News Article: Listless Bruins failing to respond to playoff race heat

[CharasLazyWrister]

So it appears the board is in full post-mortem mode right now, any one else still thinking they can get in after this 3 day break to get their heads on straight and get a rest?

I mean...good on you for holding out hope. But, I'm not sure anyone can be blamed for not having much given how this season has played out.

This wouldn't be the first time they had "some time off" and came back with not much of anything.

I hope for different.

 

[Boston BROin]

It's a fact of the cap era that you're going to lose players from very good teams. The thing is, you have to know which players you should keep and which players will walk. Then, you need an eye for developing talent to fill those spots on the cheap.

The Bruins for the past few years were built on a lot of character players. I think we can agree that it wasn't built around 'high end' talent like a Toews or Kane. They were built around gritty veterans with experience. Role players. Everyone played their roll and the team was greater than the sum of its parts.

When a team which is 'flat' in regards to talent starts to come up for contract extensions, you're going to have trouble. Your 'top end' talent isn't going to be up to the standard of the rest of the league, but you're still going to have to pay them like they are. That sort of overvaluation tends to push it's way on down the lineup. The cream of your 'mediocre' crop rises to the top and gets paid. Soon, you're paying your role players more money to keep a core intact, when the only reason they were successful was due to the players they had around them.

Your top players weren't the ones driving.

I think a lot of this comes down to drafting and the Seguin trade. We haven't been able to fill spots with young guys effectively enough, so we've had to stick with some overpaid veterans too long. As for Seguin, he should have been kept as a 1-2 punch with Bergeron. If we needed to move a contract out, it should have been Krejci (as much as I like the guy).

That way, you start to build the team around real top end talent and have those two cogs of your offense like Chicago.

 

[Seidenbergy]

I blame sacco for all of this. Dude sucks.

 

[CharasLazyWrister]

It's a fact of the cap era that you're going to lose players from very good teams. The thing is, you have to know which players you should keep and which players will walk. Then, you need an eye for developing talent to fill those spots on the cheap.

The Bruins for the past few years were built on a lot of character players. I think we can agree that it wasn't built around 'high end' talent like a Toews or Kane. They were built around gritty veterans with experience. Role players. Everyone played their roll and the team was greater than the sum of its parts.

When a team which is 'flat' in regards to talent starts to come up for contract extensions, you're going to have trouble. Your 'top end' talent isn't going to be up to the standard of the rest of the league, but you're still going to have to pay them like they are. That sort of overvaluation tends to push it's way on down the lineup. The cream of your 'mediocre' crop rises to the top and gets paid. Soon, you're paying your role players more money to keep a core intact, when the only reason they were successful was due to the players they had around them.

Your top players weren't the ones driving.

I think a lot of this comes down to drafting and the Seguin trade. We haven't been able to fill spots with young guys effectively enough, so we've had to stick with some overpaid veterans too long. As for Seguin, he should have been kept as a 1-2 punch with Bergeron. If we needed to move a contract out, it should have been Krejci (as much as I like the guy).

That way, you start to build the team around real top end talent and have those two cogs of your offense like Chicago.

Interesting perspective that is hard to argue with.

 

[LSCII]

The guy needs a chance to rectify the problem.

You mean the one he created? Nah. I'm good with having the guy who ****ed it all up trying to fix his **** up...

 

[ODAAT]

It's a fact of the cap era that you're going to lose players from very good teams. The thing is, you have to know which players you should keep and which players will walk. Then, you need an eye for developing talent to fill those spots on the cheap.

The Bruins for the past few years were built on a lot of character players. I think we can agree that it wasn't built around 'high end' talent like a Toews or Kane. They were built around gritty veterans with experience. Role players. Everyone played their roll and the team was greater than the sum of its parts.

When a team which is 'flat' in regards to talent starts to come up for contract extensions, you're going to have trouble. Your 'top end' talent isn't going to be up to the standard of the rest of the league, but you're still going to have to pay them like they are. That sort of overvaluation tends to push it's way on down the lineup. The cream of your 'mediocre' crop rises to the top and gets paid. Soon, you're paying your role players more money to keep a core intact, when the only reason they were successful was due to the players they had around them.

Your top players weren't the ones driving.

I think a lot of this comes down to drafting and the Seguin trade. We haven't been able to fill spots with young guys effectively enough, so we've had to stick with some overpaid veterans too long. As for Seguin, he should have been kept as a 1-2 punch with Bergeron. If we needed to move a contract out, it should have been Krejci (as much as I like the guy).

That way, you start to build the team around real top end talent and have those two cogs of your offense like Chicago.

Drafting poorly has been the teams downfall IMO

Not necessarily the contracts, if the B`s had of drafted and developed well, those very contracts would never have happened

 

[MilanKraft*]

They'll beat Montreal if they make the playoffs...i guess a big if now...

