The Athletic - Boston 2020 NHL front office confidence rankings

[Fenway]

2020 NHL front office confidence rankings: Fans weigh in on every team

17. Boston Bruins

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“It’s really hard to rate the Bruins. They’re wasting cap space on guys like John Moore and Kevan Miller and miss on their draft picks way more than they hit. On the flip side, they’ve been one of the most successful teams over the last decade. I think once its “veteran core” is finally gone we’ll see how effective the front office really is. Will Pasta and McAvoy be enough to carry the team?”

“I’m seriously starting to think Mat Barzal, Thomas Chabot, Kyle Connor and Brock Boeser are better than Jakub Zboril and Zach Senyshyn.”

“Fellow Bruins fans are notoriously pessimistic (to put it mildly) but I think Sweeney and crew have done an excellent job fixing the cap issues and are very well positioned (especially in 2021) to keep contending while the core ages out, especially with COVID impacts expected to last beyond this year. Draft results have been pretty poor, but landing Pastrnak and McAvoy were huge wins.”

There is an entire world of difference between how opposing fans feel about the Bruins’ front office and how their own fans do. The 0.6-point negative difference is the largest non-Arizona difference between the public and the team’s fans. The public sees a group that built a powerhouse that can contend annually thanks to excellent cap management and a strong vision with a terrific roster. The fan base sees a powerhouse team despite management, one that has struggled to develop its own talent in recent years and lost a key piece in Torey Krug in free agency.

That’s led to a large drop in confidence year-over-year from the fans, and while some of it is warranted, it seems like fans in Title Town are acting a bit entitled here. The drafting concern is a real one for the Bruins who love to reach on picks, but the rest feels a bit overly harsh.

Boston still has a very strong roster and an excellent cap picture, both worthy of higher grades. And though the team let Krug walk and have legitimate holes on the back end, the team has one of the strongest forward groups in the league after signing Craig Smith. That was arguably one of the best signings in free agency.

The grass isn’t always greener on the other side and there is a reason the public rated the Bruins’ front office as one of the league’s five best – even if the concerns from the fan base are genuine.

Click to read more...

 

[Trap Jesus]

Makes sense, definitely one of if not the most negative fanbase in the league. Don't think you can go that low with free agency due to how amazing the Bruins have been at re-signing their own players. I guess that may fall under roster building though.

 

[Over the volcano]

Laughed hard and scared my dog at the “they overpaid for guys like John Moore, on the flip side they’re one of the most successful teams in the last decade” line.

Great article though - we really are a miserable bunch.

 

[EvilDead]

Those ratings are disastrous and damning of both Neely and Sweeney. two guys who purported themselves to be better than Peter Chiarelli only to look worse in the eyes of the fan base. They need to stop sitting on their hands and fast. Otherwise fans won't be at games, which means lower revenues for Montgomery Jacobs, which means their heads will be on the chopping block. Which is unfortunate because they have done a decent job in rebuilding this team. Not great, not even good, but decent. I mean they were just in the Cup finals not too long ago.

 

[GordonHowe]

I've been increasingly down on Sweeney and Neely as their tenure unfolds.

Their greatest strength is clearly cap management. Almost everything else of a positive nature has been inherited. Beyond that, they've been meh at best, putrid at worst.

I see a blinkered, continued commitment to "speed and skill" whilst team wide physicality remains absent and unaddressed. They *still* don't understand that all three are necessary to win. Washington. St. Louis. TBL.

I see JAGS galore, free agent whiffs and little vision.

I hope both are gone as soon as possible.

 

[Over the volcano]

Those ratings are disastrous and damning of both Neely and Sweeney. two guys who purported themselves to be better than Peter Chiarelli only to look worse in the eyes of the fan base. They need to stop sitting on their hands and fast. Otherwise fans won't be at games, which means lower revenues for Montgomery Jacobs, which means their heads will be on the chopping block. Which is unfortunate because they have done a decent job in rebuilding this team. Not great, not even good, but decent. I mean they were just in the Cup finals not too long ago.

Outside of our fan base the public opinion has only three teams ahead of them - Colorado, Tampa and Carolina.

Boston fans have them 24th in the league.

Welcome to Boston GFY

 

[BMC]

I've been increasingly down on Sweeney and Neely as their tenure unfolds.

Their greatest strength is clearly cap management. Almost everything else of a positive nature has been inherited. Beyond that, they've been meh at best, putrid at worst.

I see a blinkered, continued commitment to "speed and skill" whilst team wide physicality remains absent and unaddressed. They *still* don't understand that all three are necessary to win. Washington. St. Louis. TBL.

I see JAGS galore, free agent whiffs and little vision.

I hope both are gone as soon as possible.

I'm BMC and I approve this post.

 

[Fenian24]

Fire Sweeney before he does more damage. He should not be here for the next draft.

