B Positive 2019-2020 Road to the Cup Thread

Alberta_OReilly_Fan

Bruin fan since 1975
Nov 26, 2006
14,331
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Edmonton Canada
Last year I hoped we could have a historical year long thread that sort of chronicaled in little updated snapshots how lucky we were to see this team playing and marching its way to glory. sadly, I named it the happy puppy thread and it got hijacked by pics of dogs.

let's try again.

theres so many opportunities for people to b*tch and whine and complain about whatever they don't like about the team... SO HERE IS THE CHALLANGE...
THIS THREAD IS FOR POSITIVE CHEERLEADING POSTS ONLY PLEASE!!!

Im going to commit myself to jump in here at least once a week with some sort of expression of my thoughts... so anyone that has a problem with that can ignore the thread now. I don't want this to be just my show though... surely some of you have something positive about the team you wanted to share? let's face it people... this is the team we love. it's ok to express the love for your team. it's ok to establish some bragging rights.

and if any of you really need to negatively crap on the team... please just create your own thread that you can use to do that... let's have one place where we can feel proud to be fans of this team that went to the cup finals last year after putting up one hell of a regular season for us

 
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Alberta_OReilly_Fan

Bruin fan since 1975
Nov 26, 2006
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Edmonton Canada
as training camp gets underway the team has just finished signing Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo to deals that were a combind 2 million below the best price I was predicting. its a little bit of a slap to my face when I felt confident I had a great understanding of the market for contracts... but I will gladly suffer it while I extend my praise to Sweeney and the front office for excellent cap management... while at the same time extending massive props to the 2 kids for putting the team first and maybe taking a slight hometown discount here.

keeping the team together for a couple years really seems a golden opportunity to win a cup... we got so close last year.... this team is built right. this team has gobs of leadership which some fans will crap on as unimportant but when you see a team over-achieve like last year its based on leadership/hardwork/and good old fashioned heart and grit. analytics arent the only reason teams win... sometimes winners win

chara is coming back for another year... YES!!!! a few of you wanted him gone years ago but this guy is a true winner and we are so lucky to have him. some of you want him stripped of the captaincy to anoint Bergeron, but this guy is our captain. he's already lead us to one cup and got us to the finals 2 other times... its hard to believe that hes so underrated by so many people but he really is. honestly, he is a fitness freak so if he wants to come back for 2-3 more years on 1 year deals to continue his leadership I am totally on board. Having Chara here is definitely a reason I am cheering the team.

Chara, McAvoy, Carlo are a pretty damn good top 3 dmen for anyteam to be happy about on the blueline but then you add Krug and thats a tremendous balance of 2 way excellence for this team. krug is a reason I am cheering the team too. I have been hard on krug for a few years. I questioned his ability to play defense at a cup-winning level. I guess I didnt really see the grit factor in this player. Either I was wrong, or he simply grew and developed as a player last year. Krug is headed towards UFA but this week he said he would 'take less' to stay a bruin on a new deal. God, thats good to hear a player talking that way. TEAM FIRST! I will be watching after jan for an extension to get announced with krug and when that happens, I will definitely be posting again in this tread. I wouldnt want to go more than 4-5 years on his next deal, but if we can lock him down with McAvoy and carlo thats one hell of an asset for this team.

we are over 10 deep with dmen that I would be happy seeing play games for us this year... thats incredible. In addition to McAvoy, carlo, krug, chara our top 4 we have grezlyck, miller, moore on farily significant 1 way contracts... then Clifton seriously pushing for playing time {but he is eligible for he ahl and might become a victim of the numbers game when everyone gets healthy} kampfer is coming back to basically be the cheap affordable depth guy sitting in the pressbox and hes ok for that role... but this takes us to 8 guys we cant send to the minors without waivers... and then we got Lauzon who I would love to see in the NHL right now.

with 10 nhl ready dmen,,, even if we put both Clifton/lauzon in the minors... we are just too overloaded on the blueline... so THERE WILL BE A TRADE I happen to find trades exciting so I will finish this post with my mind wondering just how this trade will shake out.

Miller/Moore figure to start the year on LTIR so theres no serious preasure to rush into the trade... let 1 or both these guys get healthy before we cherry pick the landing spot for a trade. I am going to predict it will be 1 {or both} of these guys that do get moved. I will call the shot that Miller ends up in either LA or Anaheim for a draft pick. Both those teams are needing a guy like Miller and hes from that neck of the woods. It makes sense to me.

the defense though... wow what a hell of a job Sweeney and his front office team have done to build it good and build it deep.
 

Alberta_OReilly_Fan

Bruin fan since 1975
Nov 26, 2006
14,331
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Edmonton Canada
I am going to share my thoughts on how the forward group is shaking out after the off-season moves too... because thats as good as the defense and another reason im so jacked to be a bruin fan. honestly, I think we are severely underrated up front.

