Back To Earth?

Been over two months since I wrote about the Boston Bruins.  Since…before the season started.  Solid work, I know.

Does this now mean that I am “ready for hockey”?  If you remember, I wasn’t ready for the start of the hockey season in early October.  It seemed like the previous season had just ended.

Welp, we are almost halfway through the NHL season, so I’d better be!

Wait, halfway through already??

Yup.  36 games in.  82 game season.  Honestly, doesn’t seem real.

So I guess it’s time to say SOMETHING about the local hockey team.

So what do we say?

If you also recall, I was not excited about the Bruins’ prospects this season.  Not because they aren’t a talented squad.  But because it was a long year last year, one that ended in disappointment.  Then, General Manager Donnie Sweeney brought basically the same team back this year.  In my opinion, this is not a recipe for success.  We’ve seen it many times before.  In more than one sport.  I’ve always felt a team in that position needs a little turnover the following season.  Keeps hunger in the room.  My opinion anyway.

Then the B’s started 20-3-5 (or 20-8 for people that have no interest in tracking overtime and shootout losses).

Maybe that’s why I hadn’t written anything?  Because I looked like an idiot?

Nah.  Though if you wish to think that, please feel free to do so.

Of course, seeing that I am choosing to write now in the recent 1-4-3 (1-7!) stretch over the last 8 games would lend some credence to that theory as well.  Wouldn’t blame you either way.

But the bottom line is that football has just taken precedence.  It’s fall.  Autumn, if you will.  It’s football season!!  To wit, we haven’t written about the Boston Celtics in a couple months either.

Whatever.

Sssssssooooo…what do we think of the Boston Bruins as we sit here right now?  Funny thing is, I feel EXACTLY the same as before Game Number One of this regular season.

What?!

Yup…the SAME.

You know I am never going to change my tune on goaltender Tuukka Rask.  There has never been a lot of love from me headed in his direction.  Again, he should be ok splitting with Jaroslav Halak all year.  But it doesn’t mean I have to like him.

My main concern is basically the same concern we have had for quite some time around here.  This is still a “one-line” team.  Patrice Bergeron centering Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak.  That’s it.  Sorry.

Can you honestly tell me otherwise?  I mean, just cuz you hand Charlie Coyle 31.5 mil over the next 6 years doesn’t mean he is all of a sudden a first line forward.

Yeah, that contract was a little much.  Listen, Coyle is a nice player.  And maybe he can play wing on the second line.  Maybe.  But that may have been money better spent elsewhere.

OR…you couldn’t have signed him for like 4-5 years at 4 mil per?  Someone was going to give him more?

In any event, what is the second line technically right now?  David Krejci, Jake DeBrusk and…Danton Heinen?  DeBrusk and Heinen seem to be the best of the young guys that were drafted in recent years.  But honestly, that is not saying much.  I keep waiting for Jake to kind of explode.  But it hasn’t happened.  Heinen appears to be a third liner at absolute best to me.  I guess Donnie Hockey and the brass like his defense.  Which is all well and good.  But if you are playing on an offensive line, it would be nice to see some points come along with the D.  Maybe that’s just me though…

Anders Bjork has shown some promise.  Perhaps Karson Kuhlman develops.  Or Jack Studnicka.  But these guys aren’t top six guys anytime soon.  Not this year anyway.

The rest of the roster is littered with Sean Kuraly, Brett Ritchie and Chris Wagner types.  Speaking of Wagner, he’s a nice 4th liner.  But was it necessary to lock him up for three more years?  I’m just not a fan of handing long-term contracts to bottom of the roster guys.  They are a dime a dozen.  Makes me think of former GM Peter Chiarelli handing those out with no movement clauses like it was Halloween candy.

But I digress…

The point is, where is the scoring coming from after the first line?  Same question as before the season.  Not to mention that when scoring on the top line dries up, how is that going to look?

I’ll tell you.  1-4-3…or 1-7, to be precise.

Pastrnak has cooled off (and he wasn’t scoring like 75 goals this season anyway just so you know).  Marchand hasn’t scored in over 10 games.  And Bergeron has missed some games this year.

And not much is being done along the rest of the lineup to pick up the slack.  Nor do I expect any of those players to.

Speaking of scoring, the overtime and shootout record of the Bruins is jarring.  2-3 in OT and ZERO AND FIVE in the shootout.

That is pathetic.  And although I don’t have the lineups that coach Bruce Cassidy throws out there each time they enter a shootout.  I can’t imagine he has many choices on who to pick.  Other than Pastrnak I would say.  Marchand’s career shootout numbers are not good.  Who else can you depend on there to snipe one home?  Not even Bergy, I have to say.

Midseason moves?  Maybe.  We are still several weeks away from the trade deadline.

But who are you going to go get?  And with extremely limited cap space, how good is that player (those players?) actually going to be?

I don’t see much coming for reinforcements.  Not from outside the organization anyway.  That leaves the likes of Kuhlman and Studnicka.  Hopefully not the likes of minor league veteran Paul Carey.

