It bothers me that they are burning the year with McAvoy. Much better rationale for it with JFK, who is closer to free agency if he desn't sign, and they absolutely should offer it for Bjork to entice him..Yeah, the ELC year is gone. Apparently he doesn't have to play, just get added to the roster. Forsbacka Karlsson does fill a legitimate NHL roster need though, so I don't think it's crazy.
Think McAvoy could get added today or tomorrow if they liked his play enough this weekend.
After seeing more comments from Sweeney, etc. on it, I think the Bruins believe McAvoy may help them now, and less so that they are doing this as a favor to burn a year of the ELC. They are most certainly doing that with JFK, but I'm ok with that (and the same for Bjork) given the need on the roster for those players.It bothers me that they are burning the year with McAvoy. Much better rationale for it with JFK, who is closer to free agency if he desn't sign, and they absolutely should offer it for Bjork to entice him..
That's an exciting thought of a lineup, but man that's a young team. 7 of your 12 forwards are 25 and under, including 4 rookies? Add in McAvoy and Carlo on D and now it's half your team.I know the focus remains on this season, but one cannot help but get excited at the thought of a Bruins team next year with McAvoy, JFK, Bjork, DeBrusk, and Senyshyn all in the same lineup next year.
Marchand/Bergeron/Pasta
Vatrano/Krejci/Backes
DeBrusk/JFK/Senyshyn
Bjork/Acciari/Nash
This assumes you fire Beleskey and Hayes into orbit, but the Bruins future is looking pretty bright.
Completely agree that there's probably no way in hell they start three rookies on the same line, but it's fun to put it up there and look at.That's an exciting thought of a lineup, but man that's a young team. 7 of your 12 forwards are 25 and under, including 4 rookies? Add in McAvoy and Carlo on D and now it's half your team.
I love and am excited for the youth movement, but I see it being a little more gradual. I wouldn't expect a line of just DeBrusk, JFK, and Senyshyn, for example. I would maybe someone like Moore coming back to help in the bottom 6 and in the dressing room. I'll also be real curious what they do with Spooner since he's still and RFA and they won't just let him walk. And please please please let Hayes or McQuaid get picked in the expansion draft.
Either way, it's great to have options like this.
I think this is right. Also, from reading some of what Kirk has written about Senyshyn, he in particular strikes me as someone who will need some AHL seasoning.That's an exciting thought of a lineup, but man that's a young team. 7 of your 12 forwards are 25 and under, including 4 rookies? Add in McAvoy and Carlo on D and now it's half your team.
I love and am excited for the youth movement, but I see it being a little more gradual. I wouldn't expect a line of just DeBrusk, JFK, and Senyshyn, for example. I would maybe someone like Moore coming back to help in the bottom 6 and in the dressing room. I'll also be real curious what they do with Spooner since he's still and RFA and they won't just let him walk. And please please please let Hayes or McQuaid get picked in the expansion draft.
Either way, it's great to have options like this.
Why do you think they need veteran presence outside of what's already on the roster? If they are truly committed to building from the inside out, then they should go all-in on that and let the kids play. Having Chara/Bergeron on the roster gives them a solid veteran core to help with the transition. By the time Chara is gone, McEvoy will hopefully have taken over his role and the transition will be complete.I didn't realize the cap situation was that shitty next year, you're right. The $2.1M buyout hit for Seidenberg really hurts now, too. Hopefully shedding $2M via either Hayes or McQuaid is in the cards, as mentioned before.
And I don't know that they'll bring back Moore specifically. But I do think they will need someone in that veteran bottom 6 role giving them huge production at a low cap hit to help the rookies too. I'll be interested how it plays out.
Toronto has the best rookie class in the history of the NHL including the #1 overall pick and rookie of the year. They're also a .500 team who has gotten into the playoffs due to the loser point. I don't think they're the model to emulate personally, I think they're an anomaly that has caught lightning in a bottle.Look at Toronto this year. They have only 1 player who is older than 30 with 20 or more games played, and that's Matt Hunwick.
The Bruins would seem to have enough existing leadership in Bergeron, Marchand, Chara, Krejci, Backes, etc that they could go all in on the youth and still be competitive.
They also won a Stanley Cup, and in another season got to the SCF. Maybe "leadership" can only do so much, and roster depth and talent matters way more.Again, the first four names have overseen two pretty damn epic regular season collapses, so I'm not ready to go claiming that as a strength of the team.
.Toronto has the best rookie class in the history of the NHL including the #1 overall pick and rookie of the year. They're also a .500 team who has gotten into the playoffs due to the loser point. I don't think they're the model to emulate personally, I think they're an anomaly that has caught lightning in a bottle.
Basically - why replace inexpensive, productive players with inexpensive, young players? Why not try to replace the expensive, unproductive players with the inexpensive youngsters?
Or we have no idea, so putting it as an assumed strength, or weakness for that matter, is a fruitless exercise.They also won a Stanley Cup, and in another season got to the SCF. Maybe "leadership" can only do so much, and roster depth and talent matters way more.
Which takes several years of sucking. The Leafs young core consists of 4 guys taken in the top 10, 3 of which were top 5.Toronto also doesn't have the depth Boston does, or the goaltending. The point I'm making is that you can be really young, and still be competitive.
I don't think he can play yet due to the visa issues. I think he'll get in if they clinch a spot.According to Fluto -
JFK is practicing with the team today, and wearing #23.
Will be interesting to see if Cassidy has him spend a game or two on the 9th floor ala Claude, or if he gets him right into the lineup.
How do you define competitive?I guess to put it another way, do you think they can be competitive while building their youth given the current roster/salary cap situation?
I'm skeptical, which is why I would lean towards an all-in approach.
How do you define competitive?
The B's the last 2 seasons have been skating right at the borderline of playoff qualification. Just like this season. The only difference is that the coin this season has a reasonable chance of coming up heads, mainly due to the run they went on after Cassidy took charge. But I would argue that the coin flip was made possible by the fact that Nash and Moore were significant upgrades on the backside forwards as compared to the flotsam and jetsam of the past 2 seasons filling those roles.
It helped that the game was in Minnesota so it was a short trip from ND to get there. Bjork would be in Chicago until Thursday night so he'd have to scramble to get a flight and get to Boston.Yes, that is correct. It still may be pushing it to turn everything around in a day. They would already have to have the contract essentially agreed too and ready to be signed. Two weeks ago Brock Boeser played and was eliminated on Friday and was then in the lineup for Vancouver on Saturday, so a quick turnaround is possible.
Chicago is like a 2.5 hour flight, and is a major hub. Let's not act like he's traveling cross country from Sacramento. There's probably flights that leave every 45 minutes to Boston from either Midway or O'Hare.It helped that the game was in Minnesota so it was a short trip from ND to get there. Bjork would be in Chicago until Thursday night so he'd have to scramble to get a flight and get to Boston.
Yeah, I don't like that. Maybe they are using it to force the Bruins to burn an ELC year?It's Fluto and it's not about food so take it for what it's worth but this is a scary thought...
The only thing I believe Fluto on are his tweets about eating. The man loves to eat, but not so much loves to actually work as a Bruins beat writer.It's extremely rare when Fluto ever "breaks" any kind of news regarding the Bs. For having the BG's Bruins' beat/hockey columnist gig, he never has any "insider" information on the team.
Fluto's only good inside source is now working for the Habs.The only thing I believe Fluto on are his tweets about eating. The man loves to eat, but not so much loves to actually work as a Bruins beat writer.