1st line... you might not agree they are the best line in the nhl but you are simply just clueless if you dont rate them in the top 5. when healthy, I put my money on marchand/bergeron/pastranak. to outplay any first line in the league they match up against.

2nd line... we might soon be saying goodbye to krecji due to cap management reasons, and the way we have so many talented centers in the system that will be pushing for the spot soon... but for now he is here and coming off a career best point season. this guy is underrated by a lot of fans and he is worth his contract to us. its laughable a lot of fans nicknamed debrusk as debust and screamed in anguish at his drafting for us... kid is looking like a potential 35 goal guy to me. and as for the 3rd spot on this line... will pastrnak play here a lot? will Bjork stay healthy and take the spot? honestly, I wouldnt be at all shocked to see brett Ritchie play here a lot and push a 20 goal season out. yes, im pretty positive... but, I think he was signed with an eye to play here. and then we have Karson kuhlman who I fully believe could play, but we are just so damn deep I think he is headed to ahl due to the numbers game. right or wrong, I may be about the guy who plays here but one thing is clear... we have options. fans wanted to bring in a big name... but we have some good options to experiment with and Im really looking forward to see what happens.

3rd line... coyle really proved himself in the playoffs last year and this is a contract year. expect him to bring his 100% effort consistently this year as he looks for the kevin hayes payday. Heinen defied my expectations by getting signed to come back. the team obviously likes him a lot because we had cheaper options. our 3rd line is starting off better than its been since the days of Kelly/peverly. backes isnt going on ltir now it seems... so hes going to be in the mix to play 3rd line if he earns the icetime. this is a positive thread so im going to allow myself to be positive. If backes is healthy, I think he will redeam himself somewhat and show his leadership/grit/compete level again. I think management will try to rest him a lot so im predicting both Ritchie/and Bjork make the team... one of them will probably rotate into the 3rd line when backes needs his days off

4th line... we got a great 4th line even without accari... kuraly and last years 7th player chris wagner are amazing starting points to build an awesome 4th line. Nordstrom showed some spunk in the playoffs last year and just plays solid 4th line hockey all year long. then we picked up Lindholm who got a 2 year deal so he is in the plans. Lindholm will be the swiss army knife and sub into whatever hole might pop up due to injuries.

14 guys im very happy to see in the lineup... and 1 extra Karson kulman im feeling pain that he has no spot...

and at the ahl... federic/studnicka/lauko/senyshyn and kulman who are all at that point most of us want to see them getting a tryout in nhl… thats tremendous depth

I have been predicting 100 point seasons and playoff success for this team now every year this decade and usually the team has made me look like a genuius. this year I am thinking its going to be even better... people just want to give the regular season to tampa… I dont think so.

president cup.... yeah, I will predict it
and stanly cup then... its a crap shoot to stay healthy at playoff time but yeah, im predicting it

I named this thread... the road to the cup... and I am sitting here in mid September seeing lots of reasons to be optimistic and happy about our chances. go bruins go
 
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PepeBostones

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Yes it's good to see something like this. It's a positive thread and it's possible. I think you're right about the Bruins having so much depth and that almost guarantee you a top spot in the standings.
The playoffs are a different season. I felt much better the longer the Bruins went and was very confident in the team going into the final. Much more comfortable with this team than in 2013 and even 2011.
Have to realize it such a small margin between winning and losing especially in a 7th game of the Stanley Cup final.
The Bruins should have won even with just a little bit of more puck luck. It really wasn't on our side last spring.
You also have to have players playing relatively injury free. I'm not sure we really got to know the extent of injuries.
When you're a goalscorer at this level I think a thumb injury plays a bigger role than one would think and just small things like that. I guess that's why it's so hard to just get to the final, let alone to win it all.
That said and even if the Bruins struggle early this season I think the Boston Bruins have a good chance of repeating the playoff success this year. Hell, see them being one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup.
 
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Alberta_OReilly_Fan

Bruin fan since 1975
Nov 26, 2006
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Edmonton Canada
opening night... as usual we are on the road with a tough opponent. it seems between injuries and road starts we fall behind the pack early every season. it allows us to get excited with late season comebacks but im going to beg the hockey gods here and now... please dont cripple us with injuries this year

luckily we start this year with only our number 7 and 8 dmen and our number 12 or 13 forward hurt... thats a good thing.

training camp has ended without a lot of controversy... I guess having brett Ritchie make the team instead of anders Bjork would be the complaint for those of us that want to complain. but hes not waiver eligible. we do still have time with letting him rip up the ahl and force his way onto the big team.

speaking of waivers... one of the favs of the fringes... peter cehlarik finally had to face waivers this year... and he passed through. its all fun and good to cheer for a young kid but it reminds us that most of the young kids will never end up having a very remarkable career. in any given year theres only around 600 players that are having careers that make an impact. the turnover in this group of 600 is no more than 100 in an average season. theres really only room for your top 4-5 prospects to eventually graduate to the big team before they get replaced by new prospects coming along the system

speaking of prospects that look like they will have impactful careers... we seem to be graduating Karson kuhlman and connor Clifton to elite status. ironically its 2 guys that were on no one's radar this time last year. our team has had an amazing ability to find this type of talent in recent years... kuraly and accari... krug/miller/McQuaid... its almost like getting free draft picks when our team goes after guys that were undrafted or might be unknown in some other team's system. its just too bad we let st louis keep binnington :(

so I did a quick study to argue whether we are overrated going into this year... did you know ONLY TampaBay has more points than us the last 2 years? Did you know that no team in the NHL has won more playoff rounds than us in the last 2 years? It might not have felt like it... but there can be a very good case made we were the best team in the NHL for the past 48 months.

