a personality.

Get the puck deep and establish the forecheck. Get pucks on the net and good things will happen. Etc.
 

Ferm Sheller

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Bergeron's on pace for over 30 goals and he's finished top 3 for the Selke the past dozen seasons, winning it again last year for 5th time. I think he's taking it year-to-year and will be back next year.
 
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jbupstate

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I’d argue hockey players are the worst of all with athlete speak and, at least until recently, have been encouraged to not have a personality.

Get the puck deep and establish the forecheck. Get pucks on the net and good things will happen. Etc.
Maybe you’re right regarding the intermission interview. My comment is more influenced by bumping in to Boston athletes away from the cameras. Bobby Orr is one of the top 5 nicest people I’ve ever met. As a kid in the early mid 80s a group of friends would go behind the old Garden by the long ramp to get autographs. The Bruins were always super nice and stop the cars to chat. Exception was Milbury who drove a beat up car, maybe a Pinto, who would accelerate to get us out of the way.
 

Cotillion

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Bergeron's on pace for over 30 goals and he's finished top 3 for the Selke the past dozen seasons, winning it again last year for 5th time. I think he's taking it year-to-year and will be back next year.
I could see him retiring if he wins the Cup...
 

jcaz

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I was looking for tickets for the Bs in Buffalo. The resale market was stupid expensive. I called the group sales and was able to buy 10 at face value and then sell the extras. Might be worth looking into that rather than getting beat up by ticketmaster.
 

The Napkin

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right here
fwiw Section 24, Row T, seats 1-2 are roughly equivalent to where our seats are and are listed at $300 which is pretty inline with what ours would go for. Seats in our area have gone for $4-500 each lately.
Bruins are a hot ass ticket right now.
 

tonyandpals

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Before you buy anything on TM hit me up. I can get stuff on there w/ less of a fee. That goes for all games/events/concerts.
 

BaseballJones

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One of the "tough" games down, ho hum.

Given good injury luck, this team is unstoppable.
And good puck luck, because you know in a seven game series, crazy things can - and often do - happen. That's what I'm most worried about.
 

FL4WL3SS

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And good puck luck, because you know in a seven game series, crazy things can - and often do - happen. That's what I'm most worried about.
That seems like an inane thing to worry about. I mean, at most any team is going to have maybe a 60/40 chance of winning against the worst playoff team. Great teams will and do lose in the playoffs. Just gotta let the games play out.

It would only be unfortunate if they couldn't ice their complete team throughout the playoffs as has been the case in years past. I do think, though, that Monty's system is way less demanding physically than Claude's and Butch's, so I'm optimistic that they can remain healthy.
 

OfTheCarmen

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Before you buy anything on TM hit me up. I can get stuff on there w/ less of a fee. That goes for all games/events/concerts.
Tony aint kidding about this. He helped me out and saved me something like $80+ in fees on 3 tickets.
 

locknload

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I’d argue hockey players are the worst of all with athlete speak and, at least until recently, have been encouraged to not have a personality.

Get the puck deep and establish the forecheck. Get pucks on the net and good things will happen. Etc.
Its nsfw for I won't post but letterkenny does some solid gold material with this.
 

joe dokes

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I see Frederic got hit in the foot last night and had to leave the game. Down a C and 2 forwards, ASB cant get here soon enough.
 

cshea

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The Lettieri injury might be a sneaky cap problem. Have to keep him on the NHL roster while he's injured. If it's long term than he gan go on LTIR but his salary is kind of negligible ($750,000) so there's not a huge benefit.

Worst case scenario is this isn't a LTIR worthy injury and they have to carry him around for a few weeks. They need to free up about $1.7 million to activate DeBrusk after the break. They probably were always going to waive Smith again to do it but now it's basically certainty.
 

RedOctober3829

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The Lettieri injury might be a sneaky cap problem. Have to keep him on the NHL roster while he's injured. If it's long term than he gan go on LTIR but his salary is kind of negligible ($750,000) so there's not a huge benefit.

