MarchysNoseKnows
Big Hat No Cattle
- Feb 14, 2018
- 9,739
- 19,584
It really doesn’t matter. Until they can get the big guys get their shit together the lines are pretty much irrelevant right now.
Boston Bruins 24-25 Roster/Cap thread VI
- Thread starter Gee Wally
- Start date
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- Nov 2, 2012
- 1,390
- 2,821
Agree- It feels like there is a major dis-connect between the type of team the GM built over the summer and how the coach wants the team to play
The result is a team that lacks an identity...add in what seems to be a glaring lack of d-zone structure and a power play that has no sense of purpose and the current record is actually a little better than the eye test would suggest
Which makes Saturday night's game a very big test for the team and especially for the coach.
We shall see
You mentioned both Coyle and McAvoy ... McAvoy is not the only defensmen not playing as they should. And Coyle they keep trying to make him into something he is not. And with many of these other players it is like they are square pegs being forced into round holes.
It is obvious McAvoy's development has been stunted and Coyle's greatest effectiveness is not being properly used.
Just my opinion, but from what I have seen in this year's team play combined the disturbing trends in team play over past couple of years lead me to believe much of the problem lies in the SYSTEM and the usage of the players.
Dennis Bonvie
Registered User
Watching the games and how the players are playing this year reminds me of a pick up flag football game where whoever the quarterback is tells his receivers - just go out and get open and I'll hit you with a pass. Nobody knows who is doing what and there is a lot of confusion. Which results in people getting frustrated until someone takes control and gives them directions, a place and purpose.
Montgomery (or whomever the coach will be) will have to adapt his system to the strengths of the players on the roster.
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Ozzy Osbourne
Registered User
- Nov 14, 2023
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- Jun 14, 2010
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Nope leave him at center. Move him to another team.
smithformeragent
Moderator
The old Monty thread was well over 1k posts.
Let’s move the Montgomery talk here:
forums.hfboards.com
Let’s move the Montgomery talk here:
Management - Jim Montgomery 2: Trouble in Paradise?
https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-bruins/2024/10/24/boston-bruins-jim-montgomery-struggles-slump-slow-start-mcavoy-marchand/?amp=1
Absurdity
light switch connoisseur
- Jul 6, 2012
- 11,313
- 7,921
The defense hasn't looked the greatest with him at the helm either.
Troublesome 85
TOP RANKED GIRL DAD
Didnt get why people were so excited about the season or signings. Team didnt get that much better and no prospects have stepped up.
Got worse in goal with Korp as well
Got worse in goal with Korp as well
Ozzy Osbourne
Registered User
- Nov 14, 2023
- 1,470
- 1,679
I get excited about every season. I liked that we have a team that won’t be pushed around. (Although Monty is ok with being soft)
You’re right though. Our prospects are nonexistent. Our goaltending is weak. I hate to be the one to say it, Poitras looks kind of bustish.
Ozzy Osbourne
Registered User
- Nov 14, 2023
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Blowfish
Count down ...
Yamamoto looked good against the bruins?? No?
This could be a good line but Poitras skating worries the heck out of me. He has everything else going for him. I hope it doesn't hold him back from being a great player.
Blowfish
Count down ...
Tough for Tuffte but something had to be done. Do the bruins have the room to bring up Lysell and sign Johnny?
LouJersey
Registered User
Just shows how bereft of talent they are in the AHL. Have to try Lysell at some point soon IMO
When 11:30 rolled around Friday morning and the only skaters on the Warrior Arena sheet were Bruins coaches, the prevailing thought was that someone had called a “players only” meeting to address the team’s three-game skid.
“No, we just had a lot of stuff to do,” said captain Brad Marchand, who would be in the best position to call such a gathering.
Marchand explained that the Bruins had to squeeze in an off-ice workout, a video session, and a meeting with NHL security, necessitating the brief delay.
What followed was the liveliest and most physical practice since training camp as the Bruins try to work their way out of their doldrums.
“I thought we had a really good practice today,” said Marchand. “Our biggest thing right now is our details, and we really kind of focused on that today, trying to be smart, the way that we play with the puck and how we work.
“So we did a really good job at that today. Really good tempo of practice. Guys were focused and sharp. So it was a good day, but it’s one day and we’ve got to build on that and be better each day and we need that consistency though.”
While it’s common for veterans to be given maintenance days when there is a day off between games, Marchand said it was important for everyone to be present and accounted for Friday.
“When things aren’t going the way you want them to, the only way to get out of it is to work, and you need to do it together as a group,” he said. “When you’re missing guys, sometimes it’s a little bit tougher to have the chemistry you need and to have everyone going through it together.
“When you go through adversity, you want to go through it as a group and come out of it as a group. So it is great to be out there and working through it as a team, and it’s how you bond when you go through tough times. That’s when the character comes out of your group, and we’re seeing it right now.
“Guys have energy today; I like their attitude. But again, it’s about doing it every day, not just one day. So, something to build on.”
The session was very vocal, and Marchand said that was a point of emphasis.
“It’s something we’ve been talking about for a little while now,” he said. “The more you can communicate on breakouts on forechecks, the easier you’re going to make it for each other. And part of having a lot of new guys two years in a row is building that chemistry again and again. The more you talk, the easier it is.
