2015 rookie and training camp

[The Napkin]

it's almost time for hockey!
 
Boston Bruins General Manager Don Sweeney announced the preliminary schedule for the 2015 Boston Bruins Training Camp which begins Thursday, September 17. The full training camp roster will be announced at a later date.
The Boston Bruins also announced the schedule for the 2015 Boston Bruins Rookie Camp presented by AT&T, which begins on September 10. The round-robin tournament includes two games in Buffalo, NY against the Buffalo Sabres & New Jersey Devils rookies and will be held at the First Niagara Center

 

[LogansDad]

There were a ton of awesome playoff series last season, and not one of them almost caused me to have a heart attack.
 
But man, this has felt like a long off-season, and reading the words "it's almost time for hockey" give me a tickle in my loins.  I can't wait.

 

[cshea]

Hockey things going on at Ristuccia. Chara, Beleskey and Seidenberg (among other) are skating.

38 days. Winter is coming.

 

[Red Right Ankle]

*little dancing guy gif*

 

[McDrew]

I'm about to say something nice about Zac Rinaldo..
 
I like the fact that he's one of the people that have showed up already for camp.  Its a good first step (of MANY) that he needs to take to become a member of this team, and not a rogue douchemissle. 
 
I need a shower. 

 

[The Napkin]

https://twitter.com/AmalieBenjamin/status/638794115375890432
 
(nods)
especially coming off a year where you missed the playoffs. I'm not sure why everyone isn't' there frankly.

 

[The Napkin]

also, did we know that Marchand played last year with tears in his elbow tendons and had offseason surgery?
 
But it’s now known that Marchand played the entire 2014-15 season, and some of 2013-14, with tendon tears in his right elbow. At the Bruins’ practice facility at Ristuccia Arena in Wilmington, he revealed to Matt Kalman on NHL.com that he had surgery to repair multiple tears in the offseason.
The injury first occurred before the 2014 playoffs, according to Marchand.

 

[cshea]

Rookie roster announced:

F: Noel Acciari, Anton Blidh, Colby Cave, Austin Czarnik, Jake DeBrusk, Mitchell Dempsey, Jesse Gabrielle, Colton Hargrove, Justin Hickman, Joonas Kempainen, Jordan Maletta, Eric Nieley, Zachary Senyshyn, Frankie Vatrano

D: Linus Arnesson, Brandon Carlo, Max Everson, Max Iafrate, Jeremy Lauzonc Frankie Simonelli, Jakub Zboril

G: Matt Ginn, Zane McIntyre, Daniel Vladar

 

[Reardon's Beard]

Very glad to see Max Everson on the roster. Works hard, big part of the leadership on a strong Harvard team.

 

[cshea]

Sounds like Jonas Gustavsson may be coming to Bruins camp on a PTO, per Friedman.

 

[MiracleOfO2704]

Considering Vasilevskiy's surgery, why would Gustavsson sign in Boston?
 
Also, why the fuck is Sweeney bringing in a 4th goalie? There's less than no need for one right now. As it is, there's probably not enough crease time in both the NHL and AHL for MacIntyre, Subban, and Rask.

 

[PedroSpecialK]

They do need an NHL backup, though - Subban needs additional AHL time as 'the man' to rebuild his confidence after the St. Louis debacle. Smith is an unproven commodity at the NHL level (not getting him a couple of games last year was unfortunate, but points were at such a premium down the stretch that I can't really blame them). McIntyre is a complete unknown as well.
 
Go into camp with Smith up against Gustavsson, expose Smith to waivers if Gustavsson impresses in camp, have Subban start in Providence and see if he can outplay McIntyre. 

 

[cshea]

Sweeney confirmed the Gustavsson PTO.

Rookies reported to camp today. Apparently a bunch failed the conditioning test. Senyshyn admitted he was one.

Edit: Gustavsson is also the only PTO as of now.

 

[soxhop411]

Sweeney confirmed the Gustavsson PTO.

Rookies reported to camp today. Apparently a bunch failed the conditioning test. Senyshyn admitted he was one.

Edit: Gustavsson is also the only PTO as of now.

Amalie Benjamin ‏@AmalieBenjamin  3m3 minutes ago
The three first round picks all failed the conditioning test: Senyshyn, DeBrusk, Zboril.

