Speculation: What Went Wrong?

[DiggityDog]

Well for starters you had an awful training camp being run by a guy who had one foot out the door.

You had a goaltender who, despite educating himself on business, still decided to make it personal. So this already non existent training camp had a giant cloud looming over it. Oh and to no ones surprise he comes out and plays like absolute shit. There's been some bangers in their don't get me wrong, but the overall performance? Guys a mountain to climb as far as getting all that good faith back he earned during last year's playoffs.

You've got new additions for key roles coming in, but again the head coach has one foot out the door so that integration is being phoned in.

Just about every single player, to a man, is having career worst seasons. Obviously a handful of guys are the exception, but its basically four bottom six guys and your number 5 defenseman.

Should they trade Marchand? Probably. Logically it is probably the right decision, but I am not sure even I would. Admittedly my connection to him is strictly emotional and nostalgic.

The only thing this team has going for it this year is the fact that the Eastern conference blows. Despite being as awful as they have been, they are still only 7 points out of first in the Atlantic.

 

[PlayMakers]

• Is this simply a lack of talent, or is something else going on?
  • They're not the most talented but this was something else. Surgeries, injuries, holdouts, system changes, coaching changes, young players not being ready, slow starts, out of shape players... it all led to guys playing well below their career averages.
• Did the Swayman contract negotiations break something in the dressing room?
  • I think it caused a rift at first, but I think they're past that now.
• Did Jim Montgomery entering the season as a lame duck, but seemingly not interested in extending his contract break something in the dressing room?
  • No, I think Monty trying to change to a hybrid system when his staff spent 10 years teaching a zone was more of an issue in the first quarter.
• Are there culture issues in the organization?
  • Yes. There is a lack of intense leadership after #63.
• Did any of the above influence the hiring of Zdeno Chara as a consultant with the organization?
  • Who knows? We don't know his role. Is he going to be around the players or management? He could be here to help rebuild the culture at the player level, or he could be here to influence player selection at the management level.
• What other changes are needed both on the roster, behind the bench, and in the front office?
  • I never agreed that they lacked speed. I think they lacked youth. Young legs drive the regular season because they play every game like it could be their last. We played the season with vets who pace themselves and we're not good enough to not play all-in.
  • They lacked talent. They knew it, they said as much before the season started, but Lindholm's failure really exacerbated the problem because instead of being one top6 forward short, they ended up being two. So talent is needed, two top6 forwards and one of them needs to be a bonafide first line forward.
  • Behind the bench, they need a complete overhaul. Get out all the good ole boys and get someone new in here who will embrace youth, new power play ideas, can teach a hybrid system, etc.
  • Front office? I don't know. I don't like Sweeney but I think he is a good GM. He's obviously highly respected by other GM's. I think he's done a good job for 8 of his 9 years. But I also think the team needs a change at ice level. Does Sweeney agree? Who knows, he never speaks and when he does it's in cliches. I want to see what he does at the deadline. I think that will give an indication of what direction he thinks we should go.
• Do you simply ride this season out?
  • No. I think fans would hate that. I think it puts you behind the 8 ball for next season. I think whatever we are going to become, needs to start March 7th.
• Elephant in the room: What becomes of the captain?
  • For Marchand to be traded, I think 3 things have to happen: 1) Marchand has to be on board with the move, 2) They can’t go on a run between now and the deadline (or Marchand won’t want to go) 3) there has to be an unwritten agreement that he comes back July 1st. Otherwise, we might as well forget the re-tool and go full rebuild.

 

[sarge88]

IMO there are 3 things that have doomed this team.

1. Swayman’s holdout and terrible start.
2. Lousy PK
3. Lousier PP

I could go into the personnel portion of 2 and 3, but I really think it’s more about their scheme (more PP, than PK) than the players.

Their reluctance to attack early in the pp, instead they constantly try to set up the perfect play.

Their passivity on the PK (even more when down 6 on 5) is another issue. Almost all teams sag, but this team seems to sag deeper than most.

 

[BradMarchandismydad]

We have non-elite centers

/thread

 

[NDiesel]

Talent finally won out. It's not the only thing, but it's at the top of the list.

Under the first two years of Monty, they'd overperformed their talent. Scoring goals and saving goals above expected. They were at the top of the league in PDO, but you can't expect that to last. It's swung the opposite direction, where they're one of the worst in PDO.

I'd say, purely looking at the talent, this was a 90, maybe 95 point team. They're currently on pace for 88 points, so that's really not a significant underperformance.

All of which is to say, I think what really went wrong is our expectations. Zacha, Coyle, and Frederic had career years that were unlikely to be repeated. They got 2023-24 Elias Lindholm, not the 2022-23 version, which they really needed. No one's really taken a step forward (as good as Geekie has been recently, he's only on pace for a few more points than last season).

I think this is where I'm at. No one expected the type of season we had when Bergy/Krejci left. The team and many players overperformed and I think we are finally seeing a good chunk of those players return to their baseline. Our goalies also hid a lot of issues the last 2 seasons I believe, we went from 2 elite goalies to now having two guys who are having below average seasons.

Team was bound to fall off eventually, I think the easy out is to blame a lack of training camp, coach change and Sway contract discussion. They competed well for 9 seasons, but they need a bit of a reset now I think.

 

[Kegs]

Players came to camp out of shape. Aging coyle. Goaltending hasn’t been as good. The top 3 defence has been injured for a substantial part of the season.

 

[RoccoF14]

I’ll preface this by stating that the season isn’t over by any stretch, and that the purpose of this thread is pure speculation.