I did not see the Bruins starting out as hot as they did.  But the end result will be the same, unfortunately.  A playoff spot for sure.  Then I’m predicting a fairly quick exit.

Prove me wrong.  There is plenty of time to do that.

Week Two Already?

Where did the week go?  Oh yeah, I guess it has only been a couple days since the last games.

In any event, a short and sweet one here (the post, not necessarily the pick…or the game itself).  Especially after that extended piece from yesterday.

What is there really to talk about after that anyway?  The Boston Red Sox got 2-hit by a bunch of bums on the Toronto Blue Jays last night.  Did they quit already?  Perhaps.  I suppose we could confirm that if Clay Buchholz no-hits them today.

The head coach of the Boston Bruins got a contract extension.  That was nice.  It would be even nicer if they could get their 2 restricted free agent defensemen signed.

AB news?  Well, he practiced Wednesday.  So there’s that.  I guess he will play Sunday.  But who knows?

Ok, that’s enough…

Tampa Bay at Carolina (-6.5)

Thursday night divisional games are always tricky.  Especially ones between teams that were a combined 12-20 last season.  And both lost in Week One as well.  The feeling here though is that Carolina has the upper hand.  Tampa lost at home in their opener, against what appears to be an average San Francisco 49er team.  Carolina also lost at home, but against a much better Los Angeles Rams team.  Christian McCaffrey is absolutely the real deal.  I didn’t believe in him when he came out of college and was drafted in the Top Ten.  Looks like I was wrong.  Oh well, wasn’t the first time, won’t be the last.  And although he has his critics around the league, Cam Newton can play QB.  Can Jameis Winston?  Many people thought Bruce Arians could help Winston take the next step in his career.  Perhaps he will at some point.  It is early, after all.  Hard for me to see Carolina dropping two in a row at home to start the season either.  Even at 7-9 last year, they were 5-3 at home.  Riverboat Ron Rivera needs this win more than Arians as well.  He may be on a short leash this season.

Carolina 27, Tampa Bay 17.  

Week (against the spread):  9-7

Week (straight up):  14-2

Lock Of The Week:  1-0

Season (against the spread):  9-7

Season (straight up):  14-2

Still Waiting…

…for ANY significant move by the Boston Bruins this summer.

Wait, why the hell are we talking about the Bruins in August?

Easy.

The Red Sox are done…and we’ve covered them more than enough based on that fact alone.  The Celtics have done absolutely nothing of note since we last wrote about them about a month ago.  We chatted about the Patriots last week, but what more is to say about a team one week into the preseason schedule?  Nothing.  Well, Danny Etling just got released.  Guess he isn’t the next Julian Edelman.  Whatever…

And if you want me to comment on Tom Brady’s contract “extension” then you came to the wrong place.  Go hit the local radio airwaves if you want non-stop chatter about that.  Who cares if he is selling his house?  Furthermore, do people realize that going into next season Brady will be 43 YEARS OLD?!

Listen, the guy is a legend and likely the greatest NFL player of all time.  But if you are asking me to worry about a 43-year-old QB, you came to the wrong place.  I love the guy as much as anyone.  But we really don’t know how much he has left.  He could plummet as soon as this year.  After all, Bill Belichick has seemingly “loaded up” on the running game, defense and has like 10 mediocre (ie:  “blocking”) tight ends in camp now.  Oh, and not many receivers either.  Looks like he may be thinking ahead about Brady regressing, no?

In any event, SHOULDN’T you go “year to year” with a guy like that?  Yup.  And if he is pissed, well, I am sorry.  He could’ve battled the Pats harder over the years to get more money if that is the underlying issue.  And maybe he absolutely should have.  But since he didn’t, why are we talking about it now?

Some of the greats finished their careers on other teams.  Maybe Brady does too.  I really don’t think he will be going anywhere.  Highly doubt it.  But I am not sure the topic is even worth discussing at this point.  Let’s see how this season plays out at age 42 and then take it from there.

Ugh…I know, I just got caught up in it…

As for the B’s…well, despite the run to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals last season, as far as I am concerned, there is a great reason to be well, concerned.

Why?

I will tell you.  Did you think otherwise??!!

Here’s the first reason(s):  Maxime Lagace, Brendan Gaunce, Brett Ritchie, Par Lindholm, Pavel Shen…

These guys are the free agents brought in by the team since the start of the signing period.

Who??!!

You may be like, “well, they only lost Noel Acciari (replaceable) and Marcus Johansson (oft-injured and expensive)”, so they are basically bringing the whole team back that came within a game of winning the whole thing!”

And I will retort, “it was a huge f’ng mistake to bring back basically the entire team after actual championships for the 2019 Boston Red Sox and 2012 Boston Bruins, did we forget??  Complacency, fatigue, all that crap??”

But that isn’t even the biggest issue.

The B’s still have 2 kind of huge restricted free agents sitting out there in Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo.