 

[McDrew]

a) How far in advance are the rookies given the parameters of the conditioning test?
b) How badly did they fail?
c) How do other rookies on other teams fail?
d) How does the Bruins' test compare to other teams?
 
 
are just some follow-up questions I'd like answered

 

[cshea]

It's not a big deal. You have to run 300 meters in under 1 minute 3 times with 3 minutes of rest in between runs. I'm guessing the majority failed. No idea if they know ahead of time what the test is. My guess is no, Sweeney said it's a test you need to prepare for in order to pass.

 

[Over Guapo Grande]

It's not a big deal. You have to run 300 meters in under 1 minute 3 times with 3 minutes of rest in between runs. I'm guessing the majority failed. No idea if they know ahead of time what the test is. My guess is no, Sweeney said it's a test you need to prepare for in order to pass.

That's pretty bad for professional athletes, IMO. In college I was a jumper for the track team, but had to fill in once on the 4x400 with no notice. Ran a 59 second split, which is not fast by any means. Training at the time was mostly weights and plyometrics, but my speed work consisted of ladders of 1-600 meters with a 200 meter walk in between. So I am pretty sure I could have banged out three 0:50 second 300s with a 3 minute rest between, and as people here can attest - I am nowhere near a world class athlete.

 

[The B’s Knees]

Haggerty says it's actually 6 x 300m sprints...
 
"The test consists of a series of six back-and-forth 300 meter sprints with three minutes of rest in between each run, and all of them must be completed in under one minute’s time."
 
http://www.csnne.com/boston-bruins/all-3-boston-bruins-first-rounders-fail-conditioning-test-camp

 

[TheRealness]

Haggerty says it's actually 6 x 300m sprints...
 
"The test consists of a series of six back-and-forth 300 meter sprints with three minutes of rest in between each run, and all of them must be completed in under one minute’s time."
 
http://www.csnne.com/boston-bruins/all-3-boston-bruins-first-rounders-fail-conditioning-test-camp

 
Still an annoying result. FWIW, DeBrusk passed the first two and then missed the final one by a split second. 
 
Those kids have a long way to go. All of them are more "projects" than Pastrnak was, so I would anticipate they will take 2-4 years to make it to the NHL, so in the grand scheme of things it's not a big deal. 

 

[cshea]

Shinzawa had a nice piece in the Globe today about Julien's adjustments to the breakout this year. In short, Julien is going to give the weak side winger more freedom to come to the center of the ice and in front of the net. In years past, the winger had to stay along the boards as an outlet in case the puck got reversed. The hope is they'll be able to break out quicker and move the puck up the ice more efficiently.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2015/09/12/bruins-plan-adjustments-their-breakouts/F2fWDzuVztLp1rh5JMB2EJ/story.html

Also- hockey tonight! Rookies play the Devils at 7pm in Buffalo.

 

[cshea]

B's and Devils tied 2-2 in the 2nd. Acciari and Vatrano the goal scorers. Vladar in net today. Assume McIntyre gets the net tomorrow.

 

[The Napkin]

https://twitter.com/NHLBruins/status/643229081971105792
 
https://twitter.com/NHLBruins/status/643229406576644096
 
So about that conditioning test...

 

[cshea]

B's win in OT, Vatrano again.
 
Vladar stopped 29 of 32

 

[cshea]

We're up again tonight at HSBC against the Buffalo Eichel's. Hopefully there will be better coverage given the spotlight and the game being at an NHL rink.

FWIW, lines last night were:

Vatrano - Czarnik - Hickman
DeBrusk - Kempainen - Senyshyn
Gabrielle - Acciari - Blidh
Hargrove - Cave - Niely

Arnesson - Carlo
Zboril - Simonelli
Lauzon - Iafrate

Vladar
McIntyre

 

[cshea]

2-0 B's so far tonight. Vatrano and Arnesson with PP goals. Czarnik has 2 assists.

 

[cshea]

B's ended up losing 3-2 in OT last night, Eichel with the winner for Buffalo. Main camp opens Thursday.

...and on the eve of camp we get the Haggerty smear job.

http://www.csnne.com/boston-bruins/boston-bruins-aim-in-new-season-reunite-a-divided-team

I'm not a Haggerty fan, but it's not too bad of a piece. The Cliff Notes version is the room was divided last year. He kicks the departed players on the way out. He claims Hamilton read/heard everything said about him and took it to heart, as well as only being concerned with PP and offensive numbers. Smith was soft and didn't care. Blah, blah, blah. Hayes is from Dorchestah so obviously he will care. That sort of thing is annoying and unnecessary, but there was some good stuff in he piece.

