Bruins 2021 Season Thread

veritas

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Yeah, Marchand and Krejci. Interesting to see who’s after that, because those three aren’t playing all the games. Miller if he ever plays, Coyle wouldn’t surprise me either.
 

cshea

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How do you give an A to a guy who has spent his whole career skating the thin line of chippiness/shittiness/face-licking?

Also, who decides? Coaching staff? Front office? Player vote? Some combination?
He's worn an A before. It'll be Krejci and him. Miller's worn one too in the past, if he ever gets on the ice.
 

cshea

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They usually don't give it to young guys, but they've also only really had 1 letter available over the past 14 seasons so we're kind of in uncharted waters. Recently, for the 2nd A they have split it, one guy wears it at home the other on the road and then they switch mid-season. Krejci's had a share of the 2nd A for several years now so I'd imagine he gets it full time now. I don't think Marchand or Miller have ever had a letter in an official capacity but they have worn an A when injures have taken Bergy/Z/Krejci/whoever out of the lineup.

I don't think Pasta's letter material at this point. He's a happy go lucky amazing goal scorer but from my vantage point, he doesn't really ooze leadership. We had whatever happened when he busted his wrist 2 years ago and then the return to play quarantine debacle last summer. Those incidents don't exactly scream leader. I'm not trying to knock him, I absolutely love the guy, but I'm just not sure he's there from a leadership perspective. I think McAvoy could be someone they try to groom into a captaincy post-Bergeron. I think he wore a letter for the national team at the WJC's he played in. On ice, he's our stud Norris defenseman that we hope follows in line with Orr, Bourque and Chara. Carlo could be a sneaky candidate too, though I get the impression he's fairly quiet and keeps to himself. Also, Coyle and Wagner could theoretically be a candidates if they decide to share the 2nd A this year and rotate it around. They are mayor's, afterall.

That's a lot of words on letter wearing in hockey.
 

TSC

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McAvoy is the future Captain of this team when Bergeron eventually retires.

Bergy has the C. Krejci and McAvoy should have the A’s, with Marchand and Miller as the reserve Alternates.
 

Ferm Sheller

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McAvoy is the future Captain of this team when Bergeron eventually retires.

Bergy has the C. Krejci and McAvoy should have the A’s, with Marchand and Miller as the reserve Alternates.
Yes, no doubt in my mind. Looking forward to him being reunited with Gryz.
 

McDrew

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The B's have been doing a home/away split for the second alternate for a while. I think Krecji rotates up to replace Bergeron as the permanent alternate, and I think McAvoy probably gets home alternate while Coyle gets away.
 

cshea

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Camp starts tomorrow. Looks like this is the roster. No PTO’s or surprises.

Forwards

Patrice Bergeron, Anders Bjork, Anton Blidh, Paul Carey, Charlie Coyle, Jake DeBrusk, Matt Filipe, Trent Frederic, Cameron Hughes, Ondrej Kase, David Krejci, Karson Kuhlman, Sean Kuraly, Robert Lantosj, Par Lindholm, Brad Marchand, Greg McKegg, David Pastrnak, Nick Ritchie, Zach Senyshyn, Craig Smith, Oskar Steen, Jack Studnicka, Chris Wagner


Defense

Jack Ahcan, Brandon Carlo, Connor Clifton, Matt Grzelyck, Steve Kampfer, Jeremy Lauzon, Charlie McAvoy, Kevan Miller, John Moore, Urho Vaakanainen, Nick Wolff, Jakob Zboril

Goalies

Callum Booth, Jaroslav Halak, Tuukka Rask, Jeremy Swayman, Daniel Vladar
 

cshea

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Nope. I don’t think there were any league wide too.

Also, meant to put that in the Bruins thread if a mod wants to move it over.
 

cshea

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First on ice workout today. Some things to watch for in camp:

- Obviously all eyes are on the defense. The only things set in stone are McAvoy is RD1 and Carlo is RD2. The rest of the spots are really up for grabs. Grzelyck will probably get first dibs as LD1 with McAvoy. Behind Grzelyck, thre are 2 open spots on the left side. Moore, Lauzon, Zboril and Vaakainen will be in competition with one another. I think Clifton has the inside track on RD3 but Lauzon and Moore have played on the right in the past, plus there's the corpse of Kevan Miller. Kampfer is also in the mix but I think he's ticketed for the taxi squad. They have 10 NHL players on D. I think they'll carry 7 to start so they'll have to cut two players from the Zboril, Vaakanainen, Clifton, Lauzon, Moore, Miller, Kampfer group. Roster management might put Vaakanainen behind the 8 ball due to his waiver exemption. I'm pretty positive Kampfer will be cut. So then 1 more, or carry 8.

- Who replaces Krug on PP1? This is probably a 2 man battle between Grzelyck and McAvoy. I personally prefer McAvoy but I get the sense it'll be Grzelyck up first. He's a lefty like Krug and they may want/need to go heavy on McAvoy's even strength minutes.

