Could this be the year the Bruins finally miss the playoffs?
- Thread starter HockeyVirus
- Start date
Looking at their cap real quick. Why isn’t the possibility of Marchand not re-signing/being moved a bigger topic?
They don’t have much coming off the books next season and I can’t see them moving a bunch of guys they just signed/have NMC.
They really need some futures considering their prospect pool is basically bottom of the league. Moving on from him would net something.
They don’t have much coming off the books next season and I can’t see them moving a bunch of guys they just signed/have NMC.
They really need some futures considering their prospect pool is basically bottom of the league. Moving on from him would net something.
They are leaving the door open but so far nobody wants to walk through, they have been a 500 team all year up to this point but they are still hanging in there.
That speaks to their resiliency but it also speaks to how mediocre most of the east has been up to this point.
Boston
Buffalo
Philadelphia
Ottawa
NYI
Pittsburgh
All 500 or below, hell Pittsburgh is 3 games below 500 and somehow they are 2 points out of a wildcard spot.
I don't know that I've ever seen the east be quite this mediocre
That speaks to their resiliency but it also speaks to how mediocre most of the east has been up to this point.
Boston
Buffalo
Philadelphia
Ottawa
NYI
Pittsburgh
All 500 or below, hell Pittsburgh is 3 games below 500 and somehow they are 2 points out of a wildcard spot.
I don't know that I've ever seen the east be quite this mediocre
TheBeastCoast
Registered User
Feel like you can almost confidently lock in 6 maybe even 7 playoff spots in the East already. Florida, Toronto, Jersey, New York, Carolina, and Washington feel like locks. Tampa probably should be included as well which leaves one wildcard spot for the group of teams sitting in and around .500 that you listed.
I agree I think 6 spots are spoken for.
I'm not quite ready to call Tampa a lock yet because it wasn't that long ago they were in that group.
But they are close if they can come out of their next 7 games 4-3 or better I think they are in.
The next 7 are
Pittsburgh
Columbus
Dallas
Colorado
Washington
Nashville
Toronto
I'm never going to say a team with Crosby on it can't win because It's Crosby and even at 37 he can go off on any given night. But Tampa should win that.
Then It's Columbus and again Tampa should win that.
Then you get to Dallas they are really good that's going to be tough.
Washington has been good all season.
Colorado is starting to get healthy It SHOULD be harder to beat them this time.
Nashville for some reasons sucks but they are loaded with talent.
Toronto and Tampa are almost ALWAYS good games.
As long as they don't stumble in the next 7 I think they get in.
Although last time I checked Point was injured, not sure if he's back yet or not
Fatass
Registered User
- Apr 17, 2017
- 23,923
- 15,609
In two years the Bruins have fallen off a lot. They’re on pace for 82 points and that group with Detroit, Buffalo, and Ottawa. (The islanders will push from their division too.) One of these teams will end up improving and get 88-92 points and sneak in as the last playoff club. The Bruins look old and slow compared to teams like Buffalo, Detroit, and Ottawa though. So this could be the year one of those three sneak in over the Bruins. The Bruins sure have fallen hard though.
Shroud of Orrin
Come on, Bob
Uncle Scrooge
Hockey Bettor
Starting to feel very similar to the 22-23 Blues, team that had expectations and lost to the eventual cup champs in the playoffs. 5 vs 5 analytics through 19 games very much the same, overall feel of lack of juice, blowouts and getting outshot in games you wouldn't expect. ROR was producing very little similar to Coyle. Some injuries started to happen couple months in (Hampus Lindholm just got hurt).
Blues highest pts % of the season was 54% - 41 games in. Just was never able to fully get it going.
The only saving grace might be that the East have let a wild card team with relatively mediocre record sneak in to the playoffs the last couple years.
Blues highest pts % of the season was 54% - 41 games in. Just was never able to fully get it going.
The only saving grace might be that the East have let a wild card team with relatively mediocre record sneak in to the playoffs the last couple years.
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Mick Riddleton
May these gates never be closed
- Apr 24, 2017
- 14,495
- 15,848
Unless you're a Canadiens fan, the Bruins didn't really come on anyone's radar til around 2009/10/11. I've been watching since the 90s, and the Bruins were almost Blue Jackets level of irrelevant for a long time, and the attendance showed that.