The Boychuk trade really impacted the players negatively. Seems like the consensus in the room was Chiarelli torpedo'd the season before they even got started. Also, the front office was in panic mode at times (Rushing Krejci back; Subban debacle).

 

[Haunted]

I'll admit to not reading the article before saying this (so... apologies for being that guy), but I hate these type of "guy left, we're better off!" pieces.  Why wasn't he reporting on that last season?  Presumably Hags knew all of this, right?  So why wait until they're gone to report any of it?  It just seems petty.

 

[MiracleOfO2704]

I listened to Haggerty's interview with Scott Laughlin on SiriusXM NHL Radio. I definitely got the "spirit of the thing" from that, where basically, guys like Hamilton didn't integrate with the veterans, dividing the room between the younger/Providence kids and the veterans. He also stressed the loss of Shawn Thornton as a part of the room fracturing. If losing Thornton and Boychuk really destroyed morale that much, I'm disappointed in the leadership of this team.

 

[LogansDad]

I'll admit to not reading the article before saying this (so... apologies for being that guy), but I hate these type of "guy left, we're better off!" pieces.  Why wasn't he reporting on that last season?  Presumably Hags knew all of this, right?  So why wait until they're gone to report any of it?  It just seems petty.

 
I think the difference is that he got somebody (Marchand) to go on the record.  While yes, it sucks that it seems like a hatchet job after players leave, I also don't blame Marchand for not talking shit about guys while they were his teammates, either.
 
I also agree, however, with MiracleOfO2704's point that if the loss of two players affected the team that much from a "we like playing together" standpoint... there is a bigger problem involved.

 

[Terras]

If losing Thornton and Boychuk really destroyed morale that much, I'm disappointed in the leadership of this team.

After last off-season, who besides Chara and Bergeron really would have qualified? Thornton was known as a big force in the locker room, gone. Ference was known for it for a long time too, gone. Kelly's had an A since I believe his first season here but with him looking like he was gonna be the first one gone and having half a foot out the door the whole season how much of a bridge-mender could he actually be? And forgive me if I'm wrong, but I don't recall guys like Krejci or Loui stepping into those leadership roles like people had hoped.

It seems more like the leadership core of the team has been slowly depleting with no real replacements for a few years now and now Chara and Bergeron are left holding the bag.

 

[MiracleOfO2704]

Amalie Benjamin agreed with you back in December. I just found a Globe article of hers that basically said without Thornton and Boychuk chatting it up in the locker room and Chara and Krejci hurt through the first 2 months of the season, that guys like Campbell, Marchand, Lucic, and Kelly tried to fill the void. Maybe they're just not that good at it, but there were people trying to do just that.
 
Link here, but may be behind a paywall. If it is, I'll try to pull choice quotes.

 

[lexrageorge]

Did the locker room issues really matter that much with regards to the on ice results?  
 
I'm sure the loss of Boychuk was huge in the locker room.  But it was also a pretty big deal on the ice.  The result was that the blue line corps consisted of a still-developing Hamilton and Krug, an injured Chara (who was likely more hurt than he let on to the media), the ghost of Seidenberg, and some AAAA skaters (McQuaid, etc.).  
 
Even in hockey, talent matters.  And last season's Bruins lacked that talent. 

 

[kenneycb]

Sure but a good locker room gets people in the right spot mentally and keeps people in check. They're not robots, chemistry and locker room leadership matters at every level. Players are a lot closer to the pulse than management. They know what to say/do when a guy is on a cold streak, someone's bitching about ice time, etc. It keeps people focused, which is especially important for a fringe team like the B's.

 

[cshea]

With camp opening today, here's a where we are and what needs to be decided in camp.

Forwards:

By my count, 10 forwards are locks. The top 9 seems to be set with Bergeron, Krejci, Marchand, Eriksson, Spooner, Beleskey, Hayes, Connolly and Pastrnak filling up those spots. Who ends up playing where is another story. 63 and 37 will play together, that much we know. The rest is up for grabs, and Julien's combo's will be worth monitoring through the preseason. Chris Kelly is my 10th "lock." He'll likely center the 4th line. Max Talbot and Shithead probably have the inside track on filling out that line, but hopefully Kemppainen and some of the young kids like Brian Ferlin and Seth Griffith can push for a spot. Maybe Khokhlachev pushes, but he doesn't seem like a 4th line guy and I'd assume he's on the bus to Providence.