- Who fills in for Pastrnak? This could go in a number of different directions. This is easily the deepest RW group the Bruins have had in recent years so they do have options. Kase and Smith are projected to be the 2nd and 3rd line RW's so they could simply bump those guys up a rung. In the bubble, they used Bjork so he could get another look there (que gnashing of teeth). Jack Studnicka is also a candidate, he played RW in the bubble at times.

- Can a kid break through on the bottom 6? If they go veteran, the bottom 6 is probably Ritchie - Coyle - Bjork and then Kuraly - Lindhom - Wagner. Could Blidh, Frederic or Senyshyn win a spot on the 4th line? Frederic could develop into a Ritchie type player. He can bring some size, toughness and energy to the table. The scoring hasn't really come along yet but he has the tools to be an effective 4th liner. We know Senyshyn's story. Doesn't really have the size or toughness to be a prototypical 4th liner but could be a burner type like the player that is commonly mentioned in the same breath- Dan Paille. Blidh is another energy, grit guy with much less offense than Frederic.

I think that covers most of it, though I think the positional battles are going to be more of an ongoing competition into the regular season until they settle on something they're comfortable with.
 

Ferm Sheller

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Nice write up, cshea. You didn't mention Jack Ahcan, a Torey Krug clone who's taking a Torey Krug-like path to a pro career (but I'm not saying that he'll be Torey Krug -- who knows what he'll be). I don't think Ahcan will make the team to start the season, but he's a guy to watch for a possible later call up.
 

cshea

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Nice write up, cshea. You didn't mention Jack Ahcan, a Torey Krug clone who's taking a Torey Krug-like path to a pro career (but I'm not saying that he'll be Torey Krug -- who knows what he'll be). I don't think Ahcan will make the team to start the season, but he's a guy to watch for a possible later call up.
Good point. Ahcan is an interesting prospect, though I agree he's an extreme long shot to make the team out of camp.

Group A is on the ice now.

Marchand - Bergeron - Studnicka
Bjork - Kuraly - Wagner
Frederic/Carey - Lindholm - Senyshyn

Lauzon/Zboril - McAvoy
Kampfer/Ahcan - Miller

Rask
Vladar
Booth

Marchand is in a no-contact jersey. Miller is a full participant.
 

The B’s Knees

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Agreed, nice write up.

Is there any risk that Lauzon gets exposed to the Seattle draft if he plays a full season? He’s played 19 and 16 games respectively the past 2 seasons.

The expansion rules say “All first- and second-year NHL players, and all unsigned draft choices, will be exempt from selection.”
I’m assuming players need 20 games to quality as a "season" and he’s safe either way?

That likely leaves Bjork and Clifton as likely candidates to be claimed in the draft. Looking forward to the discussion thread on this as the draft date approaches.
 

cshea

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Agreed, nice write up.

Is there any risk that Lauzon gets exposed to the Seattle draft if he plays a full season? He’s played 19 and 16 games respectively the past 2 seasons.

The expansion rules say “All first- and second-year NHL players, and all unsigned draft choices, will be exempt from selection.”
I’m assuming players need 20 games to quality as a "season" and he’s safe either way?

That likely leaves Bjork and Clifton as likely candidates to be claimed in the draft. Looking forward to the discussion thread on this as the draft date approaches.
Games played doesn't impact who is eligible or not for the expansion draft. 1st and 2nd year players are exempt. Everyone else is fair game. Games played comes into play for minimum exposure requirements. Teams will have to expose players that meet a minimum games played requirement. I'm not sure what the exact number of games is since they'll have to adjust it due to the shortened season.In Lauzon's case, he's eligible for exposure. Ditto Zboril. Vaakanainen is exempt.

They went 7-3-1 with Vegas. If they do that again, my early guess is:

Forwards: Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak, Charlie Coyle, Jake DeBrusk, Craig Smith, Ondrej Kase
Defense: Charlie McAvoy, Brandon Carlo, Matt Grzelyck
Goalie: ?

Krejci is a UFA so if they sign him before the draft, he would get protected and they'd have to roll the dice on Smith or Kase. They'll have Ritchie, Wagner and Bjork as players who they can expose to satisfy the under contract and played NHL games requirement.

Defense- This could be tricky. Zboril, Lauzon and Clifton are all eligible for exposure. So they could lose one of them.

Goalie- Rask and Halak are UFA's. Vladar is signed but probably won't meet the games played requirement. They are going to need to sign and expose someone. Maybe that'll be Halak? It may be over thinking it, but I think they would probably like to protect Vladar if he keeps developing. They could sign Halak to an extension prior to the draft and expose him and then re-sign Rask after the draft.
 

cshea

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Group B

DeBrusk - Krejci - Kase
Ritchie - Coyle - Smith
Filipe - McKegg - Lantosi/Hughes

Grzelyck/Moore - Carlo
Vaakanainen/Wolff - Clifton

Halak
Booth
Swayman
 

TheRealness

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Group B

DeBrusk - Krejci - Kase
Ritchie - Coyle - Smith
Filipe - McKegg - Lantosi/Hughes

Grzelyck/Moore - Carlo
Vaakanainen/Wolff - Clifton

Halak
Booth
Swayman
So, way too early guesses on lines....

