a very brief defense of the last 2 seasons

[Alberta_OReilly_Fan]

as i was in the game tread yesterday i saw a couple posts saying we would have lost this game last year... and of course there are numerous active posters that tell us daily how our team sucks

did you know our record last year was 42-31-9 and we scored more goals than we allowed

did you know that the year before that we were 41 -27-14 and plus goal differential?

did you know if we were in west we would have made the playoffs

any year in nhl history 95 points would have made the playoffs. teams that have a positive goal differential have traditionally always made playoffs even before expansion.

we were basically the worst team in the nhl over the final month the last 2 years... but we entered the final month first in our division a couple seasons ago... and i think a top 4 seed this past year.

yes i know those collapse were crushing horrible experiences. we really sucked for the stretch drive. but in all honesty sometimes injuries explain slumps

we did slump... im not revising history here or saying we should be happy we missed playoffs, but saying we sucked is pretty extreme and imho unfair. the truth is we had 2 months of wretched hockey the last 2 years and other than that we played winning hockey the rest of the time

Click to read more...

 

[Comfort Eagle]

Don't you know this is no place for positive thoughts?

 

[LSCII]

Don't you know this is no place for positive thoughts?

How do you defend something that no other team has done in the last 15 years? Teams that are in the playoffs come American Thanksgiving make the playoffs at a staggeringly high rate. To miss it is a really bad accomplishment. To do that twice in consecutive years is unheard of. There is literally no excuse for those collapses. Especially last year's. They were in and they pissed it away because they didn't care.

 

[BruinLVGA]

as i was in the game tread yesterday i saw a couple posts saying we would have lost this game last year... and of course there are numerous active posters that tell us daily how our team sucks

did you know our record last year was 42-31-9 and we scored more goals than we allowed

did you know that the year before that we were 41 -27-14 and plus goal differential?

did you know if we were in west we would have made the playoffs

any year in nhl history 95 points would have made the playoffs. teams that have a positive goal differential have traditionally always made playoffs even before expansion.

we were basically the worst team in the nhl over the final month the last 2 years... but we entered the final month first in our division a couple seasons ago... and i think a top 4 seed this past year.

yes i know those collapse were crushing horrible experiences. we really sucked for the stretch drive. but in all honesty sometimes injuries explain slumps

we did slump... im not revising history here or saying we should be happy we missed playoffs, but saying we sucked is pretty extreme and imho unfair. the truth is we had 2 months of wretched hockey the last 2 years and other than that we played winning hockey the rest of the time

I will had some... Did you know that in our run of 7 straight playoffs (07-08 to 13-14) we made the playoffs with 91 points (09-10) and 94 points (07-08)? Makes these 93 and 96 points, no-playoffs seasons seem a little better.

 

[Alberta_OReilly_Fan]

How do you defend something that no other team has done in the last 15 years? Teams that are in the playoffs come American Thanksgiving make the playoffs at a staggeringly high rate. To miss it is a really bad accomplishment. To do that twice in consecutive years is unheard of. There is literally no excuse for those collapses. Especially last year's. They were in and they pissed it away because they didn't care.

we dont often agree but ill agree on this. those 2 collapse were like a kick between the legs for me. i guess my issue is fans making a big deal of us beating non playoff teams in october and then saying its differnt. we were winning these same games up until februry both the last 2 years too. our baptism test of fire will be the last month

 

[Oates2Neely]

Results are results. They collapsed down the stretch and didn't make the playoffs.

 

[LSCII]

we dont often agree but ill agree on this. those 2 collapse were like a kick between the legs for me. i guess my issue is fans making a big deal of us beating non playoff teams in october and then saying its differnt. we were winning these same games up until februry both the last 2 years too. our baptism test of fire will be the last month

Completely agree with this. It all comes down to how they finish the season for me. No good start will change that. Need to get the bitter taste of the last two seasons out of my mouth by finishing strong.

 

[Alberta_OReilly_Fan]

Results are results. They collapsed down the stretch and didn't make the playoffs.

so... doesnt this mean we had a bad month? alot of posts here want neely and sweeny fired for putting a team together that sucks... alot of posters have suggested we are a lottery team. and there were some posts in the game thread saying last year we would lose these games where we had to make comebacks.

i guess its human nature to hyperbole. but i hate piling on. bruins are my heroes. i feel the evidense supports injury issues last year. i mean krecji and krug both had surgury. seidenberg got bought out... most of agree chara looked hurt

that was our top scorer and 3 best dmen

i think its fair to criticize that we didnt have enough depth, but to outright say we sucked doesnt seam fair. to make it seam like we lost all close games isnt fair.

it is correct that we didnt make playoffs but some of thats due to other teams having incredible years.

we would have made playoffs any year in history other than these past 2 seasons. we are victim to other teams success

 

[Jorah Marshmont]

All we need to do is look at how the Red Sox season ended. They were playing GREAT, what was it 11 straight wins? And then they played very very badly, backed into the playoffs and promptly got swept. Anything can happen but I don't think I would've been any happier if "the Bruins haven't made the playoffs in two years" became "the Bruins havent won a playoff game in two years".

