Boston Bruins 24-25 Roster/Cap thread XIII

It's starting to feel like Buffalo is going to win the Vancouver sweeps. I think Vancouver wanted to deal Miller, but Carolina found a better deal for Rantanen so they were out, New York and Boston are low-balling them, and JT's list limits their options, so they've circled back to Pettersson, and Buffalo is offering a boatload of young talent, like Cozens, Kulich and Byram.

Those are my top4 trade targets all gone in one deal. Pettersson, Miller, Kulich and Cozens. :mad:
 
FWIW and this isn’t to pick on Conor or anyone else running with Franks quote. But when I watched the interview when he said this, it was more to just give a name of a team in the JT miller sweepstakes that at the time wasn’t Carolina or NYR.. I just didn’t feel like it was rumor based more than purely speculative and to throw a name out there.

Then again, how often is it that the player goes to the teams that are being rumored/reported?

 
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I don

I don't think it matters. If Geek can put up 25-30 playing with 88 then why trade him for someone we hope can do the same?
If they sell, and they had better, Morgan Geekie likely won't be on the list. Neither will Zacha.

No reason to mess with their best line, and a line that can produce going forward for the next few years.

Frederic, Beecher, Brad, Coyle, Peeke, flyer on Whalstrom, McLaughlin (though I wish they wouldn't), Lysell, possibly Korpi with DePietro and Busse in the wings, if there were a way to do it, E. Lindholm.

All of that could net you something of value relative to immediate help and for the next few years, as well as draft selections as high as late first round or second round.

Works for me.

And apologies for extreme inconsistency but as of today I can even see JT Miller in some shape or form.

Problem there is that he is 31, makes 8 + million a year, rubs people the wrong way everywhere he has been. Very possibly a negative, disruptive head case.

However, he could be a decent 1C who reliably produces, although he is playing terribly of late.

Miller is a cage rattler, as Conor Ryan put it, and that might not be a bad thing. He *might* be worth a look.

I say this today while saying yesterday I wanted no part of this guy.

Fan is short for fanatic.

Sorry about that.
 
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I don

I don't think it matters. If Geek can put up 25-30 playing with 88 then why trade him for someone we hope can do the same?
I'd probably re-sign Geekie right now, so this is mostly just me playing devil's advocate.

But I think the argument is that putting up 25 goals when you're on a line with Pasta isn't really that much of an accomplishment anymore, Pasta is that much of an offensive engine at this point. I posted the stats earlier, but if you projected Heinen's stats from the last 20 games of last season when he got put on a line with Zacha and Pasta over the course of a full season it would be 25 goals and 58 points. I liked Heinen, he's not that guy though he was just playing with Pasta and the same can probably be said for Geekie right now.

Eventually we do need to find players that can do more then 20ish goals and 50ish points when they're getting regular minutes with a top 10 offensive player in the game, if selling high on Geekie can help accomplish that then go for it. I don't think it will though so I'd rather keep him then get back like a 2nd or something like that.
 
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If they sell, and they had better, Morgan Geekie likely won't be on the list. Neither will Zacha.

No reason to mess with their best line, and a line that can produce going forward for the next few years.

Frederic, Beecher, Brad, Coyle, Peeke, flyer on Whalstrom, McLaughlin (though I wish they wouldn't), Lysell, possibly Korpi with DePietro and Busse in the wings, if there were a way to do it, E. Lindholm.

All of that could net you something of value relative to immediate help and for the next few years, as well as draft selections as high as late first round or second round.

Works for me.

And apologies for extreme inconsistency but as of today I can even see JT Miller in some shape or form.

Problem there is that he is 31, makes 8 + million a year, rubs people the wrong way everywhere he has been. Very possibly a a negative, disruptive head case.

However, he could be a decent 1C who reliably produces, although he is playing terribly of late.

Miller is a cage rattler, as Connor Ryan put it, and that might not be a bad thing. He *might* be worth a look

I say this today while saying yesterday I wanted no part of this guy.

Fan is short for fanatic.

Sorry about that.
Curious why Peeke? He is getting better and better. Out playing Carlo and is moving the puck quite well.
 
Curious why Peeke? He is getting better and better. Out playing Carlo and is moving the puck quite well.

As with Coyle, whom I love, and the under rated Brandon Carlo, Peeke is a useful player.

Yet hard choices await a club that either does nothing, nibbles around the edges merely to make the playoffs (no guarantee), or does the sensible thing, IMHO, which is to make some painful choices in the present that will bring back immediate and longer term help commensurate with a team that *must* "retool."

