The Athletic - Boston FLUTO: How Sean Kuraly’s injury upsets Bruce Cassidy’s plan vs. Toronto
- Thread starter Fenway
- Start date
TCB
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00BW
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I think what people seem to be missing is that Kuraly is the fastest forward on the Bruins. He's also one of the biggest, plays solid defense, and turns it on in the playoffs going from 0.23 to 0.38 PPG.
The Leaf's have 2 offensive lines, Tavares and Matthews. The goal in acquiring Coyle was to allow his line to play against one (like Nash last year) and Kuraly to play against the other, freeing up the Bergeron line for offense. (not acquired just for this one matchup but playing that role against any team) Now it looks like the Bergeron line will have to handle one of the Leaf's top lines which will cut into their scoring ability.
Looking back at the 2011 Cup winning team, the Bruins acquired Kelly and Peverly who played 24 and 23 games respectively scoring 5 and 7 points over that time. However, both played 25 game in the playoffs scoring 13 and 12 points but also had some of the toughest defensive matchups and the the ability to move up to the top line to replace injuries. You could look at Kuraly filling the Kelly role and Coyle filling the Peverly role in this analogy.
Personally, I'd be playing Kuhlman over Norsdstrom in this case since his speed and forecheck more closely matches what they lost in Kuraly but it seems Cassidy prefers the vets.
The Leaf's have 2 offensive lines, Tavares and Matthews. The goal in acquiring Coyle was to allow his line to play against one (like Nash last year) and Kuraly to play against the other, freeing up the Bergeron line for offense. (not acquired just for this one matchup but playing that role against any team) Now it looks like the Bergeron line will have to handle one of the Leaf's top lines which will cut into their scoring ability.
Looking back at the 2011 Cup winning team, the Bruins acquired Kelly and Peverly who played 24 and 23 games respectively scoring 5 and 7 points over that time. However, both played 25 game in the playoffs scoring 13 and 12 points but also had some of the toughest defensive matchups and the the ability to move up to the top line to replace injuries. You could look at Kuraly filling the Kelly role and Coyle filling the Peverly role in this analogy.
Personally, I'd be playing Kuhlman over Norsdstrom in this case since his speed and forecheck more closely matches what they lost in Kuraly but it seems Cassidy prefers the vets.
Fluto is a sell-out to this kind of embarrassing "journalism." Like all the rest he goes for the home-run type of cutesy stuff that make knowledgeable fans cringe.
