Boston Bruins 24-25 Roster/Cap thread XX

[Kegs]

Unlike Swayman, who I do not like the player, the contract or the person, Lindholm, I don't like the contract, he is not a 1C , and I do not blame him for his contract, Sweeney, panicked and thought I just have sign this guy and dress him up as a 1 C ,the fans will buy it, WRONG DONNIE! and the sad part was him bidding against himself. A poster elmatador had a great post, 9 drafts for Sweeney and he has one top 6 forward and he is no longer on the team, are we sure we want him running this draft and next.

Lindholm is paid like a second line centre. I expect a good year from hiM next year.

 

[KillerMillerTime]

Is losing Tavares that big of an issue for Toronto? I mean, is he that irreplaceable to them? That probably leaves them enough to re-sign both Marner and Knies?

John Tavares is having a great year. He should have been on Team Canada over Marchand and Konecny. I see him making Team Canada in the Olympics if he produces at the start of the year like he has this year.

Call me crazy but on Boston he is their #2F and #1C by a Marathon, never mind a mile.

If Boston couldn't get Knies, I would offer him $8-9M, 2 years, so you can break in Frondell or Desnoyers behind him and Lindholm. Your 4 centers are costing you in total
about 19M and Tavares is the most offensively gifted and defensively responsible.
One a Canadian to serve as a model to Desnoyers or one the Swedish version for Frondell.

Flame away.

 

[Bruin4]

If Swayman rebounds, I just don’t see them picking this high again. They’ll have their two top 2 defensemen back + whatever they do in free agency.

Not one of those is a Guarantee,. McAvoy is the best bet to return to form, but at last check he still hadn't gained strength and was dealing with pain. lindholm still recovering from a Broken knee cap an injury that usually takes a player a full year of playing to get back to his previous form. Swayman has been either red-hot or flat out awful, no clue what he'll bring.

Hopefully Sweeney has better luck this time with FA in finding scoring help, but outside or Marner and Ehlers there isn't much there and I want nothing to do with Boeser for the price he'll demand.

I'm just no as optimistic as you are about the Bruins not being a lottery team again next year. I hope im wrong, but there's a lot of questions that need to go their way. I see them as being very similar to this year, and when the deadline approaches, Sweeney once again must decide on being a buyer or a seller, that's if he's still around.

 

[sarge88]

All this pining for Marner reminds me of the days people were pining for PK Subban. Except Subban actually produced in the playoffs. Me, I want no part of Mitch Marner near my team. Not for the salary he currently makes, never mind whatever absurd amount he gets as a UFA.

Marner in the playoffs is a tick below Marchand in ppg and better than Krejci and Bergeron.

There may be valid reasons for not signing him…basically salary/term, but his lack of playoff production is a myth.

Bottom line for me is that this team needs skill up front. He’s got it and it would only cost money.

The fact that by moving out the salaries of Coyle, Carlo, Marchand, etc. and hopefully drafting a guy this summer who should give them 3-4 years of cheap top 6 production for most of that time, plus the hopeful development of young and cheap guys like Minten and Khustandinov, allows them to make a serious offer to MM.

 

[Ozzy Osbourne]

John Tavares is having a great year. He should have been on Team Canada over Marchand and Konecny. I see him making Team Canada in the Olympics if he produces at the start of the year like he has this year.

Call me crazy but on Boston he is their #2F and #1C by a Marathon, never mind a mile.

If Boston couldn't get Knies, I would offer him $8-9M, 2 years, so you can break in Frondell or Desnoyers behind him and Lindholm. Your 4 centers are costing you in total
about 19M and Tavares is the most offensively gifted and defensively responsible.
One a Canadian to serve as a model to Desnoyers or one the Swedish version for Frondell.

Flame away.

I’m not going to flame away. I agree 100%. He would be a perfect fit for a couple years.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

John Tavares is having a great year. He should have been on Team Canada over Marchand and Konecny. I see him making Team Canada in the Olympics if he produces at the start of the year like he has this year.

Call me crazy but on Boston he is their #2F and #1C by a Marathon, never mind a mile.

