Speculation: What are the Bruins' needs?

[remer]

The issue is whether we have weaknesses or not and if improvements can be made. The simply answer is YES.

If Boston wanted to win another Stanley Cup they would need:
1. A top scorer
2. More Speed
3. Another top defended

We can't live in the past and say this team is great and already won the Cup. Remember that we squeaked out three game 7's and many in dramatic fashion.

Without the clutch plays of Timmy, Recchi & Ryder who are now gone, this team has some issues which Washington proved to us last year.

It will be a tough year with teams like New York, Philly, Pittsburgh, L.A. St. Louis being near the top.

 

[BergyWho37]

The issue is whether we have weaknesses or not and if improvements can be made. The simply answer is YES.

If Boston wanted to win another Stanley Cup they would need:
1. A top scorer
2. More Speed
3. Another top defended

We can't live in the past and say this team is great and already won the Cup. Remember that we squeaked out three game 7's and many in dramatic fashion.

Without the clutch plays of Timmy, Recchi & Ryder who are now gone, this team has some issues which Washington proved to us last year.

It will be a tough year with teams like New York, Philly, Pittsburgh, L.A. St. Louis being near the top.

Dude you've made good points but your under estimating how young our team is !! WE will get better each year for a few more years yet without making trades..

 

[Jean_Jacket41]

Sign me in for some Gomez.

Good depth for cheap. And the possibility of rubbing it in the face of the Habs is icing on the cake.

 

[Dr Quincy]

AFAIK there are no teams in the NHL that have a standout goal-scorer among their bottom six. You keep harping on the Bruins needing depth; I'm just attempting to point out that nobody has that kind of depth. Why should the Bruins be different? I mean, sure, it would be fantastic if they were, but with the salary cap, a 30-team league, the KHL, and waiver rules, it's well nigh impossible these days to stash away a 20-goal scorer that you can move to the top six in case of emergency (though with Kelly and Peverley, the Bruins are probably as well off as anyone else).

It's impossible to find a 20 goal scorer on a team's bottom 6? It took me all of 5 seconds to find that the Blackhawks are rolling a 3rd line of Bickell-Shaw-Stalberg. Stalberg was a 20+ goal scorer last year, Shaw had 12 goals in 37 games as a rookie. So that's 1 20+ goal scorer on a bottom 6 and a decent shot at another.

 

[Kegs]

Sign me in for some Gomez.

Good depth for cheap. And the possibility of rubbing it in the face of the Habs is icing on the cake.

so who would he replace

 

[Artemis]

It's impossible to find a 20 goal scorer on a team's bottom 6? It took me all of 5 seconds to find that the Blackhawks are rolling a 3rd line of Bickell-Shaw-Stalberg. Stalberg was a 20+ goal scorer last year, Shaw had 12 goals in 37 games as a rookie. So that's 1 20+ goal scorer on a bottom 6 and a decent shot at another.

And Kelly scored 20 goals last year, and Peverley has scored 22. Yet the Bruins have no depth, and other teams are teeming with it.

 

[LouJersey]

And Kelly scored 20 goals last year, and Peverley has scored 22. Yet the Bruins have no depth, and other teams are teeming with it.

And if there were an injury Pervs would move up and our bottom 6 would have a total of 42 nhl goals scored in 11-12. Kelly having half of them himself. Chia misjudged his depth last summer and wasn't able to upgrade all season due to crazy prices.

 

[Dr Quincy]

And Kelly scored 20 goals last year, and Peverley has scored 22. Yet the Bruins have no depth, and other teams are teeming with it.

Where did I say differently? I was just responding to your absurd allegation that it was nigh impossible to find 20 goal scorers on the bottom 6. Looks like you were able to do it too. Glad you disagree with your prior post.

 

[Artemis]

And if there were an injury Pervs would move up and our bottom 6 would have a total of 42 nhl goals scored in 11-12. Kelly having half of them himself. Chia misjudged his depth last summer and wasn't able to upgrade all season due to crazy prices.

OK, I give up. You're right, the Bruins are the most shallow team in the NHL. We're ****ed.

 

[Artemis]

Where did I say differently? I was just responding to your absurd allegation that it was nigh impossible to find 20 goal scorers on the bottom 6. Looks like you were able to do it too. Glad you disagree with your prior post.

I said "stash," not find. Check the definition and you might begin to understand what I was getting at.

 

[Bruwinz37]

The Bruins have no weaknesses. They are perfect as currently constituted. Do not discuss any possibilities or ideas. Just applaud efforts.

/greekrobotvoice

 

[Dr Quincy]

I said "stash," not find. Check the definition and you might begin to understand what I was getting at.

Oh, I know what "stash" means, but since you used it in a way that made absolutely zero sense, you'd have to forgive someone from not getting all of the ambiguities of that statement. How exactly does a team "stash" a 20 goal scorer on their 3rd line? Do they use camouflage? cloaking device? a really big box? And if a team has a player playing on their 3rd line, how can he be "stashed" anyway? I mean, if he's playing on the 3rd line then he isn't being stashed (hidden or stored away) in a secret place at all; he's being used.

Eagerly awaiting more movement of goalposts.

 

[Quaider*]

Tom Kostopoulos if still not signed woud be a good addition. There's no such thing as too much toughness in the NHL the past few seasons and he can play without hurting the team.

I'm still also of the belief that the highly underrated Danny Paille can move up to 3rd line LW (when Chris Bourque gets mercifully returned to Prov) making a permanent home on 4th line LW for Lane Macdermid.

Adding an extra D (Colin White) would also be a good insurance policy should Hamilton not be quite ready.

Too soon to be thinking trade at this point, I think.

