Carl Hungus
Registered User
- Apr 20, 2022
- 769
- 2,749
Post-Game Talk: GAME 20 - Columbus 5, SS Edmund Fitzgerald 1 - The sellout streak ended tonight at 628
- Thread starter Fenway
- Start date
Bruins fans have been spoiled far too long by Chara, Bergy, Krejci and Rask.
In 2015 the Bruins promoted a fool to GM position, who inherited the core. The moron of a GM should have been canned right after his first draft. Instead, the ownership let him hoard and sign a lot of junk year after year with all kinds of handcuffs in NMC and NTC.
He then wasted many high draft picks only to get rid of those handcuffs and now the old core is gone, there is no succession of the new core, no prospect pool, no talent depth, no roster depth just aging Marchand and Pasta, who is playing frustrated without 1st line center and 1st line LW.
What did you all expect?
In 2015 the Bruins promoted a fool to GM position, who inherited the core. The moron of a GM should have been canned right after his first draft. Instead, the ownership let him hoard and sign a lot of junk year after year with all kinds of handcuffs in NMC and NTC.
He then wasted many high draft picks only to get rid of those handcuffs and now the old core is gone, there is no succession of the new core, no prospect pool, no talent depth, no roster depth just aging Marchand and Pasta, who is playing frustrated without 1st line center and 1st line LW.
What did you all expect?
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BB79
🇺🇲
- Apr 30, 2011
- 6,271
- 7,609
For the team in general to at least act like they give a shit. Too much to ask I guess. Mercifully, there won't be any playoffs in the spring at this rate. Can't imagine having to watch this team play Florida or Toronto in the first round again. Blow it up.
Sweeney too busy with the 4 nations cup to bother with the team that pays him, the clown show in the front office should be gone first, but Charlie and JJ don't care, as long as the suckers keep going to TD Garden. You want change, stop going to the games, empty seats gets the attention from ownership. I can't imagine spending the price for tickets, travel time, parking etc, to watch this crap show.
bruinsfan1968
I'm rich I can do whatever I want! Lol MARW
LouJersey
Registered User
@PlayMakers
On Montgomery. He won a round last year, first one in 3 years. 2023 not his fault the players choked 2 leads game 6 and one lead game 7. If you’re going to fire the guy after 20 games then the GM should go too.
Team this year turns out is complete trash. Shocked me. I had 110 pts. You want to fire him fine, with the caveat if they don’t turn it around and make the playoffs Sweeney is gone too. Deal?
On Montgomery. He won a round last year, first one in 3 years. 2023 not his fault the players choked 2 leads game 6 and one lead game 7. If you’re going to fire the guy after 20 games then the GM should go too.
Team this year turns out is complete trash. Shocked me. I had 110 pts. You want to fire him fine, with the caveat if they don’t turn it around and make the playoffs Sweeney is gone too. Deal?
He can be so much better but he never would be even close the best player in the league.
He didn't even try on 4th and 5th goals.
Hey, he missed pre-season. He may be little bit rust he first 3-4 years. What a f***ing bum.
Hopefully he goes to make finance podcast and retire from hockey.
smithformeragent
Moderator
Is it as simple as them failing to draft and develop and keep positions?
We have beaten the 2015 draft to death.
They also traded picks away, and put themselves into a salary, cap penalty in an effort to go all in.
They do delve to free agency, and sign Lindholm and Zadorov.
Chara and Savard, they are not.
Couple that with the fact that they DeBrusk walk and Marchand looks along in the tooth, and all of a sudden the top 6 forward group is pretty barren.
They don’t have the horses to run and gun, and they don’t have the shutdown guys to win games 2 to 1.
So what does success look like for this Boston Bruins team as presently constructed?
No sacred cows, so I think it’s also fair to question your three franchise pillars in Pastrnak, McAvoy, and Swayman.
Did you identify an invest in the right people?
We have beaten the 2015 draft to death.
They also traded picks away, and put themselves into a salary, cap penalty in an effort to go all in.
They do delve to free agency, and sign Lindholm and Zadorov.
Chara and Savard, they are not.
