Boston Bruins Poll... which area do you want to improve?

[Alberta_OReilly_Fan]

As things seem to be near the finish line... I see complaints about 2 main areas

1/Secondary Scoring

2/a PP QB that might be able to double as McAvoy's partner as a left shot first pair dman.

we should get debrusk/grezlyck signed for under 7 mill between them by my figuring... and that would comfortably leave us right around 4 mill cap space

if we are bringing in a dman... it stands to reason that we would pay the price to flip moore out of town. let's add a million to the budget and say we could offer sheet mikail sergachev at 4.9 mill matching Charlie McAvoys contract... 2 years... back end it so the cost to offer sheet him is high... do what we can to scare tampa away from matching. there are other potential dmen out there... sergachev is just my example of the type of guy we might be able to poach

if we are bringing in a forward... it stands to reason we would trade Bjork. so again, add a million. we have 5 mill to give to a mike hough or a Evgeni dadonov on a 2 year deal... perhaps its Anthony Duclair we go after? all of these guys are clear upgrades over Bjork.

I would be personally interested to see what other ideas/targets you might want with our 4-5 mill space. lets have fun

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[LSCII]

They have a ton of young dmen in the pipeline, ready to step in when needed. They don't have many scoring options. Wing all day long, and twice on Sunday.

 

[ON3M4N]

I know its not a flashy/sexy name but for me Smith addressed part of the 5v5/secondary scoring issue. While I'd like to see them add another scoring options, I think the defense is more of a concern as Chara is a year older, Grz will be leaned on to play more minutes and our bottom pairing will be some kind of combination of Lauzon/Zboril/Clifton/Miller/Moore

 

[wintersej]

The D man is the safer move. The winger has more upside.

 

[SPLBRUIN]

Go for the top 6 forward, you can always acquire experienced stay at home defenseman types at the trade deadline.

 

[LouJersey]

Where is the option for fanbase?

 

[Gator Mike]

I think that when fully healthy, eight of your top nine forwards are set. I have no problems letting Bjork, Ritchie, and Studnicka battle it out for that 9th spot. And if no one takes the job, you grab someone at the trade deadline.

I have a much bigger issue with a left side of defense that's Matt Grzelcyk and then a mad scramble between guys like Lauzon and Moore and Vaakanainen and Zboril for not just one - but two spots.

They need a LD desperately. MUCH bigger need than 3LW in my opinion.

 

[BruinDust]

Generally I'd be all about building as strong a D-corps as possible. But in this case this team needs to increase it's scoring, and not just it's scoring but the variations of ways that they score. The Bruins at times are far too one-dimensional in terms of their scoring methods.

Say what you will about Krug defensively but the man helped this team score, and he's gone. You can't replace that on the back-end so do it up front by solidifying the top 3 lines by adding a LWer for Krejci. I think it's critical that they end the Debrusk+Krejci experiment. It's just not working.

As for the D, they've used a fair amount of draft currency on D-men during Sweeney's tenure. They have two LD's in the system who were Top 60 picks and have done their 3-year apprenticeship in the AHL, and another LD who is about to embark on his 3rd AHL year.

Look back to summer/fall of 2016. The right side looked like a deep dark pit of despair, Jacob Trouba was all the rage around here as far as acquisitions go. Then Carlo emerged out of camp, and this McAvoy guy appeared 6 months later, and the debate was on over which Miller to keep.

So now we are looking at a similar situation on the left-side. Lauzon showed he could play in the NHL last year and contribute. Zboril seems to have worked out the kinks in game and by all accounts has the confidence of the management that he'll be an NHL player in 2020-21 and beyond. And there is still this 6'9 legendary Bruin who we still don't know what his situation is.

So things can change pretty quick, I'm willing to see how it goes on D.

But get me that scoring LWer!

 

[TCB]

Defense they need help, You cant enter the season with any cup aspirations with zboril Lauzon and Grizz as your your left side. If Carlo or McAvoy ever went down with an injury this currently constructed team would be a lottery team but that maybe a good thing.

The offense I like but that's because I feel Studnicka is going to help solve a lot of the secondary scoring, I also like Smith to pot 20 and I feel Kase can as well and if Cassidy ever decides to break up that top line for longer than a game or two he will have secondary scoring.

 

[BruinsFanSince94]

Ive gone back and forth on this. Obviously you’d want both. If I had to pick? Give me the defenseman. I would trade Grzelyck in any package for that defenseman as long as he’s an upgrade to the Top 4. We’re talking A Nurse, Hanifin, Martinez, etc. Also wouldn’t be opposed to a Fleury or Weegar but the package sent would obviously be less than what Nurse/Hanifin would cost.

This would give you a top pairing and two spots to still break in Lauzon/Zboril/Vaakanainen/Clifton or. UV doesn’t have to clear waivers so he would really need to shine. I think he should go to the AHL and really work on staying healthy, getting that two way game going, and playing all situations. But for sake of discussion he is included because he’s still an option. You have Miller as depth and maybe you bring Chara back. But he’s brought back as an extra that you go to for injury or if someone falls off. Moore needs to be dealt too. I keep forgetting him but I wouldn’t be shocked in the least bit to see this:

Grzelcyk — McAvoy
Moore — Carlo
Zboril — Lauzon
Miller
Clifton

if Chara is signed, expect someone to be waived from the defense. Zboril may not even get a look. This is just another reason that I wouldn’t understand Miller.

What I want:

Nurse — McAvoy
Lauzon — Carlo
Zboril — Clifton
Chara

Moore traded to anyone to clear space. Miller waived to Providence. No one is claiming.

What we’ll get:

Grzelcyk — McAvoy
Chara — Carlo
Moore — Lauzon
Miller
Clifton

Zboril waived and claimed. Because incompetence is what incompetence does.

