Are we in a better position (now and future) today or at the end of last season?

[wintersej]

If everyone last year is healthy we are clearly worse, but that 96 points was based around a lot of injuries to key key guys. I think the Krejci injury's effect is horrendously under stated around here.

If Krejci, Chara, Seides come back to approximations of their previous skill? I think this team is a lower seed playoff team with possible upside from Pasta, Spooner, Koko, Connolly, Hayes, Morrow, Trotman, C. Miller to push the team further up the chain. More question marks than you would want, but there is real upside. Tampa went from "just a team" to the Cup finals because their youth stepped up. I'm not saying Boston will do that, but they *could*, especially if they add a top 4 D.

 

[LouJersey]

If everyone last year is healthy we are clearly worse, but that 96 points was based around a lot of injuries to key key guys. I think the Krejci injury's effect is horrendously under stated around here.

If Krejci, Chara, Seides come back to approximations of their previous skill? I think this team is a lower seed playoff team with possible upside from Pasta, Spooner, Koko, Connolly, Hayes, Morrow, Trotman, C. Miller to push the team further up the chain. More question marks than you would want, but there is real upside. Tampa went from "just a team" to the Cup finals because their youth stepped up. I'm not saying Boston will do that, but they *could*, especially if they add a top 4 D.

Exceptional post my friend . My thoughts run along the same line as this. It's a new era.

2013 was a minor miracle w Toronto. Figure in the debacles of 12, 14 and 15 and it was just time for a change .

 

[Dellstrom]

We're slightly worse now... but we actually have a future. We have a lot of really good prospects, and a lot of our older ones are going to be pushing to make the NHL. We have depth at every position, which is exciting and bodes very well.

 

[Strange Universe]

Here is where I stand for the moment with all our additions and subtractions.

I really believe that this team will come out working harder than we have seen them for some time simply because the vets have a lot to prove and mainly to themselves and the youngsters have their future in their grasp to make a difference while the new player additions have a new beginning to flourish with their new organization and beloved fans.
However, I do not feel too comfortable at the moment with our present D core simply because Chara and Seids are still question marks for me as how they will rebound from last year.
We certainly need them to play closer to their abilities so this D core can withstand what is up ahead.
On offense, Krecji's best form will be needed through out the entire season if this team wants to sniff playoffs.
If Krecji can play without any health issue or big set backs I have feeling no matter whichever players have been decided to play along side him, they will flourish, create good chemistry and have a rebound year.

What I think we will witness from this 2015/2016 team will be a team with a higher compete level, a stronger tenacious game play and a much tougher to play against squad.
This alone will be marvelous to watch if they can achieve it.

 

[Fenian24]

I will say right off the bat that I think I will at least like this team more, watching them last year was a chore and not just because of the losses but also the lack of effort on a night in and night out basis and lack of determination.

I like Belesky a lot, I think he will be a good addition and hope he is more consistent than Lucic. Hayes is an upgrade to me in every way over Smith. I really like Rinaldo and the fact that they have addressed the lack of toughness by bringing him in. The D is a concern, but I don't think Sweeney is done with it yet. As it stand right now I see them competing for anywhere from what used to be the 5-8 spot in the conference so now it would be the 3 seed in division or one of the two wild card spots. If they make it and can avoid Montreal they could go a round or two.

Next year you lose Eriksson, Lucic's remaining cap hit and Kelly's cap hit. You should be able to replace Kelly internally as well as Talbot. I expect most of the big name free agents to be resigned before hitting the market next July but if one slips through you have the ability to pursue him. I doubt any of the picks from this year will be ready next year, maybe Zboril. They will have San Jose's pick next year which could be a lottery pick and there own pick.

All things considered I feel they are in better shape heading into this season than they were last year and are definitely in better shape for a few years down the road.

 

[rudos1]

I don't mind if they are "worse" than last year if they play a better brand of hockey than dump it in the corners and battle. Let's see some fast tempo, end to end breakaway kind of hockey with some good clean solid hits and I will be more than satisfied..

 

[CDN24]

Okay, here is my weird math. Everything we lose, or that hurts us, gets a minus (-). Everything we gain, gets a plus (+). Questions, potential, and uncertainty get a question mark (?). Some of the + are addition by subtraction.

Tally:

-9 (with 3 -?s, because it could turn out even worse for the Bruins).

+15 (with 9 +?s, because some of them may turn out better than expected).

Total:

+6 overall, with +6 in intangibles.