Marchand-Bergeron-Pasta (Studnicka)
DeBrusk-Krejci-Kase
Ritchie/Bjork-Coyle-Smith
GRINDERRRRRRRRSSSSSS

Lauzon/Zboril-McAvoy
Gryz-Carlo
Zboril/Vaak-Clifton

Rask

Any word on whether Nick Ritchie still looks like an out of shape beer leaguer?
 

FL4WL3SS

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So, way too early guesses on lines....

Marchand-Bergeron-Pasta (Studnicka)
DeBrusk-Krejci-Kase
Ritchie/Bjork-Coyle-Smith
GRINDERRRRRRRRSSSSSS

Lauzon/Zboril-McAvoy
Gryz-Carlo
Zboril/Vaak-Clifton

Rask

Any word on whether Nick Ritchie still looks like an out of shape beer leaguer?
That Debrusk-Krejci-Kase line has the potential to be pretty special if Debrusk and Kase can progress.
 

cshea

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Yeah, those forward lines are pretty much accurate. I think it breaks down to

Marchand - Bergeron - Studnicka
DeBrusk - Krejci - Kase
Ritchie - Coyle - Smith
Bjork - Kuraly - Wagner

From Cassidy's comments today, it doesn't seem like there will be many changes at forward from now until the start of the season. Studnicka has an opportunity to win the Pasta vacancy and it sounds like Bjork is plan B. Cassidy sounded hesitant to move Smith and Kase around. He doesn't want them "playing with everyone, developing chemistry with nobody."

He didn't say too much about the defense, but it does seem that Grz - Carlo will be a pairing out of the gate, and then Moore/Zboril/Vaakanainen with McAvoy and Clifton. They said the defense will be trial and error so I think this likely changes on a daily and eventually game by game basis.

Also, on the injury front, Marchand's goal is to be ready to go for 1/14. As for Pasta, Cassidy doesn't think he'll miss too much time. That is encouraging, the original timeline had him missing the entire first month. Trimming a week or two off that would be great

View: https://twitter.com/mattyports/status/1346170563300044807?s=20
 

Ferm Sheller

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Carolina chose not to re-sign him after his 3-year entry deal, so that tells you what they think of him at least.
 

cshea

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Booth is 23 but I don't think he's a prospect. He's only played in 15 games above the ECHL and his ECHL numbers aren't all that inspiring. Goalies are weird and you never know, but I think he's just the EBUG. He will probably stick as the 3rd goalie the Bruins are required to carry at all times. He gets to practice and travel with the team and dress in an emergency if Rask or Halak go down. That'll let Vladar/Swayman/Keyser get the developmental reps in the AHL and ECHL (Keyser). If Rask or Halak go down for a long period of time, Vladar is probably the true 3rd goalie.
 

Ferm Sheller

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When Booth wins the Conn Smythe in his late 30s, I'm gonna bump this thread...

Seriously, I think if he announced his retirement tonight, none of us would lose any sleep.
 

cshea

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This rumor has been out there for a little bit, but Friedman says the Bruins (and Devils) are possible landing spots for UFA defenseman Ben Hutton.

View: https://twitter.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/1346500364498063362?s=20


Hutton is probably just a bottom pair guy, but he had pretty good results last year on a bad LA Kings team. I don't think he's a game changer but would give them a safety net if the kids struggle. New Jersey can probably offer more playing time guarantees.
 

cshea

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Cassidy also seemed to confirm that the top 2 D pairings to start the year will be

Lauzon - McAvoy
Grzelyck - Carlo

Tall order for Lauzon, but it makes some sense. It balances out the skills, each pairing consists of a mobile player and a defense first guy. Trailing late in games, they can put Grz and McAvoy together to try and spark some offense like they used to do with Krug and McAvoy.

Frederic got time on the 4th line today with Kuraly and Wagner. Cassidy likes him and thinks he has an opportunity to stick.

Finally, some housekeeping on guys that haven't skated yet. Karson Kuhlman is caught up in a testing issue. Oskar Steen and Anton Blidh are "unavailable to participate." I think they are in their quarantine period. Steen should join tomorrow and Blidh later on.
 

Salem's Lot

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I like the idea of Lauzon with McAvoy. He’s defense first, plays physical, good size, and he’s willing to drop the gloves when needed if someone try to take a cheap shot at McAvoy.
 

Maximus

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I like the idea of Lauzon with McAvoy. He’s defense first, plays physical, good size, and he’s willing to drop the gloves when needed if someone try to take a cheap shot at McAvoy.
I agree, I think he will complement him well. I like the idea as well of pairing Grz with Carlo. It will be interesting to see how the battle for the 3rd pair plays out with Clifton, Miller, Moore, Zboril and Vaak.
 

LogansDad

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Agreed. I can see some growing pains early with those first two pairs, Lauzon on the top line in particular, but I think it can be a solid top-4 by season's end.

I'm a huge advocate (right or wrongly I don't know) of Clifton as the everyday 5th guy, and rotating the other 3 in to see who works best with him. But I've been a Clifton fanboy since his first game in Boston, and may not be seeing him through neutral glasses.