Post-Game Talk: ECSF GAME 6 - HIBERNATION BEGINS - Florida wins series 4-2

[bobbyorr04]

The Stars just won in double OT

Go Stars!!

 

[Aussie Bruin]

In the end, he always comes up short. They needed goals. He, again didn’t produce and never has.

When you have to constantly revert to secondary stats, in order to try to convince people of a players value, it rings hollow to me.

He’s a JAG who does nothing particularly well.

When your best attribute is….

Well, he’s probably not going to hurt you….its just not enough.

The evidence simply doesn't support 'never has'. He's played in 4 playoffs. Two he didn't do much production-wise, fine. The other two, 5 G, 6 A in 31 games. That's a decent return for a depth player. Has he been consistent in the postseason? No. Has he never produced? Equally not true.

For this year particularly, the Bruins simply didn't score enough to judge a bottom 6 forward purely by production. It's only reasonable to look at other factors. You can't just look at points, as important as they are, IMO it's far too simplistic.

End of the day, it depends on what you want. A guy like Frederic will usually score more than a Heinen but he'll also give you more stretches of outright bad/invisible play and make more mistakes which will either cost you scoring opportunities or even worse cost you goals against, as happened in this one. He'll also cost you more money. You need the Freddies in the bottom 6, for sure. I just think there's also still room for a Heinen, and they have their own value.

 

[The don godfather]

The Stars just won in double OT

Go Stars!!

Yep cheering for tyler. I'm depressed bruins are out. Sucks.

That may be true. But there is no way they're trading Pasta. Unless McDavid is returning.

And that ain't happening.

1st overall for sharks pick! Sharks hang up.

 

[BobbyAwe]

Having the "Best Goaltending Tandem"" in the league is OVERRATED. It's great when/if one of them is out with an injury but otherwise it's like money in the bank making less than 1% interest - great to have in an emergency but it's not ACTIVELY doing much for you.

Ullmark has to be traded or the team will not fundamentally change. Certainly last year's Vezina winner will get us a #1 center and maybe more (?). Then Swayman AND the new guy can play at the same time and the team still has great goaltending while also more goal scoring.

Ullmark is the only star we can afford to lose, and the only one who will get us the talent in return where we most need it.

 

[bobbyorr04]

One things for sure after all this I wont be excited about the regular season next year. It's all about playoffs .

It's worth getting somewhat excited about regular season

..but the REAL games begin in April

 

[Memokerobi]

Had some time to cool down and think about the future. We are in a pretty good shape going forward but absolutely need some major changes

We have a very solid team but we just aren't good enough to keep up with the top teams in the league. We need guys who play faster both on offense and defense. And by fast I don't mean players who are fast skaters, I mean players who make quick decisions with the puck and allow the team to play fast. There are too many times where our guys just linger with the puck, look around and then the forecheck is on them and we can't clear the zone and make dumb mistakes. This is probably our biggest issue on the power play too. Teams defend our power play by just pressuring the puck aggressively. Normally this is a risky strategy but we just don't move the puck fast enough to punish teams and just allow the pressure to disrupt our play

Overall I like our defensive group but we definitely need more offense from them. I think our dmen deserve significant blame in our offense not producing enough. They had 151 points in the regular season which was the 6th lowest in the league. Of the 8 teams that made the second round in the playoffs, we ranked just ahead of the Rangers in points by dmen. I don't have enough hockey knowledge to say if this is a coaching issue or a personnel issue, its probably a mix of both but it has to be better. Very excited about Lohrei since he's looking like a guy who can make a big impact on the offensive end. He needs to be the first guy penciled into PP1.

As the second highest paid player on the team, its fair to say McAvoy has been very underwhelming, especially in the last two playoffs, on both ends. I think his poor performance also has a trickle down effect making everyone else on D look worse than they are. I don't think he's going anywhere so he has to be better.

On offense, the absolute priority must be to get not one but two centers. It is obviously easier said than done but this is the inept offense you'll get if you dress Geekie, Coyle and Zacha as your top 3 centers in a playoff series so you have to do something about it. They might need to get creative but I don't think its an impossible task. Sign one from FA like Lindholm and trade for another like Mittelstadt who is a RFA.

Pasta needs to stay, it would be much worse than the Seguin trade if we move him. You don't find 50 goal scorers growing on trees. He is an elite play-finisher and we don't do a good job of getting him the puck in good spots so he tries to compensate by trying to play in a playmaking role and that makes him worse. You try to find ways to use Pasta more effectively, you don't get rid of him.

