What's going on with Boston?

[johnny_rudeboy]

Never saw this before.

Wow. Just wow.



"He just doesn't fit the culture"

"Not tough enough"

They're already clearly wrong. Like, objectively wrong, it's not even a matter of opinion.

Seguin has a real chance to win the Art Ross this year. And the Bruins are out of the playoffs.

But then you dont get it, do you.

Boston have traded away players like Seguin before and become better as a team after it. If you're winning strategy is not to have a guy in the top of the scoring charts but rather a hard working 4-line team who never backs down and grind the opponents down. If you then have a player who clearly does not fit that teams culture you do better by trading him away, no matter how talented he is.

 

[Whileee]

Cup winners?

....also "Cup winners"...

Seguin (traded because he didn't fit with the "culture", I guess).
Ryder (NJ fans seem to find that he plays with some jam every few games).
Ference (Oiler fans can't believe he's their captain).

 

[Eagle Eye Cherry]

Ya, that's what I was wondering.

Whenever I look at the NHL eastern conference standings and see Boston way down below and out of a playoff spot I get baffled. I'm so used to seeing them on top of their division or conference. I think to myself that there's something wrong with the team.

Weird I must say.

 

[Over the volcano]

But then you dont get it, do you.

Boston have traded away players like Seguin before and become better as a team after it. If you're winning strategy is not to have a guy in the top of the scoring charts but rather a hard working 4-line team who never backs down and grind the opponents down. If you then have a player who clearly does not fit that teams culture you do better by trading him away, no matter how talented he is.

Good on Seguin for all he's doing this year.


But he's not the difference between the team that finished last year 3rd in league scoring and the team this year. The difference bewteen last year and this is that Boychuck, Iginla, Thornton are all gone and Krejci & Chara injured for most of the year. That's a whole lot of grit and goals out the door.

 

[Avelanche]

They traded Seguin and kept Lucic. Makes me sick thinking Seguin will be making less than Krejci's anchor. The Bruins are just mediocre at everything right now. Seguin would have made them a dynamic offense.

 

[alg363636]

Our GM talked about getting more skilled and then about getting tougher.

Right now we're neither.

Also we can't score like ever so that's not super helpful to winning.

 

[The Hockey Tonk Man]

Our GM talked about getting more skilled and then about getting tougher.

Right now we're neither.

Also we can't score like ever so that's not super helpful to winning.

or we score & all the goals get called back haha, I've learnt to just laugh it off this past month or so.

 

[MoreOrr]

Boston have traded away players like Seguin before and become better as a team after it. If you're winning strategy is not to have a guy in the top of the scoring charts but rather a hard working 4-line team who never backs down and grind the opponents down. If you then have a player who clearly does not fit that teams culture you do better by trading him away, no matter how talented he is.

Sure they have; but I'd have to say that with the Seguin trade it backfired. We didn't see the fallout from it last Season (at least not until the Playoffs), but the error isn't always noticeable immediately. The error is in the longer term, and it didn't take too long, it appears.

 

[alg363636]

or we score & all the goals get called back haha, I've learnt to just laugh it off this past month or so.

Did you know is the Bruins are within a 2 foot radius of the goalie its goaltender interference? New rule this season, it's fun.

Also Bruins can't "shove" pucks into the goal. We learned that one last week.

 

[johnny_rudeboy]

Sure they have; but I'd have to say that with the Seguin trade it backfired. We didn't see the fallout from it last Season (at least not until the Playoffs), but the error isn't always noticeable immediately. The error is in the longer term, and it didn't take too long, it appears.

Lets wait and see what a healthy Eriksson can do in the playoffs first and lets see how Seguin handles the playoffs. The idea behind the trade was to build a team who could win the cup with players who would sacrifice them self doing so. And they did not think Seguin would do that but was more of a regular season star. So it is to early to judge if the deal was a good or bad one from that POV.
From a team building POV it is already a win for Boston since they got rid of a player they did not like.

Edit: Clearly a win for Dallas as well since they seem to want to build around flashy offensive players. Who knows? They might make it work.

