How are some people saying the roster is so flawed? This is the same team as last year minus DeBrusk and adding Lindholm and a few others. Was last years roster so flawed???
Yes they lost DeBrusk... but also Ullmark, Van Riemsdyk, Shattenkirk, Poitras isn't with the team right now, Forbort, Heinen, Boqvist, Lauko, Maroon. Now, you can say "big deal," as most of those players are not world beaters (Ullmark and DeBrusk are the cream of that crop). But that's a fair amount of attrition and it's entirely possible that the replacements in sum are not as good as what went out. Couple this with the dramatic turnover from the team 2 years ago and you have a lot of players coming and going and over that 18 month period, quite a few key players for that matter.
This feels like a very transient group of players. Like the teams between the end of the Bourque era and the start of the Chara era. 3 years from now, how many players from the current roster do you expect to still be with the team? I expect well over 50% of the roster will be different. I attribute much of that to a goodly number of the current players not being of the type that you are keeping with a team on any kind of long term basis, or just aging off the team or out of the league. Transient. This isn't like the Buffalo Sabres underachieving where you can at least believe there are about 10 promising young players you hope will progress and be the nucleus of the team for a long time.
All that said, they are underperforming. That's where a coach change has to be tried. They have become the worst show in town. The players look disinterested, the fans look miserable. A different coach and adding some type of energy player seems like the minimum to at least get as much out of this team as possible. The good news is that the current NHL is not exactly filled with strong teams. Even if the Bruins are "just okay" if they can right the ship a bit, that should get them into the playoffs with a chance to at least win a round. Beyond that, I'm not a believer that we can expect more from this roster.