Boston Bruins 24-25 Roster/Cap thread XI

[NeelyDan]

Trading for JT Miller, especially for a package like that, would be absolutely batshit insane

 

[LouJersey]

Clean house

 

[bruinmann77]

this team is a mess and should become early Sellers IMO

Pasta better just man up and worry about himself yes6terday play was brutal

 

[LouJersey]

Amazing bruins leaking info to cover themselves when they deal Marchand. Lame

 

[4ORRBRUIN]

Clean house

This poster is not the least bit surprised if that's true, send Pasta to the Nucks let Miller deal with him, lol

Amazing bruins leaking info to cover themselves when they deal Marchand. Lame

They will trade Pasta before Brad

 

[DiggityDog]

Jesus be less desperate for ratings.

 

[22Brad Park]

I just had to look up what Rich Keefe said. Wow.

Although I have a hard time believing Pasta flat out told the team to not put him on a line with Marchand. Could there be a rift there between the two players though? Absolutely. Where there is smoke there is fire.

I have always supported Pasta and think he is an awesome talent.But if he has an issue with Marchand calling out his game then that worries me.I definitely want skill players but not weak mentally players .Man the fk up.

 

[gvkmedia]

Was just going to post that link. Very interesting. I do believe that this losing is the cause of this. Pasta has stunk this year compared to the last several seasons

 

[TCB]

From Spector's rumor mill this morning
NHL Rumor Mill – January 10, 2025 | Spectors Hockey

LATEST FROM TSN’S INSIDERS

TSN: Darren Dreger reports Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney is open for business. They have some free-agent players (like Trent Frederic and Justin Brazeau) who could be in play.

Dreger said they plan to map out a strategy that takes them up to the March 7 trade deadline, unless they receive an offer that makes sense to them beforehand.

https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/video/insider-trading-the-latest-trade-talk-two-months-out-from-deadline~3059994

 

[gvkmedia]

Trading Marchand would be easier to do. Trading Pasta? Geez… it’s like Thornton all over again.

 

[Gordoff]

Yes he has!

Yeah, Carlo's a gem.

 

[Gee Wally]

After another frustrating loss, it’s time for the Bruins to shake things up - The Boston Globe

For now, the Bruins seem content on spinning their wheels in hopes of a mid-season spark from a roster already running on fumes.

www.bostonglobe.com

The last time the Bruins dropped six games in a row, it was March 2015 — when a retooling roster mired in no-man’s land was charting a course toward a failed postseason bid.

The more things change …

The 2024-25 Bruins find themselves cut from a similar cloth — with a season that once started with so much promise teetering on the brink of disaster.
Once seemingly revitalized after Joe Sacco took the reins of a rudderless operation in mid-November, the wheels have fallen off once again for a team hindered by poor roster construction and a carousel of underperforming regulars.

The numbers aren’t pretty after the Bruins’ latest letdown — Thursday’s 4-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Bruins have yet to post a win since the calendar flipped to 2025, with Boston’s lone win since the holiday break coming Dec. 28 against a goalie sporting a .857 save percentage in Columbus’s Daniil Tarasov.

Boston’s 31st-ranked power play has not converted in eight games, while only seven teams have scored fewer five-on-five goals.

Add in a 25th-ranked penalty kill (75.9 percent), a porous zone defense, and a pedestrian season from goalie Jeremy Swayman (.893 save percentage), and the Bruins are clinging to a wild-card spot — with the Blue Jackets and Penguins just a point behind them.

The Bruins are one of three teams in the playoff picture with a negative goal differential. But their minus-27 mark stands as the worst in the entire Eastern Conference — and the fourth-worst across the entire NHL.

In other words, the 2023-24 Bruins might just be what they are this season: a middling team bracing for a long offseason or a first-round playoff exit.

It’s been a frustrating season, a sentiment further fueled by the Bruins’ inaction when it comes to shaking up an underperforming lineup at this critical juncture.

The need for a change — be it a call-up from Providence or a message-sending trade — has been long overdue.

A game removed from fans calling for the firing of Don Sweeney at TD Garden, the Bruins made no lineup tweaks before traveling to Florida for matchups against the Lightning and Panthers.

While the Bruins’ brass grapple with what might be the correct (albeit painful) course of action when it comes to potentially selling off pieces before the March 7 trade deadline, the unwillingness to call up young talent in hopes of a short-term spark remains puzzling.