Now.

That means the players mentioned in my original post must be made available. Including Brad, which of course is a drag.

But the Bruins can get very good, even excellent return on players other clubs believe can help them now. There are, I believe, just three or four teams that are definitely out of the playoff picture. The rest want to make a run & fill those seats.

Again, NOW and the coming weeks prior to the March trade deadline is the time to "make hey while the sun is high," as they say.

The Bruins have to give to get, and dealing Andrew Peeke (or Frederic, John Beecher, Lysell, or even Charlie Coyle) will not preclude their prospects of making the post season. These players are replaceable.

Brad is not replaceable, of course, but if the right deal comes along, the Bruins have to do it.

And, as Milbury recently posited, negotiations have apparently gone nowhere, Brad is coming off multiple surgeries, he's what, 36/37, and perhaps *he* wants another kick at the can with a legitimate Cup contender before he hangs 'em up.

Marchand is a very valuable commodity for clubs seeking to add major contributors/put us over the top final touches. He should bring significant return relative to NHL players, prospects and, most important for the future, relatively high draft selections.

Sweeney and Neely better understand where they are at with this team and its fan base.

Plug & Play ain't makin' it anymore.

Given all that has transpired of a negative nature from season's beginning to the present, surely even they understand significant change is imperative to alter the complexion and direction of the club.

Always buyers throughout their near decade long tenure, SweeNeely are in an unfamiliar position.

They have a chance to improve both their current and future fortunes.

But only if they make difficult, perspicacious decisions rather than attempting yet again to "run it back" merely to keep the conveyor belt (or ATM) in working order.

They have a golden opportunity to set things to rights for years to come.

They better be wise. They better be bold.

And they better not f*cking blow it.
 
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Dom mentioned in last nights "What's Bruin" that there was IIRC "one (or a couple) other time(s) that Chralie Jacobs and Cam Neely have come out and address the media without Don Sweeney. He left it up to Chris Nosek and the viewers to guess as to when and why that last happened?
Any thoughts?
 
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Personally, I think the most important thing in the coming weeks is that the organisation does not acquire rentals.

For me, it's not really a problem if the organization decides to acquire players who are under contract, because then you're thinking about the next season.

Sure, these acquisitions would help this season, but I just don't see one player - even if it's Barkov, changing that direction enough, because the mental inconsistency this season tells me that something is "broken" on a mental level in the team.

That's why it's important that a player is still under contract, at least for the next season.
 
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I don't really get where the "Sweeney doesn't have the guts" or "Sweeney doesn't have the balls" to do XYZ comes from like it's some kind of character flaw or deficiency. He is a fairly conservative hockey GM, working for a fairly conservative President, in a fairly conservative organization. I think at times many of us would like to see a bit more high risk/high reward moves, but that's not generally the Bruin way.
Agree. And thats the reason why Bruins are where they are atm.
The organization should never ever fall too much in love with its players no matter how well they have served the team. Sometimes you just need to be more "radical" with your team development.
They should for example understand that big bad bruins era is history instead of relying into this relic.
 
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The only thing that concerns me about JT Miller is that he seems to be too much of a problem child. This is where Chara had that extra behind-the-scenes value. There seemed to be way less problem children when he was captain.

I assume Deadline Don will come out of hiding and make two or three deals. I just don’t want any rentals.
 
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Dom mentioned in last nights "What's Bruin" that there was IIRC "one (or a couple) other time(s) that Chralie Jacobs and Cam Neely have come out and address the media without Don Sweeney. He left it up to Chris Nosek and the viewers to guess as to when and why that last happened?
Any thoughts?
A guess : Just before they let PC walk the plank
 
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It's starting to feel like Buffalo is going to win the Vancouver sweeps. I think Vancouver wanted to deal Miller, but Carolina found a better deal for Rantanen so they were out, New York and Boston are low-balling them, and JT's list limits their options, so they've circled back to Pettersson, and Buffalo is offering a boatload of young talent, like Cozens, Kulich and Byram.

Those are my top4 trade targets all gone in one deal. Pettersson, Miller, Kulich and Cozens. :mad:
Could be, but he's such a miserable human being. Can only imagine how he'd be living in Buffalo- or maybe it's his spirit land and he'd finally be home.
 

Even down to the name this is where I am at. I would, of course, not limit myself to waiting until the offseason happens to gauge the Coyle/Carlo markets understanding though that it might have to play out that way.
 
