I'm actually surprised they didn't qualify Boqvist. I get they have a gluttony of bottom six forwards, but he seemed at least to me somewhat productive. Granted he's terrible at the dot, but his possession numbers weren't bad and he was somewhat physical.
2024 Bruins Off Season News - Everyone Else But the Center
- Thread starter TSC
- Start date
There is no real rush. Ideally don’t want to go to arbitration again but that’s a month or two off, if either side even files. If he signs an offer sheet, the Bruins have the cap space to match.
Thank you for the reminder. Guessing they are just waiting so they have as much space as possible to shop tomorrow?
While I think you're right - I hope you're wrong.
I'm not sold on Lindholm being worth 1C money, and the last thing the Bruins need is another slow, offensively limited "tough" defenseman.
My wish list for FA today:
Stamkos
Bertuzzi
Schmidt
And then I'd love to see them make a run at Nate Robinson or Nazem Kadri as trade targets.
I could be wrong but I don't think they're going to push much for Stamkos. He's played more wing than center the past few seasons and they've been pretty direct in saying they want strength down the middle. I'm not sure if they'd view Stamkos as acenter or winger these days. If it is center, maybe that is also his preference Bruins can offer him that but we'll see. Another hurdle is the PP fit is awkward. Half of Stamkos' goals and points last season came on the PP, primarily from the left elbow where he's played his entire career, probably the second best player there over the past 15 years behind Ovechkin. That's also Pastrnak's spot, who is probably the premier guy at that spot now. So, someone would have to move and then there might be diminishing effectiveness. They are also both righties so moving one of them to the right takes away that one-timer. It may sound like a good problem to have but I also think about how everyone thought the Penguins PP would be a machine after adding Karlsson to Crosby, Letang and Malkin but it ended up being a tire fire because they had to shoehorn Karlsson in and move everyone around to new spots.
There's enough PP time (lol) to go around. You put Pasta on PP1, and Stammer on PP2. Stammer is 34 and probably knows that he's not going to be the premier offensive focus to whatever team he goes to. You've got Stammer going against most teams 2nd PK unit and maybe your powerplay becomes a strength again.
One of the more underdiscussed anomalies of last season was Pasta's struggles on the PP 2nd half of year into the playoffs.
I heard he had 1PP goal the last 40+ games including well into the playoffs. Has there been any analysis on what happened there, was he purely snake-bitten, did teams start defending him differently? Did he start holding his stick too tightly?
He obviously has a very strong track record of success on the PP and I hadn't noticed that he had been that cold until it was brought up in the national broadcast during one of the FL games, still 1G in 40+ games is startling.
If it is a system issue Stamkos isn't going to help much since he gives you exactly what Pasta does, likely not as effective at his advanced age, if it was more of a Pasta issue perhaps Stamkos could give him a breather now and then when he gets in a funk?
I'm not really sure there is enough time? Pastrnak is basically on the ice for both units. The Bruins had 402 total PP minutes this year (regular season) and Pasta was on the ice for 311 minutes of it, 77%. I get dropping to like 50/50 but these are two premier players and among their greatest powers is the PP and reducing time for both doesn't seem like an effective way to maximize their value.
I'm not saying I would cross Stamkos off the list just because of it but I can see it being something the Bruins are concerned about. It may also be an issue/question Stamkos asks them if they do come calling. Where do I fit in, what is my usage. Would he rather go to Boston and play less PP/on the 2nd unit or go somewhere like Detroit or Nashville where he can continue to be PP king?
He had a dip in shots and a dip in shooting percentage which is a bad combo. His points per 60 on the PP was comparable to the prior year. 6.74 this year to 7.09 last year (FWIW Stamkos was 7.75).
I think there were some system things. This was the first year without Bergeron in the bumper which opened up more room. I think as the season wore on the Bruins started to try and force feed Pastrnak too much and teams were over committing to him.
Some lower on the board options I like:
Jeff Skinner. Can still score, good off the rush winger. Never played in the playoffs despite being in the league forever. May come cheap since he's collecting the buyout money from Buffalo. The GM that signed him to the huge deal in Buffalo is now in Seattle and they need socre too so not sure.
Jonathan Marchessault. Maybe now "lower, " He may be too pricey if the Bruins spend on Lindholm and Zadorov or comparables. Can still put the puck in the net, would add RW depth behind Pastrnak.
Jeff Skinner. Can still score, good off the rush winger. Never played in the playoffs despite being in the league forever. May come cheap since he's collecting the buyout money from Buffalo. The GM that signed him to the huge deal in Buffalo is now in Seattle and they need socre too so not sure.