It remains to be seen just what youngsters such as Matt Poitras, Fabian Lysell, and Georgii Merkulov have to offer at the NHL level — and whether it’s just wishful thinking that these unproven forwards have the capabilities to right the ship on a punchless forward corps.

But the Bruins also won’t have those answers if they continue to let them marinate in Providence — while players not long for a Black and Gold sweater such as Oliver Wahlstrom or underperforming regulars such as Trent Frederic continue to not move the needle.

Poitras needs to avoid putting himself in vulnerable positions and put on some pounds. Merkulov and Lysell have work to do when it comes to managing the puck.

It likely won’t be pretty at times if all three are given a shot with the Bruins this winter.

But would those lapses and miscues be any different than what we’ve already seen from the players sitting pretty at hockey’s highest level?

If the 2024-25 campaign is already looking like a lost year, the onus falls on the Bruins’ brass to draw whatever silver linings they can out of this season by fostering the development of the team’s shallow prospect pool.

If the likes of Poitras and Lysell can’t hold their own, at least the Bruins and a fan base starved for skill and excitement finally have some clarity. If they hit, the Bruins have some new building blocks to add to their foundation moving forward.

But for now, the Bruins seem content to spin their wheels in hopes of a midseason spark from a roster already running on fumes.

Be it the embrace of a youth movement, selling off UFAs for draft capital or even moving foundational pieces in hopes of a major reshuffle, something’s got to give.

This Bruins roster isn’t cutting it.

 

[Gee Wally]

I think Keefe is full of shit.

 

[wintersej]

Was just looking at our players stats and didn't realize quite how horrific it was. for points per game there is such a massive drop off

Pasta .95 points per game
Marchand .75 points per game

They are the only two above .50. That is horrific. Randomly picking teams
SJ has 6
Chicago has 6
Buffalo 7
NYR 7
NSH 5

I think everyone knew the team needed more offensive talent. Pasta dropping 30 point. Coyle
Dropping 30 points. Zacha and Frederic dropping 20 points. Some of this don’t know how you could have expected.

Really it's one of a couple paths.

• Sell the periphery pieces for what you can get.
• Add around the edges.
• Buy big.
• Sell big.

You could be Elliott Friedman!

They will either buy big, sell big, buy small, or sell small!

 

[SonnyBoy]

Good fix, you made it right.......... Question, how does this team, just two years ago was record breaking, and his this bad. What has happened, is talent, age, or everyone have a bad season like when a team has everyone having career years. I also wonder if this offseason drama has had an effect on this team, and I am leaning that way.

Marchand is this team's engine. Team goes as Brad goes. He's getting older and this is result. There is no player who can take his place.

Is Marchand calling the shot on his next contract? What if they can't come to an agreement, let's say the Marchand camp wants 3-years and the Bruins hold the line at 2. What then? Just give in to his demands? You say that like he's already under contract for future seasons.

Bruins fans needs to accept this player and this franchise are at a cross-roads here with him as a pending UFA and this could go any number of ways.

After Swayman fiasco, Brad can ask $12 Million for 3 years and it is OK. Management has lost a plot after giving huge salary for young inexperienced goalie after one passing lucky streak playoffs.

Clean house

Pasta's ego can go. People do not want to give 1st rd draft pick, but think about what you can get with Pasta + 1st rd pick. That would give a chance to redirect franchises team identity to (maybe) better direction.

 

[yazmybaby]

I'm hoping Dans Locmelis can step in for Coyle in 2 years

​

Wishful thinking, he has only scored 10 goals in 49 games. That does not translate well when he plays in the AHL.
He needs to put on around 15-20 pounds is a string bean.

Marchand is this team's engine. Team goes as Brad goes. He's getting older and this is result. There is no player who can take his place.

After Swayman fiasco, Brad can ask $12 Million for 3 years and it is OK. Management has lost a plot after giving huge salary for young inexperienced goalie after one passing lucky streak playoffs.

Pasta's ego can go. People do not want to give 1st rd draft pick, but think about what you can get with Pasta + 1st rd pick. That would give a chance to redirect franchises team identity to (maybe) better direction.

"Believe nothing about what you hear from someone else and half of what you see!!!"

 

[Oates2Neely]

The impact of the captain is overrated as it is. There isn't a past captain in hockey history that could do anything with this talentless group of players. You could have Mark Messier in there and it wouldn't matter.

What have Kreider or Nelson ever won?