I would keep Debrusk, he is one of the few players on the team who actually elevate their level of play in the playoffs.

I'm done with Coyle. I don't know if he has any value on the trade market but he'd be the first guy I'd look to move among the forward group. He disappears for long stretches, doesn't produce enough and has been pretty bad in all of his playoff runs with us except the 2019 season. He has moments when he looks really good but they are very few and far between.

Goalie seems to be the most clear cut answer. Sign Sway at all costs and trade Linus. Ride with Sway & Bussi or a low end vet. A trade with the Avs sending them Ullmark for the rights to Mittelstadt could be interesting but I'm assuming the Avs are on Linus' NT list.

 

[sarge88]

The evidence simply doesn't support 'never has'. He's played in 4 playoffs. Two he didn't do much production-wise, fine. The other two, 5 G, 6 A in 31 games. That's a decent return for a depth player. Has he been consistent in the postseason? No. Has he never produced? Equally not true.

For this year particularly, the Bruins simply didn't score enough to judge a bottom 6 forward purely by production. It's only reasonable to look at other factors. You can't just look at points, as important as they are, IMO it's far too simplistic.

End of the day, it depends on what you want. A guy like Frederic will usually score more than a Heinen but he'll also give you more stretches of outright bad/invisible play and make more mistakes which will either cost you scoring opportunities or even worse cost you goals against, as happened in this one. He'll also cost you more money. You need the Freddies in the bottom 6, for sure. I just think there's also still room for a Heinen, and they have their own value.

I understand what you’re saying, although I don’t agree.

One decent playoff year doesn’t mask 6 goals in 48 playoff games.

That’s fourth line/border AHL production.

In the end, there are literally dozens of players who are as effective as him as third liners.

Some score more goals, some hit more, some fight, some are defensive guys like he is, some are a better combination of a few of those skills.

In the end, if this team is serious about getting better, and they fill the two/three holes in the tops 6 and they are committed to Poitras, Brazeau and Beecher, I can’t see why they’d bring him back.

As I’ve posted earlier:

Given he’s not a top 6 guy,

If they do their job this summer, the third line should be:

Freddy Coyle Geekie

I can’t see him being a priority for the 4th line with..

Beecher, Boqvist, Brazeau, Lauko all under contract along with the likelihood that they’ll bring in some muscle.

 

[bobbyorr04]

Yep cheering for tyler. I'm depressed bruins are out. Sucks.

Bruins overachieved this season, and did better than the B's all-star team last year

If Sweeney really wants to win a Cup (and not just regular season games), then he better get to work and start building a team with grit and skill who can shine in the playoffs

He should have a pretty good idea (by now) what it takes to be a great playoff team

..this is his last chance to prove himself .....if he's still GM

 

[Memokerobi]

He was taken over. Dreadful 13 games

Probably my least favorite player on the team. Hope I’ve seen his last game as a Bruin. Such a nothing player. Looks amazing for like 30 seconds and then completely disappears for 3 games. And its not because he’s in over his head, he’s sucked in the playoffs for years now even when playing 3C. He was good during our Finals run in 19 but thats it

 

[PatriceBergeron]

Ideal game plan given cap space:

-Sign Guentzal
-Sign Zadorov
-Sign 3rd pair defenseman
-Resign Swayman
-Resign Debrusk
-Trade Frederic (or Geekie)
-Trade Ullmark
-Trade McAvoy for #1 center. I used Hintz for the lineup, but fine with other options.

Marchand-Hintz-Pastrnak
Guentzel-Poitras-Debrusk
Zacha-Coyle-Geekie
Lauko-Beecher-Brazeau

Zadorov-Lohrei
Lindholm-Carlo
Edmundson-Peeke

Also fine with moving guys like Coyle and Lindholm, but don’t think they are going to get equal value back for them.

 

[The don godfather]

Ideal game plan given cap space:

-Sign Guentzal
-Sign Zadorov
-Sign 3rd pair defenseman
-Resign Swayman
-Resign Debrusk
-Trade Frederic (or Geekie)
-Trade Ullmark
-Trade McAvoy for #1 center. I used Hintz for the lineup, but fine with other options.

Marchand-Hintz-Pastrnak
Guentzel-Poitras-Debrusk
Zacha-Coyle-Geekie
Lauko-Beecher-Brazeau

Zadorov-Lohrei
Lindholm-Carlo
Edmundson-Peeke

Also fine with moving guys like Coyle and Lindholm, but don’t think they are going to get equal value back for them.

That center depth is weak as Kraft cheese.