 

[MoreOrr]

Lets wait and see what a healthy Eriksson can do in the playoffs first and lets see how Seguin handles the playoffs. The idea behind the trade was to build a team who could win the cup with players who would sacrifice them self doing so. And they did not think Seguin would do that but was more of a regular season star. So it is to early to judge if the deal was a good or bad one from that POV.
From a team building POV it is already a win for Boston since they got rid of a player they did not like.

Edit: Clearly a win for Dallas as well since they seem to want to build around flashy offensive players. Who knows? They might make it work.

You're not truly going to compare Eriksson, on an otherwise Playoff proven team, with Seguin on a team that may not have enough other talent to even make the Playoffs, are you? It takes more than one talented player to make a Playoff successful team. This whole argument of Seguin possibly not being able to drag the Stars into the Playoffs or even if he can then not being able to win a Round for them... it's pure nonsense. He's one player; perhaps if he were a goalie then it might be possible, but one skater can easily be shut down when the other team truly decides to key in on him.

 

[Avelanche]

But then you dont get it, do you.

Boston have traded away players like Seguin before and become better as a team after it. If you're winning strategy is not to have a guy in the top of the scoring charts but rather a hard working 4-line team who never backs down and grind the opponents down. If you then have a player who clearly does not fit that teams culture you do better by trading him away, no matter how talented he is.

They've never traded a player like Seguin and got better because of it though. With Kessel, they traded him and remained as good while getting some huge futures. A great trade. Seguin they traded to try and improve, a big mistake with someone of that caliber. They also did it in a time where they would inevitably lose other players. Everyone knew they couldn't afford iginla and one of the dmen had to go.

 

[johnny_rudeboy]

You're not truly going to compare Eriksson, on an otherwise Playoff proven team, with Seguin on a team that may not have enough other talent to even make the Playoffs, are you? It takes more than one talented player to make a Playoff successful team. This whole argument of Seguin possibly not being able to drag the Stars into the Playoffs or even if he can then not being able to win a Round for them... it's pure nonsense. He's one player; perhaps if he were a goalie then it might be possible, but one skater can easily be shut down when the other team truly decides to key in on him.

I agree. That is why the successful teams dont just have one star player (Dallas do have more star calibre forwards then that with Benn and , sorry, Spezza) but build a strong 4-line team with a strong system that focus on puck possession and defense.

And that is why trading Seguin was the right move.

 

[Estlin]

The main points (Seguin trade, injuries, poor cap management and too many 3rd- and 4th-line players) have been mentioned, but I am beginning to think that the main culprit at this point in time is Claude Julien. He truly is the most stubborn coach in the league. His failure to adapt to changing times, his reliance on useless veterans and his inability to bring in young players with offensive skill and mix up the lines—these things are crippling the team right now.

As a Bruins fan, it is probably best for this team to stand pat and not make any desperate moves in order to squeak into the playoffs. This team just won't go far this season. Instead, if Boston continues to play crappy hockey, then it should sell at the trade deadline and take advantage of a strong 2015 draft class.

 

[MoreOrr]

I agree. That is why the successful teams dont just have one star player (Dallas do have more star calibre forwards then that with Benn and , sorry, Spezza) but build a strong 4-line team with a strong system that focus on puck possession and defense.

And that is why trading Seguin was the right move.

Oh, and the Bruins couldn't use a talented forward to help them be a Cup contender again? And face it, they are Not Cup contenders now. And I'm still a Julien fan, but nevertheless, if he still had Seguin and couldn't modify his system enough to set Seguin's offensive abilities free, then that's on Julien. He could easily team his best defensive pairing with one forward line that's principal focus is offense; and if you've got a true offensive talent then you take advantage of it. Of course, no player shouldn't be a liability defensively, but the Bruins could sure use the likes of Seguin right now, and I don't think he is at all a defensive liability.

 

[Frank Drebin]

Rask has a .913 save % this year. Has he been that bad or is it a team thing?

