i havent had any fun doing fantay roster's for the Bruins for the past 4-5 years... I guess in large part to the cap, but also our team was basically set and we really werent going to do a lot except try to develop kids to fill holes.
all this talk from Sweeney and neely this year has me feeling pretty excited at least 1 and maybe 2 major changes are coming in the next couple weeks
so... I did some fanciful/unrealistic ideas but I thought I would really put myself to the test and try my damn best to put a realistic idea forward that we might end up seeing for real.
It starts with the rumored Arizona trade
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our targets are
Oliver Ekman Larsson {$8,250,000 X 7} {we need Arizona to retain 1 mill per year}
Taylor Hall {{$9,850,000 X 7} currently an UFA
our bait I hope Arizona will accept is
Jake Debrusk {RFA} has some ties to the Arizona area
Matt Grezlyck {RFA} he is a legitimate dman who might still have upside
Andres Bjork {$1,600,000 x 3} a fairly affordable 3rd line depth player}
Chris Wagner {$1,350,000 x 3} some character for their bottom line}
Urho Vaikanainen {$0,894,167 x 2} He will be a player
our 2021 first round pick... basically this is the price we pay to get Arizona to retain}
Arizona potentially fills 5 holes in their lineup for around 11.5 million compared to 2 holes at 14 mill... this will help them save a lot of money and it improves their depth. Sadly they choose themselves to rebuild. It's not our fault. I dont think anyone else would be beating this offer for Larsson. It might sound like too much from Boston but Larsson is a lot better than most people think. His heart was taken out by how crappy the Arizona situation has become... and he hated being the captain there and forced to explain the team to the press. This is a guy that absolutely dominates world competition when he has a chance to play on a better team.
To clear room in our budget to sign Hall we must deal Krejci or Rask
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Our new target is
Josh Anderson {RFA} 6'3 and 225... 26 years old. He has twice scored 20+ goals over a full season {19 in 63 games once} and he has been credited with throwing his huge body around for over 2 hits per game throughout his career. Columbus for some reason has played hardball on contract negotiations and last year Anderson was clearly very unhappy and his play struggled. I am suggesting we lock him up on a 3 year deal at 3 million.
The bait
David Krejci {$7,250,000 x 1} Boston will have to eat some cap to make this work for Columbus... I am thinking $2,250... its a one year hit Columbus should use Jenner on their third line... they are rumored buying out Wennberg. Dubois is a legit first line stud. Krecji makes sense for them to resign as their number 2 center.
I want to keep this all realistic so Im holding mself to just 2 trades... the other moves are free agent signings.
RESIGN
Zdeno Chara {1 x 1 mill base with a mill in earnable bonuses}
Taylor Hall {7 x 8.85 mill {this is almost the same money Tyler Seguin is making the next 7 years... make up the missing million per year by front loading signing bonuses}
Market UFA
Bobby Ryan {give him almost the same contract as Corey Perry 1 mill base with 2 mill in bonuses}
Our finished lineup
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Taylor Hall/Charlie Coyle/David Pastrnak
Brad Marchand/Patrice Bergeron/Ondrej Kase
Bobby Ryan/Jack Studnicka/Josh Anderson
Nick Ritchie/Sean Kuraly/Zach Senyshyn
Par Lindholm
{13 forwards... Senshyn gets a try to keep a job but if he fails we bring up Karson Kuhlman who is capable as a 4th line forward. Ritchie will either perform or lose his job to Trent Federic.}
Did you know?
Ondrej Kase is 50% 7/14 in career shootouts
Bobby Ryan is 21/61 a healthy 34.1%
wouldnt it be nice to win a few shootouts?
Our rebuilt defense
Oliver Ekman Larsson/Charlie McAvoy
John Moore/Brandon Carlo
Zdeno Chara/Jeremy Lauzon
Jacob Zboril/Connor Clifton
{carry 8 dmen so Zboril can get a chance to play some... if he fails so be it. Moore is in the lineup because I think he could still rebound with the right opportunity, but if he falters we got Jeremy Lauzon wanting to step up and of course we have Chara who will often step up on nights where he is feeling good}
Im going to just leave Tuuka Rask on our team... if we wanted to give him time off early in the year for his family, then we see what Danial Vladar can do. Halak actually is a capable lower level starter we can plug in as needed.
so whats the cap hit for this team?
1.5 mill retention for backes
2.25 mill retention for krejci
1 mill penalty for bonuses earnt in 2019-20 {team election to take around 1/2 now 1/2 next year}
$45, 734,758 {forwards}
$21,550,000 {dmen}
$9,250,000 {goalies}
total $81,284,758
This pushes our cap pretty much right to the upper limits... but there is a chance we will end up losing Rask to some sort of suspension/retirement.
I think we upgrade throughout the lineup
Hall... upgrade over Debrusk
Studnicka... wont be able to replace krejci yet but Hall doubles to replace both Krejci/and Debrusk
Ryan... upgrade over Nordstrom
Anderson... upgrade over Bjork
Senyshyn... i think he will give us what wagner did
Larson... upgrade over krug
we replace grezlyck with whatever kid steps up {lauzon?}
the only prized kids im giving up are
urho vaikanainen and whoever the 2021 first round might be
we keep Federic/Beecher/Kuhlman/Studnicka up front
we got a couple other guys i think will end up playing in the system as well
we have lost most of our best defensive depth... but kids like wolfe/ahcan were signed
because we think they have a chance to be players.
im giving both senyshyn and zboril a chance to salvage their legacy in boston... i actually feel that both will end up making it in some role. im not throwing them into main roles though. they will have to prove they can play
bergeron/marchand have suffered some defensively the last couple years with pastrnak as their winger... the pressure to become first line scorers. i think these guys are better when they matchup against the other team's top line and shut it down. as they get older the next 2-3 years it will be easier on them playing more of a second line role anyhow.
and I do think pastrnak will respond well to hall's high tempo game. pastrnak has done well mostly becomes hes so damn good. he hasnt really clicked with Bergeron or krejci and their slower style of play. in fact, pastrnak scored as well with riley nash centering him and marchand.
we would have 2 outstanding pp with my moves
number 1
Marchand/Bergeron/Pastrnak
Hall/Larsson
number 2
Ryan/Studnicka/Coyle
Kase/McAvoy
