NBC Sports Boston Bean: Bruins offseason gets an F so far

[BB88]

Unless the goal is to roll out a competitive product that can make the playoffs and win around without breaking the bank.

But what I don’t get is that if things are as bad as they sound for many of these owners from a financial standpoint, what good does saving a few million do on the salary cap when you’re down billions?

But as I’ve said elsewhere, it’s not my money.

If there is a budget don’t come out and say we need to get more scoring, we are looking at making changes and so on.
Riots will follow if you go that route

As thought previously I wonder if this core is as upset as Chicagos right now
Let Krug go, Chara in limbo and so on

 

[Therick67]

Whats bad is the wasted salary cap money....Moore....Kase.....Ritchie....Three players we absolutely do not need.....Thats like 6-7 million right thre....It is terrible cap management.....Maybe the plan is to shed some of this....Not that anyone would.....Sickening waste.

Don't forget Miller's 1.5 million...

 

[Seidenbergy]

The fact that Krug came out and confirmed that Boston hadn't even tried to retain him said everything I needed to know about this off season.

They at least made him what turned out to be a competitive offer. He rejected it. It happens. It's not like it was another lester-type situation.

 

[LouJersey]

Don't forget Miller's 1.5 million...

miller is still on LTIR I believe

 

[Smitty93]

The fact that Krug came out and confirmed that Boston hadn't even tried to retain him said everything I needed to know about this off season.

I didn't want Krug back, but I thought he'd cost $7M and they could take that and use it towards a forward difference maker. I like Craig Smith, and it's a great contract, but he's not enough. He's not going to single-handedly fix their 5-on-5 scoring issues.

 

[The National]

I’d agree with that grading.

But the positives...

I don’t blame them for letting Krug go, I wouldn’t pay him that for that term.
I don’t blame them for passing on AP, same reason.
Smith was a good value signing and a solid depth piece.

The negatives are too long to list.

 

[Don Cherry]

You forgot Senyshyn

How could anyone forget the can't miss kid. He's put in a lot of people's lineups. Some even in the top six.

 

[Deuce17]

This team was a top 5 team in the world last year. This year they are still a top 5 team imo. I’m fact they did improve on their weakness. Secondary scoring. And left wing? Both needs where addressed with the smith signing. This signing is so underrated around here. Smith is a solid player who unloads shots all night. He is a huge add aNd he came cheap. This is a Salary cap team. U can’t win by chasing free agents and over paying them imo. Hall got too much $ bruins would have had to create holes in the roster by trading salary away to make room for him. It just doesn’t make sense. They seem to have enough to sign all their rfa’s. They are in a good position. Kase plus smith is what Sweeney added to improve 5v5 production. These are quiet good moves. I don’t think they did anything wrong. Oh wait. I take it back. I do not think Ritchie is good enough. I preferred heinen. Heinen seemed to be a possession machine. Ritchie just seems like a lost goon. Meh.

So you think they are better than last year?

 

[Kegs]

So you think they are better than last year?

I think they are slightly better 5v5. And I think some of the defence prospects can fill the void Krug leaves. They aren’t leaps and bounds better. They are 20 goals better. 10-15 5v5 goals better. They have not stepped back defensively either imo. But we shall see.

 

[Alberta_OReilly_Fan]

yeah keeping a team together that won the president trophy last year and went to the cup finals the year before while managing the cap brilliantly is an F

lmfao

 

[BruinsBtn]

So you think they are better than last year?

It's a mistake to compare a playoff lineup to a regular season starting lineup. A contending team like the Bruins is always going to get better at the deadline, and they will again this year.

Last year:

Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk - David Krejci - Karson Kuhlman
Danton Heinen - Charlie Coyle - Brett Ritchie
Par Lindholm - Sean Kuraly - Chris Wagner

Scatches: Backes, Bjork, Nordstrome

I think this year's forward line-up is much better than that. And that team won the President's trophy. Sure, Bergy and Krejci will slow a bit but the young guys should improve and Craig Smith is a big upgrade. I still have a lot of faith in Kase as well.