Even with the cap going to at least $92.5M and possible as high as $95-97M ?
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They're right up against the cap and have seven UFAs (most of which make peanuts) and all of their RFAs are arbitration eligible.
Marchand would probably look to max out on his next deal considering how much less he made before, no?
I can't imagine them moving on from contracts they just signed either.
How do they fit a Marchand extension?
Shroud of Orrin
Come on, Bob
8 of those 1028 wins happened this year so its 100% relevant. Every win matters.
Bjornar Moxnes
Registered User
The Red Wings look terrible as well. It's really up to see if the Sabres prospect depth or the Sens more complete roster takes it over the Bruins this year.
Fatass
Registered User
- Apr 17, 2017
- 23,923
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The Bruins do have (imo) the best forward, d man, and goalie in the group of clubs. And those three players are still younger, so can be retooled around.
Bjornar Moxnes
Registered User
Their best forward isn't a centre though, which does impact things. Thompson and Stützle have more impact on the ice as a result. Do they really have the best Dman with how poorly McAvoy has played and the potential of the Sabres and Sens bluelines? Both Swayman and Ullmark have been outplayed by Korpisalo of all goalies this year for some reason.
I would say they still have the best D man and goalie, I don't think 1 bad season changes that, a lot off players have a poor season or 2 in their careers.
Clint Eastwood
Eff the Habs
The one thing the Bruins had going for them was prior to the Dallas game where they got their shit kicked in, they had given up the least amount of 5v5 goals in the league. Their defense was starting to gel and they were starting to kinda put it together and show some capability.
We lack talented depth and speed offensively. Before putting Zacha back at C, we were rocking a 2nd line of Marchand - Coyle - Brazeau. Marchand, a warrior as always, is just not the star player he once was. He's 36 and has had double hip surgery. Coyle was able to fill in last year, but he's not a 2C. He's a 3C at his best. Justin Brazeau is nowhere near a 2nd line player. He has a decent scoring touch, but I'd be concerned with a team's depth if he was starting even on the 3rd line. His skating is not up to par and he's just not talented enough to be on a 2nd line. Morgan Geekie was there before and even at his best, Geekie is also not a top 6 player. He's much more suited for a 3rd line role. We've shuffled the lines a bit, but Zacha back at 1C, Geekie in the top 6, and Brazeau still standing there . . ooooof.
Losing guys like Debrusk, Heinen and to a lesser extent JVR has proven to hurt this team. We got a better center than Zacha in Lindholm, got the big mean meat-headed Zadorov, and locked down our goalie of the future but the middle 6 scoring talent is gone. On top of that, Frederic and Geekie who were both a big part of our depth last year (combined 30+ goals between them) have had a rough start to the season despite heating up in the last 2-3 games a tad.
Special teams are a disgrace and have costed us multiple games on their own. Our PK is 75.8% and our road PK might be 70% if that. Our PP is the worst in the league. I didn't expect us to be dominant on the PP but when you have one of the best goal scorers in the league, an old, but still very skillful Brad Marchand, and a former 30-40 goal scoring Lindholm at the bumper there is frankly no excuse for it to be this bad. Can't help that there's been multiple games of our team taking horrible penalties compounding these issues.
Goaltending hasn't been up to snuff. Of course, the subpar play from the team doesn't help. Swayman has had some very good games and Korpisalo has been fine enough. Swayman's first year as the bonafied starter was expected to come with some rough patches as he develops his way into the #1. Won't stop dipshits from coming into my grocery store and saying "SHOULD'VE KEPT ULLMARK DOOD" 13 games into an 8 year deal.
Our team just can't keep consistency through 60 minutes either. Their spirit seems zapped. Couple weeks ago, we played against Ottawa and we didn't get a shot for the final 25 minutes of regulation. Ottawa (who had massive struggles on the road to this point) doubled us in shots and completely outplayed us and out-battled us. Same goes for the recent game against St. Louis. Pretty good first 20 and then the Blues completely outplayed us for the last 40. No offense to the fans of these teams, but your teams aren't that good and the Bruins should not be getting worked over in possession by these subpar clubs.