Sacco ain't the problem but he sure as shit ain't the solution either. Doesn't matter they aren't canning two coaches in one season.

Marchand as captain isn't the problem. A lack of talent and a flawed roster. That is the problem.

If you believe in this roster you add a Kreider type who can be a veteran leader in the locker room. I’m not advocating stripping Marchand of the C now. Chara and Bergeron were both captain serious. Marchand doesn’t strike me as that, he needs some leadership help.

If you don’t believe in this roster, it’s time to start selling off some pieces and trying a retool

 

[GordonHowe]

On the "Pucks With Haggs" podcast posted yesterday, Haggerty and New England Hockey Journal editor Evan Maranofsky pointed to a lack of leadership from ostensible Assistant Captains Charlie McAvoy and David Pastrnak.

After the lifeless loss to the Oilers, media types requested comment from Bruins leadership.

Charlie Coyle and Branden Carlo, neither of whom wear an A, stepped in to address questions.

McCavoy and Pastrnak were nowhere to be seen.

What does this tell you?

 

[22Brad Park]

Marchand is this team's engine. Team goes as Brad goes. He's getting older and this is result. There is no player who can take his place.

After Swayman fiasco, Brad can ask $12 Million for 3 years and it is OK. Management has lost a plot after giving huge salary for young inexperienced goalie after one passing lucky streak playoffs.

Pasta's ego can go. People do not want to give 1st rd draft pick, but think about what you can get with Pasta + 1st rd pick. That would give a chance to redirect franchises team identity to (maybe) better direction.

You are not going to get back enough value in a trade that you put Pasta & 1st rd pick in the same deal .Just my opinion anyhow.Did I read that correctly?

 

[BruinDust]

I have always supported Pasta and think he is an awesome talent.But if he has an issue with Marchand calling out his game then that worries me.I definitely want skill players but not weak mentally players .Man the fk up.

I don't have an issue with Marchand calling a guy out but depends on how the message was delivered. Like most conflicts, it's not what is said but how you say it.

Marchand being his longest tenured teammate should know well enough by now how to communicate to Pasta and get his point across where the message is received the right way. 10+ years as teammates you can be sure it's had it's ups and downs, even during the best of times.

I didn't like it when Monty started yelling at Marchand on the bench earlier the year. I don't see the point of embarrassing the player. If this actually happened, did it happen in front of the rest of the team or in private?

And this could all be a pile of bullshit.

On the "Pucks With Haggs" podcast posted yesterday, Haggerty and New England Hockey Journal editor Evan Maranofsky pointed to a lack of leadership from ostensible Assistant Captains Charlie McAvoy and David Pastrnak.

After the lifeless loss to the Oilers, media types requested comment from Bruins leadership.

Charlie Coyle and Branden Carlo, neither of whom wear an A, stepped in to address questions.

McCavoy and Pastrnak were nowhere to be seen.

What does this tell you?

That Carlo and Coyle are also considered leaders in the room.

 

[KillerMillerTime]

Wishful thinking, he has only scored 10 goals in 49 games. That does not translate well when he plays in the AHL.
He needs to put on around 15-20 pounds is a string bean.


"Believe nothing about what you hear from someone else and half of what you see!!!"

Lol, its believe none of what you hear and half what you read.

 

[GordonHowe]

I don't have an issue with Marchand calling a guy out but depends on how the message was delivered. Like most conflicts, it's not what is said but how you say it.

Marchand being his longest tenured teammate should know well enough by now how to communicate to Pasta and get his point across where the message is received the right way. 10+ years as teammates you can be sure it's had it's ups and downs, even during the best of times.

I didn't like it when Monty started yelling at Marchand on the bench earlier the year. I don't see the point of embarrassing the player. If this actually happened, did it happen in front of the rest of the team or in private?

And this could all be a pile of bullshit.



That Carlo and Coyle are also considered leaders in the room.

Yes.

It tells me more than that, however.

 

[Sheppy]

Clean house

Oh boy if this is legit, this ain't good.

 

[Kate08]

Oh boy if this is legit, this ain't good.

It’s bad either way.

If it’s true, it’s bad.

If it’s not, and this is a smear, it’s bad.

I just wish this team could handle their shit internally

 

[MarchysNoseKnows]

It’s bad either way.

If it’s true, it’s bad.

If it’s not, and this is a smear, it’s bad.

I just wish this team could handle their shit internally

Why the assumption that the Bruins told this to Keefe? Keefe has a horrible track record of being right