How would you fix the Bruins

[ReggieMoto]

They need time to mature. Maybe another top-6 winger. Definitely a solid #2 goalie.

 

[FROMSHORETOCHARA]

Fire Neely. Replace him with a "hockey czar" who will likely bring in his own new GM and coaching staff.

Deal pieces from the core to accumulate capital and cape space.
Keep Rask.
Deal fringe pieces and dead weight.

Acquire a number one defenseman at all costs.

With the number one goalie and defenseman in place, fill in from there.

I agree with this. If they miss playoffs for 3rd year fire neely. Hire a new president with total control, they make call on Sweeney and Claude. Can't imagine Sweeney survives but that's his call. As for Claude, greatest Bruins coach since expansion era and every Bruins fan who remembers the lousy teams and fans disguised as empty yellow seats owes him a thanks. Still it's new president call and he may well want his own guy. He will be fortunate to pick a coach as good as Claude.

As for my vision of new president? I look for a candidate who views the game the way I do, first the Bruins need a major infusion of team speed. Now speed isn't everything but it is a faster and faster game and while the Bruins have some fast players overall they are and have been far from elite, even the Bruins best players, krejci Bergeron and chara lack elite or even good speed. I also want someone who believes that a line up sprinkled with physicality is a core bruin trait. Yes physicality far less important than it was.....sadly.....but whatever makes a tough team in 2018, I want to have it.

Also I certainly would consider people with Bruins ties but I would not allow it to be a factor never mind a prerequisite. Being a glad hander in the 9th floor ain't what's needed. A good competent hockey man with a vision of a modern nhl blended with an appreciation of a traditional bruin team is what they need.

 

[bruinmann77]

I would try to move DK and become sellers at the trade deadline. I would like for them to move the deadwood
as much as possible. Get a influx of youth and let them earn their keep

 

[Patrice37]

My first move would be firing Cameron Neely. Great player, ****ing awful executive. Good-bye.

I'm not sure where I go from there besides keeping Sweeney.

 

[Ratty]

Drop the price for tickets and reduce the cost of refreshments. This way, real Bruin fans can afford to go to games and maybe take their kids. Reinvigorate the people who actually support the team.

 

[Jorah Marshmont]

Burn them all

 

[Dr Danglefest]

Depends on what you want...the massive problem is you can get younger more talented higher ceiling players at the same time as contending and making the playoffs...you just don't

If it's the playoffs which is what ownership wants:

Fire Cam, Give Don an ultimatum, which will force him to somewhat abandon his rebuild he's trying for, he will have to sell off several pieces of his prospect pool for veterans of actual skill, no more liles or Stempniaks...you sell all or close to all of what you've gathered for guys that can get you there now but aren't shiny new 20 year olds....Claude remains as he should and we probably get in the playoffs with the likes of Hayes, Nash, McQuaid, Morrow , etc replaced, czarnik, Blidh and company that aren't ready sent back down...the question then is how sustainable is your new look?

If you want to rebuild and possibly come back stronger? Trade Hayes, Nash, Schaller, Moore, Krejci, McQauid, Miller, Miller, Morrow, Liles and you let the kids grow bring up heinen, Chelarik, OGara, Gryzleck, Etc that are ready to atleast test the waters see if any can stand out, your 2015 1sts should be ready for a shot next year...let the kids play and tank in the process...won't be an overnight thing though it'll be a multi year process that fans will get tired of after half a year

 

[chizzler]

This won't be fixed for a couple of years at least. Too much to do still. I don't care who's in charge. Current guys or new guys.

 

[Budddy]

My first move would be firing Cameron Neely. Great player, ****ing awful executive. Good-bye.

I'm not sure where I go from there besides keeping Sweeney.

I would do that too...and make sure it is a non-Bruin to,take over the organization..

 

[BB88]

Sell at the deadline if you find buyers, instead of buying, expecting them of course to buy something.
Draft Liljegren/Heiskanen, have one of the top young D-groups in the league.

Re-sign Pasta 6-8y around 6M.
No vet signings this summer, again try to get rid of some of the contracts if possible, Kevan/McQuaid/Beleskey, if someone buys sell them, won't be easy.
Plenty of young players in the lineup, be patient with them, let them play and not bench after every mistake. 2017-18 is a real development year.

Try to draft a C/impact forward at 2018 draft, top10 pick.

2018-19 start winning. Buy a forward at the deadline for playoff push.
It's not a 1 year fix.

19-20 contenders.

Keep the assets and try to gain more, try to pick up a young impact forward if one becomes available.

