How Low Can You Go?

[Mathews28]

The question really should be how low will the ownership go

They were unwilling to miss the playoffs this year, as seen by their decision to bring in rentals and to not trade away expiring contracts.

I highly doubt they will be willing to miss the playoffs again, lose more money, and damage their brand.

It always comes back to money -- and I can't see Jacobs willing to throw some more away by going for a full rebuild

I'd tend to agree with you.

It's almost like "damn, if we only knew we'd miss the playoffs two years in a row, we'd have been better off not trying to make it and instead doing more addition by subtraction."

 

[VanIsle]

If they do nothing again this year they will be way worse.

Bergeron/Marchand had career years, that likely won't happen again, Loui won't be here and Chara/Seids will be another couple years older.

Bottom 8 team next year.

Unless they get Shattenkirk and Yandle this team is doomed.

 

[Mathews28]

Sometimes you have to be ok with getting rid of guys while they still have some value in order to avoid being stuck with them when they don't.

Problem is you've got to be correct on the timing and in choosing the right players as "expendable."

Bruins track record recently? Not great.

 

[crimsonace]

And what if the Bruins blow it up and most the young guys don't pan out? 5 years turns into 10 years. Not everyone turns into the Chicago Blackhawks.

The blow-it-up model will either yield becoming the Blackhawks or the Oilers/Leafs.

 

[crimsonace]

Sometimes you have to be ok with getting rid of guys while they still have some value in order to avoid being stuck with them when they don't.

Problem is you've got to be correct on the timing and in choosing the right players as "expendable."

Bruins track record recently? Not great.

Speaking of Chicago, this is why they're consistently good - they let go of/get rid of players while they have value (including some key pieces), hold onto their core (Kane, Toews, Keith, Hjalmarsson, Hossa, Crawford) and replace with players who complement what their existing players do well. That they tend to do very well in the undrafted FA market doesn't hurt.

PC sold early on players (Seguin), misidentified some of those key pieces (e.g., extending Seidenberg instead of Boychuk) and spent too much cap on complementary pieces (Kelly, Campbell, even Thornton's last contract) which made players who should have been part of that 6-man core like Seguin & Boychuk cap casualties. (I'd ID the core, now, as Krejci, Bergeron, Chara, Rask, Marchand (who has played his way into it). Seguin & Boychuk would've been 6 & 7 in that. Having that core would make a player like Hamilton, who seems to be playing below expectations both in BOS & CGY, expendable, and then you fill with younger pieces like Krug, Pastrnak, Vatrano, Spooner & Acciari, and depth players like McQ/Millers.

 

[LouJersey]

I'm excited to see the next generation of Bruins and maybe a new up tempo coach. Excited to see how the summer shakes out. Would love Vesey to sign here. In the not to distant future our top nine could look like ...

Marchand-Bergeron-Senyshyn
Vesey-Krejci-Pasta
Beleskey-JFK-Heinen

I really think some combo of Rask, Spooner, DeBrusk and SJ 2016 first will be turned into a couple real good defensemen over the next two summers.

I'm willing to let the kids learn on the job and have a new coach grow this team into something fun and exciting again.

 

[Danton Heineken]

Speaking of Chicago, this is why they're consistently good - they let go of/get rid of players while they have value (including some key pieces), hold onto their core (Kane, Toews, Keith, Hjalmarsson, Hossa, Crawford) and replace with players who complement what their existing players do well. That they tend to do very well in the undrafted FA market doesn't hurt.

They tanked in the right years to get Kane and Toews.
They were only able to keep Keith and Hossa thanks to Kovalchuk Rule deals to lower the cap hit.
They left Hjalmarsson exposed to an offer sheet from the Sharks.

They traded off those "key pieces" because they had to in order to be cap compliant. They'll have to do it again this offseason.

 

[sportsvg]

I don't see the huge panic, add 2 solid D Men to this team and I have to think we are set for the next couple of years. I think we have the assets/flexibility to make that happen. Looking beyond that I don't really care, we have a few more years with this core at it's prime and we need to take advantage, blowing it up would be a waste.

Look the playoff bracket we would be right now with 2 more points. Put the current team in that bracket and I like our chances of getting to the conference finals, add a couple of pieces and I think it looks very promising.

Also I think firing Julien at this point would be a mistake, we just need a couple of D men that can turn solid defense into transition offence and the whole puzzle comes back together.

 

[thasan]

I'm not opposed to full tear down rebuilds in principle, but I don't think it's warranted in this case. Generally, when you're terrible and have multiple high picks, you use them to build your forward corps (see Chicago with Kane and Toews, Penguins with Crosby and Malkin, etc).

The Bruins have a strong core of forwards, and are especially deep at center. The problem is that a) the blue line declined severely with Chara and Seidenberg getting older and the loss of Boychuk, and b) the complementary forwards really underachieved (I'm looking at you, Connolly and Hayes).