I would love to see what you all feel is good things to say about our team... this thread is hopefully a place where any fan can come and just share why they love the team. Lets have a living breathing place where we can just follow the progress of the team and watch it battle through the next year towards the playoffs.

OVER-RATED??? this thread might end up being a measure... are we ready to stick our necks out and B positive for the record now? I personally hope to see some confidence and support for the guys. If the team is great and deserves the expectations then no... its not overrated at all... its just giving our team its props.

go bruins go
 

Alberta_OReilly_Fan

Bruin fan since 1975
Nov 26, 2006
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Edmonton Canada
our four game opening season road trip comes to a close tonight and we are 3-1-0 with just 7 regulation goals allowed against... needless to say the boys worked their butts off defensively and both our goalies were sharp

the fourth game was the fiasco with the krejci goalie interference call that took the 3rd goal off the board for us... remember kuhlman was gold on that play. also debrusk did nothing wrong putting in the 4th goal that got called back on the weaksause offside either. when/if we get on these players later for lack of production lets remember they do get goals called back by the biased officiating our team faces.

as for production that counts...
David Pastrnak 2-3 for 5 points in first 4 games
Brad Marchand 3-2 for 5 points in first 4 games
and Patrice Bergeron with 3 assists plus his normal great defense

they say Bergeron is playing hurt with groin problems but our top line is still the top line in the game {or at least top 3}

we come out of the roadtrip in decent shape injury wise... Nordstrom finally gets off the IR leaving just Miller/Moore there. Ritchie and Lindholm now appear to be the pressbox guys if everyone upfront is healthy and thats pretty good depth for us. Kuhlman looks to have won the second line RW spot at least until he might prove he cant handle it? We have Bjork waiting in the wings.

if theres any down side to report Id say McAvoy hasnt looked Norris trophy caliber so far this season... am hoping he will show some more authority out there as we get home.

all-in-all we didnt play well enough to impress the media or the people in the game threads but we are 3-1. Good teams find a way to win even when they dont have their A game. We have gotten off to a good start for the season

cant wait for June and our second straight trip to the cup finals
go bruins go
 

Alberta_OReilly_Fan

Bruin fan since 1975
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took a look at the last 3 years of production for our boys... just to see if things really have been as good as I thought.

would you be surprised if I told you brad marchand is 3rd in scoring ppg in the entire nhl over the last 3 years?... his 112 goals in 231 games ranks top 5 for best pace too. marchand has 39 more points than any other bruin over the last 3 years... anyone that didnt realize hes been our mvp for the past 3 years now is missing one hell of a run by one of the most amazing success stories in nhl history

our second best scorer has been david pastrnak... 109 goals and 236 points in 227 games... theres only 8 guys in the entire nhl that scored more goals than pastrnak in the last 3 years and leon draisaitl is NOT one of them. in terms of goals per game theres only 4 more prolific goal scorers than pastrnak over the last 3 years... Ovechkin/Matthews/kucherov… and marchand. how is that for some elite company?

Bergeron is often credited with being the guy that makes these players clique {but when Bergeron is hurt they score just as much}
Bergeron has had his career best numbers the last 3 seasons thanks to his wingers... 198 points in 212 games has been very good for bergeron
83 goals in those 212 games... outstanding... Bergeron is tied with seguin for 13the place among centers in points per game the last 3 years {and
first for best defense for centers}

for people worried david krejci has reached a decline... he has 172 points the last 3 years... average of .75 points per game.. its pretty consistent with his career

torey krug is 5th in our scoring... probably surprises no one... ,73 ppg… where does that rank among dmen?,,, try 6th behind only burns/karlstrom/hedman/letang/and carlsson

would anyone believe david backes is our 6th leading scorer over the last 3 years? debrusk/Heinen/McAvoy all have more points per game... but backes has more points... did that surprise you?

in goal tuuka rasks gaa is best in the league for anyone that has played at least 100 games... and hes 3rd in shutouts... only tampa and washintons goalies have a better winning %... in playoffs no goalie with 15 games played has a better save percentage and only matt murry has a better goals against. tuuka is second in the nhl for games played in the playoffs for the last 3 years

lets face it boys and girls... we got a handful of superstars here who have been just awesome for us for the last 3 years now... if you are the type of fan that wants to ask what your team has done for you recently, I hope this post can remind you that its been very very good
 

Alberta_OReilly_Fan

Bruin fan since 1975
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bonus post today in honor of lou pitching in... I say not only the best team but also the most underrated too... heres my argument as I shared on the nhl discussion forum

so much for the Stanley cup hangover that was being wished for... sorry boys and girls, the bruins are playing even better than they did the last 2 seasons

oh yes... second best regular season record in hockey the last 2 years... so they didnt suck then either... and as many playoff victories as anyone...

individually chara who has been written off as dead is 3rd in the nhl for plus minus over the last 3 years... despite still being thrown out against the other teams top players 22 mins a night...