While never impressed by him this off season has shown how truly terrible he is. Reaches on every single draft pick and asleep at the wheel in free agency. Sorry Donnie but Smith, even though a nice pick up, doesn't stop this off season from being a generous D-

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

Outside of our fan base the public opinion has only three teams ahead of them - Colorado, Tampa and Carolina.

Boston fans have them 24th in the league.

Welcome to Boston GFY

24th at what?

We certainly don't think the Bruins will place 24th.....

In fact it is generally nice to be part of a fan base that knows hockey and isn't fooled so easily. Of course filter out the social media fools who are ignorant.

That 2nd line RW hole is one of the more insulting deliberate oversights a contending team can have. Let alone free agency, drafting, and the intangible "vision" (lacking for some time).

 

[GordonHowe]

I'm BMC and I approve this post.

I just don't get it. They're not stupid. They may well be incompetent. And at this point, merely looking after JJ's dollars.

This will not end well.

 

[Fenian24]

I just don't get it. They're not stupid. They may well be incompetent. And at this point, merely looking after JJ's dollars.

This will not end well.

It has only ended well for one person in JJ's reign of terror, his lord of finance Sinden. Everybody else finds out they are just cogs in the Jacob's money machine.

Neely, Sweeney, Bergeron, Chara, they all will find out the hard way, the Bruins are JJ's bank, no more, no less and everybody is collateral damage to the bottom line.

While I can't stand Sweeney and hated the hiring from day 1 I almost feel sorry for him, almost.

 

[CDJ]

lol lunatic fringe indeed

 

[BigGoalBrad]

I mean if they don't sandwich one of the most historically collosal draft blunders between McAvoy and Pasternak they are untouchable like Ainge is.

Most draft blunders are single. Theirs was tertiary. I don't think there has ever been a tertiary draft blunder involving franchise players who were passed over. Its not like one team ever picked 3 Sam Bouies before Jordan. Yeah that was worse but it was one pick not 3.

 

[EvilDead]

Outside of our fan base the public opinion has only three teams ahead of them - Colorado, Tampa and Carolina.

Boston fans have them 24th in the league.

Welcome to Boston GFY

That's only because of the fact that we have kept the bones and general structure of the 2011 team intact. What happens when those guys start to retire? I guarantee you the rating will be a lot lower in the public opinion outside of Boston as well once guys like Bergeron, Marchand, Rask and the like start retiring.

 

[Dicky113]

24th at what?

We certainly don't think the Bruins will place 24th.....

In fact it is generally nice to be part of a fan base that knows hockey and isn't fooled so easily. Of course filter out the social media fools who are ignorant.

That 2nd line RW hole is one of the more insulting deliberate oversights a contending team can have. Let alone free agency, drafting, and the intangible "vision" (lacking for some time).

This.
Outsiders look at the recent success and assume that the current management team are doing a great job. What they don’t realize is that the core group responsible for that success were here before current management group took over, and the since taking over they have done a very poor job of transitioning/rebuilding on the fly which they had Multiple chances to do. They also have failed to bolster the existing core with a couple of key pieces needed to get them over the top and win a couple more cups.

It’s a classic example of close scrutiny and knowledge showing the shiny jewel is a polished turd.

 

[easton117]

If you were to gamble on their day to day moves, drafting, trades, whatever, over the past 5 years they’d have given you a heart attack by now.

It’d be like picking whether or not the 2010-2018 Bills would win on a weekly basis. You’d be right on a few. And also spend a lot of Sunday’s launching your remote across the living room.

 

[Over the volcano]

24th at what?

We certainly don't think the Bruins will place 24th.....

In fact it is generally nice to be part of a fan base that knows hockey and isn't fooled so easily. Of course filter out the social media fools who are ignorant.

That 2nd line RW hole is one of the more insulting deliberate oversights a contending team can have. Let alone free agency, drafting, and the intangible "vision" (lacking for some time).

24th in confidence in their front office, that's what the whole articles about . . . did you read it (you should, its a good one)?

As for the rest, talk about fooling yourself . . . woof. You're insulted by a single roster spot and think the decisions there are deliberately harmful. Talk about illustrating the point of New England Fandom.

That's only because of the fact that we have kept the bones and general structure of the 2011 team intact. What happens when those guys start to retire? I guarantee you the rating will be a lot lower in the public opinion outside of Boston as well once guys like Bergeron, Marchand, Rask and the like start retiring.

So they're just still maintaining their successes from 10 years ago. . . gee maybe people around the league see that as evidence of a pretty good front office. Here its damning.


What a spoiled fan base New England has grown in the last decade. Used to be funny, now its juts kinda sad.

 

[b in vancouver]

You don't have to be a fanboy of this management. Take a look at nearly every other team across the league and what they're going through at the moment. It's 70s disaster flick going on. Rags, Preds and Bruins are essentially the only decent teams that have their crap (Cap) under control. It's ugly. Near half the league is going to have trouble putting together a roster There's around 50 NHL calibre players (RFAs, UFAs) without contracts and no one left to pay them. There's not much more than $110M league-wide left if everyone spent to The Cap.