 

[spg2000]

The Bruins have just not been playing well this season. I know everyone wants one single answer to explain what's happened, but in reality it's a lot of combined factors. Here are some of them:

1. Significant injuries to their #1 defenseman and #1 center.
2. They lost a ton of other defenseman for the beginning of the season.
3. They've had a solid first line RW for a long time now (Horton -> Iginla). They lost Iginla in the offseason and didn't sign anyone else. Their first line RW is Seth Griffith.
4. Rask has been good, but not as good as he can be. Some of this is likely due to the 'volatile' D situation in front of him.
5. Lucic is coming off of a significant wrist injury and hasn't had the same grit in his game that he usually does.
6. Their main problem right now is lack of offense, and Claude is probably not the ideal coach to help improve in this area in the short term.
7. The cap has not been managed well lately and has lead to some less-than-ideal moves.

Honestly, based on how much has gone wrong I don't think they're in an awful position standings-wise. Treading water for the time that Chara/Krejci were out isn't the worst thing in the world, but the problem is that now they're back and the team doesn't really look much better. It hasn't been long though, so we'll have to see if they just need more time to settle things down and get into a groove.

 

[Colt.45Orr]

Rask has a .913 save % this year. Has he been that bad or is it a team thing?

He's kept us in plenty of games that we have ended up losing. He has not been the problem, the players in front of him have been. Bruins give up very, very good scoring chances quite often --not all shots are created equal.

 

[Frank Drebin]

He's kept us in plenty of games that we have ended up losing. He has not been the problem, the players in front of him have been. Bruins give up very, very good scoring chances quite often --not all shots are created equal.

Thats kind of where I was going with it.

Maybe not you personally but I've had this discussion many times (that not all shots are created equal) and posters will seriously argue that SV% is an individual stat, and irrelevant of the team in front of the goalie.

 

[Gormo]

Good on Seguin for all he's doing this year.


But he's not the difference between the team that finished last year 3rd in league scoring and the team this year. The difference bewteen last year and this is that Boychuck, Iginla, Thornton are all gone and Krejci & Chara injured for most of the year. That's a whole lot of grit and goals out the door.

Whoa Kessel?

Methinks apples and oranges since the Bruins actually won that transaction by a sizable margin based purely on net value.

 

[BruinsNeedaRussian]

Thats kind of where I was going with it.

Maybe not you personally but I've had this discussion many times (that not all shots are created equal) and posters will seriously argue that SV% is an individual stat, and irrelevant of the team in front of the goalie.

I would say to an extent, but not as much so as GAA. Rask definitely has not been in Vezina form, nobody will blame him as he is far from the problem, but he has taken a step back.

 

[nmbr_24]

They traded Seguin and kept Lucic. Makes me sick thinking Seguin will be making less than Krejci's anchor. The Bruins are just mediocre at everything right now. Seguin would have made them a dynamic offense.

You really should look at the fact that if they kept Seguin they would have had no Iginla and they still would have had to move a $5 million player and replace him with a $1 million player. So they could have kept Seguin and would have had no Iginla and one of Bergeron, Krejci, Lucic, or Rask. Seguin scored 1 goal in 22 games in the playoffs. I see why they made the decision they did.

 

[Menzinger]

I agree. That is why the successful teams dont just have one star player (Dallas do have more star calibre forwards then that with Benn and , sorry, Spezza) but build a strong 4-line team with a strong system that focus on puck possession and defense.

And that is why trading Seguin was the right move.

They still got medicore returns for him. It was a poor trade, no matter how you look at it - anytime a team moves a young player with #1 centre potential is a bad move. Bostons biggest problem last playoffs was offensive output - something Sequin clearly could have provided.

 

[HockeyFan100]

Seriously though, look at his track record. He helped Buffalo last year and he's helping Boston this year.

There's your answer, OP.

 

[nmbr_24]

They still got medicore returns for him. It was a poor trade, no matter how you look at it - anytime a team moves a young player with #1 centre potential is a bad move. Bostons biggest problem last playoffs was offensive output - something Sequin clearly could have provided.

Seguin scoring 1 goal in 22 playoff games the year before is a pretty big reason to doubt what he would have done.