However, with the team struggling, having fired the coach, having suffered multiple lopsided losses, and sporting a goal differential of -25, all of these factors beg certain questions.

• Is this simply a lack of talent, or is something else going on?
• Did the Swayman contract negotiations break something in the dressing room?
• Did Jim Montgomery entering the season as a lame duck, but seemingly not interested in extending his contract break something in the dressing room?
• Are there culture issues in the organization?
• Did any of the above influence the hiring of Zdeno Chara as a consultant with the organization?
• What other changes are needed both on the roster, behind the bench, and in the front office?
• Do you simply ride this season out?
• Elephant in the room: What becomes of the captain?

1. Both, but mostly talent. We needed a lot of things to fall into place all at the same time from a talent perspective. They haven't. We lost Ullmark, added Korpisalo and put more pressure on Swayman to step up, so nobody should have been shocked that our goaltending got worse. We lost over 50 goals in Free Agency, and added Lindholm, so nobody should be shocked that our offense is worse. Only thing I'm surprised by is how our blueline has performed. I also think we've become stale and too predictable to play against. I'd like to see a radically different coaching staff this coming summer, with a fresh perspective.

2. No I don't think Swayman's contract broke the dressing room. Sure, it didn't help, but putting that on Swayman is a cop out.

3. No idea. I thought Montgomery did a great job last year and over-achieved with that roster. This season, I thought he got left with a flawed roster, then panicked a little bit when we came out of the gates slow, and got schizophrenic with the line changes to try to figure out something that worked. I'm sure that him not having a contract extension played into that last part to some degree.

4. No, I don't think there is a culture issue.

5. Hiring Chara is a good move, regardless of how well we are performing.

6. I wanna see a Full coaching change and a fresh start behind the bench. Move expiring contracts, Rebuild on the fly. Swayman, McAvoy, the Lindholms, Zacha and Pastrnak are pieces you can build around.

7. Yes. I'm a seller this year. The fact that we still have an outside shot at the playoffs is fools gold, due to a weak Eastern Conference.

8. I'm trading Marchand at the deadline, if we get a reasonable offer.

 

[ODAAT]

I’ll preface this by stating that the season isn’t over by any stretch, and that the purpose of this thread is pure speculation.

However, with the team struggling, having fired the coach, having suffered multiple lopsided losses, and sporting a goal differential of -25, all of these factors beg certain questions.

• Is this simply a lack of talent, or is something else going on?
• Did the Swayman contract negotiations break something in the dressing room?
• Did Jim Montgomery entering the season as a lame duck, but seemingly not interested in extending his contract break something in the dressing room?
• Are there culture issues in the organization?
• Did any of the above influence the hiring of Zdeno Chara as a consultant with the organization?
• What other changes are needed both on the roster, behind the bench, and in the front office?
• Do you simply ride this season out?
• Elephant in the room: What becomes of the captain?

• poor UFA signings
• lack of high first round picks due to trades when going for it all
• not something I don`t believe you can blame on Mngt/Prez but having 3 HOF`ers hang them up in Z, DK and Bergy simply can`t be replaced
• Horrible vibe from training camp onward, having Sway hold out merely one issue
• total underperformance of players capable of so much more, Coyle, Freddy, Lindholm, Carlo, McAvoy
• Injury to H Lindholm

This type of year was bound to happen, I was one who was actually pretty optimistic about the Zadorov/Lindy signings but this roster is now playing like they simply don`t give a rats ass on most nights

1. Both. We needed a lot of things to fall into place all at the same time from a talent perspective. They haven't. I also think we've become stale and too predictable to play against. I'd like to see a radically different coaching staff this coming summer, with a fresh perspective.

2. No I don't think Swayman's contract broke the dressing room. Sure, it didn't help, but putting that on Swayman is a cop out.

3. No idea. I thought Montgomery did a great job last year and over-achieved with that roster. This season, I thought he got left with a flawed roster, then panicked a little bit when we came out of the gates slow, and got a little schizophrenic with the line changes to try to figure out something that worked. I'm sure that him not having a contract extension played into that last part to some degree.

4. No, I don't think there is a culture issue.

5. Hiring Chara is a good move, regardless of how well we are performing.

6. I wanna see a Full coaching change and a fresh start behind the bench. Move expiring contracts, Rebuild on the fly. Swayman, McAvoy, the Lindholms, Zacha and Pastrnak are pieces you can build around.

7. Yes. I'm a seller this year.

8. I'm trading Marchand at the deadline, if we get a reasonable offer.

I`m a seller too, if Marchand wants to stay, re-sign, if not, adios

 

[Mad-Marcus]

I like the Kastelic move(total Bruin), but can he stay healthy the way he plays. They lost some speed and responsibility w/o resigning Debrusk(he is what he is, 20+ goals a year, good PK'r Playoff mode Jake is great), Heinen(underrated Swiss army knife), Gryz(Mr Glass) and Boqvist. Don't get me wrong, neither are game changers, but the B's where so hell bent on beefing up for FLA that everyone else is faster than them.

 

[Bradely]

The obvious answer is training camp as they didn't have a normal one.

This:
- Monty
- Swayman contract issu + no training camp and heavy contract to support pressure
- Ullmark gone and the great contagious chemistry between both keepers gone.
- Injuries and surgical operation to key players (not the same training agenda)
- New players, time to adapt in those condition
- Leadership group is thiner to add.
- Team chemistry is IMO a problem

Alll of the above is a huge problem when winning is the only result that counts.

I would add this: - Do the new players really buy in the Boston Bruins culture? Some new guys come from losing organisation.....