'24-'25 Bruins Regular Season
- Thread starter cshea
- Start date
Well Hags got his wish and Pastrnak talked to the media today.
https://x.com/globejimmcbride/status/1877790115239727563
"“I’ve never in my life said I don’t want to play with this guy to the coaching staff or management and I never would. I love playing with Marchy. I’ve been playing with him for so long.”
This in response to Rich Keefe on the radio earlier today.
https://x.com/JonesandKeefe/status/1877750397177090339
""The locker room is a disaster, and David Pastrnak is at the center of that. David Pastrnak has told the team he doesn't want to be on a line with Brad Marchand, and it may stem from Brad Marchand calling out Pastrnak for some of his play." Yikes.
The majority of the Boston media sucks and I don't blame a single coach or player treating them with disgust. Bill Belichick handled them the way they deserve.
https://x.com/globejimmcbride/status/1877790115239727563
"“I’ve never in my life said I don’t want to play with this guy to the coaching staff or management and I never would. I love playing with Marchy. I’ve been playing with him for so long.”
This in response to Rich Keefe on the radio earlier today.
https://x.com/JonesandKeefe/status/1877750397177090339
""The locker room is a disaster, and David Pastrnak is at the center of that. David Pastrnak has told the team he doesn't want to be on a line with Brad Marchand, and it may stem from Brad Marchand calling out Pastrnak for some of his play." Yikes.
The majority of the Boston media sucks and I don't blame a single coach or player treating them with disgust. Bill Belichick handled them the way they deserve.
Obviously something I overlooked. What is the rule on that?
I suppose that raises the question of whether they stick with him when Lindholm returns or give him sone 9th floor time.
[Keefe frantically trying to come up with some definition of "team" that does not include coaches or management.]
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Keefe got what he wanted. People are talking about his irrelevant show on his dying radio station.
It's based on service time. He was 22 when he signed his ELC so he has 3 years or 70 games played, whichever comes first before losing his waiver exemption. I believe playoff games count so he only had 18 games to work with this season. He played well in the playoffs last year and through camp so starting him the NHL wasn't unreasonable. He had a few early heatlhy scratches so maybe they could've sent him down but I think this is kinda what he is. He's by far been their best PP QB and their best offensive defensman. His defending isn't worst on the team, it's more middle of the road. He's been a little unlucky, he has the lowest on-ice save percentage. The team as a whole is good defensively, he's not killing them.
I can’t believe this guy still has a job either. He blatantly makes shit up. There have been at least 2 or 3 times this year that he has completely made something up regarding various things with the Red Sox or Patriots that have been discussed in several threads on this board. The guy is a complete bull shit artist.
Thanks. He *has* been the best on the PP, and yet he gets 1/3 the PPtime of McAvoy.
Mediots like Keefe do not deserve to be treated with respect by the players, coaches or the team in general, nor should the players feel obligated to face them no matter how the team is doing. He's not a serious sports journalist and should not be treated as such.
Keefe has fallen far from when he was promising voice on 98.5. He's become one of the worst on the air just trying to stay relevant and keep a job. Sad to see.
Both Pasta's and Marchand's statements were vigorous and forceful and I believe them. Let's start winning!
Sweeney's job is on the line with how he handles this going forward. The organization is becoming a mess
The second their isn’t any April playoff games is the second that Sweeney is fired.
I don’t know why everyone is so sure of that. Sweeney is Neely’s guy. I highly doubt Neely would fire him. Charlie Jacobs would have to fire Neely, which I doubt that he would do.
I think Sweeney could get fired if the team enters a sustained downturn. Probably not this season, but a DNQ this season and next could do it. Far stranger things have happened.
Peter Chiarelli was shown the door after they missed the playoffs after 14-15 which was a 96 point season. They did miss the playoffs again the next year in Sweeney’s first season as GM. Chiraelli lasted 9 years before he was axed and this is Sweeney’s 9 year. Chiarelli missed the playoffs in year 1 and year 9. Sweeney has missed in year 1 and they are looking like they will miss in year 9.
Chiarelli was hired by Charlie Jacobs; Neely wasn't even in his role of running the non-hockey side of the house. Sweeney was hired by Neely. But otherwise, the parallels are indeed interesting.
Major difference being Chiarelli wasn’t Neely’s guy and Sweeney is. It’s not really a comparable situation at all.
Lysell & Merkulov both had 3 points each in 2 games over the weekend. Poitras had 2 in 2. I’m assuming Lysell is getting called up?
Here's my guess at the reasoning.
- They've kinda settled on a top 6 of Geekie - Zacha - Pastrnak / Marchand - Lindholm - Coyle. Those have mostly been good, they probably don't want to disrupt that just yet.
- The 3rd line is Wahlstrom - Frederic - Brazeau. Wahlstrom only has 1 goal but his underlyings have been decent, they probably want to give him a bit more time. Brazeau is on a PP unit and isn't coming out. I guess Freddy could but that's also terrible management if the plan is to trade him in a month.
- That basically leaves the 4th line and homestly if they're just going to tinker around with that part of the lineup, Lettieri is better than dropping a kid in there.
- Probably more of a fringe benefit than anything else but Lettieri is also the cheapest from a cap perspective. It's a dollar for dollar swap with McLaughlin. The kids make more.
My guess on their rationale? They want him to get stronger physically. The AHL schedule allows for a lot of practice & gym time during the week.
Poitras reminds me a bit of Pastrnak, in that both did have the willingness to be "snarly" enough early on, but lacked the strength to carry it out. Their games are different, but I think I saw enough from Poitras to say that he wasn't shying away from the physical stuff as needed, he just simply was not strong enough. Marchand is Marchand, but even now, I am often amazed how infrequently he gets out-muscled by bigger players.