Weird math indeed. The loss of Dougie --? is more than offset by the loss of Bart +++. Something doesn't add up

 

[OutspokenMinority*]

I apologize right away from few fans who have seen similar text from me, but Talkinaway think about our forward group, every line right now if the pre season goes well look better than they did last year and in game1. We haven't gotten more top talent, atleast yet, Rw kids are just getting started but

Lucic, Marchand, Kelly vs Eriksson, Marchand, Beleskey top9, Lucic had injury problems early in the season and this current top9 is cheaper than last year and none of them are past their prime.

Then compare the C group, Kelly/Krecji-Bergeron-Soda-Campbell vs Krecji-Bergeron-Spooner-Kemppainen, lot more balanced and none of the guys past their prime. I take Beleskey easily over Kelly and Kelly goes to 4th line and improves that right away.

Then the Rw group, ahl winger- Smith- Eriksson(still recovering) vs Pasta-Connolly-Hayes, Pasta alone makes that better and those 2 should fit better here than Smith and Eriksson is still on the team but on the Lw side.
Then if we see 4th line of Kelly-Kemppainen-Rinaldo/Talbot then that will too be better than what we had last year.
So the balance is way better and you can expect scoring from every top3 lines instead of having 1-2 lines who could really create offense. Also Eriksson getting a healthy offseason should do wonders and him not being stuck on that 3rd line again.
Our lined could click very well.

Do you see any improvements in the forward group when you make the lines and compare them against last years, it's easy to think that it got worse when we lost Lucic and signed Beleskey but I'm thinking that Lou replaces Lucic and Beleksey kelly and it looks better right away.

I'm not going to go to the D and bore everyone out.

bore me please.

 

[BB88]

bore me please.

I'll make it short , right now it has nothing, just a mess and I hate it but we can make it better than it was last year without hurting our future, which wasn't great but would be a start.

I'll go with Ehrhoff now because we have a threat for Franson and have talked a lot about him.

Depending on Chara's recovery Chara-Ehrhoff-Krug LD trio would be strong or very strong and also you could play them pretty equally, would be nice to be able to limit Chara's minutes.
Ehrhoff would give Julien another D-player who can be used to play the toughest minutes and if Seids recovery is going well our top4 would be much better defensively than it was last year and Ehrhoff gives the top4 points, speed &talent to clear the D-zone, then add 3rd pairing of Krug-McQuaid which should be one of the best 3rd pairings in the league.
Ehrhoff would give us a bit more room on the RD side, if we sign Franson I wouldn't want to see Trotman up but with Ehrhoff we could hopefully make it work.

So it would be same as with the forwards, not much top talent but the talent after (top talent) would be much better and much more balanced, 3 pairings you could play pretty equally, but Krug to be used on more offensive jobs and Chara-Ehrhoff more on the defensive zone.
Our forward group has the potential to score more but it can't do it if they don't get help from the D's.

I'm not saying it would be great but it should be better than it was last year, defensively and hopefully offensively, speed would be pretty much same as it was last year.
But just sign one of them already and let them focus on the season.

So if you can't beat them with top talent beat them with depth.

 

[Alberta_OReilly_Fan]

Games have to be played on the ice... our cup win was unexpected. We missed playoffs in a year vegas had us pegged as favorites. Nothing is ever decided on paper.

Ultimately all we know for sure right now is our gut feelings how we anticipate things going. Alot of my heros were moved. Some of the guys coming in our complete unknowns.

I cheer the uniform moreso than the guys wearing it so im sure i will survive. Somehow i survived when oreilly and bouque and thornton all left the team. I am interested in all the kids we added. I cant remember a season since 1997 where i was this interested in the kids. Even seguin/hamilton didnt generate this much interest from me as far as kids goes...

I will feel better if we add a 20+ min per night dman. All-in-all i saw last years team as one holding on for a last hurrah. This year looks like one building to future glory. That change was going to be necessary sooner or later. Im a fan either way. But play the games before i commit to a vote whether we are better or not

 

[OutspokenMinority*]

I'll make it short , right now it has nothing, just a mess and I hate it but we can make it better than it was last year without hurting our future, which wasn't great but would be a start.

I'll go with Ehrhoff now because we have a threat for Franson and have talked a lot about him.

