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

Status
Not open for further replies.

BruinsBtn

Registered User
Dec 24, 2006
22,080
13,546
A year ago: Krug is a PP specialist& defensive liability and Chara is a washed up turnstile

Today: Losing Krug and Chara will drop the best defensive team into oblivion

Never change HF!
 

Crazy Cizikas

HFBoards Sponsor
Sponsor
Sep 29, 2017
4,370
5,324
A good place
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
Marino was great last year. I think he has to show it again for another season. Nothing against him, but he doesn’t have the early status of other top defensemen. I do believe he will show himself to be very good. But he has to prove himself another season.
 

wintersej

HFBoards Sponsor
Sponsor
Nov 26, 2011
21,968
16,659
North Andover, MA
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.

Carlo outscored Krug at 5 on 5. Krug was excellent at 3 on 3 and 4 on 4 offensively tho.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Guttersniped

PB37

Mr Selke
Oct 1, 2002
25,292
19,288
Maine
Grz and McAvoy have had great chemistry playing together since their college days. We'll see if Grz can handle the increased workload, but from an on-ice talent, a Grz--McAvoy pairing should be pretty effective. I worry about Grz's size being a potential red flag in the playoffs with the increased time and physical attention he'll get in a playoff series, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Carlo will be the anchor of that 2nd line and by all metrics, he's been an excellent top 4 defensive dman and one of the best in the league. The last couple of years, he's had to cover for Krug's tendency to be a bit loose on D, so getting another partner who is the anti-Krug in Lauzon ( size, physicality, defensively aware but lacking in offensive gifts ) will be interesting. Lauzon -- Carlo on paper has the potential of being a very good 2nd pairing shutdown tandem.

Kevan Miller is back but it's unknown how good he'll be. Zboril just signed a one way deal, so they are fully prepared for him to come in and take a roster spot. Clifton has guts and game, but has a tendency to be too much of a cowboy ( Cassidy's endearing term for it was Cliffy Hockey ) at times so he definitely needs to be sheltered. John Moore is an effective NHL quality depth veteran coming off the bench.

There's a lot of question marks but the potential is there to be something pretty good. We hear rumors of the Bruins shopping for a top 4 LD to help take some of the question marks off the table ( as well as leaving the door open for Chara to potential resign ) but i get the impression that they're prepared to let the kids get some time in as both Lauzon and Zboril have outgrown the AHL, even Clifton too. If things work out for them, half their starting D rotation will have come from their 2015 draft, which is pretty impressive. I don't know how many teams can say that.

And of course, there's always the possibility of this imploding, where all the new kids suck and McAvoy/Carlo/Grz get overwhelmed trying to hold things together. Time will tell.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gurglesons

thusk

Registered User
Jul 15, 2011
3,692
1,851
Chicoutimi
Boston lost krug and chara
Last 3team i find who lost 2 top 4 dman

Winnipeg jets last season bufyglien and myers, dont count trouba because pionk was a better dman ... not a lot of damage but a phenomenal season from hellebuyck.


Chicago blackhawks
Lost hjalmarsson and campbell
drop of 33 points next season
Gaa 2,59 (11th) / next season 3,10 (24th)

Montreal canadian
Markov and emelin
Drop of 32 points
Gaa 2,41 gaa (4th in nhl)/ next season 3,15(25th)

Boston
Chara krug Drop of ?
Gaa 2,39 (1st)/ next season???
 
Last edited:

tenken00

Oh it's going down in Chinatown
Jan 29, 2010
9,863
10,089
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.

I never said they weren't. The Caps defense was a pile of poo lol. But Carlson, Orlov, Dillon aren't bad players as shown before when not coached by Reirden. We will see about Schultz. Siegenthaler and Fehervary have a lot of promise defensively. Jensen was turning the corner.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gurglesons

Guttersniped

I like goalies who stop the puck
Sponsor
Dec 20, 2018
21,445
46,120
Carlo outscored Krug at 5 on 5. Krug was excellent at 3 on 3 and 4 on 4 offensively tho.
I looked the Bruins defensemen up on Natural Stat Trick and it had both with 16 points at 5v5 with Krug playing 6 less games than Carlo. It doesn’t matter anyway, Krug’s gone because Sweeney couldn’t give him that enormous deal and he wasn’t taking less.

My point was I don’t see where enough offense is going to come from the defense where’s it’s not going to be a problem for the Bruins. It’s not an insurmountable problem, the Devils had 102 points and made to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2011-12 when they didn’t have a single defenseman score 20 points. The Bruins are obviously at that comical a deficit with McAvoy but it’s tough to get offense by committee on a defense. Maybe Grzelcyk will really step up but that’s a little hazy too.

I don’t think this would keep Boston from potentially winning the Eastern Division, their biggest hurdle is the threat of a slow start due to the injury stuff. The Providence randos do remind me of the Devils defensemen (Fayne, Schlemko etc) that would do a solid job within the Devils system and get signed to a big deal could not live up to by another team. The strength of the Bruin’s team defense and those player’s familiarity with the system with make the machine roll on.
 
  • Like
Reactions: wintersej

Bounces R Way

Registered User
Nov 18, 2013
33,475
52,658
Weegartown
They'll probably be just fine even strength. The names got a little less sexy but when you look at all the quality NHL dmen that have come out of the Bruins' system in the last decade+ it's hard to imagine they won't be able to find another.

The PP is where I would be concerned. McAvoy had a total of 2 powerplay points last season. Either him or Grz will have to take a big step with the man advantage. Course they'll be playing with on the #2 overall unit over the last 3 years so a big step is not out of the question.
 

Revelation

Registered User
Aug 15, 2016
5,298
2,963
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.

Lame duck coaching does that

Personnel wise they're close to what they had the year they won the cup through tight defensive play even though Schultz is a downgrade on Niskanen
 

BlackFrancis

Athletic Supporter Patch Partner
Dec 14, 2013
5,647
8,990
You guys mentioning Clifton as a #4 only see him those games after a recall/benching/injury or something? He's great in those but otherwise he really sucks.

Defensively, I'm not worried. Lot of green kids, but they've survived Rick Zanon and Shane Hnidy.

Offensively, it'll be an adventure. Most of the young guys/rookies are pretty much worthless with the puck on their stick. That's going to murder 5-on-5 scoring even more than it has been.
 

HockeyVirus

Woll stan.
Nov 15, 2020
15,531
22,520
Isn't their #1 D also out for the start of the year? Carlo is their #1 D for the first 15-20 games, that might hurt.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad

-->