Where do you rank the Boston Bruin's Defense in the East?

[Gurglesons]

See title.

I have no idea what Boston is doing with their defense. Is it just me or is this one of the worst cores in the East even with the addition of Chara if they go that route.

McAvoy and Carlo are clearly studs. I like Grzelyck and Clifton, but as # 4s at best.

Am I the only one that thinks their D is going to be the downfall of the Bruins this year?

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[CartographerNo611]

Middle of the road. Krug leaving is going to hurt more than people realize on the offense side of things.

It remains to be seen if Chara is still capable of covering the defense side of things for Charlie and provide in him space if he decides to come back.

If Chara is gone there is going to be some serious growing pains on the back end since they are quite young. His leadership is invaluable.

Charlie is going to be the focus for opposing players, with current players signed. It’s going to be a big test on just how elite he is with much harder minutes.

Future looks good though, need to draft a little meat to balance out the skill back there within the next 5 years imo. Blues exposed that during their cup run.

 

[ScaredStreit]

They'll be above average but not great imo.

 

[Leafs87]

Carlo may be a stud but he’s definitely not a top pairing D exiting last year. Depends what changes he made, but I don’t see it going into next year.

To your point I was wondering the same thing. However it’s also how I always looked at their team. Top down take away the big three, that team is always better on the ice than on paper

 

[Emerz]

No real worries for me as a Bruins fan, I think McAvoy has had to cover for a lot of Chara's shortfalls at even strength the past 2 years and will excel in his new role if Chara doesn't return. Krug was excellent at providing PP production but not much in the way of 5 on 5 offense or traditional "defense". It seems like anyone they plugged in from Providence were capable NHLers (Lauzon, Clifton, Vaakanainen, etc).

 

[BostonBob]

See title.

I have no idea what Boston is doing with their defense. Is it just me or is this one of the worst cores in the East even with the addition of Chara if they go that route.

McAvoy and Carlo are clearly studs. I like Grzelyck and Clifton, but as # 4s at best.

Am I the only one that thinks their D is going to be the downfall of the Bruins this year?

So you're saying that Boston has 2 studs on their blueline plus 2 other serviceable 2nd pairing guys but yet you still think they're " one of the worst cores in the East ". Losing Krug definitely hurts but I like our blueline with McAvoy, Carlo, Grzelcyk, Lauzon, Moore, Clifton and Miller plus prospects like Zboril and Vaakanainen pushing for jobs.

 

[LeafGrief]

Boston always pulls guys you've never heard of out of their butts and turns them into serviceable 2nd pairing guys. They'll put Trent Frederic on defense or something and play him 21 minutes a night while we all scratch our heads. It's absolutely maddening, but they seem to do it every year. It's like Pittsburgh and wingers or Tampa and hometown discounts.

 

[Gurglesons]

So you're saying that Boston has 2 studs on their blueline plus 2 other serviceable 2nd pairing guys but yet you still think they're " one of the worst cores in the East ". Losing Krug definitely hurts but I like our blueline with McAvoy, Carlo, Grzelcyk, Lauzon, Moore, Clifton and Miller plus prospects like Zboril and Vaakanainen pushing for jobs.

No, I said I think Grzelcyk and Clifton are #4s at best. So they are essentially playing all of Carlo, Grzelyck and Clifton above their heads.

 

[Dicky113]

See title.

I have no idea what Boston is doing with their defense. Is it just me or is this one of the worst cores in the East even with the addition of Chara if they go that route.

McAvoy and Carlo are clearly studs. I like Grzelyck and Clifton, but as # 4s at best.

Am I the only one that thinks their D is going to be the downfall of the Bruins this year?

Admitting They have two studs and two #4s should at the very least suggest they have a “decent” top 4, which means you think their bottom pairing D are so bad they drop to the bottom of the East? Not sure I follow the logic.

To answer your question. If Grizz steps into Krugs shoes they’ll be fine. If he falters they’ll be middle of the road

 

[tenken00]

Islanders
Flyers
Capitals
Bruins
Penguins
Rangers
Devils
Sabres

 

[JaegerDice]

As far as just defensemen, rather than team-defense or system, etc?

I think they're middle of the pack. Probably just above Toronto. Below Carolina, Columbus and Tampa for sure.

 

[Gurglesons]

Admitting They have two studs and two #4s should at the very least suggest they have a “decent” top 4, which means you think their bottom pairing D are so bad they drop to the bottom of the East? Not sure I follow the logic.

To answer your question. If Grizz steps into Krugs shoes they’ll be fine. If he falters they’ll be middle of the road

Two #4s at the very least is an odd way to take my comment of them being #4s at best.