 

[LouJersey]

OK, I give up. You're right, the Bruins are the most shallow team in the NHL. We're ****ed.

Holy Hyperbole Batman!

Bruins are a top three seed easily when healthy...and a .500 team when they lose a top six forward. If you have to bump Kelly or Peverley up, you then have 5 of 6 forwards who will be lucky to score 10 goals. That's all I'm saying. You could add some depth with Savard's LTIR either in the summer (too late) or in season (expensive). Said the same thing last year before the seaon and you gave me a hard time, and it proved to be dead on. HOPEFULLY we won't have to worry about it. That's all.

 

[Confound]

More speed on D.

 

[Dellstrom]

Let's wait to **** on Bourque.

I remember a certain man who came in last season, was **** on since day 1, but got 16 goals.

 

[PlayMakers]

The PP. I really think this team needs a skilled lefty. Maybe Marchand can develop some of that in his game (he's not a true PPQB but I think his offense is underrated)... Spooner has the potential to be a true PPQB, but isn't ready yet...

3LW. I know a lot of people look at that spot as completely insignificant but this team is built around depth and if that spot is a problem then the whole 3rd line loses it's effectiveness and our supposed depth advantage goes out the window. (And if someone in the top6 gets injured, you're basically icing 2/3rds of the Providence Bruins as your 3rd line.)

I hope Bourque delivers. He's in a good situation with a good coach who will get the most out of him, but I think that if that line could add more of a power guy (like a Ryan Clowe) that that style of player would give the B's the depth they rely on and make them much harder to play against in the playoffs. Maybe that's something they consider at the deadline.

Hamilton to deveop. It's unfair to expect anything from Hamilton beyond just learning from his mistakes, but this defense does need mobility and puck moving savvy on the back-end. and with a player like Hamilton already on the team, it doesn't make much sense to trade for it.

Rask to stand and deliver. He did it once before but the position was much more competitive then. Lack of competition is never a good thing, IMO. Maybe Dobby eventually puts pressure on Rask for the job but going into the season, the job is Rask's and it'll be interesting to see how he handles that. Will he be driven to not only take the reigns but carry the team, or will he lose a little of his competitive edge without a legend like Thomas around to push him?

 

[DominicT]

What are the Bruins' needs ?

More love between HF posters.

 

[Johnnyduke]

My fear right now is...have things gotten a little stale in regard to the regular lineup? While they work well as a team and have a good defensive system, do we have enough offensive firepower?

 

[Dellstrom]

My fear right now is...have things gotten a little stale in regard to the regular lineup? While they work well as a team and have a good defensive system, do we have enough offensive firepower?

Lucic, Marchand, and Seguin are all potential 30 goal scorers in an 82 game season. They can all get better, they're 24, 24, and 20. Based on Seguin alone, I think you'll see a huge change this year.

We also have Horton back. On his a-game, he can control the game.

 

[GloryDaze4877]

This Bruins team and organization needs only two things for the next 3 to 5 years- good health and very good goaltending.

Health you have to be lucky

This teams is very good from the D thru the forwards, and underratedly deep as an organization. History will prove I have no doubt the Boston under 23 somethings are right there with everyone. They all may not be sexy and all over top 100 lists but never remember Bergeron, Krejci, Lucic, and Marchand showing up many places on these lists.

As Tuukka goes, and maybe Khudobin and Svedberg, so go the Bruins...Tuukka has to play well and be healthy. I actually think this lockout is good for Boston's one concern to me.

This shortened season should be a blessing for Tuukka; he plays most of the games but likely only needs to do about 34ish over 99 days. Playoffs are standard times as before....not a long season but fast paced but Claude can get Khudobin or Svedberg in there in between and keep him fresh.

Going to disagree somewhat on this.

1) Tuukka's best season in SM Liga (FIN), he played a ton of games, got peppered in net

2) TR's best season in PRO played 60+ games and was the man.

3) Rask's best play in the NHL came after TT was injured and he played something like 34 of a possible 37 games (from memory), and was the de facto #1 guy.

I believe that with younger goalies especially, they often play better with a heavy workload and regular games, rather than the 1 on 3 or 4 off that Rask was getting as the backup to Thomas. I could be totally off base, but I feel that with Rask installed as the #1, and having a #1 workload, he plays like a #1.

 

[SpitfireIX]

I think our depth is our strength. When healthy we role two first lines and a 3rd line that could be a second on most teams. Our fourth line would make a good 3rd line on most teams too. We have to stay healthy. Having Spooner around means we finally have a top two line type of player to sub in and possibly add something if someone in the top 3 lines were to go down.

 

[The Dangly One]

Sign me in for some Gomez.

Good depth for cheap. And the possibility of rubbing it in the face of the Habs is icing on the cake.

 

[Bi Coastal Bawse*]

I KNOW everyone would hate this BUT

I would have liked this team to have signed Matt Carkner as a 7th defenseman. I know he's not that big of a point getter but are Aaron Johnson or Exelby any better than him?

Probably would have cost too much anyways and perhaps I am just saying this cuz I loathe brian boyle ad think it would be cool to see Carkner go up against Scott

 

[nmbr_24]

I think the Bruins need to add some depth for the playoffs and they need to fix their powerplay if it hasn't been sorted out after the first 10 games.

I see a few people saying adding Gomez would be a good idea, I only think he would be ok as the 13th forward. What does he give the Bruins that they wouldn't get from some other UFA's that are still out there? What about Jason Arnott, Brendan Morrison, Daymond Lankow, even Marco Sturm?

I get that it would be funny if he did well with the Bruins for league minimum while the Habs had to buy him out, but he just isn't very good anymore.

A couple of trades at the deadline for forward and D depth and possibly a trade that addresses the powerplay.