 

[AM Bruin]

Fire Neely. Replace him with a "hockey czar" who will likely bring in his own new GM and coaching staff.

Pretty much what the Oilers (Katz) did when they figured that the Olde Boyz Klub wasn't working.
They hired Bob Nicholson away from Hockey Canada to restructure the organization and it seems to be paying dividends. Having McJeezus fall into your lap didn't hurt

 

[AM Bruin]

I would instruct whoever was to become the new Gm that were not to trade any draft picks for rentals. It would take a while but that's what's gotten us here in the first place. Not enough emerging talent

 

[Brucentric*]

Pretty much what the Oilers (Katz) did when they figured that the Olde Boyz Klub wasn't working.
They hired Bob Nicholson away from Hockey Canada to restructure the organization and it seems to be paying dividends. Having McJeezus fall into your lap didn't hurt

Spooner needs to be traded where he can go to an organization that would appreciate an elite 3rd line center with great PP skills. Perfect player no....excellent player when used to his strengths. Certainly not what this mgmt has done. There was no reason to screw with the offense. I think we were fourth in the league in goals and remember our PP was excellent....The BACKES signing, while a big name, only put our team in turmoil. He plays out of position as does Spooner. How stupid is that.

The GM who is very poor, needs to realize we are playing with no number one dman or no number 2 dman. Lets stop pretending Chara/Carlo is a top pairing. They are not. The way they are playing now they are a 3-4.....Krug and C Miller Are a 5-6 pairing. If management continues to look at Chara as a number one dman, then we wont win till he retires and we get one. McAvoy needs to get here now. Is that possible ?

Get a backup goalie. Use your f&%$#*g assets, Make a Freaking phone call......Do some work.....This guy is a disgrace for Boston hockey. 3 years almost and the guy has not made a trade for NHL caliber defensemen. Scary, this guy spent 20 years as a DMAN......And he cant see that we need DMEN. And this is our GM. Thats pretty Freaking scary.

 

[BigBear83]

Retain Sweeney, give him the freedom to execute his plan, at his pace, the way he sees fit. If your not going to do that, then let him go. I think he's a smart guy being influenced by too many negative sources.

this exactly, sweeney is too smart to realize what they are doing is not a good formula for success.

-have to see if krejci will waive his ntc..

 

[Killer B]

We need to be much smarter across the board, and no more sacred cows. Think like the Chicago Blackhawks.

1) Get rid of dead weight, redundant or those not earning every penny of their contracts. Hayes, Liles, Morrow, 1 of K-Miller/McQ, Belesky, Nash...

2) Determine now that we're not a serious playoff contender - move declining assets for anything we can get (Chara, Moore, Krecji). NTC contracts be dammed... It can be done. Gaustad got a 1st at the deadline a few years back. Someone will pay for an aging Chara.

3) Suffer with the kids (Pasta, Carlo, C Miller, Franki, etc) and vets (Bergy, Marchand, Backes, Krug, etc) for the remainder of this year.

4) Next year, bring in young talent (McAvoy, Zboril, Lauzon, Bjork, DeBrusk, Senysyn). Make a run at a free agent or two that won't break the bank (Berglund, Bonino).

5) Hire a coach the will play an uptempo style while putting players in a position to succeed (stop moving players from center to wing to center to wing)

6) Do not trade good young prospects for band aids!!!

7) Draft future superstars

 

[jgatie]

Spooner needs to be traded where he can go to an organization that would appreciate an elite 3rd line center with great PP skills. Perfect player no....excellent player when used to his strengths. Certainly not what this mgmt has done. There was no reason to screw with the offense. I think we were fourth in the league in goals and remember our PP was excellent....The BACKES signing, while a big name, only put our team in turmoil. He plays out of position as does Spooner. How stupid is that.

The GM who is very poor, needs to realize we are playing with no number one dman or no number 2 dman. Lets stop pretending Chara/Carlo is a top pairing. They are not. The way they are playing now they are a 3-4.....Krug and C Miller Are a 5-6 pairing. If management continues to look at Chara as a number one dman, then we wont win till he retires and we get one. McAvoy needs to get here now. Is that possible ?

Get a backup goalie. Use your f&%$#*g assets, Make a Freaking phone call......Do some work.....This guy is a disgrace for Boston hockey. 3 years almost and the guy has not made a trade for NHL caliber defensemen. Scary, this guy spent 20 years as a DMAN......And he cant see that we need DMEN. And this is our GM. Thats pretty Freaking scary.

"elite 3rd line center"

Can you say "oxymoron"?