Lettieri is Providence's leading scorer. Maybe if the kids were so offensively gifted, they'd be producing more for Providence than this journeyman.
Or we can keep repeating sports talk radio quality points here.
There is also positional considerations.
Geekie - Zacha - Pastrnak
Marchand - Lindholm - Coyle
Wahlstrom - Frederic - Brazeau
Beecher - Kastelic - Koepke
There's no real room at center to play Poitras, if they want him at center (which I believe is where he is playing in Providence). The 4th line is a non-starter. That's not his game and square peg, round hole.
I guess they could take Wahlstrom out and move Freddy to LW but I think there's some value in letting Freddy play C for a bit. They may trade Frederic in 2 months and C's will get you more than wingers so it makes some sense to have Freddy there for now as teams begin the scouting work for the deadline. I also don't want them to move Poitras to the wing yet. Let's see if he's a center, if that doesn't work, then you move him. Yo-yoing him between positions isn't a great idea.
I think there's a better argument for Lysell or Merkulov coming up than Poitras. Those guys can and have played wing and are well past Poitras in their development.
Geekie - Zacha - Pastrnak
Marchand - Lindholm - Coyle
Wahlstrom - Frederic - Brazeau
Beecher - Kastelic - Koepke
There's no real room at center to play Poitras, if they want him at center (which I believe is where he is playing in Providence). The 4th line is a non-starter. That's not his game and square peg, round hole.
I guess they could take Wahlstrom out and move Freddy to LW but I think there's some value in letting Freddy play C for a bit. They may trade Frederic in 2 months and C's will get you more than wingers so it makes some sense to have Freddy there for now as teams begin the scouting work for the deadline. I also don't want them to move Poitras to the wing yet. Let's see if he's a center, if that doesn't work, then you move him. Yo-yoing him between positions isn't a great idea.
I think there's a better argument for Lysell or Merkulov coming up than Poitras. Those guys can and have played wing and are well past Poitras in their development.
I guess I look at it from the standpoint that they’re consistently having scoring issues. Bring up some of the guys who perhaps can help with that.
This is a great point and something that often gets lost as well (and that I forget about myself). The schedule for AHL vs NHL is entirely different and lets players work on different things between the two. Ice time, practice time, weight training, and travel are all majorly different between the two.
I’m sure that there was a clearly communicated plan given to Poitras by Sweeney and the player development staff. They could use David Krejci’s early career as a great example. He was a 2nd round pick like Poitras, a ton of skill, but needed to get stronger to adapt to the NHL game after making his debut. So they sent him to Providence for the next season, and not only did he have a good statistical season, he hit the weights hard and was in tremendous shape by the time he was up to stay late in ‘07-‘08. That’s what he should be looking to emulate.
Was at the practice today and Kasty didn't skate. They have a 4C slot and Lettieri has earned a look. I think it's that simple.
For the young guys, I think the development time and the AHL schedule are more valuable than giving them 10ish 4th-line minutes for a week or whatever it would be. I don't think we'll see Poitras/Merk/Lysell until they make some significant roster moves to clear space.
The 3rd line has looked great the last couple weeks, too. Wahlstorm is occupying the "offensive promise that needs to develop at the NHL level" slot and I think he's worth a longer look. He's been finding open looks in good areas pretty consistently. Obviously, they haven't been going in but if you believe the scouting that his shot is his best tool then you've gotta think it's only a matter of time.
Yes, this team needs offensive help, but it's specifically top-6 scoring. If you can bump Geekie or Coyle down and reconfigure accordingly, this roster looks way better. Getting Hampus back should really help with D scoring, which is the other area of need.
Also, not for nothing, the low-to-high chances we seem to give up every game are really about forwards picking up the open man. Our NHLers need to do better, but I don't think that would improve with prospects who have questions about their play off the puck.
For the young guys, I think the development time and the AHL schedule are more valuable than giving them 10ish 4th-line minutes for a week or whatever it would be. I don't think we'll see Poitras/Merk/Lysell until they make some significant roster moves to clear space.
The 3rd line has looked great the last couple weeks, too. Wahlstorm is occupying the "offensive promise that needs to develop at the NHL level" slot and I think he's worth a longer look. He's been finding open looks in good areas pretty consistently. Obviously, they haven't been going in but if you believe the scouting that his shot is his best tool then you've gotta think it's only a matter of time.
Yes, this team needs offensive help, but it's specifically top-6 scoring. If you can bump Geekie or Coyle down and reconfigure accordingly, this roster looks way better. Getting Hampus back should really help with D scoring, which is the other area of need.
Also, not for nothing, the low-to-high chances we seem to give up every game are really about forwards picking up the open man. Our NHLers need to do better, but I don't think that would improve with prospects who have questions about their play off the puck.
Unless the beat writer got it wrong it looks like they're trying Lettieri on the 3rd line and bumping Brazeau to the 4th. Also had Lohrei riding with McAvoy.
I don't know how I missed this, but Vinni Lettieri's father Tino, a goalkeeper, is in the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame.
That makes sense, that trio stayed on the ice late to work on some drills together with a coach. Brazz has been really good on the 3rd but maybe they figure he gives them more finish to complement the speed of Koepke and Beecher. Beecher had like 3 grade A chances vs. Tampa where he either missed the net or shot it straight into the goalie.
Lindholm has been skating for a week or so, I wouldn't read a ton into it. He can be activated whenever.
Callahan is probably salary filler to get them close to the cap so they can maximize Lindholm's LTIR.
Callahan is probably salary filler to get them close to the cap so they can maximize Lindholm's LTIR.
Well there goes my “they’re keeping him in Providence for the year so he can hit the weights hard during the week” theory.
I wonder what McAvoy is dealing with. It would explain some of his recent play. Maybe the shoulder again?