It's a new season, and if they keep playing the young D and Krejci/Spooner find their game I like the odds of playoff hockey back in Boston. But if they spend March floundering, I don't see how the calendar flipping to April will make them play well again even if they did make it.

 

[Alberta_OReilly_Fan]

All we need to do is look at how the Red Sox season ended. They were playing GREAT, what was it 11 straight wins? And then they played very very badly, backed into the playoffs and promptly got swept. Anything can happen but I don't think I would've been any happier if "the Bruins haven't made the playoffs in two years" became "the Bruins havent won a playoff game in two years".

It's a new season, and if they keep playing the young D and Krejci/Spooner find their game I like the odds of playoff hockey back in Boston. But if they spend March floundering, I don't see how the calendar flipping to April will make them play well again even if they did make it.

thats actually another good point that bothered me for years. i became a bruin fan in 1975 and we made the playoffs for a string of over 30 years during my lifetime... but in the early days of this forum people would complain we didnt win a cup

id point out we went to the finals more often than any team except montreal... and they tell me sinden was too cheap to win a cup. so even making the finals still equalled the team sucking

and there was some really passionate debates where i was called a pollyanna and accussed of wearing rose colored glasses when i tried to defend the bruins record in the 70s 80s and 90s

so anyone that tells me 'if we only make the playoffs then i will be happy' ... well i dont believe it honestly

in fact when we had iginla and lost to montreal, the greater majority here said the team sucked and we should have kept boychuk. there was no mention that our team overspent the cap by a couple million even without boychuk. just a general outlash that we sucked.

the bruins actually went to game 7 before being elliminated every year the past decade. we were in every series with a chance to win. i guess that sums up my overall argument here too. it is possible to lose without sucking. sometimes forces work for you or against you

we were a bit lucky to win a cup... we almost got elliminated round 1. we stayed healthy. the breaks went our way. but this league has alot of parity thanks to the cap and the reverse draft. when there is parity things like injuries do matter.

i am deseperate for us to have success... it ruins my week when we lose... but as fans i wish we could be more supportive when our team falls short of first place

 

[Caper Bruins fan]

Completely agree with this. It all comes down to how they finish the season for me. No good start will change that. Need to get the bitter taste of the last two seasons out of my mouth by finishing strong.

True but the two collapses have kind of magnified EVERY game of the regular season . While I was watching the New Jersey game I couldn't help but think ,is this going to be one of those games like the last two years in which we don't get any points and it will come back to haunt us ?

 

[RedeyeRocketeer]

Did you know that last year we played in the worst division in hockey and still didn't make the playoffs?

 

[NCBruinsfan]

It was a world class choke job at the end of the season. How you start is irrelevant when you finish like that.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

It was a world class choke job at the end of the season. How you start is irrelevant when you finish like that.

Actually, they started the year 0-3.

As for choking down the stretch, I'd say the choke was limited to the final game of the season. The B's lost 9 of their last 12, starting with 5 straight losses. Those losses were all to much better teams (Sharks, Ducks, Kings, Rangers, Panthers). Also lost to Chicago but beat the Blues. Schedule killed them.

They scored Power Play goals in all three wins (5 for 12), zero PPG in all 9 losses (0 for 21). That's 21 PP's in 9 games, not much help from officials either.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

as i was in the game tread yesterday i saw a couple posts saying we would have lost this game last year... and of course there are numerous active posters that tell us daily how our team sucks

did you know our record last year was 42-31-9 and we scored more goals than we allowed

did you know that the year before that we were 41 -27-14 and plus goal differential?

did you know if we were in west we would have made the playoffs

any year in nhl history 95 points would have made the playoffs. teams that have a positive goal differential have traditionally always made playoffs even before expansion.

we were basically the worst team in the nhl over the final month the last 2 years... but we entered the final month first in our division a couple seasons ago... and i think a top 4 seed this past year.

yes i know those collapse were crushing horrible experiences. we really sucked for the stretch drive. but in all honesty sometimes injuries explain slumps

we did slump... im not revising history here or saying we should be happy we missed playoffs, but saying we sucked is pretty extreme and imho unfair. the truth is we had 2 months of wretched hockey the last 2 years and other than that we played winning hockey the rest of the time

I believe if we were actually in the West we wouldn't have come close to 95 points.