I’m putting in my vote of no-confidence with management. IT IS WRITTEN.

 

[TheReal13Linseman]

I vote neither. Skip this year. Start fresh in 21-22 season.

 

[UConn126]

Wing, easy. I have all the confidence in the kids on the blueline.

 

[Kegs]

One of the deepest teams on d and almost half the fans are screaming to spend valuable cap space on defence. Did we all watch a different team? This team crushes the power play and has great defence. The kids in the press box and the ahl are better then half the leagues defence. U can see when they where given nhl ice time. Vaak, zboril, louzon and Clifton are 100% ready for the nhl. All four looked really good to me. I only saw zboril play a couple games but he was solid. I’d love them to add another 20 goal scorer but I’d be mad if they over paid for one. They are a salary cap team. 11 mil left. Debrusk and gryz need contracts. Both of these players are valuable to the team. So I can’t see signing both for less then 6-7 mil. Doesn’t leave the bruins much $. Hoffman would be my ideal grab as long as his contract was reasonable and his wife stayed in Florida

 

[Kegs]

Ive gone back and forth on this. Obviously you’d want both. If I had to pick? Give me the defenseman. I would trade Grzelyck in any package for that defenseman as long as he’s an upgrade to the Top 4. We’re talking A Nurse, Hanifin, Martinez, etc. Also wouldn’t be opposed to a Fleury or Weegar but the package sent would obviously be less than what Nurse/Hanifin would cost.

This would give you a top pairing and two spots to still break in Lauzon/Zboril/Vaakanainen/Clifton or. UV doesn’t have to clear waivers so he would really need to shine. I think he should go to the AHL and really work on staying healthy, getting that two way game going, and playing all situations. But for sake of discussion he is included because he’s still an option. You have Miller as depth and maybe you bring Chara back. But he’s brought back as an extra that you go to for injury or if someone falls off. Moore needs to be dealt too. I keep forgetting him but I wouldn’t be shocked in the least bit to see this:

Grzelcyk — McAvoy
Moore — Carlo
Zboril — Lauzon
Miller
Clifton

if Chara is signed, expect someone to be waived from the defense. Zboril may not even get a look. This is just another reason that I wouldn’t understand Miller.

What I want:

Nurse — McAvoy
Lauzon — Carlo
Zboril — Clifton
Chara

Moore traded to anyone to clear space. Miller waived to Providence. No one is claiming.

What we’ll get:

Grzelcyk — McAvoy
Chara — Carlo
Moore — Lauzon
Miller
Clifton

Zboril waived and claimed. Because incompetence is what incompetence does.

I’m putting in my vote of no-confidence with management. IT IS WRITTEN.

nurse isn’t a top line d in Boston. Hanifin isn’t for sale. This isn’t ea sports. Nurse would be on Either the second or third pairing. Also he is under contract by Edmonton. And Edmonton’s weak on d. So why would Edmonton trade nurse? He is one of their best d. Edmonton needs defence so they won’t be trading one of their top d for a forward you no longer want. Edmonton is trying to win now too. U won’t be giving up wild card prospects to get nurse. In fact I doubt Edmonton would even entertain the idea of trading nurse based on his value and their needs.

 

[BruinsFanSince94]

nurse isn’t a top line d in Boston. Hanifin isn’t for sale. This isn’t ea sports. Nurse would be on Either the second or third pairing. Also he is under contract by Edmonton. And Edmonton’s weak on d. So why would Edmonton trade nurse? He is one of their best d. Edmonton needs defence so they won’t be trading one of their top d for a forward you no longer want. Edmonton is trying to win now too. U won’t be giving up wild card prospects to get nurse. In fact I doubt Edmonton would even entertain the idea of trading nurse based on his value and their needs.

I stopped reading after you said Nurse is a 2nd or 3rd pairing defenseman. Especially on this current Bruins defensive core. Like what?

 

[Bearcrap]

Is new manager not an option?

 

[TD Charlie]

Is new manager not an option?

Beat me to it.

I'll vote 2nd line wingers though.

 

[BMC]

I like the young Bruins defensemen, I think the team has done a good job with them.

Other than Pastrnak they haven't done so well in the forward department, hence my vote for a winger.

 

[JCRO]

Im more worried about-
Gryz-McAvoy
Zboril?-Carlo
Lauzon-Clifton
Chara?-Killer

Than I am-
Perfection line (when healthy again)
JDB-Krejci-Kase
Bjork-Coyle-Smith
Ritchie-Kuraly-Wagner

Dont get me wrong, neither are ideal. But the defense worries me waaaay more. I want to see more of Lauzon and Zboril this season.. But not at the same time.

 

[BostonBruins11]

people are short selling Gryz, considering his 3rd pairing minutes and limited PP time his numbers are impressive
He's also our best puck retrieving defensmen/zone breakout. (I'm NOT talking about board battle/corner battles)

 

[N o o d l e s]

Management

 

[Blowfish]

Get younger.

 

[TCB]

Get younger.

Start by moving Krejci for prospects/picks and playing Studnicka as the 3rd line center

 

[Smitty93]

I voted for winger, but I'd caveat that I think the bigger hole is LD, but the more pressing need is top 6 winger. I like the Craig Smith signing. It addresses a problem. This team has lost in the playoffs three years in a row based on a lack of 5-on-5 and depth scoring. Smith certainly helps with that, but I don't think he's enough.

I think the goaltending and team defense can make up for the Krug and Chara losses. I don't have confidence that we can internally come up with more 5-on-5 scoring.

 

[mjhfb]

Either a defenseman or left wing, as long as they average around a point a game.