Player Expectations

[MarchysNoseKnows]

Heinen (E) Zacha (M) Pastrnak (M)

Marchand (M) Coyle (E) DeBrusk (B)

Frederic (M) Geekie (E) Brazilla (E)

Beecher (E) Boqvist (E) Lauko (M)

JVR (M)

Lindholm (M) McAvoy (E)

Grzelcyk (B) Carlo (M)

Lohrei (M) Peeke (E)

Goalies (M)

This with 3 changes:

McAvoy is a M. Good year not a great one.

Frederic is clearly an E if you read back his discussion from the summer, even those who aren’t Lonnie.

And Pasta is an E. Doing what he’s done this year is above what most would have expected without playing with 37.

 

[Mr. Make-Believe]

This with 3 changes:

McAvoy is a M. Good year not a great one.

Frederic is clearly an E if you read back his discussion from the summer, even those who aren’t Lonnie.

And Pasta is an E. Doing what he’s done this year is above what most would have expected without playing with 37.

Agree with Freddy. Agree with Pasta.

McAvoy in my opinion has been absolutely stellar this season however. I think it's been his best season a pro.

 

[22Brad Park]

I feel Brad was bad last 5 weeks or so but scored 29 goals at his age and way more on plate with that C had to effect him.I never wanted him to get C for that reason + McAvoy was my hope with him going to be around longer at this stage..

 

[22Brad Park]

When McAvoy was suspended this season, Bruins went 3-1 with wins against Toronto & Dallas. Lost to Montreal on his return.

Last season Bruins went 11-2 to start the season without Charlie.

 

[Bradely]

Players that played at least half the regular season games. Based on expectations prior to this season.

Exceeded Expectations:

Morgan Geekie
Danton Heinen
Kevin Shattenkirk
Jesper Boqvist
Brandon Carlo
Parker Wotherspoon

Met Expectations:

Mason Lohrei
John Beecher
Pavel Zacha
Charlie Coyle
Trent Frederick
James van Reimsdyk
David Pastrnak
Matt Grzelcyk
Jeremy Swayman

Below Expectations:

Brad Marchand
Charlie McAvoy
Jake DeBrusk
Hampus Lindholm
Jakub Lauko
Linus Ullmark

Many borderline players here.

Would be interested to see how others thought everyone performed.

We differ opinion on the netters. Thought they + 88 are the biggest reason Boston success.

 

[Aussie Bruin]

I feel Brad was bad last 5 weeks or so but scored 29 goals at his age and way more on plate with that C had to effect him.I never wanted him to get C for that reason + McAvoy was my hope with him going to be around longer at this stage..

The thing about that is the C would almost certainly have affected McAvoy in a similar way, if not more. He's younger, he takes his responsibilities very seriously, he's already got a lot on his plate as the anchor of the defense. On that basis, I still think it would have been a bit too soon to make him captain.

I agree being captain had an impact on Brad, but I feel it was less than it could have been for Charlie, and he's in a better place to handle it. Better him take that burden at this point. Chucky's time will come, just not quite yet.

 

[DKH]

This with 3 changes:

McAvoy is a M. Good year not a great one.

Frederic is clearly an E if you read back his discussion from the summer, even those who aren’t Lonnie.

And Pasta is an E. Doing what he’s done this year is above what most would have expected without playing with 37.

Freddie disappeared for stretches but I’m a big Freddie guy - I own him in the SIM league and Lonnie is in there and we’ve already gone at it a bunch on our Discord

I’m very fortunate I get Lonnie every day in multiple ways

McAvoy is so good though I sit behind net they defend twice and can really appreciate how good he is

I thought he was just dominant

I would take him 1 overall if I could have any D

Pastrnak I agree - was going to go E but he’s expected around 50 and got that

His leadership and behind the scenes stuff is impressive

He’s a better human then goal scorer - I have close friends one who golfs with him and another who’s very good friend is one of if not Pastas closest buddy and both rave about his character.

He also makes everyone feel important on the team no matter who you are

 

[Mad-Marcus]

Neither one's numbers were as good as last season. Ullmark's way off.