I heard some people say brad marchand might be worthy of consideration for the hart... who is the leading ppg scorer in the nhl the last 3 years? ok... the kid in Edmonton McDavid is pretty good even if his team sucks... so who is second? yeah that Russian guy in tampa has been on a tear of his own...

but who is the third best scorer in hockey now for the past 3 years?

sorry haters... not only is marchand the top agitator... and a super strong defensive player... but this compete 3 zone superstar is also the 3rd best scorer In the nhl now for 3 seasons {no fluke}

----
so much talk about who the second best young star in the game is behind McDavid... I hear drasaitl get consideration and he has averaged 1.06 points per game in 3 years... I hear Toronto fans support Matthews and he has averaged .97 points per game but is also a year younger... braden point gets .87 points per game... and david pastrnak? hes at 1.05 but wheres his love? only McDavid, kucherov, Ovechkin and Matthews have more goals than pastrnak over the last 3 seasons

-----
did it shock you that torey krug is the 6th best scoring dman points per game? burns/karlsson/hedman/Carlson/letang all get Norris consideration out the yahoo... and those are the only 5 better scoring dmen in the entire nhl… wheres the love for krug?
-----


tuuka rask has the best career save % in nhl history for his career... and the best goals against of any active nhl goaltender in the entire league...

the only active goalie that registers shutouts per game started at a better rate than tuuka is halak... both guys very close to 1 shutout every 10 games {only including guys with at least 300 career starts}

-----

all I ever hear is how crappy the bruins trades were for thornton/seguin… how we cant draft and in 2015 blew 3 picks in a row... how we get shutout at free agent signing time... how our trade deadline day is so underwhelming...

our style of play is outdated... we are too old... we dont have a good coach or a good gm...

honest hell... if we arent the most underrated sports franchise in the world right now... I havent been paying enough attention because its just ridiculous the amount of disrespect this team gets shown
 

Alberta_OReilly_Fan

Bruin fan since 1975
Nov 26, 2006
14,331
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Edmonton Canada
2 weeks since my last post... but what is changing?

bruins are going to finish October as the best team in hockey... they would need to lose their last game to fall as low as second place but remember their only loss so far was largely due to a bullcrap goalie interference call

secondary scoring is starting to come through despite injuries to krejci/kuhlman/norstrom… coyle and debrusk slowly shaking the cobwebs and Bjork adds some juice to the lineup.

I wanted to mention just how damn good the perfection line is here so I pulled up the nhl scoring records for the last 2 complete seasons and the start of this year

marchand is averaging 1.26 ppg… 3rd in the nhl
157games-75 goals-125 assists-200 points

pastranak is 10th in nhl at 1.13
158-84-95-179

and Bergeron is at 17th
139-64-86-150

all in all... im sure a lot of fans will continue to complain but this team did get better than the team that started last season... we went to the finals last year and we are better now... its good
 

Alberta_OReilly_Fan

Bruin fan since 1975
Nov 26, 2006
14,331
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Edmonton Canada
I feel a little bad i didnt update this thread in November... certainly the team deserved some serious cheering from its fans

its now December 8 and the team is second in the league standings with 46 points in 30 games... we have a 13 point lead for first place in the division... even if we struggle and play only 500 hockey the rest of the year we will end up with 98 points and make the playoffs... but we arent just lucking into these points

our goal differential is best in hockey at a +32

our offense is 4th in nhl at a very healthy 3.5 goals per game
our defense is 2nd at 2.30

individually...

marchand and pastrnak are 4th and 5th in points per game played despite Bergeron's injuries
{got to admit that mackinnon has been other worldly doing what he does despite injuries}

Bergeron is 15th
and krejci is actually in the top 50 {thanks largely to getting to play with marchand and pastrnak}

coyle/debrusk have had strong months in November after slow starts in October... Bjork and Heinen are doing about as well as can be expected... we still continue to have at least 1 hole in our top 9 but it seems we have 8 spots plugged well

4th line has had some good moments for wagner/kuraly recently and might be finding their grove

on defense... krug continues his offensive excellence

McAvoy/carlo probably havent stepped up above last year yet... but are young and still show a lot of promise

chara has been having a good season for what he can do at this age... hes still a very solid force and his plus minus is always outstanding. he might not look graceful out there with the fast guys buzzing around, but results speak for themselves. he continues to tilt the ice

our goaltending has been less stellar the past 15 games as it was the first 15... but overall it gives us a lot of confidence. I think weve only been out of the game once or twice all year based on bad goaltending.

if that...