 

[BiteThisBurrows]

I think the boys deserved a better fate tonight but in the end that lack of finish around the goal that we saw often all year did them in. Hell of an effort top to bottom though. Just a play or a bounce away from a win. I'm happy with the effort they gave and how they left it on the ice.

The team over achieved after the loaded failure of last season and the resulting cap issues so not too much to complain about. They need to add some scoring talent, but they have the money and even more if they trade Ullmark (which is likely).

Some positives in signing Geekie who was a playoff warrior, finding Brazeau, the development of Lohrei (and don't forget Poitras for next year). There's some real positives going forward despite what the doom merchants say. We will be there again next year I am confidant.

AND WE BEAT THE LEAFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Carl Hungus]

Proud of this team and what they accomplished with that roster

There's a lot of options this offseason, I just hope they use that cap space wisely. Looking forward to October, I miss Bruins hockey already

 

[PatriceBergeron]

That center depth is weak as Kraft cheese.

That’s their own fault for not being able to develop any. They can afford to get one top tier guy for 7M+, they can’t afford two unless they want no good wingers. And that’s with me trading McAvoy and clearing 9.5M+, which I doubt they’ll actually do.

I’m pretty confident that their plan will be to develop Poitras as the 2C anyways.

 

[CharaBadSenyshynGawd]

Not sure if it’s a stat kept, but would bet a healthy amount Pasta turned the puck over more than anyone in the history of the game in a 7 game series. If he’s not borderline paralyzed, no excuse to play as poorly as he did.

Geekie is awful as well.

A team that doesn’t know how to break the puck in or out was never going to make noise.

Both goals tonight easily preventable with even a pee wee understanding of the game.

 

[Save By Thomas]

I wish Marchand punched bennett in the handshake line.

I turned it off immediately after the clock hit zero, I have no desire to see anyone from the panthers celebrating or enjoying themselves. If anyone from the B's shook hands with bennet or tkachump I'm severely disappointed in them. Should have just skated by with an emphatic 'Eff You.

 

[bob77]

If Monty doesn’t start Forbort three games in a row, this series probably goes 7.

I don’t see this at all. But I don’t think he was a bad move to take him out.

I see the series this way. Forbort had the misfortune of playing in the three games where the Bs really thought they could skate, forecheck, and play back and forth hockey. After all, easy Bs win game 1. But games 2 and 3, that wasn’t cutting it.

So, much tighter game 3. Bs blow a 2 goal lead, but realize they sort of need to go into a shell, hang back, Fs way back more so, etc. It lead to more team overall D coverage with the offense completely drying up. But hey, at least they were in these low scoring games and had a chance. They had a hot goalie and thought they could ride it out. Bringing Peeke in for game 3 really added nothing. And maybe Wotherspoon should not have sat.

Games 4, 5, and 6 were all played passively by the Bs. ALL the players realized by then they needed to play a much tighter game and hope for the best. It didn’t work out.

In the end, Forbort was 1-2 in three games. Peeke was 1-3 in four games. Wotherspoon was 2-3 in five games.

So, no. The series would not have turned out any different because Forbort played a few games.

 

[bob77]

Had some time to cool down and think about the future. We are in a pretty good shape going forward but absolutely need some major changes

We have a very solid team but we just aren't good enough to keep up with the top teams in the league. We need guys who play faster both on offense and defense. And by fast I don't mean players who are fast skaters, I mean players who make quick decisions with the puck and allow the team to play fast. There are too many times where our guys just linger with the puck, look around and then the forecheck is on them and we can't clear the zone and make dumb mistakes. This is probably our biggest issue on the power play too. Teams defend our power play by just pressuring the puck aggressively. Normally this is a risky strategy but we just don't move the puck fast enough to punish teams and just allow the pressure to disrupt our play

Overall I like our defensive group but we definitely need more offense from them. I think our dmen deserve significant blame in our offense not producing enough. They had 151 points in the regular season which was the 6th lowest in the league. Of the 8 teams that made the second round in the playoffs, we ranked just ahead of the Rangers in points by dmen. I don't have enough hockey knowledge to say if this is a coaching issue or a personnel issue, its probably a mix of both but it has to be better. Very excited about Lohrei since he's looking like a guy who can make a big impact on the offensive end. He needs to be the first guy penciled into PP1.

As the second highest paid player on the team, its fair to say McAvoy has been very underwhelming, especially in the last two playoffs, on both ends. I think his poor performance also has a trickle down effect making everyone else on D look worse than they are. I don't think he's going anywhere so he has to be better.