Depending on Chara's recovery Chara-Ehrhoff-Krug LD trio would be strong or very strong and also you could play them pretty equally, would be nice to be able to limit Chara's minutes.
Ehrhoff would give Julien another D-player who can be used to play the toughest minutes and if Seids recovery is going well our top4 would be much better defensively than it was last year and Ehrhoff gives the top4 points, speed &talent to clear the D-zone, then add 3rd pairing of Krug-McQuaid which should be one of the best 3rd pairings in the league.
Ehrhoff would give us a bit more room on the RD side, if we sign Franson I wouldn't want to see Trotman up but with Ehrhoff we could hopefully make it work.

So it would be same as with the forwards, not much top talent but the talent after (top talent) would be much better and much more balanced, 3 pairings you could play pretty equally, but Krug to be used on more offensive jobs and Chara-Ehrhoff more on the defensive zone.
Our forward group has the potential to score more but it can't do it if they don't get help from the D's.

I'm not saying it would be great but it should be better than it was last year, defensively and hopefully offensively, speed would be pretty much same as it was last year.
But just sign one of them already and let them focus on the season.

So if you can't beat them with top talent beat them with depth.

i agree way too much. course that probably means something drastic and weird is going to happen and that frightens me but on paper i agree pretty much completely.

the weak link is probably seidenberg. he may quite simply be done. i have believed for a while that he is. and my beleskey hope is rather wild-eyed at the moment (22g). i know pretty much nothing about him so i'm trusting their judgment. they have Pasta credibility right now. thanks for your take.

 

[BB88]

i agree way too much. course that probably means something drastic and weird is going to happen and that frightens me but on paper i agree pretty much completely.

the weak link is probably seidenberg. he may quite simply be done. i have believed for a while that he is. and my beleskey hope is rather wild-eyed at the moment (22g). i know pretty much nothing about him so i'm trusting their judgment. they have Pasta credibility right now. thanks for your take.

I like Seids but for me it's starting to be the time to say goodbye to him, some point during the next year.
I'm having hard time seeing us contenders if we keep all of Chara-Seids-Krug-McQuaid after next season, too much cap spend on them and top2 guys are getting too old for contending dreams.
If they have a plan of keeping Seids in the lineup for more than 1year then I say we should sign Ehrhoff for 1year instead of Franson for few years.

Good thing with Beleskey is that he doesn't take 20-30 games off, he will hit anything and create energy, he is going to play with strong centers with us so he should score 15+ goals per season, I'm looking him as a Kelly replacement in the top9 and not Lucic.

 

[Jean_Jacket41]

No doubt it's a re-load season.

Sweeney improved the prospect pool. He improved the Cap situation as he can now add a player without substracting one with the actual ~4.5M in Cap space. Even more next off-season to shop for a UFA or for trades. Two more 1st next draft and if the naysayers are right and the Bruins miss the playoffs, it may be two lottery picks unless SJ makes the dance in the West.

Excited to see how everything unfolds.

 

[KnightofBoston]

Talent is way worse this year on paper but I'm betting the compete and desire are far superior IMO

which is way better wouldn't you agree?

 

[Tampbear]

Unless we find a way to fix the D, and replace Hamilton than we are going to look real ugly for next 5 years until some of the kids will be able to take top positions.

 

[LSCII]

We're slightly worse now... but we actually have a future. We have a lot of really good prospects, and a lot of our older ones are going to be pushing to make the NHL. We have depth at every position, which is exciting and bodes very well.

Not to nitpick, but you hope they have a future and you hope the prospects pan out. Since we won't know for years, it's far worse in the short term but hopefully better in the long run. Either way, it's a crap shoot dealing known commodities for futures. Big big risk. Time will tell.

 

[LSCII]

Talent is way worse this year on paper but I'm betting the compete and desire are far superior IMO

What makes you so sure about desire and compete levels? The entire time Julien has been coach of this team the lack of effort, desire, and complete level has been a constant. Changing a few players but leaving the coach does nothing to change that. If they start off slow and don't show any compete, what will Julien do? Most likely sit on his hands like always and continue to roll 4. The problem wasn't the players. It was the players knowing the coach wouldn't do anything about a lack of effort. The coach is still here, so the problem remains regardless of who you bring in.

 

[Zac Rinaldo*]

What makes you so sure about desire and compete levels? The entire time Julien has been coach of this team the lack of effort, desire, and complete level has been a constant. Changing a few players but leaving the coach does nothing to change that. If they start off slow and don't show any compete, what will Julien do? Most likely sit on his hands like always and continue to roll 4. The problem wasn't the players. It was the players knowing the coach wouldn't do anything about a lack of effort. The coach is still here, so the problem remains regardless of who you bring in.

it's a monotonous, dull system that results in uninspired play and intrinsically discourages creativity. it's also won stanley cups. like you've said before, and i totally agree, a cup doesn't simply void all other noticeable faults in an organization, however.

hey dude, zac is gonna change and so is julien. i just feel it.