“So it’s definitely something we’ve talked about, not just today but previous days.”
Portions of practice were run in a scrimmage-like manner, with players going full speed with plenty of physicality. While the risk of injury is always there, Marchand said it’s necessary.
“The way you hurt teammates is when they’re not ready for it,” said Marchand. “So it’s part of your job to be prepared that when you go into practice, we’re not lollygagging through it. We are going to compete and we’re going to be physical and we’re going to play hard, and you’ve got to be ready to be hit and you got to be ready to get hit.
“I think it is as much an onus on the player that’s getting hit as it is the guy that’s giving it to be cautious. You’re not trying to go through guys’ heads and knees and stuff like that, but part of playing detailed and playing our game is to be physical, and it starts from practice.
“If you’re not ready to be hit, then you’re not prepared for practice.”
“It’s the penalties,” Andrew Raycroft said to his buddies, as they diagnosed the Bruins’ issues. “This has been the theme the last 10 days for this group.”
Patrice Bergeron saw it, too. Easy game to analyze from the couch, he reasoned, but the penalties are becoming poison.
“Because five on five,” he said, “it’s been …”
“It’s been close,” Raycroft said. “But another hook and another interference and you’re chasing the game.”
The thought hung in the air for a good 20 seconds.
No one — not Bergeron, Raycroft, Tuukka Rask, or Adam McQuaid, all ex-Bruins brought together on a NESN set to provide commentary during Thursday’s game against the Stars — wanted to belabor the point. In the second period, the Bruins had already given up two power-play goals. They were about to surrender a third.
One failed offensive sequence later, David Pastrnak skate-tripped Dallas’s Matt Dumba, his second minor in three shifts. Bergeron rubbed his temples. Then the Stars’ Tyler Seguin ripped a shot under the crossbar for a three-goal lead.
There was no need for an alumni alt-cast to figure out what has been hurting this year’s team the most.
The Bruins have been shorthanded a league-high 40 times in eight games. They have committed nine more minors (44) than second-worst San Jose, adding five to the total Thursday (and killing two of them). If their penalty kill were running hotter than 77.5 percent (19th in the league), it might not sting as much.
But their mental mistakes and poor positioning are overworking the PK troops. The Bruins’ lack of discipline — not new faces adjusting, or carryover effects from key players missing time in training camp — is their biggest problem.
It extends their time in the defensive zone, where their focus wanes, they tire, and they fail to break out. It stunts their chances on the attack, when they lose a puck battle and get caught hooking the other way. Thankfully for Pastrnak, who does not kill penalties, the Bruins have drawn enough calls to keep his minutes healthy (average time on ice: 19:18).
Two and a half weeks into the season, it feels like an exacerbation of last year’s playoffs, when the Bruins set an NHL record for too-many-men-on-the-ice penalties in a single postseason (seven, in 13 games).
The Bruins have been one of the NHL’s most penalized teams in recent years, ranking no lower than sixth in PK time the last five seasons under coaches Jim Montgomery and Bruce Cassidy. They often leaned on elite goaltending to cover for mistakes, but this year they rank T-24th in goals-against average (3.58) and 19th in save percentage (.884).
While they haven’t had a bench minor this year, they are second in the league in major penalties (four, all for fighting). Half of those came in games against Florida. While they were shorthanded 11 times in those two games — and killed 10 — this hasn’t been an issue of settling a score against a rival.
“Our penalties have come when we’re not aggressive,” Montgomery said Thursday morning. “When you’re playing aggressive and you’re on your toes, you’re causing turnovers, and if you’re taking penalties, they’re from aggression.
“You don’t mind penalties from aggression. You don’t like penalties when they’re because you’re a second late and it’s a stick infraction. Those are the ones that really bother you.”
Sure, the Bruins have been playing hard, but there’s little flow to their game. How could there be when they’re constantly heading to the box?
Many have been deflating.
The Bruins were never in the season opener at Florida, but in the rematch six days later, they fell behind on a second-period PPG — a result of Charlie McAvoy’s cross-check on Carter Verhaeghe, a likely response to an uncalled hit on Pastrnak. The latter’s slash on Verhaeghe, late in the third period, ended their comeback hopes.
Brad Marchand’s retaliation penalty early in the third period against Dallas came when the Bruins were already chasing the score.
Many penalties have been committed by the Bruins’ best players.
The Bruins woke up Friday outside of the postseason picture. They held a playoff spot wire-to-wire in each of the last two seasons. On NESN’s “Unobstructed Views,” Bergeron, Rask, and Raycroft agreed that the Bruins shouldn’t be concerned unless they’re still out of position come Thanksgiving.
A group this proud doesn’t want to play catch-up all season.
“It’s of our own doing,” said Marchand. “Which is a good thing, I guess, because we can rectify it.”
- Jun 14, 2010
- 10,967
- 15,343
If you are going to take penalties make them aggressive penalties, not holding, tripping, hooking. Lazy penalties by being out of posistion or getting out worked or just playing dumb need to be stopped.
The team needs a lot of work but it should start with Monty going and Sacco with him.
The team needs a lot of work but it should start with Monty going and Sacco with him.
