They really have to think about putting Pastrnak with Hall and having someone else play with Bergeron & Marchand.
Bruins vs Canucks
- Thread starter kenneycb
- Start date
It’s not the greatest roster offensively, but I feel like some things could be done system and coaching wise to try to open it up a little bit.
It's a combo of both the system and the players. The system is D first, and they are elite. They are in the top 5 in pretty much all rate stats defensively. 1st in xGA/60, 2nd in SCA/60, 1st in HDCA/60, on and on. They do that at the expense of offense. They are 10th in xGF/60, 16th in SCF/60 and 24th in HDCF/60 they are average to below average across the board at generating offense.
So, essentially they play a lot of low event hockey. Nothing happens either way, they don't give up a ton of chances and they don't generate a ton of chances. The puck spends a lot of thime in harmless areas of the ice. They've done this year after year after year. It's Cassidy's system and by and large it's been successful. The problem this year is two fold. The depth and finishers blow and the goaltending has been shitty (until Swayman's recent run). Poor goaltending and shitty finishing is a really bad combo for low event hockey when a single shot can swing a game.
I tend to think the goalies will come around, and Swayman already is. The offense probably won't. This is who they are. The depth is terrible. Frederic is useless. Kuhlman is useless. Lazar is useless Anton Blidh's 3 points in 9 games makes him look like Connor McDavid compared to those 3. Haula has had a little spark recently but he's not really going to be the answer to the goal scoring problems. They put Foligno in the cushy Nick Ritchie spot on PP1 and he hasn't even scored a goal yet. Smith only has 2 goals. DeBrusk has been fine but he can get lazy off the puck so they refuse to even try to gvie him more ice time with better linemates to see if something clicks (not to mention boost trade value). Forbort and Carlo are black holes offensively but we knew that would be the case. McAvoy is awesome. Grz isn't putting up points but points aren't his thing, he's a transition guy. Plus they refuse to let him and McAvoy play together because they made a stupid mistake in signing Forbort and they can't figure out what to do with Forbort if he's away from McAvoy. Reilly has regressed from last year. Clifton is Clifton. Zboril was arguably their best non-McAvoy D, moving the puck offensively, but his knee exploded.
End rant.
So, essentially they play a lot of low event hockey. Nothing happens either way, they don't give up a ton of chances and they don't generate a ton of chances. The puck spends a lot of thime in harmless areas of the ice. They've done this year after year after year. It's Cassidy's system and by and large it's been successful. The problem this year is two fold. The depth and finishers blow and the goaltending has been shitty (until Swayman's recent run). Poor goaltending and shitty finishing is a really bad combo for low event hockey when a single shot can swing a game.
I tend to think the goalies will come around, and Swayman already is. The offense probably won't. This is who they are. The depth is terrible. Frederic is useless. Kuhlman is useless. Lazar is useless Anton Blidh's 3 points in 9 games makes him look like Connor McDavid compared to those 3. Haula has had a little spark recently but he's not really going to be the answer to the goal scoring problems. They put Foligno in the cushy Nick Ritchie spot on PP1 and he hasn't even scored a goal yet. Smith only has 2 goals. DeBrusk has been fine but he can get lazy off the puck so they refuse to even try to gvie him more ice time with better linemates to see if something clicks (not to mention boost trade value). Forbort and Carlo are black holes offensively but we knew that would be the case. McAvoy is awesome. Grz isn't putting up points but points aren't his thing, he's a transition guy. Plus they refuse to let him and McAvoy play together because they made a stupid mistake in signing Forbort and they can't figure out what to do with Forbort if he's away from McAvoy. Reilly has regressed from last year. Clifton is Clifton. Zboril was arguably their best non-McAvoy D, moving the puck offensively, but his knee exploded.
End rant.