What’s the plan? Why no rebuild? Who'll be traded? Bruins mailbag
Also in Fluto Shinzawa's Bruins mailbag: What all has to go right for Boston to win a Stanley Cup this season?
theathletic.com
The NHL is well into summer mode. The Bruins may not be.
They still have to sign Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci. They would like to extend David Pastrnak. Pavel Zacha needs a new deal. At some point, the Bruins have to clear cap space, either before the season or after Matt Grzelcyk, Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy return.
As such, subscribers have plenty of offseason questions.
Imagine it’s June 2023 and the Bruins are hoisting a Stanley Cup. You’re writing your story. What happened to make this possible? What does your piece say? — Neil S.
Jeremy Swayman turned into Patrick Roy. Grzelcyk, Marchand and McAvoy came back even better from their surgeries. Pastrnak scored 60 goals. Bergeron and Krejci used their canes … er … sticks to produce at just under a point per game. Jake DeBrusk, Trent Frederic and Jack Studnicka ran through walls for Jim Montgomery. Everyone stayed healthy.
Most of the reporting about the recent coaching change with the Bruins was solely based on public comments from the GM and Cassidy. What do you think the sentiment of the room behind closed doors was about Cassidy? How do you think the group felt when it was announced he was moving on? — Paul T.
DeBrusk was the only player who made his trade request public. I would not be surprised if there were others who kept their wishes quiet but had grown weary of Cassidy. Do not believe there were many who were crying when they made the move. But Bruce had at least two powerful allies in Marchand and Pastrnak. They were big Cassidy proponents, especially Marchand.
As Peter Chiarelli’s former boss and now Don’s current boss, why doesn’t Cam Neely share more blame for the problems the team faces from poor cap management, poor drafting and poor player development? Those GMs were enabled by someone to make the decisions they made (over and over and over). — Max L.
Neely only has to report to Charlie and Jeremy Jacobs. He has both of their backing. They are happy with his job performance.
Do the Bruins have any plans to address the chronic bad ice at TD Garden? Many believe the Olympia machines are inferior to a Zamboni. Montreal, Toronto and Calgary tried Olympia and switched back. — Kevin V.
The organization believes this is more about the building than the ice resurfacers. They’ve tried lowering the temperature and increasing the dehumidification. It’s simply an old building. Do not know if switching to Zamboni is under consideration.
Download the entire article as a PDF