If anyone else wants to chime in with their observations... the team does deserve to have its season chronicled. I hate being the only one that ever gives them any props here. it might be unpopular after we just got beat by Colorado... but its been a hell of a good season so far and I think its only going to get better and better.

bring on the Stanley cup
go bruins go
 

Bruinswillwin77

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Nice thread, I didn't even notice it when you made it tbh. You are right though. Hopefully somebody takes out Washington in the first couple rounds and we don't have to play them in the ECF.
 

Fenway

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In my younger days, I used to hike mountains in NH and the fun began when you hit the tree line.

I would guess the Bruins want no part of the President's Trophy and I sense they want to avoid Game 7s at home.
 
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Dueling Banjos

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In my younger days, I used to hike mountains in NH and the fun began when you hit the tree line.

I would guess the Bruins want no part of the President's Trophy and I sense they want to avoid Game 7s at home.

I still do, as much as possible and yeah tree line is where the legs get lighter.
 

Alberta_OReilly_Fan

Bruin fan since 1975
Nov 26, 2006
14,331
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Edmonton Canada
In my younger days, I used to hike mountains in NH and the fun began when you hit the tree line.

I would guess the Bruins want no part of the President's Trophy and I sense they want to avoid Game 7s at home.

honestly I think a jynx is only a jynx for as long as it coincidently continues to apply itself {our problems with montreal not withstanding}

but there is a certain logic behind teams burning themselves out to get the president trophy and then having no gas left for the playoffs. in truth, this is a critism ive heard about the bruins ever since the late 1970s... when it was accused that Jacobs wanted to keep the season ticket buyers happy and employed a gm and coaches that stressed lunchpail hardwork ethic.

it was one of the things that drew me to cheer for this team... no days off... hard work effort night after night

any team that gets the president trophy will have worked very hard for it... and now, more than ever before, we are hearing about 'load management'

call it... not peaking too early... or call it load management... I guess its all the same thing.

we see the bruins have a sluggish game or 2 in December and we get out the pitchforks and want to find a scape goat. we start screaming why cant the team play all 60 mins at high intensity?

but... then we get reminded that winning the president trophy hasnt been a path to success
load management is all the latest rage in the world of sports

and there is no extra bonus for winning a game in December 6-1 game of the season effort or 3-2 with a third period comeback

if im king of the world... im glad Bergeron is getting some rest. I hope soon chara starts to get some more rest... I hope we can keep healthy, but im also happy the ahl kids are getting their feet wet and gaining experience in case they need to be called upon... im ok experimenting with line combos to test what works and what might not work.

honestly if we lose a game against Colorado tonight it just really doesnt matter. games in april/may/june will matter... and it sure is looking very strong like we might very well be playing in june

its a good thing

and if we win the president trophy... im fine. I dont personally believe in that jynx. I do believe its not worth burning ourselves out to do it though. im ok with slow starts now as long as we find a way to keep collecting enough points to stay at the top of our division
 

Mainehockey33

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In my younger days, I used to hike mountains in NH and the fun began when you hit the tree line.

I would guess the Bruins want no part of the President's Trophy and I sense they want to avoid Game 7s at home.
Once you hit the tree line it’s a lot easier mentally.
 

Alberta_OReilly_Fan

Bruin fan since 1975
Nov 26, 2006
14,331
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Edmonton Canada
wasnt too easy finding things to be positive about when we play like crap for nearly 2 weeks now... but we still have the 3rd best winning % in nhl after tonights win in floriday

I never thought we would go 82-0... never thought we were perfect

but we are clearly one of the top small handful of teams in the nhl… and clearly having a great season... after we clearly had a great season last year... and a great season the year before that

it was said... we were in a rebuild... with no good young players... an aging core... a goalie we cant count on... that our window had closed after that team in 2011-2013 traded away seguin/Hamilton/lucic/boychuck/eriksson

honestly... I am damn impressed how we reloaded on the fly... we never should have missed the playoffs either year except bad luck. we had like 95ish plus points... no team ever missed the playoffs before with that many points… it was bad luck for us

we wont be missing the playoffs this year... thats for sure

will we get to the finals again? I think we need an upgrade in scoring for the middle six... but suddenly that seems easier than we ever suspected. a kovalchuk signing is just too much sense to be ignored.

will it answer all concerns? im not saying we cant do that... AND add someone else too...

yes it sounds greedy... but we should try our best to get a cup when we are clearly so near the goal

its shaping up to be one hell of an interesting week to be a bruin fan... and this made my Saturday super fun... thanks bruins

and thanks for 2 amazing years and counting of some of the best bruin hockey in the past 50 years...

what a wonderful team we are allowed to cheer for as fans

ps marchand reaches 50 points... fasted to do it in a season for a bruin in like the past 30 some years...
pastrnak is increasing his lead for the goal scoring title
Bergeron is a top 20 points per game player... combind with his defense... what a hell of a player

kovalchuk is about to be a termination contract... all of a sudden we can add him at a minimum salary...

we have 13 forwards that arent eligible for sliding through waivers... so if we do sign kovalchuk who will go? I dont want it to be Bjork

Lindholm? Ritchie? backes?
to me... kovalchuk is a huge upgrade over any of these... but its a small gamble for us

I am predicting kovalchuk joins us... scores over 15 goals in the second half of the season... and resigns with us for next year on a 1 year deal... hows that for being positive?