Dom mentioned in last nights "What's Bruin" that there was IIRC "one (or a couple) other time(s) that Chralie Jacobs and Cam Neely have come out and address the media without Don Sweeney. He left it up to Chris Nosek and the viewers to guess as to when and why that last happened?
Any thoughts?
Yeah this was a very good point made by Dom.

Obviously, Sweeney has been dealing with the Four Nations but where IS he? Neely stuff him in a closet?

Its been a lot of Neely and Jacobs and not a whole lot of Sweeney.
 
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I think we are very well off in terms of defense, once Lindholm and McAvoy are healthy. With the line up below, I think we can do some damage as a 7th-8th seed.

Two targets I go hard after:

1. JT Miller- gives us the 1C we've been lacking since Bergy left. Guys got a little nasty in him as well so he's built well to be a Bruin.
2. Mathieu Olivier- guy is a scary, scary dude but he can actually put the puck in the net and kill penalties.

Geekie-Miller-Pasta
Marchy-Poitras-Coyle
Zacha-Lindholm-Lysell
Olivier-Kastelic-Koepke
Brazeau

Freddy-Beecher-Carlo-1st 2025 Plus whatever else, I'm bad at proposing deals.

P.S the thought of rolling a 3rd line of Zacha-Lindholm-Lysell is insane. So much skill there.
 
Yeah I personally am just not convinced Geekie is a solidified presence in this top 6- which you may have to pay like he is this offseason. Though again as I said, maybe you get away with paying him less this offseason. But it would probably be shorter term. Not against this scenario.

Trade wise teams would overpay for him not only for his current production but because they also control him as an RFA. He could also be a piece in a bigger trade.

To answer your question and not to be a wise ass but I’m immediately throwing out names like Merkulov/Lysell/Poitras at you. See what you have and regroup this summer.

As I also stated in my post, I’ve seen Geekie mature. His game has improved. Heck, I was the guy defending him earlier in the season when there were a lot of pitchforks out and saying we would all like him a lot more if he wasn’t being force fed into the top 6. Well now he’s found a home with Pasta and Zacha.

But I still wonder how much of that is his improvement, and how much is it from the resurgence of the noodle guy.
To me the question is, and I don't know the answer, is whether Geekie will remain consistent in the top six or is this a quick fix thats working at the moment, similar to a Riley Nash in 17-18.
 
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I think we are very well off in terms of defense, once Lindholm and McAvoy are healthy. With the line up below, I think we can do some damage as a 7th-8th seed.

Two targets I go hard after:

1. JT Miller- gives us the 1C we've been lacking since Bergy left. Guys got a little nasty in him as well so he's built well to be a Bruin.
2. Mathieu Olivier- guy is a scary, scary dude but he can actually put the puck in the net and kill penalties.

Geekie-Miller-Pasta
Marchy-Poitras-Coyle
Zacha-Lindholm-Lysell
Olivier-Kastelic-Koepke
Brazeau

Freddy-Beecher-Carlo-1st 2025 Plus whatever else, I'm bad at proposing deals.

P.S the thought of rolling a 3rd line of Zacha-Lindholm-Lysell is insane. So much skill there.
I like this, both would make the team so much better (for this year anyway). If Miller is
"bought in" and Olivier can also be acquired but
there's the rub.
both teams will want a premium for these two.
It's been rumored that there's a lot of interest in
Olivier, and of course all of the headaches of the return
for them (probably both teams are pushing for a 1st + whatever).
(It's a nice fantasy anyway).
It was also mentioned on "What's Bruin" last night
(can't remember who said it) that if Don Sweeney or
Cam Neely leave, Shawn Thornton would be a great replacement.
Wishful thinking but, YEAH!
 
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I like this, both would make the team so much better (for this year anyway). If Miller is
"bought in" and Olivier can also be acquired but
there's the rub.
both teams will want a premium for these two.
It's been rumored that there's a lot of interest in
Olivier, and of course all of the headaches of the return
for them (probably both teams are pushing for a 1st + whatever).
(It's a nice fantasy anyway).
It was also mentioned on "What's Bruin" last night
(can't remember who said it) that if Don Sweeney or
Cam Neely leave, Shawn Thornton would be a great replacement.
Wishful thinking but, YEAH!
Neely Leave :D From his lips to God's ears.
 
Stats since new year. No big surprises except maybe Peake improved play and Lohrei's improved +/-, while others got worse.

1737992960105.png
 

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