Keep it going, Bud! You are most certainly my favorite new (old) poster! Just love the way those capitalizations creep in when you get all worked up!

 

[Number8]

I would like to see Sweeney stay and see what he can do with the prospect building he's been doing.

However, I have major trepidation regarding the utter nonsense coming from ownership (Deep playoff run my ass, JJ. Foolish comment then, foolish expectation now.).

In the long run you'll need to put in someone a little nutty (Brian Burke) who knows hockey and is abrasive enough to tell JJ to "shut your mouth and go back to counting your money".

You could have a hybrid of Scotty Bowman, Joel Queneville, and Al Arbor and he wouldn't be able to make sense of the truly ridiculous and schizophrenic directions coming from ownership.

In the meantime, remind me not drive over any bridge owned by JJ. He'll have the infrastructure repaired underneath all the while insisting that more and more traffic use the bridge and pay the highest tolls in the country. What could go wrong?

 

[SPV]

I'm not a fan of panic moves, and I really like Claude Julien, but I think you have to let him go now. Hire an interim coach for the rest of the year that you can trust to assess the locker room. If you can identify issues in the room, move those issues as quickly as possible.

Wait and see where you are at the deadline, if you have fallen off more, then figure out your future core and everyone else is for sale. If you are still on the bubble, please do not sell any young players or draft picks just to get in the playoffs, that was a mistake last year.

 

[NDiesel]

Fire Cam (or move into lesser position)
Trade bottom 6 forwards/bottom pairing D for whatever picks you can get.
Trade Spooner and/or Krejci for winger or defense help
Call up a couple young guys to fill in for the traded vets

Wait until next year and see who's ready and who isn't, then fill the holes accordingly.

Personally I keep Sweeney and Claude, but I won't cry if Claude is gone.

 

[Therick67]

I would like to see Sweeney stay and see what he can do with the prospect building he's been doing.

However, I have major trepidation regarding the utter nonsense coming from ownership (Deep playoff run my ass, JJ. Foolish comment then, foolish expectation now.).

In the long run you'll need to put in someone a little nutty (Brian Burke) who knows hockey and is abrasive enough to tell JJ to "shut your mouth and go back to counting your money".

You could have a hybrid of Scotty Bowman, Joel Queneville, and Al Arbor and he wouldn't be able to make sense of the truly ridiculous and schizophrenic directions coming from ownership.

In the meantime, remind me not drive over any bridge owned by JJ. He'll have the infrastructure repaired underneath all the while insisting that more and more traffic use the bridge and pay the highest tolls in the country. What could go wrong?

We can move on from Julien and Neely, but we still have two too many Jacobs in this organization.

He put Cam in his position and gave him more power, probably because Cam works cheaper. Not to mention he/they still listen to Harry.

This organization needs new blood badly.

 

[stick9]

I swear this thread has been on here at least once every month during the last two seasons. lol
They haven't addressed their biggest need in that time and nothing has changed since.
That's the answer.

You can't fix the team until ownership removes itself from the process.

DS has the right idea, but mandates from above will always limit his ability to do what needs to be done.

 

[Gator Mike]

At the risk of saying something unpopular, there are no quick fixes here.

The Bruins are still paying for sins of the previous administration... poor trades, abysmal drafting, a reliance on no-movement clauses to lower cap hits, holding on to players for too long, valuing short-term fixes over long-term solutions, etc.

I think they're pointed in the right direction at the moment, but there's a long, long path ahead of them.

 

[nmbr_24]

What is there to do? This team needs their prospects to grow and mature and reach their potential. Help is on the way at some point. Unless they want to give up some of their up and coming good prospects like McAvoy, how would they really get a significant player in the middle of this season?

I would give Chara, Krejci, and Backes the option of being traded at the deadline. I try to sign Karl Alzner in the off season and I go with a lot of youth with Bergeron as captain. I cut the deadwood and fill those spots with kids and watch the team finish bottom 5-10 in the league but with a lot of hope for the future.

 

[Daishi]

I'd have to be Jacobs, because I would start with firing Cam. I keep Sweeney for at least another year because I'd need to see how his picks start panning out. I'd fire Claude and promote Cassidy as interim and give him a shot at winning the job outright. I'd dump Hayes. I'd move Miller or McQuaid for whatever I could get. I'd sell hard at the deadline. I'd bring up the young guys from Providence and I'd try to see what we have. After the season was over, I'd do a hard, serious assessment of the core and move guys out that are passengers.

You got my vote for the next Bruins president.

 

[OldScool]

Unload Krejci and Chara at deadline to contenders. Obviously move Hayes.