Jonathan Marchessault. Maybe now "lower, " He may be too pricey if the Bruins spend on Lindholm and Zadorov or comparables. Can still put the puck in the net, would add RW depth behind Pastrnak.
Friedman joins the chorous predicting Lindholm and Zadorov to Boston today.
https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/a-collection-of-thoughts-and-predictions-as-nhl-signing-season-kicks-off/
Edit: He also has Jake to Seattle
https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/a-collection-of-thoughts-and-predictions-as-nhl-signing-season-kicks-off/
Edit: He also has Jake to Seattle
It would be frustrating to go into July 1 with a glaring need to generate more offense at 5v5 and spent ~ $13m on guys turning 30 that don't do that at all. I fully expect those to be their moves as well though.
I'd much rather have Brady Skjei at that kind of money than Zadorov. Skjei can play the back end on the PP better than McAvoy can. That top 4 all of a sudden would have a lot of offense especially if Lohrei continues his development from what we saw in the postseason. Zadorov is certainly big and can be a tone-setter, but he loses his mind and commits a ton of penalties.
Looks like Grz to Pittsburgh. Dave Quinn is there as an assistant and was Grzelyck's coach at BU.
View: https://twitter.com/JoshYohe_PGH/status/1807773747148923103
View: https://twitter.com/JoshYohe_PGH/status/1807773747148923103
I like Lindholm and feel he fits their system and team well. I mostly expect him to do better here than he did in Vancouver, and likely get back to his Calgary numbers.
I don’t feel the same way about Zadorov, but he’s not being added to provide offense. I will probably talk myself into it after a few days if they do it, but right now he just seems like an expensive version of Forbort.
Lindholm has been on the decline and his numbers were vastly inflated when he was playing with Tkachuk and Gaudreau as his wingers. He'll help in the sense that he's a center and almost anything would be considered an upgrade over what they currently have but I don't think he's basically another Coyle (again not horrible) but they're going to pay him top of the market.
Zadorov...he's big and physical. People will like that. However he takes a lot of penalties and mobility, transition and puck movement are not his thing. He probably has to play with McAvoy because I don't think Zadorov/Carlo would work due to the aformentioned puck movement issues. That leaves Lohrei - Peeke for the 3rd pair with Wotherspoon as the 7th guy. Basically all 3 pairings would be stay-at-home guys with a mover and shaker.
Zadorov...he's big and physical. People will like that. However he takes a lot of penalties and mobility, transition and puck movement are not his thing. He probably has to play with McAvoy because I don't think Zadorov/Carlo would work due to the aformentioned puck movement issues. That leaves Lohrei - Peeke for the 3rd pair with Wotherspoon as the 7th guy. Basically all 3 pairings would be stay-at-home guys with a mover and shaker.
But he was brutal in Calgary this year too. He was middling at best last year. The only time he ever put up good 5v5 impacts was when his linemates were all world players. I know the response is to put him with Pasta but Pasta wins in a different way than Matthew does, and that line was barely positive by xG% this year. I don't see Lindholm as the kind of player who can fix that problem.
Zadorov feels like a pretty poor fit, imo. He gets a lot of pub because he's outspoken and he hits like a truck, but he doesn't really PK much, I don't think he can handle the matchups McAvoy gets (and he's been terrible against top competition) and if you put him with Carlo, its difficult to imagine the puck ever coming out of the zone. I do like him on a third pair because against Forbort level deployment, I think he's an asset, but they have Peeke on that pair and those two together has a chance to be a massive black hole.
It just doesn't feel like a great plan and that they have taken the absolute wrong lessons out of their results last season.
We all have to keep in mind that this front office never leaks anything. All this stuff on Lindholm & Zadorov is coming from agents.
I don’t think it’s a slam dunk that these are the actual targets. They very well could be, or the agents could be trying to leverage some other teams. We really don’t know anything yet.
I don’t think it’s a slam dunk that these are the actual targets. They very well could be, or the agents could be trying to leverage some other teams. We really don’t know anything yet.
Nothing new - but reiterating something we already know:
View: https://twitter.com/frank_seravalli/status/1807795110874100107?s=46
View: https://twitter.com/frank_seravalli/status/1807795110874100107?s=46
New rumor! Dreger links us to Jonathan Drouin.
View: https://twitter.com/DarrenDreger/status/1807802259364811165
View: https://twitter.com/DarrenDreger/status/1807802259364811165
Bruins are opening the season up at Florida for their banner night on October 8th and open up at home on October 10th vs. Montreal.
Would love to circle back on Rutger McGroarty acquisition. That would be 'aggressive'.