Ok, nevermind.  The re-signing of Steven Kampfer and Connor Clifton should offset that.

HAHAHAHAHAHA…just kidding my friends!!

I’m still not even sure why they re-signed Kampfer.  To a TWO year deal, to boot.  Assuming the two aforementioned d-men come back in the fold, Kampfer will then be at least the eighth defenseman.  Well, I guess ninth, now that they re-signed Clifton too?  Then they have some kids in Providence that seem to be on the cusp of the NHL, such as Urho Vaakanainen?  Maybe Jeremy Lauzon too, but perhaps not Jakub Zboril…

I don’t get it.

Maybe that means they are dangling some of the “top seven”?  McAvoy, I would doubt.  Carlo too.  No one wants John Moore’s contract.  Or Kevan Millar’s injury history.  Someone would take Zdeno Chara, despite his age, but he is going nowhere.  Matty Grzelcyk?  Sure.  But what happens if Torey Krug leaves after the upcoming season as a free agent?  Gryz may be a natural replacement…and far cheaper.

Trade Krug before he walks away for nothing?  Something I would strongly consider.  But all indications are that the team has no interest in that.  And Krug wants to be here.  So maybe he signs a “team-friendly” extension at some point.

There are a lot of capable D-men signed.  And let’s face it, Carlo and McAvoy will eventually sign as well.  Their options seem to be kind of limited.  I just read where Chaz can’t even sign an offer sheet with anyone.  Had no idea about that.  In any event, it’s nice to have depth.  But 10-11 deep?  I don’t know.  And please don’t give me, “well they used 12 defensemen last year…”  That has to be an aberration.  Plus, Urho and Zboril only played 2 games apiece, so really it was 10.

All that being said, they can keep all these D-men if they want.  It won’t hurt them, no question.

In net, expect a regression from Tuukka Rask.  Bet on it.  But at least he and Jaroslav Halak should form a pretty good one-two punch in goal…at least for the regular season.

Me?  This would appear to be a GREAT time to trade Tuuks (would be even better if the Bruins won the Cup, but alas…).  But we already know that ain’t happening.

Forwards?  Ugh…this is where the issues lie.

As noted above, the B’s signed a bunch of 4th liners/Providence type dudes.  Not scintillating to any degree.

Oh, and they made sure they gave Danton Heinen 2.8 per for the next 2 years.  Why?  You got me.  They love the guy though.  I guess he plays awesome defense.  Because he is less than mediocre on offense.  At least last year he was…and he got some run on the Patrice Bergeron/Brad Marchand line.  Not good.

So we still have that Bergy/Marchy/David Pastrnak line.  All well and good.

But here we go with the second line issues again.  David Krejci centering Jake DeBrusk and…who?  I guess the leader in the clubhouse would have to be Karson Kuhlman.  Kid showed some flashes.  But are we ready to anoint him?

I think we can assume Charlie Coyle and Danton Heinen make up 2/3 of the 3rd line.  With Sean Kuraly, Chris Wagner and Joakim Nordstrom starting out as the 4th line.  In my eyes anyway.

So who gets that last spot on the third line?

Would you believe David Backes and his 6 mil per year are still around?  I am absolutely astonished at this fact.  He should have been bought out the first day that was possible.  At this point, is a buyout still even an option?  The front office has led us to believe that he will not be bought out.  Why is this?

So Backes HAS to get that spot, no?  What, are they going to waive him (of course he will clear) and send him to Providence?  Healthy scratch every night?  No and no.

This absolutely pains me.  I understand that General Manager Don Sweeney probably doesn’t want to eat 3 mil the next two years against the cap (half of Backes’ salary, which is what I think would be the case on the buyout…but maybe I’m wrong).  And I get it, as they already have a smidge over 3 mil in dead cap money for the upcoming season tied to former greats Matt Beleskey and Dennis Seidenberg.  Actually, Seids was pretty good.  I just thought this wording was smooth!  And Beleskey did suck badly.  Anyway…

Then all these other guys apparently are out of luck.  Ritchie, Lindholm, Shen, Anders Bjork, Peter Cehlarik, Trent Frederic, blah, blah, blah…I guess we don’t really care unless Bjork or Cehlarik or a guy like Jake Studnicka (a new “name” that has picked up some steam recently) can, you know, actually play.

I don’t know man…I would have loved to have seen a little turnover in the forward group.  A little more turnover overall actually.  There is limited cap room to sign McAvoy and Carlo.  Not only should Backes be gone, but one would figure there would be other trades to free up room.

But nothing…yet.  And I don’t feel like that other proverbial “shoe to drop” is going to happen.  I was absolutely convinced it would in June.  Doesn’t seem that way now.

It has been eerily quiet over there, however.  Does that mean that this could be a calm before the storm?  I truly do not think so.  But something has to give with those two D-men needing to re-up.

There is still some offseason left.  I won’t completely lambaste the front office at this point.  But it’s clear I am leaning that way.

Hope I’m wrong.  Goes without saying, I guess…