What the Bruins are doing/What you'd like to see this off-season 2014

[MTaylorJ1]

I disagree. I think Fraser's a lock.

He's done everything he can at the AHL level, and (I thought) he looked comfortable in Boston in the playoffs. He's big, he hustles and gets his body into traffic. That release gives him the potential to score at the next level, and I think he can fill a role as an energy guy in the bottom6 while he adjusts and learns to find his range.

Small quibble, but our 3rd line isn't an energy line, nor should it be. Because they deploy Bergeron in a shutdown role (to go along with their excellent offensive play) they can afford to get offense from the 3rd line. I actually tend to think that Fraser would be perfect next to two guys who can really pass the puck in Soderberg and Eriksson.

 

[rickjames]

Just spat out my coke at 'Get Chara off the PP forever'

 

[Fenian24]

Trade Bartkowski, could get a second from a team that needs a D in a weak draft.

Do not resign Caron

Resign Iginla to one year bonus heavy deal.

Talk to Kelly about his no trade and ask if he is willing to waive it, if not buy him out. There are a lot of teams that have cap space that could use good leadership and a good penalty killing third line center.

Trade Eriksson to Vancouver for Kassian. Benning was pro scouting director so he must have seen something in Eriksson to think he was a vital piece in the Seguin deal. Let him have him back and put him with the Sedins. Possibly expand on this deal with Marchand and one of Spooner, Koko, picks or other options to acquire Kesler. Whatever they do moving Eriksson should be a priority before his value drops even further.

Sign Steve Downie or Steve Ott for the third line.

Sign Tanner Glass or Cody McCormick.

 

[MTaylorJ1]

See of all the outrageous things I've read about Chara this offseason. Moving him off the PP to manage his minutes with an eye on the playoffs isn't all that far fetched. Yes, he led the team in PP goals, and had 15 points. But those 15 points put him squarely in the middle of the pack of our PP units and he is 4th in PP time. With Chara in front of the net, he was the focus of that PP unit. But I think adding another guy who is skilled at moving the puck quickly (Spooner, Marchand) in his place, they could get back a chunk of those points. While allowing Chara to keep up his minutes at ES and SH (where I don't think there's a potential replacement in his shutdown role.)

I'm not convinced either way, but I don't see the concept as being absurd.

 

[DoubleAAAA]

...

Why Fraser?

What is it about his game at the NHL level that has people penciling him into the Bruins lineup?

I dig the guy and everything, but at BEST he's been invisible in Boston. Caron easily looks like the better pro and I don't want Caron anywhere near this team.

Whoa, whoa, whoa ... let's not get carried away here.

 

[Estlin]

It'll never happen, but:

Eriksson - Krejci - Fraser
Lucic - Bergeron - Smith
Marchand - Soderberg - Iginla
Paille - Spooner - Knight
Florek

Chara - Hamilton
Seidenberg - Boychuk
Krug - Miller
Morrow

Rask - Svedberg

-Gone: McQuaid, Bartkowski, Campbell, Caron and Kelly

 

[DNE3]

Surprise package. Brian Ferlin will show in training camp that he is ready to play RW in NHL, and Joe Morrow will show he is a top-four NHL level talent on defence, and then the dominoes will begin to fall. Campbell and Paille will be replaced, if not this year, then by this time next year, and the same fate awaits Iginla. That's just for starters.

 

[Rebel Bruin]

Trade Bartkowski, could get a second from a team that needs a D in a weak draft.

Do not resign Caron

Resign Iginla to one year bonus heavy deal.

Talk to Kelly about his no trade and ask if he is willing to waive it, if not buy him out. There are a lot of teams that have cap space that could use good leadership and a good penalty killing third line center.

Trade Eriksson to Vancouver for Kassian. Benning was pro scouting director so he must have seen something in Eriksson to think he was a vital piece in the Seguin deal. Let him have him back and put him with the Sedins. Possibly expand on this deal with Marchand and one of Spooner, Koko, picks or other options to acquire Kesler. Whatever they do moving Eriksson should be a priority before his value drops even further.

Sign Steve Downie or Steve Ott for the third line.

Sign Tanner Glass or Cody McCormick.

Kassian for Eriksson?????

Not a good trade for the Bruins imo.

Also Kesler is broken.

 

[jgatie]

Get a couple of good solid two way d men as our lack of physicality from Bart and I hate to say it Krug killed us......On reputation, Edler is the best available but there weill be others.....Weaver would have been good for instance....Travis Hamonic..;(Not available etc)

TRADE Soderberg! You are probably best to let him develop his offensive game until the deadline but a gritty sweede he aint. He is not a winning player and does not fit this team's winning style.

Trade for a pick or two as this team is old on the back and getting their at forward.

Are you kidding me? Soderberg may have been the Bruins best player in both rounds. Stop posting nonsense.

