[Discussion] What do the Boston Bruins do in the offseason?

[AnthonyG]

5 minutes ago, Bob.Loblaw said:

You don't do a rebuild unless it's clear your current core can't get it done.  They'll still make the playoffs next year and they deserve at least one more chance.

 

You also really shouldn't have to worry about a 26 year old Pastrnak declining anytime soon.  He'll be great for a long while.

Does their core look like one that can win 4 rounds of playoff hockey? You said they are capable of winning A round, ONE single round.

Is that the goal?

 

Tell me whos going to distribute the puck to him when 59/76 ESP were from Bergeron and Krejci? Whos going to consistently win draws? Whos going to have the best 2 way game in the league and help the dzone out as much as Bergeron and Krejci?

one of Swayman/Ullmark have to go, they do not have the cap for both.

 

The greatest regular season team in history scored 7 of their last 11 goals in the 3 elimination games, on the power play. They could not score 5v5. Bertuzzi was a beast for them… but hes a UFA and out of their price range for their cap situation. Another big blow to their top 6. 
 

27 May 25th. Tick tock. Father time is counting down.

[D-Money]

Cry.

[Miss Korea Bob.Loblaw]

5 minutes ago, AnthonyG said:

Does their core look like one that can win 4 rounds of playoff hockey? You said they are capable of winning A round, ONE single round.

Is that the goal?

 

Tell me whos going to distribute the puck to him when 59/76 ESP were from Bergeron and Krejci? Whos going to consistently win draws? Whos going to have the best 2 way game in the league and help the dzone out as much as Bergeron and Krejci?

one of Swayman/Ullmark have to go, they do not have the cap for both.

 

The greatest regular season team in history scored 7 of their last 11 goals in the 3 elimination games, on the power play. They could not score 5v5. Bertuzzi was a beast for them… but hes a UFA and out of their price range for their cap situation. Another big blow to their top 6. 
 

27 May 25th. Tick tock. Father time is counting down.

Can you honestly tell me that Florida looked like a team that could even win one round??  That team got into the playoffs on the last day due to Pittsburgh's sheer incompetence.

 

All your questions have no easy answers.  But none of that suggests Boston can't make the playoffs next year.  They will still be a very competitive team despite missing some key pieces.  Maybe that's enough to go for a playoff run.  Again - if you're right and Boston completely bottoms out to start the season, they can start unloading everything at the trade deadline.

[HorvatToBaertschi]

1 hour ago, hammertime said:

Ya I think they run it back. They got caught it happens choked in the 1st. They will just be hungrier next year. 

 

Maybe they take a stab at Miller. 

 

1st 2025 un protected + Coyle + Lysell + Beecher

They're getting a 4.5 mil penalty and a 5 million raise on Pastrnak and 1.25 on Zacha. How on earth are they supposed to run it back though? Swayman RFA, Orlov and Clifton UFA, same as half of their forward group....

Edited May 3, 2023 by HorvatToBaertschi

[Ted Lasso]

[nuckin_futz]

12 minutes ago, Ghostsof1915 said:

The only way we're getting Carlo is giving them a 1st round pick, plus a defenceman and other prospects.

They only have $10+ million in cap space next year.

Even with the core they have, they should be able to make the playoffs. They just won't run the tables like this year.

 

If you had Carlo, would you let him go for scraps?

Stranger things have happened. We got Ehrhoff for Patrick White and Daniel Rahimi aka 'scraps'.

[HorvatToBaertschi]

20 minutes ago, Ghostsof1915 said:

The only way we're getting Carlo is giving them a 1st round pick, plus a defenceman and other prospects.

They only have $10+ million in cap space next year.

Even with the core they have, they should be able to make the playoffs. They just won't run the tables like this year.

 

If you had Carlo, would you let him go for scraps?

That's to sign 9 players and there's a 4.5 mil penalty... yikes

[Elias Pettersson]

1 hour ago, Odd. said:

Would love for us to grab Trent Frederic and Brandon Carlo somehow. Especially Frederic

The 11th overall pick?  Boston apparently is rebuilding...   

[canuck73_3]

1 hour ago, hammertime said:

We should have rebuilt in 2014 what they should do and what they will do are 2 different things. Try telling them they should rebuild after having one of the most dominant regular seasons in history. Rebuilding isn't even in their vocabulary right now.

Yup, they will find a way to run it back and while Bergy and Krejci are doubtful until they officially announce retirement they're in play. Teams in worse positions have found ways to run it back even if they obviously won't have another season like this one.

 

Going to be a fun offseason watching what they do in this position though.

[canuck73_3]

30 minutes ago, AnthonyG said:

Does their core look like one that can win 4 rounds of playoff hockey? You said they are capable of winning A round, ONE single round.