 

[BB88]

Not to nitpick, but you hope they have a future and you hope the prospects pan out. Since we won't know for years, it's far worse in the short term but hopefully better in the long run. Either way, it's a crap shoot dealing known commodities for futures. Big big risk. Time will tell.

I wouldn't say so for forwards, the forward group looks better. Last year our forward group had no hope.
None of the top9 guys are past their prime which is nice and right now we already have Pasta, Connolly, Spooner up and improving, that already gives us breathing room that we didn't have the year before, then you add that our top9 is millions cheaper and if connolly can't step up we have assets/cap to get someone to replace him.

So finally we have time to let the prospects grow and not freak out, 2 years easily, 2016-17 our forward group should be pretty strong(contending ready), Pasta keeps improving next year and he should be a pretty good player in his final ELC year, then again we look how Connolly does next year, to me that top6 RW spot(Connolly) is the thing to watch next year.
So even if none of the prospects not in the NHL roster could ever win a roster spot this top9 could be locked/set up for years and we wouldn't have to worry about being in cap hell& having forward lineup full of vets past their prime in key roles, then if you want to do chances we have now the cap space and the assets to do roster changes via trades/signings, so if none of the F prospects can develop into real NHL players we should be fine and survive without killing our team.

I've said it yes few times but I'm much much happier with our forward situation now than I was year ago and even few months ago. Year before our forward group had lots of holes and we had no idea how long would it take for us to fill them, if we would have any prospects who we could expect to be up in the near future, a lot has changed there.
But then again it's pretty much all for nothing if you can't build a contending ready D group soon.

 

[bigbadbruins1]

I agree with the statement of worse (or equal) now and better for the future. It's sad but in order to succeed in the future years we had to move at least one albatross of a contract (lucic) Dougie hurt and was unexpected, but he (supposedly) didn't want to be here, so why pay some one a lot of money to be miserable.
My one qualm with Sweeney that still remains: why did he pass (or at least not trade down and get other assets) on Barzal? I know we are deep at center but I think Barzal easily has top 6 potential and we let him slide past all three picks we had consecutively. I would go as far to say he would have been our #1 ranked C prospect. I can see Barzal being a top 6 force on the Islanders in the future and Sweeney should rightfully get a lot of death glares for that one.

 

[Dellstrom]

Not to nitpick, but you hope they have a future and you hope the prospects pan out. Since we won't know for years, it's far worse in the short term but hopefully better in the long run. Either way, it's a crap shoot dealing known commodities for futures. Big big risk. Time will tell.

Well, it was either that or let Lucic walk next season for nothing.

It is a risk, but everything in the world is a risk... There is unquestionably a better future for this team. Sure, some of the prospects will in all likelihood fail. Some will succeed. Some will be average, some will exceed expectations. But our prospect pool was completely depleted last year... We only had one or two big name prospects, especially since Spooner and Pasta made the jump. And Subban/KoKo are hardly "big name". We have depth at all positions in our prospect pool and the chance that every single one of them will fail is more or less impossible. Kind of sounds like you're trying to be a downer for no reason.

 

[Tampbear]

We should have kept Soda and traded Krejci for a top 4 D... I dont know how this D is going to be fixed. Chara may be our only top 4 quality D this year.

 

[LouJersey]

which is way better wouldn't you agree?

Not sure if it will translate in the standings but they will pass the effort eyeball test I'm sure .

 

[DitClapper]

Talent is way worse this year on paper but I'm betting the compete and desire are far superior IMO

Everything right here. Record could be similar, maybe even worse. But this team is going to be a fun watch. Lots and lots to look forward to.

 

[LouJersey]

What makes you so sure about desire and compete levels? The entire time Julien has been coach of this team the lack of effort, desire, and complete level has been a constant. Changing a few players but leaving the coach does nothing to change that. If they start off slow and don't show any compete, what will Julien do? Most likely sit on his hands like always and continue to roll 4. The problem wasn't the players. It was the players knowing the coach wouldn't do anything about a lack of effort. The coach is still here, so the problem remains regardless of who you bring in.

Julien will be fired if there is any semblance to last year before it gets to far not worried there . Plus his system takes a few years to wear you out

Also just up front there will six different fowards that start the season here . Seven if you count Spooner actually centering a decent line this opening night .