 

[Gurglesons]

Islanders
Flyers
Capitals
Bruins
Penguins
Rangers
Devils
Sabres

Wow, I would think Capitals are below the Bruins tbh.

 

[tenken00]

Wow, I would think Capitals are below the Bruins tbh.

Not since we're going to have an actual system this year.

To be honest, #3-5 Caps, Bruins, Pens feels like just preferences in which order for this year.

Is Pens defense really better because of addition by subtraction? We'll see.

 

[Gurglesons]

Not since we're going to have an actual system this year.

To be honest, #3-6 Caps, Bruins, Pens feels like just preferences in which order for this year.

Is Pens defense really better because of addition by subtraction? We'll see.

I think the Penguins having Dumoulin, Letang, Pettersson and Marino is easily better than Boston or Washington. I think I'd argue they have the best D in the division after Philadelphia.

I get the concerns about their bottom pairing, but it isn't like Boston, Was or NYI is out there icing a deep core either.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I think they'll have a weak group of defenseman on paper but a decent to strong team defense, if that makes sense. The Bruins seem to have a strong system and have forwards who play responsibly at both ends of the ice, so any shortcomings with their defensemen will mostly be hidden by their team play. Kinda similar to the 2016 Penguins, who didn't look that great on paper but they were extremely effective defensively.

 

[Regal]

I think the Penguins having Dumoulin, Letang, Pettersson and Marino is easily better than Boston or Washington. I think I'd argue they have the best D in the division after Philadelphia.

I get the concerns about their bottom pairing, but it isn't like Boston, Was or NYI is out there icing a deep core either.

I think some people still don't realize how good Marino was last year. If he maintains his play, that's a very good top 4

 

[tenken00]

I think the Penguins having Dumoulin, Letang, Pettersson and Marino is easily better than Boston or Washington. I think I'd argue they have the best D in the division after Philadelphia.

I get the concerns about their bottom pairing, but it isn't like Boston, Was or NYI is out there icing a deep core either.

I don't knowwww... that defensive collapse in the 2nd half last year is pretty fresh in the mind lol.

 

[Gurglesons]

I don't knowwww... that defensive collapse in the 2nd half last year is pretty fresh in the mind lol.

The defensive collapse that occurred when Dumoulin and Marino were both hurt.

Also, if we are comparing last year, the Caps were horrible defensively all season.

 

[Nothingbutglass]

Carlo may be a stud but he’s definitely not a top pairing D exiting last year. Depends what changes he made, but I don’t see it going into next year.

To your point I was wondering the same thing. However it’s also how I always looked at their team. Top down take away the big three, that team is always better on the ice than on paper

Who is asking Carlo to be a top pairing D next year? That's McAvoy's spot. Carlo needs to anchor the 2nd pair because they will likely have unproven\rotating partners until the left side is sorted post Krug and Chara.

 

[Mickey Marner]

They'll probably pull some guy I've never heard of out of college and have him seamlessly acclimate to the NHL, just like always.

 

[majormajor]

I'm wondering the same thing. But it's the Bruins, I expect them to somehow look good either way.

If you think of the median D core as averaging out something like a #1D, #2D, 3, 4, 5, 6, the Bruins seem to be a bit short even if with Chara, who isn't a top pair D in the quality sense.

McAvoy - #1D
Carlo - #3/4D
Grzelcyk - #4D
Clifton - #4D...

They should be middle of the pack. I really like Grzelcyk, just need one more top 4 capable LHD.

 

[Machinehead]

Are we talking about defensive ability or the quality of the collection of players?

The Rangers, for example, have pretty good quality when you factor in their offensive abilities and probably rate middle of the road, but I guarantee you they'll be the worst in the division at team defense or close to it.

 

[Chips]

Wow, I would think Capitals are below the Bruins tbh.

Depends how much of the past couple years was the teams defense potential, or shit coaching. Mostly the same Dmen were pretty great with Trotz. And Kuznetsov and all the forwards and everyone

 

[Guttersniped]

The biggest problem is offense from the blue line, particularly 5v5 offense. While the knock on Krug was he’s an overpaid PP specialist he still was the second most productive defenseman 5v5 after McAvoy. Grz isn’t replacing Krug unless he can replace Krug’s 49 points while someone else replace’s Grz’s 21 points.

I’m not arguing that they should have kept Krug or that there are easy good solutions Sweeney missed (and OEL seems like a not good solution) but this team may finally start having trouble scoring goals even with that top line. The team defense should hold together since they are a machine and Rask will presumably still be Rask-like so that can’t be to much of a worry.