If Boston couldn't get Knies, I would offer him $8-9M, 2 years, so you can break in Frondell or Desnoyers behind him and Lindholm. Your 4 centers are costing you in total
about 19M and Tavares is the most offensively gifted and defensively responsible.
One a Canadian to serve as a model to Desnoyers or one the Swedish version for Frondell.

Flame away.

Tavares would also be the best leader on the team.

 

[Hookslide]

Lindholm is paid like a second line centre. I expect a good year from hiM next year.

He was a third line center in Vancouver, what makes you think, no matter he is paid that he is a first line center. He has had some good years, but teh money was wasted on him, sorry he is not worth that kind of contract. I don't understand this "he will be better next year" you are not the only one saying it. I don't the player I hate the contract, and it hurt this team to be tied to this guy for 6 more years.

 

[PB37]

John Tavares is having a great year. He should have been on Team Canada over Marchand and Konecny. I see him making Team Canada in the Olympics if he produces at the start of the year like he has this year.

Call me crazy but on Boston he is their #2F and #1C by a Marathon, never mind a mile.

If Boston couldn't get Knies, I would offer him $8-9M, 2 years, so you can break in Frondell or Desnoyers behind him and Lindholm. Your 4 centers are costing you in total
about 19M and Tavares is the most offensively gifted and defensively responsible.
One a Canadian to serve as a model to Desnoyers or one the Swedish version for Frondell.

Flame away.

It's not an awful idea. It keeps the team competitive for a couple of years while the next wave isn't rushed to suddenly perform in the NHL.

 

[EverettMike]

One horrible Mitch Marner stat that should not be overlooked this summer

One very specific Mitch Marner statistic adds fuel to the fire, gives the Leafs yet another reason to move on from him this summer.

www.mapleleafsdaily.com

 

[MarchysNoseKnows]

Tavares would also be the best leader on the team.

Now THAT is absurd. Good old vanilla John, who’s never won anything in his career. Absolutely not a leader.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Now THAT is absurd. Good old vanilla John, who’s never won anything in his career. Absolutely not a leader.

Captain of the Islanders (starting at age 23) for 5 seasons.

Captain of the Leafs for 5 seasons.

Don't see anyone on the current Bruins roster that looks like a 10-year NHL captain.

 

[MarchysNoseKnows]

Captain of the Islanders (starting at age 23) for 5 seasons.

Captain of the Leafs for 5 seasons.

Don't see anyone on the current Bruins roster that looks like a 10-year NHL captain.

10 year captain who never won anything. It was stupid for the Leafs to give him the C. Just ask any Leafs fan about it.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

10 year captain who never won anything. It was stupid for the Leafs to give him the C. Just ask any Leafs fan about it.

Ask Leafs fans, right.

Great argument.

 

[MarchysNoseKnows]

Ask Leafs fans, right.

Great argument.

He’s made it past the first round twice in his career. He’s played in a grand total of 62 playoff games. And we’re going to sign him as a UFA to be a leader? Look past that he has been a captain and realize he’s hasn’t been a good captain.

 

[sarge88]

He’s made it past the first round twice in his career. He’s played in a grand total of 62 playoff games. And we’re going to sign him as a UFA to be a leader? Look past that he has been a captain and realize he’s hasn’t been a good captain.

I fairness the captain game is often a no-win.

There are guys who fans think are great leaders, and who players refer to as great leaders, who won everywhere and there are guys like that who haven’t won a thing.

Then there are guys who nobody thinks are good leaders, or are ready to be leaders who are in that position.

Hell, look at the Bruins from 2006-2020.

Chara, Bergeron are lauded as amazing leaders/culture builders, but they were both one lucky bounce in 2011 away from never winning a cup. (In fairness they were also a lucky bounce or two away from winning multiple cups).

With that being said, if they don’t win a cup in 2011…are they no longer good leaders?

I’m not saying Tavares is Messier….but when the B’s draft a kid in June who has great expectations, there is no way in the world a guy like Tavares isn’t a valuable resource for him.

He’s not the only one capable of being that, of course, but he’d definitely help.

 

[JoeIsAStud]

The Bruins have cap space, and the market is AWFUL.