B's sign Max Jones.
I'll be honest, hadn't heard of him until they announced he signed. 26 year old winger, 250ish games played with Anaheim.
View: https://twitter.com/NHLBruins/status/1807828159858970792
I'll be honest, hadn't heard of him until they announced he signed. 26 year old winger, 250ish games played with Anaheim.
View: https://twitter.com/NHLBruins/status/1807828159858970792
Former 1st round reach, Max Jones.
He has some offensive skill but he's never been able to put it together in the NHL. Fourth line forechecker - big chris wagner?
2-years, $1 million AAV. Buryable.
View: https://twitter.com/conroyherald/status/1807830655528493440
View: https://twitter.com/conroyherald/status/1807830655528493440
Another depth signing, Riley Tufte. Former first round pick of Dallas in 2016, AHL fodder now.
View: https://twitter.com/NHLBruins/status/1807846313264123991
View: https://twitter.com/NHLBruins/status/1807846313264123991
As a BU grad, Grz was always one of my favorite Bruins. Bad luck with injuries, but a solid depth D option. Wish him all the best.
As of right now....$10.21 million left on the cap per BruinsCapSpace on X. Does not include a Swayman contract. Say Swayman is $8 million AAV. That does not leave much room at all to tinker with getting a wing with scoring ability.
Zacha-E. Lindholm-Pastrnak
Marchand-Coyle-Geekie
Frederic-Poitras-Brazeau
Beecher-Kastelic-M. Jones
Zadorov-McAvoy
H. Lindholm-Carlo
Lohrei-Peeke
Swayman
Korpo
Zacha-E. Lindholm-Pastrnak
Marchand-Coyle-Geekie
Frederic-Poitras-Brazeau
Beecher-Kastelic-M. Jones
Zadorov-McAvoy
H. Lindholm-Carlo
Lohrei-Peeke
Swayman
Korpo
Was literally coming here to say this.
Signing him would go a long way to replacing what was lost with DeBrusk leaving.
Was just thinking the same thing. You could probably do a lot worse than him at this point.
Skinner has played 14 years in the NHL without ever making the playoffs, I'd imagine playing for a good team would be appealing. He's also getting buyout money from Buffalo so perhaps the contract ask is low. There are ways to make it work. The Bruins also have a depth chart at his position he might look favorably upon.
That said, there's probably like 10 teams thinking the same thing.
Edit: I'd also add Pacioretty in there. Had a decent year once he was healthy. 35+ so they can keep the AAV down and go bonus' with him.
That said, there's probably like 10 teams thinking the same thing.
Edit: I'd also add Pacioretty in there. Had a decent year once he was healthy. 35+ so they can keep the AAV down and go bonus' with him.
B's done, Sweeney said they aren't adding anyone on the wing. Lysell/others to compete.
(FWIW he said last week they were preparing to call Lysell up last year when Lysell got hurt)
View: https://twitter.com/_TyAnderson/status/1807877220972589137
(FWIW he said last week they were preparing to call Lysell up last year when Lysell got hurt)
View: https://twitter.com/_TyAnderson/status/1807877220972589137
I believe Lysell will be a big part of next year’s forward calculus. Maybe even riding with fellow countryman and potential mentor Lindholm.
If they want a mentor riding with the young guys, play Marchand with Poitras & Lysell. Coyle centers the 3rd line.
Some final thoughts.
Marchand - Lindholm - Pastrnak
Zacha - Coyle - Lysell/Merkulov
Frederic - Poitras - Geekie
Beecher - Kastelic - Jones
Brazeau
Zadorov - McAvoy
Lindholm - Carlo
Lohrei - Peeke
Wotherspoon
Swayman
Korpisalo
That seems about what they are envisioning for their opening night roster, though you always allow for a surprise or two (Sweeney has mentioned Riley Duran's name a few times in addition to Lysell and Merkulov).
Elias Lindholm scares me more than Zadorov. The more I look and read into Zadorov, the better the fit I think he is. He's more mobile than I thought and is good at breakouts and surpressing entries. Add in the physical element and I think he'll really work well with McAvoy. They've never really found a comfortable partner for McAvoy. The analytics were good with Grzelyck (prior to this year) but they got spooked by teams dumping into Grzelyck's corner and forechecking on him. It's a little different now if the Tkachuk's and the Bennett's of the world want to dump it in on Zadorov. Lohrei played well in the playoffs with McAvoy but sheltering him down on the 3rd pair/2nd PP is a better development path for him and also takes some heat off McAvoy.