Worst case scenario is this isn't a LTIR worthy injury and they have to carry him around for a few weeks. They need to free up about $1.7 million to activate DeBrusk after the break. They probably were always going to waive Smith again to do it but now it's basically certainty.
I wonder if they will make a trade to shed salary before they activate DeBrusk next week. Reilly for a pick?
 

cshea

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I wonder if they will make a trade to shed salary before they activate DeBrusk next week. Reilly for a pick?
I don't think so. They don't really need to trade them, they can do the Providence thing and be cap compliant.

Historically, Sweeney has put the cap dump into the deadline trade. My guess is that's the most likely outcome for Smith and Reilly. They'll be used as salary if the Bruins bring someone in at the deadline. If they don't, they'll stick them in Providence and then they'll be up in the playoffs when the cap is gone. They'd be the depth. I think they value that depth enough that they aren't going to just clear the salary off now and hope something materializes later.
 

RedOctober3829

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I don't think so. They don't really need to trade them, they can do the Providence thing and be cap compliant.

Historically, Sweeney has put the cap dump into the deadline trade. My guess is that's the most likely outcome for Smith and Reilly. They'll be used as salary if the Bruins bring someone in at the deadline. If they don't, they'll stick them in Providence and then they'll be up in the playoffs when the cap is gone. They'd be the depth. I think they value that depth enough that they aren't going to just clear the salary off now and hope something materializes later.
If they waive Smith, how much comes off their books each time they do it?
 

cshea

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If he clears and is assigned to Providence, a little more than $1 million in AAV. Not sure what the daily number is.

The first time they waived him they basically spent a couple of weeks papering him down to the AHL on offdays and recalled him on game days. The purpose of that was to accrue cap space on off days. Then DeBrusk got hurt and they went into LTIR again and you can't accrue cap space while in LTIR so they didn't do it (plus they needed him with DeBrusk injured). They probably have to waive and demote him again to get compliant but they're close enough to the deadline now that it's not going to be all that impactful overall. The deadline is going to be dollar in dollar out.

We'll see what happens with the Lettieri injury and fall out. They need to move $1.7 million to be able to activate DeBrusk. Lauko's $764,500 and Lettieri's $750,000 (either waived or on LTIR) gets them just about there but not quite. They also haven't done anything with Nosek yet so depending on his timeline they could retro-LTIR him too. IIRC, his timeline was borderline for using LTIR but maybe something they could do short-term. This still probably all ends with Smith back on waivers and eventually in Providence.
 

RedOctober3829

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If he clears and is assigned to Providence, a little more than $1 million in AAV. Not sure what the daily number is.

The first time they waived him they basically spent a couple of weeks papering him down to the AHL on offdays and recalled him on game days. The purpose of that was to accrue cap space on off days. Then DeBrusk got hurt and they went into LTIR again and you can't accrue cap space while in LTIR so they didn't do it (plus they needed him with DeBrusk injured). They probably have to waive and demote him again to get compliant but they're close enough to the deadline now that it's not going to be all that impactful overall. The deadline is going to be dollar in dollar out.

We'll see what happens with the Lettieri injury and fall out. They need to move $1.7 million to be able to activate DeBrusk. Lauko's $764,500 and Lettieri's $750,000 (either waived or on LTIR) gets them just about there but not quite. They also haven't done anything with Nosek yet so depending on his timeline they could retro-LTIR him too. IIRC, his timeline was borderline for using LTIR but maybe something they could do short-term. This still probably all ends with Smith back on waivers and eventually in Providence.
Interesting, thanks. I am not as up on the inner workings of the NHL salary cap as you are.
 

tims4wins

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Why do the Bruins get a 10 day break (they play their final game before the ASG tomorrow and then don’t play again until Saturday 2/11) while some teams are immediately back in action on Monday 2/6? Seems like a scheduling screw up.
 

durandal1707

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Why do the Bruins get a 10 day break (they play their final game before the ASG tomorrow and then don’t play again until Saturday 2/11) while some teams are immediately back in action on Monday 2/6? Seems like a scheduling screw up.
The NHL has been doing bye weeks mid-season for the past few years now, but this time has made sure to center them around the ASG. If you look at the teams playing on the 6th, they're not playing this week.