Facing true top notch teams and we haven't stood a chance. Panthers pounded us in the season opener. We faced a Tkachuk-less and Barkov-less Panthers team again a couple days later and once again, couldn't beat them. Carolina had more goals than we had shots for the first 40 minutes of that horror show on Halloween. While it wasn't a blowout, we proved to be no match for Dallas in our first meeting. They blew us out in our 2nd meeting (a Dallas team that's not had a very productive Robertson or Hintz by the way).
This team seems completely discombobulated and their spirit seems zapped. Hampus Lindholm had been their best dman and in my opinion, their best overall player and now he's out with a fractured kneecap. It's been a rough start for the Bruins. Any time we seem to get a galvanizing win, we flush it down the toilet. No consistency, no spirit, no discipline, lackluster talent, the Boston Bruins.
We lack talented depth and speed offensively. Before putting Zacha back at C, we were rocking a 2nd line of Marchand - Coyle - Brazeau. Marchand, a warrior as always, is just not the star player he once was. He's 36 and has had double hip surgery. Coyle was able to fill in last year, but he's not a 2C. He's a 3C at his best. Justin Brazeau is nowhere near a 2nd line player. He has a decent scoring touch, but I'd be concerned with a team's depth if he was starting even on the 3rd line. His skating is not up to par and he's just not talented enough to be on a 2nd line. Morgan Geekie was there before and even at his best, Geekie is also not a top 6 player. He's much more suited for a 3rd line role. We've shuffled the lines a bit, but Zacha back at 1C, Geekie in the top 6, and Brazeau still standing there . . ooooof.
Losing guys like Debrusk, Heinen and to a lesser extent JVR has proven to hurt this team. We got a better center than Zacha in Lindholm, got the big mean meat-headed Zadorov, and locked down our goalie of the future but the middle 6 scoring talent is gone. On top of that, Frederic and Geekie who were both a big part of our depth last year (combined 30+ goals between them) have had a rough start to the season despite heating up in the last 2-3 games a tad.
Special teams are a disgrace and have costed us multiple games on their own. Our PK is 75.8% and our road PK might be 70% if that. Our PP is the worst in the league. I didn't expect us to be dominant on the PP but when you have one of the best goal scorers in the league, an old, but still very skillful Brad Marchand, and a former 30-40 goal scoring Lindholm at the bumper there is frankly no excuse for it to be this bad. Can't help that there's been multiple games of our team taking horrible penalties compounding these issues.
Goaltending hasn't been up to snuff. Of course, the subpar play from the team doesn't help. Swayman has had some very good games and Korpisalo has been fine enough. Swayman's first year as the bonafied starter was expected to come with some rough patches as he develops his way into the #1. Won't stop dipshits from coming into my grocery store and saying "SHOULD'VE KEPT ULLMARK DOOD" 13 games into an 8 year deal.
Our team just can't keep consistency through 60 minutes either. Their spirit seems zapped. Couple weeks ago, we played against Ottawa and we didn't get a shot for the final 25 minutes of regulation. Ottawa (who had massive struggles on the road to this point) doubled us in shots and completely outplayed us and out-battled us. Same goes for the recent game against St. Louis. Pretty good first 20 and then the Blues completely outplayed us for the last 40. No offense to the fans of these teams, but your teams aren't that good and the Bruins should not be getting worked over in possession by these subpar clubs.
Facing true top notch teams and we haven't stood a chance. Panthers pounded us in the season opener. We faced a Tkachuk-less and Barkov-less Panthers team again a couple days later and once again, couldn't beat them. Carolina had more goals than we had shots for the first 40 minutes of that horror show on Halloween. While it wasn't a blowout, we proved to be no match for Dallas in our first meeting. They blew us out in our 2nd meeting (a Dallas team that's not had a very productive Robertson or Hintz by the way).
This team seems completely discombobulated and their spirit seems zapped. Hampus Lindholm had been their best dman and in my opinion, their best overall player and now he's out with a fractured kneecap. It's been a rough start for the Bruins. Any time we seem to get a galvanizing win, we flush it down the toilet. No consistency, no spirit, no discipline, lackluster talent, the Boston Bruins.