The defense is a bigger question mark. I assume Chara will be back so it's similar. Obviously he's slowing down but McAvoy, Gryz and Carlo are getting better. Beyond that, it depends what you think of Lauzon, Zboril, Vaak and Cliffy. I think you need to give one of those guys a chance to run with the ball. If not, go and get Hjalmarsson at the deadline.

 

[Jean_Jacket41]

He gets Hoffman or any other top scoring F to replace Krug going out and he gets a good grade from me.

Marchand-Bergy-Pasta
Hoffman-Krejci-Kase
DeBrusk-Coyle-Smith

Great top 9

 

[Alberta_OReilly_Fan]

It's a mistake to compare a playoff lineup to a regular season starting lineup. A contending team like the Bruins is always going to get better at the deadline, and they will again this year.

Last year:

Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk - David Krejci - Karson Kuhlman
Danton Heinen - Charlie Coyle - Brett Ritchie
Par Lindholm - Sean Kuraly - Chris Wagner

Scatches: Backes, Bjork, Nordstrome

I think this year's forward line-up is much better than that. And that team won the President's trophy. Sure, Bergy and Krejci will slow a bit but the young guys should improve and Craig Smith is a big upgrade. I still have a lot of faith in Kase as well.

The defense is a bigger question mark. I assume Chara will be back so it's similar. Obviously he's slowing down but McAvoy, Gryz and Carlo are getting better. Beyond that, it depends what you think of Lauzon, Zboril, Vaak and Cliffy. I think you need to give one of those guys a chance to run with the ball. If not, go and get Hjalmarsson at the deadline.

the team starting this year compared to last year has

replaced weak danton Heinen with dangerous craig smith
over his head kid Karson kuhlman with 20 goal threat ondrej kase
and no offense joakim Nordstrom with potential power forward nick ritchie

the one place we get weaker... is admittedly we lose our pp specialist qb

BUT WE WERE OVER THE CAP BY 2 MILLION DOLLARS LAST YEAR!!!
{even with the mill penalty this year we are going to be under the cap by around 4 million}

we will fix the defense scoring either internally with contributions from guys like
moore {who did almost nothing for us last year}
grezlyck {who will get a lot of the slack left from krug}
McAvoy {who is developing}
zboril {who should make the team I think}

or
we will find a defenseman that contributes offense later in the season with our GOBS AND GOBS of AVAILABLE CAP SPACE

 

[RussellmaniaKW]

the team starting this year compared to last year has

replaced weak danton Heinen with dangerous craig smith
over his head kid Karson kuhlman with 20 goal threat ondrej kase
and no offense joakim Nordstrom with potential power forward nick ritchie

the one place we get weaker... is admittedly we lose our pp specialist qb

BUT WE WERE OVER THE CAP BY 2 MILLION DOLLARS LAST YEAR!!!
{even with the mill penalty this year we are going to be under the cap by around 4 million}

we will fix the defense scoring either internally with contributions from guys like
moore {who did almost nothing for us last year}
grezlyck {who will get a lot of the slack left from krug}
McAvoy {who is developing}
zboril {who should make the team I think}

or
we will find a defenseman that contributes offense later in the season with our GOBS AND GOBS of AVAILABLE CAP SPACE

did I miss them signing Chara?

 

[Alberta_OReilly_Fan]

did I miss them signing Chara?

Not sure why you ask me but i like answering

So what we know...

1/ he said he wants to play
2/ team hasnt said he wont be back
3/ last year his contract was bonus ladden

Now, what i think...

It stands to reason the team told him... wait,
Let us make our moves to get more competitive
We will pay you what we can
After we know what we can pay

Chara likely wont switch teams at this point
Its bruins or retirement
So... he waits

But my gut says hes back