{or just crazy?}
 

Alberta_OReilly_Fan

Bruin fan since 1975
Nov 26, 2006
14,331
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Edmonton Canada
1/2 season done... 2019 done

bruins now 50-17-15 in last 82 regular season games... 115 point pace
287 goals for {who said we have no offense?}
216 goals against {thats like an average of a goal per game advantage... plus 71 goal differential}

lets look at some individual player results for 2019

brad marchand 82 games played... 44 goals/74 assists 118 points
david pastrnak 68-44-48-92
patrice bergeron 74-37-46-83
david krecji 76-21-50-71... who needs to feel sorry for this guy?
torey krug 69-7-49-56... tied for 3rd in pp points for a dman
jake debrusk 74-27-21-48... 112th place for all forwards
halak 19-8-7 .923 save and a 2.31
rask 33-9-8.918 and 2.33

two top ten goalies... 3 elite first line forwards... 2 elite second line forwards... 1 elite pp qb dman
a 4th line we all loved at money time last year
couple stud young dmen entering their prime
chara... who is still chara

is it perfect? no...
is it damn good? yes! it is damn good

be happy bruin fans.
you just had one hell of a good 2019
 
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Alberta_OReilly_Fan

Bruin fan since 1975
Nov 26, 2006
14,331
3,941
Edmonton Canada
after our loss to Pittsburgh yesterday, the nation is once again in panic and the trade suggestion board is in overdrive while polls spring up every few mins should we fire Cassidy or Sweeney or neely or the entire front office

{I think theres quite a few fans that should be fired... but this is a positive thread so I will keep that opinion to myself}

meanwhile what is the reality? how has the team been doing?

we played 9 games in January
we are 4-3-2 with 2 huge blown leads
only outscored opposition 27-26 {our offense doing great... defense has struggled}

in December going back 9 more games we were 4-1-4
we outscored opposition 27-17 in regulation {average margain of victory over a goal per game}

so only 4 real loses in the past 18 games... 8-4-6 and outscored opposition 54-43
{going back further we had a hiccup that wasnt too good}

season to date we are 28-10-12 with a goal differential of plus 33

******
now remember its agreed that the regular season doesnt mean nothing... so when we lose a game on jan 19 it doesnt mean anything. if we won the president trophy it wouldnt mean anything. so all this worries is nothing. we are actually doing great only Washington and perhaps stlouis are doing as good or better than us
******

playoffs matter... in the most recent playoffs we went to game 7 of the finals. only st louis did as good or better than us

******

what about this need for a second line scorer everyone thinks we have?

lets look at the scoring since Christmas... and we see our top line is actually slowed down

pastrnak 12-9-7-16
marchand 12-2-9-11
Bergeron 12-6-3-9

still 17 goals in 12 games... so even slowed down this is a hell of an advantage for us

debrusk 12-5-5-10
krejci 9-3-2-5 {dealing with injuries}
Bjork 12-2-2-4

so we got 10 goals from the second line despite the center being hurt alot

coyle 12-2-5-7
Heinen 11-1-4-5
kuhlman 2-0-2-2

obviously not a ton of production here but these guys are a plus 3. they are holding their own

kuraly/Nordstrom/wagner/Lindholm have pitched in 4 goals and 4 assists... so quite outstanding production from our 4th line utilility guys but they are a shocking -14

I think a lot of the recent problems can be placed on the 4th line letting too many goals in

first/second lines are winning their matchups decisively... and being very productive

there is a very good reason for the future... to give Bjork/debrusk/Heinen/kuhlman an opportunity to play big minitues and gain important experience.

so we are sitting in a great place for the overall standings... playing well enough to keep our great place... we are developing depth scoring... our 1 underperforming line is the one that is easiest to change with a very minor upgrade at trade deadline time

we got kids in providence that are clearly ready to get a few games at the nhl level... we need to give them some opportunity before we just write them off

theres NO NEED to be firing any coaches or managers... but I think it would be positive if we could possibly fire some fans that wanted to make that case

in the meantime we only lose games that go to a gimmick ot/shootout this season. we have only 10 real loses as we near the 2/3 mark of the season. this team has an outstanding goal differential.