 

[disfigured]

What's the largest influence, if these debacles weren't roster or injury related?

It's Claude. He coaches like there's a 4th period, so his players play like there's one.

 

[Alberta_OReilly_Fan]

I believe if we were actually in the West we wouldn't have come close to 95 points.

i took a moment to look at our record against all oponents. we were 500 or better against every division except pacific. we went 0-6 against anaheim/la/san jose

i suppose right there is where we lost the season with the west coast swing... but of course even with that 0-3 west coast swing we were still comfortably in playoffs with the final 1/8th of the season to play

we beat up on everyone in the east except washington and montreal...

i dont know what it is about montreal but our game always struggles against them... voodoo... witchcraft... jynx...

washington is just one hell of a deep talented team.

if bruins stay healthy this year, i believe the team is better than last year... younger... better legs...

im predicting we will continue along 600 hockey or better... have a 100 point season... probably be the 2 seed in our division behind tampa

its not a dominant team... we do still need to updrade at least 2 d positions... mature some of our kids upfront... but this is a team that deserves our support and definitely not one that sucks.

as fans i think its time for us to show our mettal and find some positives. its fair to criticize what deserves to be criticized but my challange to everyone is search to find positives too

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

i took a moment to look at our record against all oponents. we were 500 or better against every division except pacific. we went 0-6 against anaheim/la/san jose

i suppose right there is where we lost the season with the west coast swing... but of course even with that 0-3 west coast swing we were still comfortably in playoffs with the final 1/8th of the season to play

we beat up on everyone in the east except washington and montreal...

i dont know what it is about montreal but our game always struggles against them... voodoo... witchcraft... jynx...

washington is just one hell of a deep talented team.

if bruins stay healthy this year, i believe the team is better than last year... younger... better legs...

im predicting we will continue along 600 hockey or better... have a 100 point season... probably be the 2 seed in our division behind tampa

its not a dominant team... we do still need to updrade at least 2 d positions... mature some of our kids upfront... but this is a team that deserves our support and definitely not one that sucks.

as fans i think its time for us to show our mettal and find some positives. its fair to criticize what deserves to be criticized but my challange to everyone is search to find positives too

We have a 19 year-old defenseman playing on the first pair.

How's that?

 

[pierre gagnon*]

This is the way the team is coached the last 3 yrs going back to the hab loss in the playoffs. It is not really going change under Claude, simply he needs to go and will. He is not going coach the highly touted skilled guys we have coming up. His days are numbered or Sweeney goes down with him.

 

[BruinDust]

This is the way the team is coached the last 3 yrs going back to the hab loss in the playoffs. It is not really going change under Claude, simply he needs to go and will. He is not going coach the highly touted skilled guys we have coming up. His days are numbered or Sweeney goes down with him.

Overall I like Claude, but if he keeps riding that 3rd line and Jimmy Hayes, he's digging his own grave and will be unemployed come Thanksgiving.

 

[Spanky185]

With the end of the nlcs tonight Joe Maddon said this in his post series press conference
"When you're not afraid of making mistakes, good things can happen"

Claude Julien is deathly afraid of mistakes. That's what killed the 14/15 season when he broke up spoons/pasta/looch and that's why the healthy scratch carousel between morrow and chiller was a thing last year.

 

[BruinDust]

With the end of the nlcs tonight Joe Maddon said this in his post series press conference
"When you're not afraid of making mistakes, good things can happen"

Claude Julien is deathly afraid of mistakes. That's what killed the 14/15 season when he broke up spoons/pasta/looch and that's why the healthy scratch carousel between morrow and chiller was a thing last year.

And outside of a few, so are his players sometimes.

As the old saying goes, safe is death. In particular in today's NHL.

Trying to win every game 2-1 like it's 2004 ain't going to work.

Sure you will win some games like that (see Thurday vs. NJ). But you almost have to play a perfect game. Teams are just too fast now, your going to give up chances.

At the very least you have to play a full 60 minutes night in, night out.

And even that is unrealistic even for the most talented and hardworking teams.

And the days of grinding teams into the dust defensively are over for the time being.

People complain about the lack of physical play. Go watch Pittsburgh last year. When they had a clean hit AND it wasn't going to take them out of the play, they took it.

But they picked their spots and didn't just run around trying to destroy guys, and taking themselves out of the play. You can't finish every hit anymore, the puck transitions the other way so much faster now, if you finish every hit, your often miles away from the puck once your done. Gotta be smart about it.