 

[mikelvl]

Drafting poorly has been the teams downfall IMO

Not necessarily the contracts, if the B`s had of drafted and developed well, those very contracts would never have happened

Absolutely true. I sound like a broken record but what if they had made better choices than Zach Hamill and Joe Colborne with the 8th and 15th overall picks. And don't forget the Tommy Cross and Jared Knight 2nd round picks amongst many other. Four years of drafts with nobody to show for it. That is horrible and it's finally caught up to them.

 

[Randomtask68]

It's a fact of the cap era that you're going to lose players from very good teams. The thing is, you have to know which players you should keep and which players will walk. Then, you need an eye for developing talent to fill those spots on the cheap.

The Bruins for the past few years were built on a lot of character players. I think we can agree that it wasn't built around 'high end' talent like a Toews or Kane. They were built around gritty veterans with experience. Role players. Everyone played their roll and the team was greater than the sum of its parts.

When a team which is 'flat' in regards to talent starts to come up for contract extensions, you're going to have trouble. Your 'top end' talent isn't going to be up to the standard of the rest of the league, but you're still going to have to pay them like they are. That sort of overvaluation tends to push it's way on down the lineup. The cream of your 'mediocre' crop rises to the top and gets paid. Soon, you're paying your role players more money to keep a core intact, when the only reason they were successful was due to the players they had around them.

Your top players weren't the ones driving.

I think a lot of this comes down to drafting and the Seguin trade. We haven't been able to fill spots with young guys effectively enough, so we've had to stick with some overpaid veterans too long. As for Seguin, he should have been kept as a 1-2 punch with Bergeron. If we needed to move a contract out, it should have been Krejci (as much as I like the guy).

That way, you start to build the team around real top end talent and have those two cogs of your offense like Chicago.

I agree with most of this, not sure about trading Krejci but I never agreed with the Seguin trade and the drafting speaks for itself. You bring up Chicago which is a valid comparison since they and Los Angeles have been objectively the only two teams better than the Bruins these last 5 seasons if you measure by Cup wins.

However there is one thing that I rarely, if ever, see brought up concerning these two teams and not sure if it's entirely relevant but I wanted to bring it up. Both teams greatly benefited from the old CBA "loophole" of extending the term on contracts to bring down the annual cap hit on star players. The Blackhawks signed Marian Hossa and Duncan Keith to deals with $5.2 and $5.5 cap hits, well below market value for both. Then LA, while not signing either player, traded for both Jeff Carter ($5.27) and Mike Richards ($5.75).

Now, these deals could possibly hamper teams in the future (Richards has already been sent to the minors this season) along with possible recapture penalties, but in either case they've allowed these teams to spread a few million around the rest of the roster. The Bruins actually did sign one of these deals while they were still legal with Marc Savard, and of course he got injured shortly after signing the deal and the Bruins were never able to take advantage of it. It was impossible to know that Savard would be nailed by Matt Cooke and suffer subsequent concussions that would end his career so there is no fault on Chiarelli's part. However, Stan Bowman and Dean Lombardi threw caution to the wind with these moves and they helped bring each franchise win 2 Stanley Cups. Do you think it is possible we look back at Chiarelli's time here and add this to the list where he was too conservative in trades and free agent signings?

 

[Southern Gentleman B]

It's a fact of the cap era that you're going to lose players from very good teams. The thing is, you have to know which players you should keep and which players will walk. Then, you need an eye for developing talent to fill those spots on the cheap.

The Bruins for the past few years were built on a lot of character players. I think we can agree that it wasn't built around 'high end' talent like a Toews or Kane. They were built around gritty veterans with experience. Role players. Everyone played their roll and the team was greater than the sum of its parts.

When a team which is 'flat' in regards to talent starts to come up for contract extensions, you're going to have trouble. Your 'top end' talent isn't going to be up to the standard of the rest of the league, but you're still going to have to pay them like they are. That sort of overvaluation tends to push it's way on down the lineup. The cream of your 'mediocre' crop rises to the top and gets paid. Soon, you're paying your role players more money to keep a core intact, when the only reason they were successful was due to the players they had around them.

Your top players weren't the ones driving.

I think a lot of this comes down to drafting and the Seguin trade. We haven't been able to fill spots with young guys effectively enough, so we've had to stick with some overpaid veterans too long. As for Seguin, he should have been kept as a 1-2 punch with Bergeron. If we needed to move a contract out, it should have been Krejci (as much as I like the guy).

That way, you start to build the team around real top end talent and have those two cogs of your offense like Chicago.

Well said, wish I could construct posts that are as concise and to the point as yours. There are times I am against replacing Chia because I don't view him as a dummy and have hope he has learned from past mistakes. Then I see trades he was trying to execute recently that would not have made the team better imo that seemed more like a shot in the dark and I come back to reality. It really has become difficult to defend this guy, time to throw his Harvard pedigree out the window and judge him by the product on the ice. Many have already adopted that position, others like myself have been slow to the table.