yeah... weve had the 3rd most man games lost to injury this year... so health can effect us. right now we got rask hurt... krejci hurt... we just went up against the hottest team in the league with their superstar on fire and we outscored them 7-1 at one point in the 2 game series

they are a good team... they did have a dead cat bounce... they finished up 7-5 in the 2 game series so props to them. got to take them serious

Washington/Pittsburgh/lightning... theres some good teams in the east but trust me they are all worried about us. we are also a good team in the east.

play the games... lets see who wins when it matters

I do think the team is likely to add a piece or two that helps... they do that every year... no reason to think they wont do it again this year

we are a very good team ripping it up this meaningless regular season... but we are also resting our star players whether through injuries or some nights off... we are saving something for the important playoffs... thats good

its good
 

Alberta_OReilly_Fan

Bruin fan since 1975
Nov 26, 2006
14,331
3,941
Edmonton Canada
trade deadline day has come and gone... and it was a little over a month since my last b positive post... the deadline is worth another though. remember I do invite the rest of you to post your positive love for the team here too. always makes me feel a bit sad none of us can share our love in a thread dedicated to the best team in the league here.

we were 28-10-12 last time I posted with a few teams challanging us for first overall
we went 11-3 in the last 14 games... no ot/shootout loses... with a goal diffential of plus 13

we've been very very good boys and girls and we have put a lot of room between us and the other teams

pastrnak saw a monster surge by Ovechkin and mattews to try to take the goal lead from him... he said not today... not in my house... and he continues to cling to the lead. btw he is just 5 shy of a 50 goal season with 18 games left

rask is the leader in gaa and save % for all goalies that played at least 30 games and are the starter for their team... he got torched a bit his last 2 starts but hes definitely in contention for his second vezina trophy

Charlie McAvoy caught a lot of crap for a struggling offense output last we spoke... in febuary he is 3-6-9 in his 12 games... offensive struggles can happen but this is a legit multi-tool young stud dman. it was shameful some of the crap I was hearing on the call-in weekend morning shows about our number 1 dman. happy to see him shutting up those idiots

anything that shuts up the idiots makes this b positive fan happy and that takes us to the trade dealine summary
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ok
so we didnt get palmeri.
I know rumors from our media and some insiders had everyone all fluttery that it was a done deal

sorry

thats not how this works

the truth is Sweeney had a couple holes he knew he wanted to fill
{not only now, but the holes have needed filling going back last year and further}

we didnt want to spend too much assets/capital for the future
we also had a very serious cap issue staring us in the face next year... and a potential proble with chara's bonus money at the end of this year

now youve all heard we have a cap genius in evan gold helping Sweeney... so along came the deadline and we didnt waste assets on a single rental. didnt do it. instead we made 2 hockey trades that quite possibly solved the 2 holes and at the same time we got our cap into much better shape both for next year and even for the remainder of this year too.

wow

the deal breaks down like this

a first was the price to move backes… that was always the price. we paid it now to free up some cap room to help absorb the chara bonus. this will save us hurt next year. BRILLIANT'

then we dealt Heinen and andersson
for kase and Ritchie.

2 guys that were moved from positions we are overcrowded and easily replaced inhouse
for 2 guys that we had none of...needed

looking ahead to next year we will let Nordstrom leave as an ufa and Ritchie will occupy his spot in the lineup. kase will just inherit heinens.

our team will be much better rounded with kase a right shot wing playing with krejci than Heinen playing out of position over on the right side. Its an immediate improvement for us and we got Bjork as the natural replacement for Heinen just waiting at the cheaper cap hit.

but we also have nick Ritchie joining the team and I actually expect him to inherit the 3rd line LW spot. This will push Bjork into competition at rw on the 3rd line with Kuhlman. Competition isnt bad so thats ok... eventually we will probably trade one of these kids but thats ok. With 2 very capable candidates competing for the job, it should be well filled. And Ritchie on lw… let me spell this out

ladies and gentleman I introduce to you the bruins of the near future... please meet
Nick Ritchie 3rd line LW, Trent Federic 4th line C, and Jeremy Lauzon 3rd pair D

if you thought we were too easy to push around and had no one to answer the bell... you worries are now answered. it was never a good idea to have raw rookies as our primary fighters so getting an experienced established NHL vet is a positive. Federic and Lauzon can back him. Wagner and Kuraly and even Chara can take back seats of support. Big guys like carlo and coyle wont need to fight but will add support size to the team. we are going to be just fine.

the Ritchie add is huge... and if it can expire his brother to gain a snarl and rise himself from the dead who knows what next year might bring. we could end up with 2 Ritchie brothers fulfilling their great potential they were drafted for.

or not

either way... having the right Ritchie in town is a postitive.
nick Ritchie is actually a much better scorer than tom Wilson after the same number of career games

people forget... when I used to suggest to trade for tom Wilson after his first 4 years in the league everyone told me he was garbage too.

sometimes these big power forwards take a few years to get their huge bodies up to speed for nhl hockey

so... im going to end this post here. I find it interesting reading through these little snapshots in time caught for the record. see how we often start to panic or lose sight of things after a bad game or even a bad week...