 

[TMac21]

I can't see the Bruins putting someone who can't drop the gloves in Thorntons spot the more I think about it.

 

[Gordon Lightfoot]

Get a couple of good solid two way d men as our lack of physicality from Bart and I hate to say it Krug killed us......On reputation, Edler is the best available but there weill be others.....Weaver would have been good for instance....Travis Hamonic..;(Not available etc)

TRADE Soderberg! You are probably best to let him develop his offensive game until the deadline but a gritty sweede he aint. He is not a winning player and does not fit this team's winning style.

Trade for a pick or two as this team is old on the back and getting their at forward.

I don't get it.

 

[DoubleAAAA]

Get a couple of good solid two way d men as our lack of physicality from Bart and I hate to say it Krug killed us......On reputation, Edler is the best available but there weill be others.....Weaver would have been good for instance....Travis Hamonic..;(Not available etc)

TRADE Soderberg! You are probably best to let him develop his offensive game until the deadline but a gritty sweede he aint. He is not a winning player and does not fit this team's winning style.

Trade for a pick or two as this team is old on the back and getting their at forward.

Maybe just me but Bart's physicality was about the last thing I was worried about.

 

[Fenian24]

Kassian for Eriksson?????

Not a good trade for the Bruins imo.

Also Kesler is broken.

Zack Kassian 73 14 15 29 124

Loui Eriksson 61 10 27 37 14

Kassian is younger and developing into a top notch power forward, Eriksson is declining quickly and was awful most of last season.

I agree Kesler is a gamble, his style of play has worn on him.

 

[Dan the bruiser*]

Get a couple of good solid two way d men as our lack of physicality from Bart and I hate to say it Krug killed us......On reputation, Edler is the best available but there weill be others.....Weaver would have been good for instance....Travis Hamonic..;(Not available etc)

TRADE Soderberg! You are probably best to let him develop his offensive game until the deadline but a gritty sweede he aint. He is not a winning player and does not fit this team's winning style.

Trade for a pick or two as this team is old on the back and getting their at forward.

Dont trade Soderberg!You cant find a productive skilled player at that price and he was one of our better player in the playoff.Are you on dope we are in cap hell.

 

[xgallantx]

What I'd like to see is a deal made with NYI for Clutterbuck and Grabner. We need more speed and grit. Clutterbuck would be an expensive 4th liner I know and Grabner at 3mil to play 3rd line is costly as well. But moving Kelly takes care of Grabner, then we'd have to get creative.

Iginla-Krejci-Lucic
Marchand-Bergy-Smith
Grabner-Soderberg-Eriksson
Clutterbuck-Campbell-Paille
Ex. Fraser/Koko/Spooner or something of that nature
Chara-Hamilton
Seids-Boychuk
Krug-McQuaid
Miller

Rask/Svedberg
Bart, Caron, Kelly out

Getting both those guys wouldn't be easy buy NYI could be interested in a vet like Kelly, they want to finish high in the standings and not be embarrassed anymore about the Vanek trade with Buffalo. Not exactly great on D either so Bart or McQuaid could be interesting for them. Also getting those two, Campbell may have to be shipped out as well. Use Spooner on the 4th with Paille and Clutterbuck but I don't like losing both Campbell and Kelly for PK purposes...

 

[Greek_physique]

Grabner is not worth his contract...people will get upset with him after 2 games...guy shows up for 5 games then is invisible for the next 15-20.

Yes, I agree we need speed, but we also need guys that play smart.

 

[Sheppy]

Milan Lucic - David Krejci - Jarome Iginla
Reilly Smith - Patrice Bergeron - Bobby Ryan
Brad Marchand - Carl Soderberg - Loui Eriksson
Luke Gazdic/Anthony Peluso - Gregory Campbell - Daniel Paille

Zdeno Chara - Dougie Hamilton
Dennis Seidenberg - Johnny Boychuk
Torey Krug - Adam McQuaid
Kevan Miller

Tuukka Rask
Niklas Svedberg

 

[Danton Heineken]

Get younger.

 

[Bruwinz37]

Get a couple of good solid two way d men as our lack of physicality from Bart and I hate to say it Krug killed us......On reputation, Edler is the best available but there weill be others.....Weaver would have been good for instance....Travis Hamonic..;(Not available etc)

TRADE Soderberg! You are probably best to let him develop his offensive game until the deadline but a gritty sweede he aint. He is not a winning player and does not fit this team's winning style.

Trade for a pick or two as this team is old on the back and getting their at forward.

These posts just get worse and worse.

 

[rcduthie77]

Unfortunately, this is not NHL 14 be a gm. Can't stack a bunch of junk together and expect something potentially elite.

If someone offered a few late firsts and seconds in a pretty top heavy draft and a few fourth liners, wpuld you trade Bergeron for that?