Team defense wasn't as good either, including PK. They saw more high danger shots than last year as well. Earlier in the year when Sway was a little better,, they both were stealing games that on paper looked like easy wins. It's a little more objective than looking at basic GAA and Save%

 

[Bruinswillwin77]

I agree with your list except for Ullmark as I think he deserved to be in your 'met expectations' category.

Wish Mcavoy would take that next step up...

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Team defense wasn't as good either, including PK. They saw more high danger shots than lat year as well. Earlier in the year when Sway was a little better,, they both were stealing games that on paper looked like easy wins. It's a little more objective than looking at basic GAA and Save%

Good point. Ullmark could go either way.

But I felt Ullmark's performance last season was the best by a Bruins goaltender that I've seen. Literally only had one bad game during the regular season. Only had 2 shutouts but a goals against average of 1.89. Goals saved above average was the highest total since Hasek in 1998-99. Higher than Tim Thomas in 2010-11 while playing 8 less games. Save percentage was 6th best ever.

 

[Bruinswillwin77]

Good point. Ullmark could go either way.

But I felt Ullmark's performance last season was the best by a Bruins goaltender that I've seen. Literally only had one bad game during the regular season. Only had 2 shutouts but a goals against average of 1.89. Goals saved above average was the highest total since Hasek in 1998-99. Higher than Tim Thomas in 2010-11 while playing 8 less games. Save percentage was 6th best ever.

Awesome supporting cast and he took the bull by the horn and skated (even scored a goal) with it but its highly unlikely he'll ever replicate those #s again in his career.

Anyways, I don't wanna stray off-topic too much.

 

[DKH]

Bruins did a heck of a job retooling their center position

Without access to a top 5 pick like McDavid, Matthews, Eichel, Barkov etc due to generally sucking they found good players in multiple other ways

Coyle
Zacha
Poitras
Geekie
Boqvist

a handful of centers who could play top 3 center spots

 

[Number8]

Players that played at least half the regular season games. Based on expectations prior to this season.

Exceeded Expectations:

Morgan Geekie (YES)
Danton Heinen (YES)
Kevin Shattenkirk (YES)
Jesper Boqvist (didn't have huge expectations, still dont)
Brandon Carlo (YES)
Parker Wotherspoon (YES)

Met Expectations:

Mason Lohrei (I thought kid did very well - Exceeded)
John Beecher (I thought kid did very well - Exceeded)
Pavel Zacha (Lot of pressure on him and he delivered goods - wasn't sure if he could hold up. Excellent.)
Charlie Coyle (Lot of pressure on him and he delivered goods - wasn't sure if he could hold up. Excellent.)
Trent Frederick (Still too hot and cold for me)
James van Reimsdyk (Blew me away at start. Faded at end which I expected. Hoping Vet savviness will pay dividends in PO's)
David Pastrnak (I thought he was awesome. Not just a goal scorer anymore but a playmaker and increasingly chippy/physical)
Matt Grzelcyk (all comes down to playoffs with MG for me - as always)
Jeremy Swayman (met my expectations but my expectations were high - kudos)

Below Expectations:

Brad Marchand (Lost a bit of step and his shot is not as sharp)
Charlie McAvoy (not sure why people not high on him. he's a stud)
Jake DeBrusk (still too damn streaky)
Hampus Lindholm (think my expectations were too high given how he played when he first joined)
Jakub Lauko (low expectations from me, to be honest)
Linus Ullmark (met my expectations but my expectations were high - kudos)

Many borderline players here.

Would be interested to see how others thought everyone performed.

Did my takes in color above

 

[Mad-Marcus]

Good point. Ullmark could go either way.

But I felt Ullmark's performance last season was the best by a Bruins goaltender that I've seen. Literally only had one bad game during the regular season. Only had 2 shutouts but a goals against average of 1.89. Goals saved above average was the highest total since Hasek in 1998-99. Higher than Tim Thomas in 2010-11 while playing 8 less games. Save percentage was 6th best ever.