The latter should be easy to fix (and they did in the short term by bringing in Stempniak). Rebuilding the blue line will be the real challenge. However, you don't need to tank to do it, as defensemen generally don't go that high - most of the elite d-men weren't top 10 picks. There's some talent in the pipeline, but I don't know if guys like Zboril and Carlo have #1 potential.

That's why they need to sign or trade for top pairing guys, as they did with Chara and Seidenberg. Easier said than done, but there are possible options out there (Yandle, Shattenkirk, Lindholm, etc).

 

[crimsonace]

They tanked in the right years to get Kane and Toews.
They were only able to keep Keith and Hossa thanks to Kovalchuk Rule deals to lower the cap hit.
They left Hjalmarsson exposed to an offer sheet from the Sharks.

They traded off those "key pieces" because they had to in order to be cap compliant. They'll have to do it again this offseason.

Got lucky when St. Louis took Erik Johnson (& Carolina took Jordan Staal) ahead of Toews in 2006, and then got even luckier when they won the lottery to get Kane in 2007. But luck is a part of the draft - B's got very fortunate that everyone passed on Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci & Brad Marchand in the first round.

And yes, they traded off key pieces to become cap compliant, but managed to keep their core intact through all 3 Cup runs this decade. PC misidentified pieces of the core (e.g., extending Seidenberg instead of Boychuk when there was enough $$ to keep one but not both) and extended them, and gave extensions and bigger contracts to those depth guys, which prevented him from being able to stay under the cap and keep high-end players like Seguin & Boychuk.

 

[BB88]

The core we have are guys in the prime of their careers, I'd hate to waste the know for the unknown. If the guys were in their mid 30s in may be a different story. Can't the Bruins grow on the fly, still contend for the playoff and get better each year? Weren't we supposed to do that this year with guys like Colin Miller, Morrow, etc.?

That core has huge holes, holes that stop us from being contenders.

This team isn't close to contending, and we are looking at yet another down year.

Division keeps getting better and we weaker and we still draft no higher than 14th, brutal.

If they do nothing again this year they will be way worse.

Bergeron/Marchand had career years, that likely won't happen again, Loui won't be here and Chara/Seids will be another couple years older.

Bottom 8 team next year.

Unless they get Shattenkirk and Yandle this team is doomed.

Yep, adding just 1 player won't be enough.

 

[whatsbruin]

(I'd ID the core, now, as Krejci, Bergeron, Chara, Rask, Marchand (who has played his way into it).

Chara is no longer core. If you can move him, you do, but they cannot due to cap hit and skill.
My core : Rask (no viable alternative), Krecji, Pasternak, Bergeron, and Marchand. Perhaps C. Miller and Vatrano is on the cusp but I think not.

 

[WhalerTurnedBruin55]

Unfortunately they can't do a full rebuild, too many NMC and NTC. They will get 10 cent to the dollar trying to trade these guys. So we are going to be stuck in mediocrity for awhile.

I foresee this as the likely instance. Unfortunately.

 

[crimsonace]

Chara is no longer core. If you can move him, you do, but they cannot due to cap hit and skill.
My core : Rask (no viable alternative), Krecji, Pasternak, Bergeron, and Marchand. Perhaps C. Miller and Vatrano is on the cusp but I think not.

Chara, today, isn't "core" as much as those other guys. But when PC was making the roster decisions that cemented this team's identity (extending Seids/trading Boychuk & losing Hamilton, trading Seguin/using his cap space for 1 year of Iginla), he was the centerpiece, and extending him was no big difference. Today, he's not "core," but he's still a viable 2nd/3rd defenseman. Problem is, when your best D is a 2nd/3rd, that's not good.

 

[BB88]

Chara, today, isn't "core" as much as those other guys. But when PC was making the roster decisions that cemented this team's identity (extending Seids/trading Boychuk & losing Hamilton, trading Seguin/using his cap space for 1 year of Iginla), he was the centerpiece, and extending him was no big difference. Today, he's not "core," but he's still a viable 2nd/3rd defenseman. Problem is, when your best D is a 2nd/3rd, that's not good.

And when that's 39y it makes it even worse.

 

[sportsvg]

Chara is no longer core. If you can move him, you do, but they cannot due to cap hit and skill.
My core : Rask (no viable alternative), Krecji, Pasternak, Bergeron, and Marchand. Perhaps C. Miller and Vatrano is on the cusp but I think not.

The whole offence is fine, take out Erickson and Stemp and replace with something inexpensive. Chara, Krug, Miller and McQuaid are fine if slotted correctly, you just need to get ahold of 2 solid D Men somehow (If this was fantasy hockey I could get this done no problem, but since it's not I'll leave that up to Sweeney). Personally I think we have the assets to make it happen.

Marchand-Bergeron-anyone who doesn't get in their way
Krejci-Pasta-warm body not named Connelly or Hayes
Spooner-Belesky-Connelly
Accari-Hayes-anyone with speed who can play PK

Chara-New Guy
Krug-McQuiad
New Guy-Miller/morrow/miller/who cares