Is that the goal?

 

Tell me whos going to distribute the puck to him when 59/76 ESP were from Bergeron and Krejci? Whos going to consistently win draws? Whos going to have the best 2 way game in the league and help the dzone out as much as Bergeron and Krejci?

one of Swayman/Ullmark have to go, they do not have the cap for both.

 

The greatest regular season team in history scored 7 of their last 11 goals in the 3 elimination games, on the power play. They could not score 5v5. Bertuzzi was a beast for them… but hes a UFA and out of their price range for their cap situation. Another big blow to their top 6. 
 

27 May 25th. Tick tock. Father time is counting down.

They're not rebuilding yet, keep dreaming.

[Heretic]

Cry that they cheated trying to circumvent the cap and got caught and now have less CAP for next season?

[VegasCanuck]

[I.Am.Ironman]

1 hour ago, AnthonyG said:

They have no way to improve, they have no 1st this draft or next. No 3rd next draft and no 4th or 5th the following season.

 

They should rebuild. F*** the season that just happened, 2 of the most important pieces in that forward group will be gone AND one of Swayman or Ullmark. Bertuzzi, Orlov, Hathaway, Nosek, Foligno… all gone next season. They went all in on Bergeron and Krejci’s last season. It was a historic regular season and a historic collapse in the post season.

 

They cannot get better, they are only going to get worse. The more they hang onto the “what coulda been” like Gillis and FA did after 2010-11 the uglier it will get. 
 

Go full tank, sell off everything, win a lottery and start the next 20 year era of Boston. 
 

What remains of what will now be the Pastrnak era will be less than 10 years and will never reach contending status due to the severe shortage of talent and youth. Just like what happened right here infront of our very own f***ing eyes.

How is going "full tank" going to help them without a 1st round pick in 2024?

[Elias Pettersson]

29 minutes ago, canuck73_3 said:

They're not rebuilding yet, keep dreaming.

Yes they are, please see my proposal...   

[Elias Pettersson]

8 minutes ago, I.Am.Ironman said:

How is going "full tank" going to help them without a 1st round pick in 2024?

They just acquired one in my new proposal...  

[AnthonyG]

1 hour ago, Bob.Loblaw said:

Can you honestly tell me that Florida looked like a team that could even win one round??  That team got into the playoffs on the last day due to Pittsburgh's sheer incompetence.

 

All your questions have no easy answers.  But none of that suggests Boston can't make the playoffs next year.  They will still be a very competitive team despite missing some key pieces.  Maybe that's enough to go for a playoff run.  Again - if you're right and Boston completely bottoms out to start the season, they can start unloading everything at the trade deadline.

Umm yea. I can honestly tell you for a fact that I believed Florida was good enough to not only win a round, but beat Boston. I called that series before game 1 started. I picked FLA in every pool, all my teammates and coworkers and buddies who were Boston fans laughed at me and chirped me. Who was laughing in the end? 
 

Look its not that Boston is going to be complete dogsh*t next season. Its that they have no youth or talent coming up, they will not be good enough to go deep, sure MAYBE they can earn a playoff spot and MAYBE win a round… but with their current cap situation and the way it will be at the TDL, they wont be able to go all in and put themselves over the top. 
 

I am purely speaking about them being “proactive” which means to get ahead of things. Get working on what DOES need to be done in the very, VERY near future. 
 

Think 3 years from now. Boston doesnt have a 1st round pick the next 2 drafts. So in 3 years they will finally have a 1st round pick… that will be 4 1st round selections in 8 years of drafting. That is a VERY big talent deficit. At that point it will be clear that Pastrnak has peaked, plateaued and is now declining. Marchand will be nearly 40 and who knows how long he wants to keep going or if he is even remotely close to putting up the same kind of point totals. What will they do when Pastrnak is no longer as valuable of a trade chip then as he is today. His 10+mil deal will not be very enticing as it will be all of his declining years of hockey. What does Boston do to recoup allllllllll the lost picks and allllllllllll the talent they could have had if they didnt sell the future. This is LITERALLY WHAT WE JUST WENT THROUGH, how do you not see this??? How do the alarm bells not go off in your head?? We are so f***ing lucky we landed Pettersson, Demko and Hughes, Hughes and Petey are 24 and under. They still have soooo many good years of hockey. Sure Pastrnak does too, but hes closer to the decline and the talk of retirement than he is the start of his career. In 8-9 seasons the talk of his future will be taking place.. this is going to be his 10th season. This is the best opportunity for them to just cut bait, sell everything, recoup all their losses and more, take on a few bad contracts, be the leagues door mat and dumping grounds for 4-5 years and build up a TON of talent and in under 10 years they will be back to competing and getting ready to contend.