its good boys and girls its good... good to be a bruin fan... good to be in first place for the season... good to be coming off a trip to the finals... good to have just upgraded the team at this deadline... good to see kids like Bjork and lauzon establishing themselves this seaon… good to see our top line having a season for the ages... good to see coyle really getting comfortable in his role with the team... good to see carlo taking a next step in development... and good to see what McAvoy can do for us when hes at his best too.

its almost all overwhelmingly good
so b positive
playoffs are right around the corner
and I do hope to see a lot of posting in this thread as we move towards june
go bruins go
 

LSCII

Cup driven
Mar 1, 2002
50,474
21,968
Central MA
After playing lights out for an extended period of time, the team was due for a dip. You add in the pressure/uncertainty of the trade deadline, plus you bring in some new bodies while shipping out some roster players, and it's a perfect recipe for the team to be a little unfocused like we saw the last 2 games. I'd absolutely wait for the dust to settle before making any reactionary judgments about what this team's ceiling will be this season.

If anything, I think it's higher than I gave them credit for coming into the season. This is a real cup contending type of team.
 

Alberta_OReilly_Fan

Bruin fan since 1975
Nov 26, 2006
14,331
3,941
Edmonton Canada
2 weeks since the last post... and where are we at?

sitting with 100 points... and still 12 games left to play. it gives us a potential for 124 points this season. we cant get into the top 6 best seasons ever now... but we could be number 7 all time. we currently have the 7th best season ever with 121 points in 1970-71... nearly 50 years ago

if we can go 10-1-1 down the stretch we would equal this season. its not so impossible to imagine

reguardless if we make it or not... its clearly been 1 hell of a season {regular}

we are 8 point now up and clear over the nearest competitor for the president trophy. its not a jynx boys and girls. its actually a bonus. home ice is actually a bonus.

individually... we keep rolling

rask is deserving to get a vezina push... makes me feel ill that canadien media is trying to push hellebuyck for the award. funny that stats dont seem to matter when they support a bruin for an award. but rask is so much more than stats. at this point the team must have a mile of confidence in him. he took us to the finals game 7 last year... his second time in 7 years carrying a team to the finals. his playoff stats are even better than regular season stats. if we can score for him he will win us a cup

McAvoy in his last 7 games is 2 goals and 5 assists... he remains red hot and with krug on board too we are getting amazing offense support from the blueline

it does suck carlo got hurt... but im not hearing its expected to be long term. we do need him for playoffs

lauzon has looked studly and has been a regular now 16 games since jan 31... he brings the missing kevan miller element to the team and makes the d much better balanced. we didnt add a physical vet on d at the deadline because lauzon is now a member of our d going forward.

up front... no one is on a red hot tear... but pastrnak continues his path to 50... and a possible rocket. hes due to heat up

marchand has shown more life after a mid season lull... he is once again boston's engine driving the bus

some concern with Bergeron... is he battling through nagging injuries I wonder?

coyle is a 2-way beast... but isnt going to break out as a top scorer... thats ok

debrusk is still trying to catch fire for another streak... damn hes streaky

kase has had a very slow start as a bruin... but we can see he has good instincts.

Ritchie had 1 big fight... but we are hoping to see a bit more from him once he gets settled and playoffs roll around

Nordstrom had a big fight recently for us... good for him... and krejci fought too... these boys are getting their playoff game face on

we did our home and home against tampa this week... splitting the 2 games without much advantage to either team. clearly its going to be a titantic battle to get past them.

Washington/st louis havent finished the second half too strong... but both show they are deep teams with strong goaltending and are built for playoff hockey

we are not sure our first round matchup... but its looking to me like Carolina or the islanders... we outclass both teams with raw talent and might get a break with a quick series.

but then our path is looking tough

I say... we got the goods to win
I say... im expecting us to be 2020 Stanley cup champs

I might b positive to a homer degree
but its been a hell of a good season to be a bruin fan
we all should b more positive in my humble opinion
go bruins go
 
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Alberta_OReilly_Fan

Bruin fan since 1975
Nov 26, 2006
14,331
3,941
Edmonton Canada
Lol weird time for a bump considering we're looking at the possibility of no Cup winner this year

well... b positive right?

honestly it looks like 97% of people get the disease and are over it without a lot of problems rather normal time span for a normal flu

I can understand its more serious for some people... but not hockey players.

the real problem is the ease it spreads... but thats also its own solution. it will spread in a short period of time. people will go through the problems. then the problem will have passed

I am in no way trying to make light that this is more serious to vulnurable people... but sadly all flus are more serious to vulnurable people. thats the whole sucky reality of being vulnurable

this whole issue of quarantines when someone gets sick makes playing through this period of contagion impossible. but once the period of rapid spread is done and all the players have gone through their exposure... it will settle down

even if the games get played in front of empty arenas... there will be games. b positive
 

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