Couple that with the fact that they DeBrusk walk and Marchand looks along in the tooth, and all of a sudden the top 6 forward group is pretty barren.
They don’t have the horses to run and gun, and they don’t have the shutdown guys to win games 2 to 1.
So what does success look like for this Boston Bruins team as presently constructed?
No sacred cows, so I think it’s also fair to question your three franchise pillars in Pastrnak, McAvoy, and Swayman.
Did you identify an invest in the right people?
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That's because he is really good shooter. Pasta is 98% of his time shooting wide, over or jersey logo.
Like anyone took him even for free with that contract .The outlet....he's still an RFA till 2026-7. His NTC does not take affect till then.
Prior to the season they thought they would have the ability to win games 2-1. The Bruins have been built from the net/defense out for a long time. Don't think even Sweeney tried to hide that the forward group was always likely to be just adequate at best initially, but with Sway in net, the hope that Goalie Bob could make Korpi at least serviceable, and a big, supposedly solid D corps, the GM was very much counting on the Bruins being able to keep other teams' scoring to a minimum.
But then the Sway saga happened, set his form back, created some bad blood, meant he was playing catch up. On a good team sure, probably no worries for him to get going with a little time. But on a struggling one it becomes difficult. And the defensive group is built wrong. McAvoy's only obvious partner is Lindholm but he's also the only guy who's a good fit with Carlo. Can't do both. Zadorov in the regular season is a 3rd pair D-man who can occasionally play higher for limited periods. That's just who he is. Putting him full-time with Mac was always a pipe dream, simply can't handle the minutes or the quality of opposition he'd be required to face on a nightly basis. Lohrei is still too inexperienced and inconsistent to fill that role either, and he and Carlo just don't gel well at all. Peeke and Wotherspoon are perfectly serviceable 3rd pair guys but no more.
So you have two top pair guys but they can't really play together too often, a 2RD in horrible form, a kid and 3 bottom pair players, plus whatever other depth is lying around. Your 1RD also has a know habit of over-playing and over-thinking when he believes he has to do too much himself. Carlo being this bad was totally unpredictable, but the rest of the issues were foreseeable even if they were not guaranteed. I know I know, hindsight and all that, and I am still shocked all the same at just how bad our defense has been, and even how timid Sway has become despite his late start. Monty messing around with the tactics and structure hasn't helped, recent injuries have made it worse. But still, the potential for problems to arise was very much there right from the start, IMO, and here we are.
smithformeragent
Moderator
I always enjoy reading your well thought out, articulate posts.
smithformeragent
Moderator
KrejciMVP
Registered User
BruinDust
Registered User
- Aug 2, 2005
- 25,423
- 24,520
Ah, the reason why they can't seem to string three passes together or stop giving up odd man rushes is narrative surrounding the team.
I generally like Friedman but he should probably watch a Bruins game or two. Actually change that, I wouldn't wish that upon my worst enemy right now.
smithformeragent
Moderator
Again, I probably assign much more of the blame to Sweeney than I do Montgomery, but how long do you let this play out, and how bad does it have to look before you make a change?
To lose 5-1 at home to THAT team? What’s worse than that?
Never mind, I think I just answered my own question.
Getting blown out against Montreal on December 1.
To lose 5-1 at home to THAT team? What’s worse than that?
Never mind, I think I just answered my own question.
Getting blown out against Montreal on December 1.
Monty has to be fired by noon EST today. There's no ifs ands or buts.
Don't have someone internal takeover, look outside. The PP, SH, everything is a mess. None of the current folks behind the bench are worth anything. I know it's not going to happen but imagine having Bergy back there? Wow that'd be a voice that would carry some weight.
Don't have someone internal takeover, look outside. The PP, SH, everything is a mess. None of the current folks behind the bench are worth anything. I know it's not going to happen but imagine having Bergy back there? Wow that'd be a voice that would carry some weight.
Slow start, two shorthanded goals sink Bruins in loss to Blue Jackets - The Boston Globe
Blue Jackets goalie Elvis Merzlikins made 29 saves, several of the showstopping variety, to lead his club to a 5-1 win over the freefalling Bruins at TD Garden.
www.bostonglobe.com
Elvis lives. And he helped squash the Bruins Monday night.