If Tavares is willing to come here, then you have to consider it . If I have money and there is a choice of giving tavares 4 years or brock Boeser 7 , I'll absolutely take Tavares, despite the age gap, probably same with Ehlers

Honestly if the choice is Marchand and Tavares, as much as I love Brad, I'll take Tavares, especially if Brad is looking for similar term

 

[sarge88]

Thinking more and more about Marner (while admitting him coming here is entirely unlikely) and I can’t help but be reminded that the literal only times this season where I felt confident that the Bruins might score a goal was when Pasta was on the ice.

That’s it.

Zacha, Middlestadt, Coyle, Lindholm, even Marchand when he was here didn’t give me anything remotely close to the optimism I felt when Pasta was on the ice.

Marner averages 1 point per game, like Pasta.

Put him on line 2 and now statistically you drop the puck and you have two goals on the scoreboard. (I know that’s not entirely true, because of PP and scoring multiple points in individual games) but the general point stands).

I don’t think a lot of people are looking at the value of having multiple forwards who are ppg players.

 

[BostonBob]

I don’t think a lot of people are looking at the value of having multiple forwards who are ppg players.

Most Bruin fans have never seen this on a Bruin team.

 

[sarge88]

Most Bruin fans have never seen this on a Bruin team.
[/QUOTE]

Sadly, it definitely hasn’t happened nearly enough.

 

[Gee Wally]

Bruins’ formidable task of improvements in the offseason begins with acquiring an elite center - The Boston Globe

Add in a power-play quarterback and a coach, and the list is lengthy but desperately needed.

www.bostonglobe.com

Come Tuesday night, when the lights go out on Causeway Street and the bull gang flips the circuit breaker to “melt” on the Garden’s sheet of ice, an audible sigh of relief will echo around the old West End.

What a mad, mad, mad, mad season (apologies, Stanley Kramer) it has been for the Bruins and their dyed-in-Black-and-Gold fans — a couple of dozen of whom will go home wearing shirts off the players’ backs Tuesday. Question is, how many of those players and how many fans will be back in October?
Messrs Charlie Jacobs, Cam Neely, and Don Sweeneyhave a whole lot of work to do, particularly between now and the first week of July, to return the 100-year-old-plus franchise to a respected, viable playoff contender.

The failure of 2024-25, when all boiled down, parsed and picked apart like a beer league goalie, ultimately was a lack of talent, a roster laden with too many AHL-caliber players, and too many legit NHLers who performed at minor pro levels.

And here we are left to wonder how will it change by October, when fans will face prices boosted an average 13 percent above what they forked out just 24 months earlier?

A quick synopsis of what Jacobs, Neely, and Sweeney need to address leading up to free agency:

⋅ Add an elite No. 1 center.

As great and prolific as David Pastrnak is, he is not a pivot and centers make offenses whole. Without Pastrnak doing what he did this season, and the past three 100-point seasons … well, we’d be talking San Jose/Chicago bottom-of-the-Original-32-barrel bad.

The top two centers on the roster as of today are Elias Lindholm and Pavel Zacha. Neither fit the bill of filling that gaping hole in the attack.

⋅ Add a power-play QB.

Charlie McAvoy’s abundant gifts don’t include bringing the heat from up high. He is not the feared shooter and scoring threat the Bruins so desperately need on the man advantage. He can shoot, but he won’t … so, after eight seasons and 504 games, that’s going to change? Nuh-uh.

Until the power play has a guy back there who is ready, willing, and able to let it rip (and, remember, the shots don’t actually have to light the lamp), then there’s no lemonade to squeeze from this lemon.

⋅ Decide on a coach.

If it’s not Joe Sacco, named interim when Jim Montgomery was shown the door in November, then we’re about to see the third bench boss dismissed in a span of 36 months.

Sacco was handed a poorly engineered roster that was turned into Providence North HC around the March 7 trade deadline. He deserved better, but with Jacobs, Neely, and Sweeney having cooked up this dog’s breakfast, the bet here is they’ll bring in a high-profile bench chef with substantial bonafides. The likes of Joel Quenneville, Peter Laviolette, Gerard Gallant, etc.


⋅ Choose a captain.

The choice, made clear in this space a few days ago, should be Pastrnak. He is the best performer this roster has to offer. He also tops the chart for time served and games played in Black and Gold. The Bruins were in equal need of a captain’s voice and presence in July 2006, hired on Chara as an unrestricted free agent, and immediately slapped the “C” on Big Z. If they canfind another Chara (if only), then give him the “C.” Otherwise, put it on Pasta and move on.