If they want to keep holding onto this seasons success and hopes, they will only prolong the inevitable and be further and further away from a cup. Which is fine by me, but if I were them, I would start over now and just move onto the next FULL era of Boston hockey. 20 years of the next super star. Not 7-8 years of whatever Pastrnak has left in the tank.

Edited May 3, 2023 by AnthonyG

[Sharpshooter]

3 hours ago, Bob.Loblaw said:

A bunch of us hijacked the Horvat thread.  Let's just start over here.

What do the Bruins do in the offseason?

 

They can all f**k right off. 
 

That’s what they can do. 

[AnthonyG]

48 minutes ago, canuck73_3 said:

They're not rebuilding yet, keep dreaming.

They should. I dont care if they do, but they should.

 

You’ve watch this team for quite some time yea?

 

You remember what it was like drafting and producing almost nothing from 2005-2013, right?

 

You remember seeing Gillis hold onto the “ we almost won” 2011 for too long.

 

You remember the pain and misery of being a below average team from 2013-2019, with almost ZERO trade chips to accelerate a much needed and neglected rebuild or retool during the late stages of the Sedin era???

 

Boston is LITERALLY in the same position we were 10 years ago.

 

No talent up and coming

sold the future

2 top 5 scorers retiring

2-3 players (Kesler+Tanev+Schneider / Pastrnak+McAvoy+Swayman/Ullmark) of value to try and speed up and fast track a long over due, desperately needed rebuild, nothing more. Everything else is scraps and has little to no value.

We utilized Kesler and Schneider. It landed us Horvat which has now led to Hronek+Raty+Beauvillier+Pearson

 

If they do not choose to suck it up and move on from Pasta and Ullmark, they will suffer for a very long time. They are so far behind on prospects and youth it will be 10x worse than when the state Gillis left us in.

 

At least when the Twins retired, our new wave of up and coming players were under 22. 
Bergy and Krejci leaving… Marchand at 35 and then Pasta at 27 and a few more guys around 25-26. This is the time to capitalize on their value. For all I care, Boston can go f*** themselves. But for anyone to deny their need for a rebuild, is complete stupidity and clearly a Gillis nut hugger. This is exactly what happened with Gillis AND RIGHTFULLY SO. He did everything to bring a cup here, but the collateral damage was crippling. 

 

[AnthonyG]

1 hour ago, I.Am.Ironman said:

How is going "full tank" going to help them without a 1st round pick in 2024?

Sell and recoup. If they went full tank and traded Pastrnak at peak value, Lindholm, Ullmark, Debrusk, Coyle, Hall etc… they could get a ton of picks in return. They could load up on 1st and 2nds the next few drafts and be stocked up on talent in no time

[Bobby James]

2 hours ago, AnthonyG said:

It may not seem so doom and gloom to you right now… but look down the road 2-3 years. What is coming up through their system? What picks do they have? Marchand is approaching retirement. Pastrnak will be in his 30s in a few seasons. They should be proactive, not wait and hold on to what could have been like we did. Where did that get us?

Who cares about 2-3 years for that group right now? They are a winning team right now. 

2 hours ago, AnthonyG said:

Sure Boston can be a decent team next year. But contender??? I dont see it and certainly not anytime soon.

I think we disagree on this. The best regular season they've had, I don't see them as just decent next year. The Canucks will hopefully be decent, Boston should likely be in the top 5-6 again. 

 

2 hours ago, AnthonyG said:

So why try and maintain a roster that wont be good enough to win 4 rounds?

You are making it sound like they got smashed by Florida or swept? They were better and just ended up not being able to close the series off. 

 

(god why am I defending Boston...) Dude they earned the right to compete again if they want to. This organization has been good for over a decade, they beat us for the cup and never really faded away from contention since. Their main guys are still excellent and they are potentially losing 1 of them (Bergeron), but you wanna toss it all out.

 

Sure if they blew it all up now they could start on their rebuild and in 4-5 years they'd start looking promising OR they give a winning group another shot or two at a run and then start the rebuild if the time is right. This is what a successful organization looks like, they respect the players and management that got it to this point and don't pull the plug on them early. Sure I also wished the Canucks rebuilt after our team was no longer competitive (trending that way), but the main difference between Boston and Vancouver (unfortunately) is they have a championship history whereas we don't. As a result we shouldn't operate the same way. Our goal here should be win at all costs. In Boston they have a legacy to consider and that includes not dumping the players that won this much for you or the fanbase who are eager to compete right now. 

3 hours ago, AnthonyG said:

Why waste the next decade of Pastrnaks career when he is absolutely positively without a f***ing doubt, now heading towards his decline.

Lastly, this is a wild statement. 26 years old, career high in goals (61) and points (113) and you think he's about to start his career decline instead of he's now in his prime. Okay.