Statistically, both goalies saw less high danger scoring chances last year due to the tremendous team defense.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Statistically, both goalies saw less high danger scoring chances last year due to the tremendous team defense.

True.

But Ullmark's Goals Saved Above Average last season was historic (48.5). This season it was 13.7. Hellebuyck led the league this season with 31.8.

 

[BruinDust]

Without listing every player......

I felt Frederic exceeded MY expectations. I thought he was what he was and he improved his skating/pace and thus his overall play.

Morgan Geekie meet MY expectations, because it was a signing I really liked last summer and it showed to be true.

Danton Heinen exceeded my expectations in pretty much every way possible.

Parker Wotherspoon was a non-factor for pretty much every Bruins fan going into the year but clearly exceeded expectations from not just the fans but likely the organization as well.

Jake Debrusk disappointed me. I felt he was due for a big year and another step forward.

The goaltending tandem meet my expectations overall. Wasn't fussy on Swayman's 2nd half.

Wasn't expecting John Beecher to ever make it to the NHL, so the fact he did and looks like he has a decent future means he exceeeded my expectations.

I didn't expect Lohrei to see much NHL time in his first full pro year but he proved me wrong.

If there was one thing I was truly excited for when the season started it was the return of Milan Lucic. And he disappointed me more than any other Bruin.

 

[SwayHeyKid]

McAvoy was +4 this season. By far the worst of his career. 47 points is a drop from his last two seasons. He should be entering his peak years, was not expecting him to take a step back.

Marchand also had the worst plus/minus (+2) of his career. Same number of points (67) as last season in 9 more games. And last season was the first time since 2015-16 that he was under a point per game.

Mcavoy also looks horrible on the PP. he needs to get it in gear

 

[UncleRico]

Heinen, geekie, jvr, Coyle, Zacha, boqvist, shattenkirk exceed expectations

Gryz, Debrusk, Lindholm below expectations

 

[Bruins4Lifer]

I'll just list out exceeded and below

Exceeded:
Pastrnak - plays like a leader and much smarter than I thought he was capable of before.
Geekie
Heinen
JVR - I know he was scratched a lot towards the end but he was a lot more productive than I expected. Thought he was cooked already when they signed him this summer
Poitras - deserves to be listed for making the team at 19 and being almost 0.5 ppg
Wotherspoon

Below expectations:
Lauko - need more production from him.
Lindholm
McAvoy - less disappointed in his year than Lindholm's but still not up to par for him.

 

[Mad-Marcus]

True.

But Ullmark's Goals Saved Above Average last season was historic (48.5). This season it was 13.7. Hellebuyck led the league this season with 31.8.

That stat does not take into account where the shots came from.

I agree Linus was ridiculous last year and could not be expected to repeat, but stats at face value don't always tell the whole story.

 

[Mad-Marcus]

Part of the B's overall performance this year was that the high danger area shot on goal were up compared to last year. We did not get victimized by teams cycling for extended period of time(>1-1.5Min zone time) as much last year, since our transition game was much better.
Our history for this year, especially on PK, had us penned in due to poor clearing decisions. Lindholm and to a lesser extent Carlo were brutal as this, this year.

 

[rfournier103]

Players that played at least half the regular season games. Based on expectations prior to this season.

Exceeded Expectations:

Morgan Geekie
Danton Heinen
Kevin Shattenkirk
Jesper Boqvist
Brandon Carlo
Parker Wotherspoon

Met Expectations:

Mason Lohrei
John Beecher
Pavel Zacha
Charlie Coyle
Trent Frederick
James van Reimsdyk
David Pastrnak
Matt Grzelcyk
Jeremy Swayman

Below Expectations:

Brad Marchand
Charlie McAvoy
Jake DeBrusk
Hampus Lindholm
Jakub Lauko
Linus Ullmark

Many borderline players here.

Would be interested to see how others thought everyone performed.

The only change I would make to this list would be moving Charlie Coyle to the Exceeded Expectations group. I like Charlie a lot, but I've never seen him as more than a number three center. He's had a career year, and certainly surprised me.