⋅ Clear out the clutter up front.

Here’s the good news: Jeremy Swayman as the No. 1 in net, and a back line bolstered by the returns of the injured McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm, provide a foundation that should put the franchise back in the mix for a wild-card spot.

But much work is needed across the four lines, especially among the top 6-9 forwards, to wring out consistent scoring. As bad as it looks, it will be worse if they can’t find a runway to extend Morgan Geekie (31 goals through Thursday) or can’t live with the number he pulls down via salary arbitration.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

He’s made it past the first round twice in his career. He’s played in a grand total of 62 playoff games. And we’re going to sign him as a UFA to be a leader? Look past that he has been a captain and realize he’s hasn’t been a good captain.

It's a team sport.

You know you don't judge individual players that way.

I would imagine if the guy wasn't a leader he wouldn't have spent 10 of his 16 NHL seasons as a captain.

 

[MarchysNoseKnows]

It's a team sport.

You know you don't judge individual players that way.

I would imagine if the guy wasn't a leader he wouldn't have spent 10 of his 16 NHL seasons as a captain.

Well you shouldn’t judge players by plus/minus because that’s a team metric, but you do it anyway.

All you have to fall back on is that he has been a captain. So has Jacob Trouba.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Well you shouldn’t judge players by plus/minus because that’s a team metric, but you do it anyway.

All you have to fall back on is that he has been a captain. So has Jacob Trouba.

Right.

What does being a captain have to do with leadership?

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

As great and prolific as David Pastrnak is, he is not a pivot and centers make offenses whole. Without Pastrnak doing what he did this season, and the past three 100-point seasons … well, we’d be talking San Jose/Chicago bottom-of-the-Original-32-barrel bad.

The top two centers on the roster as of today are Elias Lindholm and Pavel Zacha. Neither fit the bill of filling that gaping hole in the attack.

⋅ Add a power-play QB.

Charlie McAvoy’s abundant gifts don’t include bringing the heat from up high. He is not the feared shooter and scoring threat the Bruins so desperately need on the man advantage. He can shoot, but he won’t … so, after eight seasons and 504 games, that’s going to change? Nuh-uh.

Until the power play has a guy back there who is ready, willing, and able to let it rip (and, remember, the shots don’t actually have to light the lamp), then there’s no lemonade to squeeze from this lemon.

⋅ Decide on a coach.

If it’s not Joe Sacco, named interim when Jim Montgomery was shown the door in November, then we’re about to see the third bench boss dismissed in a span of 36 months.

Sacco was handed a poorly engineered roster that was turned into Providence North HC around the March 7 trade deadline. He deserved better, but with Jacobs, Neely, and Sweeney having cooked up this dog’s breakfast, the bet here is they’ll bring in a high-profile bench chef with substantial bonafides. The likes of Joel Quenneville, Peter Laviolette, Gerard Gallant, etc.


⋅ Choose a captain.

The choice, made clear in this space a few days ago, should be Pastrnak. He is the best performer this roster has to offer. He also tops the chart for time served and games played in Black and Gold. The Bruins were in equal need of a captain’s voice and presence in July 2006, hired on Chara as an unrestricted free agent, and immediately slapped the “C” on Big Z. If they canfind another Chara (if only), then give him the “C.” Otherwise, put it on Pasta and move on.

⋅ Clear out the clutter up front.

Here’s the good news: Jeremy Swayman as the No. 1 in net, and a back line bolstered by the returns of the injured McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm, provide a foundation that should put the franchise back in the mix for a wild-card spot.

But much work is needed across the four lines, especially among the top 6-9 forwards, to wring out consistent scoring. As bad as it looks, it will be worse if they can’t find a runway to extend Morgan Geekie (31 goals through Thursday) or can’t live with the number he pulls down via salary arbitration.

With Pasta the Bruins were exactly that, bottom of the original 32 bad.

 

[MarchysNoseKnows]

Right.

What does being a captain have to do with leadership?

So there’s never been a bad captain then? By nature of being named a captain they are automatically a good captain and a good leader?