Blue Jackets goalie Elvis Merzlikins made 29 saves, several of the showstopping variety, to lead his club to a 5-1 win over the freefalling Bruins at TD Garden.
It was the third straight loss for Boston, which fell to 8-9-3 as Columbus (7-9-2) won for just the second time in 10 road games this season (2-6-2).
“Definitely not happy with the way that things are going. We need to be much better in a lot of areas,” said Brad Marchand. “Mistakes are going to happen in the game and we’re just kind of compounding them and it’s not acceptable to continue to have the same mistakes and do the same things over and over that won’t bring success. So yeah, we need to be a little better.”
Despite the lopsided score, the Bruins had plenty of chances to make it a game. Sloppy play, an anemic power play (1 for 6 and allowing a pair of shorthanded goals), and Merzlikins’s brilliance all were factors.
The biggest culprit, however, was an inconsistent effort. Boston was too often too easy to play against.
“I think it always starts with your compete level first and foremost. I think that in this league you have to have the highest compete every night if you want to be a good team,” said Marchand. “And we have it through periods of the game. We haven’t at times, and when we do, it’s really good, but then we get into these other moments of the game where we think we’re a skill team and we want to play through the middle of the ice and that’s not us. We have to understand what our identity is and play to that and we’ve yet to do that really for a full 60 [minutes] of the game.”
The boo birds were out in full force after Columbus built a 3-0 lead on goals from Dmitri Voronkov, Mathieu Olivier, and old friend James van Riemsdyk.
Jeffrey Viel tried to get his new teammates going by challenging Olivier to a bout just 2:12 in, but frankly, there were more punches landed in the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson sham last week.
Ironically, “Hello, I Love You,” by The Doors blasted over the sound system as the combatants headed to the penalty boxes.
Columbus made it hurt even more when Olivier, known for throwing hands, displayed some silky mitts, getting around Charlie Coyle and tucking a backhander past Swayman for the shorty and a 2-0 lead.
Cue the first round of boos.
“I tried stripping the guy and I didn’t, and that’s on me to not let him get to the net,” said Coyle. “So no, that’s strictly on me.”
Justin Brazeau collected a Lohrei dump in from the point and dished it to Coyle, who snuck down the slot and snuck a forehander under Merzlikins’s glove.
That was the extent of Boston’s offense.
Yegor Chinakhov capped the scoring for the Blue Jackets.
As he searches for a way to drag his team out of the morass, Jim Montgomery will stick with an honesty-is-the-best-policy approach.
“You got to be honest in life, everyone goes through struggles, whether you’re in life or you’re a team, that’s what life’s about,” said the coach. “How do you pick yourself up? It’s not how hard you fall; it’s how quickly you pick yourself up.”
Much appreciated, kind sir!
Just on your other question around the supposed pillars of the franchise in McAvoy et al., I do think it's certainly not as set in stone that they will be the long-term foundation of the team as it was 2 months ago. I'm very far away from saying you should move even one of them, but I think it would have to at least be on the table as a talking point if this season really does fall apart completely.
Are they the right leaders for this team going forwards? If not, can you bring in a different future captain like the Chara situation, do they just need some experienced assistance like a Foligno, or do you need to properly shake it up and move a key piece elsewhere and find a suitable replacement? And are they the right guys to build your team around? Are they the right fit for the Bruins?
McAvoy, Pasta and Sway are all talented, I think they're all fundamentally nice people, I think they all want to do their best for the Bruins and their teammates in their own way. But none of that is proof or a guarantee of anything in itself. Your core has to work as a unit, and be effective both on and off the ice. It could be that these three plus the guys immediately around them don't turn out to have the keys to proper success for Boston in the next 5+ years. The plan might be wrong. Which is easy to say. How to fix it if that's the case would be the real challenge.
Babajingo
Registered User
100% The only real change can happen when they don't make the playoffs and people stop going to games. Other than that, it will be coaching and player rotating which equals mediocrity.