I would disagree that it's all junk;

Four picks where you expect to get NHL talent if you're scouts are up to par.

Two defencemen, one experienced with a cup ring that can give you 17-20 minutes of hard hitting, shut down hockey another that is still developing but can give you 20 minutes a night.

An NHL ready center who's expected to be a top-6 caliber player with speed to spare, a potential #1 goalie, two #3 centers.

I would assume there would be an ask for more but a package of;

McQuaid/Bartkowski
Kelly/Campbell
Spooner
Subban
1st

I would have to think that would garner some serious interest.

A team like Calgary or Edmonton would fill three roster spots, get a potential top goaltender and still have a 1st.

I understand what you mean it is more of a fantasy trade but I don't believe I'm offering junk.

 

[Gordoff]

At best according to what? In his 4 playoff games he had 2 points, but more importantly 4 shots, no PIMS, and his line was never really beat badly while he was on the ice. Even the best pro scout probably needs time to tell you what he might or might not be in our system. He's a shooter, let'm shoot and we'll see. I know he's got 3 more goals with the Bruins than Spooner has, and happens to play a position we're not particularly deep at. So he's going to get a shot in camp, and is probably already floating around the top of the contenders list for that 3rd line spot. Essentially we need him to be Ryder-lite to start. Judging by the quality of his shot, I think he could do that on Soderberg's wing. Let'm get used to the system, like anyone else.

I do admit it would be nice if he could throw his body around a bit more, and become the type of guy New York and LA used to frustrate people and chip in goals. But for now that's not part of his game. Still 6'1 204 and only 24, he could certainly grow into it.

PLUS: Wasn't he playing on a broken foot!?! I'm not one for too much hyperbole but.....................EPIC! He outplayed guys who had no major injuries. Gotta give the kid his due for that.

 

[C77]

The issue for me is that what is usually available from other teams isn't much better than what Boston already has.

Regardless of the cap situation, Boston has leverage as a team loaded with quality proven NHL players that are on good contracts and Chiarelli doesn't have to make deals to save his job.

There are a lot of new GM's who will be looking to put their stamp on their franchise...and there are other GM's who know they will be fired if they don't right the ship in a hurry. Factor in that there isn't much available via free agency and we should see a lot of trades....(for many teams it will be like shuffling the chairs on the Titanic but that's beside the point)

With this in mind I'd look to cash in on some of the team's recent success...by moving a few players that have value in search of changing the Bruins formula a little bit.

In my opinion it has proven too easy to stop the Bruins cycle game in the playoffs.

They need to be able to score more "easy goals" which means off the rush or forcing mistakes with speed like the Marchand - Bergeron - Seguin line was able to do.

To do this they could use another puck-mover on the back end that plays a Top 4 role...looks like Bartkowski isn't going to cut it.

If they can't change the make-up of the defensive unit then I'd look to change up the first line.

The good news is that Boston already has 4 solid top 4 defensemen signed which is more than most teams can say.

So a few ways the team could change things up....

1. Get a bidding war going for Boychuk...see who is the best player that is made available for his services....and use Boychuk's status to 1. get a good return that helps the Bruins win now and in the future....and 2. shed another contract....package Kelly in the deal if possible.

2. See what the best single player that the team can get for Krejci...(maybe packaged with one of Smith/Boychuk/Kelly or Bartkowski/McQuaid).

The idea is to bring in hopefully either a young elite forward that can be the offensive "go to guy"...or a defenseman that will make the Bruins defense the best in the league (at least on paper).

Much depends on what the management thinks of the young players already in house...but the team isn't going to get better by standing pat....and that means more than just changing the 4th line.

So I'd look to exchange 4 or 5 players for 2 or 3 players....bringing the team into cap compliance and freeing up a couple roster spots for the younger forwards.

 

[iReckless]

Sign Dominic Moore, Dwight King and put them on the 4th line with Paille

 

[alg363636]

Get a couple of good solid two way d men as our lack of physicality from Bart and I hate to say it Krug killed us......On reputation, Edler is the best available but there weill be others.....Weaver would have been good for instance....Travis Hamonic..;(Not available etc)

TRADE Soderberg! You are probably best to let him develop his offensive game until the deadline but a gritty sweede he aint. He is not a winning player and does not fit this team's winning style.

Trade for a pick or two as this team is old on the back and getting their at forward.

Please get me one of whatever you're having.

I think you've confused the Swedes. It happens. Soderberg is that third line center beast who was our best player on the ice for games 4-7 against Montreal. Ya know, the only player to actually show up to games 6 and 7? I believe you're looking for his liney, Loui Eriksson.

Also...Bart's physicality or lack thereof was not an issue that ever crossed my mind. Letting his man have a clear shot on Rask, turning the puck over and taking stupid penalties definitely were slightly more problematic.

 

[Danton Heineken]

Nashville is offering the 11th overall pick for a top 6 forward.