On offense, the absolute priority must be to get not one but two centers. It is obviously easier said than done but this is the inept offense you'll get if you dress Geekie, Coyle and Zacha as your top 3 centers in a playoff series so you have to do something about it. They might need to get creative but I don't think its an impossible task. Sign one from FA like Lindholm and trade for another like Mittelstadt who is a RFA.

Pasta needs to stay, it would be much worse than the Seguin trade if we move him. You don't find 50 goal scorers growing on trees. He is an elite play-finisher and we don't do a good job of getting him the puck in good spots so he tries to compensate by trying to play in a playmaking role and that makes him worse. You try to find ways to use Pasta more effectively, you don't get rid of him.

I would keep Debrusk, he is one of the few players on the team who actually elevate their level of play in the playoffs.

I'm done with Coyle. I don't know if he has any value on the trade market but he'd be the first guy I'd look to move among the forward group. He disappears for long stretches, doesn't produce enough and has been pretty bad in all of his playoff runs with us except the 2019 season. He has moments when he looks really good but they are very few and far between.

Goalie seems to be the most clear cut answer. Sign Sway at all costs and trade Linus. Ride with Sway & Bussi or a low end vet. A trade with the Avs sending them Ullmark for the rights to Mittelstadt could be interesting but I'm assuming the Avs are on Linus' NT list.

It’s either one or the other. I guess we do have cap space, but it’s hard in this league to literally land a game breaker through trades and UFA. Ullmark would have been our best chance, but when he sits on the bench for 12 out of 13 playoff games, his value has gone way down.

 

[Fenway]

 

[CheerstoBeers]

Handing people spots is a horrible way to develop talent and teach them accountability. It’s the move you make when you have no other option because you suck. They brought in a bunch of guys in one year deals so the kids could take it. And they did!

You know Peeke is younger than Brazeau, right?

So bringing in Peeke and Maroon made us suck less? Point is Bruins have a long history of burying guys worthy of ice time and worthy of the spot. We didn't need Maroon, Lauko was a much better option but it's like management just refuses to fully trust they deserve a spot. Back and forth to Providence, a game here and there. Burying guys in the AHL til their 25 or 26 when they deserve roster spots is an awful way to develop talent

 

[bolt thrower]

Not really surprised that the Bruins lost to this Panthers team, which is by all means the better and deeper team. If you don't have real 1st and 2nd line centers it's just not possible to survive the playoffs. What actually bothers me the most, ist the abysmal home record during the last two playoff runs: just 3 wins in 11 games. That is an absolute no go and has to be addressed.

 

[Over the volcano]

sad but marchand is nearly done before the injuries he looked so slow

The will is there. When he hangs em up it's going to be a whole different team. Who's the next captain. I love McAvoy but aside from a couple gems he's struggled mightily at crunch time.

 

[smithformeragent]

If you had told me at the start of the season that the Bruins would be the fourth best team in the Eastern conference, I would’ve been surprised.

In a 32 team league, that’s pretty good.

It speaks to them over achieving as a group, but it also speaks to some of the other teams like Detroit, Buffalo, and New Jersey, either regressing, or not taking the steps forward that many thought they would.

But let’s be honest, this team was never contending for a Cup.

The eyeball test does not lie, and when you look at this team’s top six forwards, it’s simply not good enough.

 

[caz16]

The Bruins beat the Leafs, the joy of that this season was really all that could be expected. Too many holes in the roster and our top guys having to be run into the ground trying to make up for the talent that just wasn't there. Our defense was exhausted from having to play in their own end so much in those games where the shots were so low. It isn't sustainable, they were completely out of gas and mental mistakes happen. The Rangers would have eaten them alive,may even have been swept, so I will take the loss in 6 to the Panthers. They gave it all they had and I am proud of them.

Of course I will watch them next year, the regular season is all part of the race. If you wait and watch the playoffs only, I don't think I would call you a fan of the team. There has been a lot of pain over the years but I will watch every game I can. Fair weather fans can leave whenever they want. Hockey brings me more joy than pain. Life goes on.

 

[bme44]

I blame Grzelcyk

If his $3,687,500 cap hit was used else where it could have given the Bruins another top 9 forward .

The key going forward is to minimize poor cap spending. If Forbert and Gryz were not eating $6,687,500 in cap space who knows? The dead cap space left from 37&46 is a gamble that was worth taking last year.
If Sweeney spends wisely over the summer , we should be fortunate enough as Bruin's fans to continue to cheer for a contending team.
IMO as a Bruin Fan we should be thankful for what we are getting from our Bruins