We'll see how Elias Lindholm performs. There's some sound reasoning behind signing him but the term scares me. Fropm himself to Sweeney, everyone admits he had a down year (or two). Betting 7 years that he'll regain his higer end form is risky. Lindholm admitted his situation was weighing on him so here's to hoping the secuirty of a long-term contract plus playing presumably with Pastrnak gets him to raise his game again.
If I had my druthers I probably would've accepted a lesser package from Ottawa and not taken back Korpisalo, using the cap space for a $3-4 million scoring winger. Sweeney's theme was basically that he prioritized C and D because those positions are harder to fill via trade than winger. He's right, they will have plenty of options to trade for a winger at the deadline if necessary, but I still have PTSD from playing in the Stanley Cup Finals with Karson Kuhlman as a top-6 winger. I'm hopefull Lysell can make a jump and it's a bummer he got hurt last year so we didn't get a sneak peak but I'd have prefered a bit more security.
Hard not to notice the size of guys they brought in. Zadorov is 6-6, Kastelic is 6-4, Jones is 6-3. They also signed Riley Tufte who is AHL fodder in all likelyhood but is 6-6. He won't factor in this season but obviously they drafted the 6-7 Dean Letourneau. Among the NHL group aboove, the smallest players are 5-9 Marchand, 5-11 Poitras and 5-10 Lysell.
Marchand - Lindholm - Pastrnak
Zacha - Coyle - Lysell/Merkulov
Frederic - Poitras - Geekie
Beecher - Kastelic - Jones
Brazeau
Zadorov - McAvoy
Lindholm - Carlo
Lohrei - Peeke
Wotherspoon
Swayman
Korpisalo
That seems about what they are envisioning for their opening night roster, though you always allow for a surprise or two (Sweeney has mentioned Riley Duran's name a few times in addition to Lysell and Merkulov).
Elias Lindholm scares me more than Zadorov. The more I look and read into Zadorov, the better the fit I think he is. He's more mobile than I thought and is good at breakouts and surpressing entries. Add in the physical element and I think he'll really work well with McAvoy. They've never really found a comfortable partner for McAvoy. The analytics were good with Grzelyck (prior to this year) but they got spooked by teams dumping into Grzelyck's corner and forechecking on him. It's a little different now if the Tkachuk's and the Bennett's of the world want to dump it in on Zadorov. Lohrei played well in the playoffs with McAvoy but sheltering him down on the 3rd pair/2nd PP is a better development path for him and also takes some heat off McAvoy.
We'll see how Elias Lindholm performs. There's some sound reasoning behind signing him but the term scares me. Fropm himself to Sweeney, everyone admits he had a down year (or two). Betting 7 years that he'll regain his higer end form is risky. Lindholm admitted his situation was weighing on him so here's to hoping the secuirty of a long-term contract plus playing presumably with Pastrnak gets him to raise his game again.
If I had my druthers I probably would've accepted a lesser package from Ottawa and not taken back Korpisalo, using the cap space for a $3-4 million scoring winger. Sweeney's theme was basically that he prioritized C and D because those positions are harder to fill via trade than winger. He's right, they will have plenty of options to trade for a winger at the deadline if necessary, but I still have PTSD from playing in the Stanley Cup Finals with Karson Kuhlman as a top-6 winger. I'm hopefull Lysell can make a jump and it's a bummer he got hurt last year so we didn't get a sneak peak but I'd have prefered a bit more security.
Hard not to notice the size of guys they brought in. Zadorov is 6-6, Kastelic is 6-4, Jones is 6-3. They also signed Riley Tufte who is AHL fodder in all likelyhood but is 6-6. He won't factor in this season but obviously they drafted the 6-7 Dean Letourneau. Among the NHL group aboove, the smallest players are 5-9 Marchand, 5-11 Poitras and 5-10 Lysell.
That's really not a bad opening day lineup IMO. It's light on wingers and the bottom 6 is suspect, but those are manageable problems to handle at the deadline if they like what they see and want to push some chips into the table.
As many have already alluded to, it's a big bet on E Lindholm, but if he can get back to potting 20 goals and putting up 50 points, that goes a long way towards making this team a factor in the postseason.
You guys know wayyy more about hockey than I do.
So the weakness of this team currently is that they need another top 6 winger?
Looks like center and defense have been beefed up to the point where they are both pretty good?
Essentially, Sweeney is placing a lot of eggs in the Lysell bucket?
So the weakness of this team currently is that they need another top 6 winger?
Looks like center and defense have been beefed up to the point where they are both pretty good?
Essentially, Sweeney is placing a lot of eggs in the Lysell bucket?