Defense

Lots to be decided here. They have 7 NHL D under contract and requiring waivers. Chara, Seidenberg, Krug, McQuaid, K. Miller, Irwin and Trotman. Who plays with who is one storyline. I also think there are jobs to be won if someone like Colin Miller or Joe Morrow impresses enough. C. Miller probably has the best chance at breaking through (god it would be so easy if they didn't have one of McQuaid or K. Miller). My guess is the team opens with the original 7, and Miller starts in Providence, but we'll see.

Goalie

We have 4 guys vying for the backup job. Gustavsson is unsigned, but has the most NHL experience. Jeremy Smith is back after having a very good year in Providence. .933 save percentage in 39 games a year ago for the Baby B's. Then of course we have the kids, Malcolm Subban and Zane McIntyre. Subban's 1 NHL appearance was a fiasco and McIntyre is entering his first pro season out of college. My guess is Smith has the inside track to the backup job, and the idea is the 2 kids share the net in Providence, at least to start the season. It's a bit of an about face from their original plan of wanting a true backup to avoid a Svedberg like disaster, but that seems to make the most sense. Subban probably has the best chance at overtaking Smith with a strong camp, IMO.

Anyways, good to have hockey back.

 

[Terras]

Sure but a good locker room gets people in the right spot mentally and keeps people in check. They're not robots, chemistry and locker room leadership matters at every level. Players are a lot closer to the pulse than management. They know what to say/do when a guy is on a cold streak, someone's bitching about ice time, etc. It keeps people focused, which is especially important for a fringe team like the B's.

Exceptionally so when you consider that they missed the playoffs by an inch. Anything breaks differently in the season, on OR off the ice and they're probably in. That includes someone having a bad game here or there because their morale isn't as high as it would have been in years past. 

 

[cshea]

UBI for Seidenberg. Day-to-day.

 

[TFP]

Chara got knocked off the throne of pull up champion too.

Trotman - 41
Krug - 40
Chara - 37

 

[Red Right Ankle]

Krug did 40?  Jesus.  Maybe it's easier when you weigh 110 pounds.

 

[TFP]

This is promising.
 
https://twitter.com/ESPNJoeyMac/status/644572788276260864

 

[TheRealness]

Krug did 40?  Jesus.  Maybe it's easier when you weigh 110 pounds.

 
Have you watched Behind the B? Krug is a brick shithouse.

 

[cshea]

Some notes from day 1 (so far):

- Chara and Trotman were paired together.
- Beleskey - Krejci - Pastrnak are playing together.
- Couldn't make it 1 practice without Shithead injuring someone. Apparently he accidentally got a stick up high on McIntyre, who needed repairs. It was an accident, but it is amusing that this happens right off the bat.

 

[FL4WL3SS]

I'm still holding out hope that the Bruins can trade away one of their defenseman (McQuaid/K.Miller) early on if some team gets decimated by injuries.
 
A girl can wish.

 

[TheRealness]

Is the Sunday game going to be streamed anywhere? I need my hockey fix.

 

[cshea]

I believe it is on NESN.

In the 3rd group today, Hayes - Spooner - Connolly were a line. Senyshyn was with Marchand and Bergy.

If we want to read into day 1 lines, the initial top 9 is:

Beleskey - Krejci - Pastrnak
Marchand - Bergeron - Eriksson
Hayes - Spooner - Connolly

 

[LogansDad]

I actually really like that top 9.
 
Now, if somehow, Shithead (quoting cshea here) gets pushed of the 4th line, I like the offense.
 
The defense on the other hand, still terrifies the shit out of me.  And not in a good way. 

 

[The Napkin]

I believe it is on NESN.

 
NESN and NHL network will both have it. Giggity.

 

[LogansDad]

 
NESN and NHL network will both have it. Giggity.

Holy shit, thanks for the heads up on NHLN showing this.  
 
I am so excited for hockey season to start again.

 

[opes]

Question- I havent followed bruins hockey, but I'm friends with Zane McIntyre, and was wondering if tonites game will be shown online as well?  
I live in the small town he grew up in, so became friends with him through my wife.  The college UND is about an hour from here, so pretty much everyone is a Sioux fan.
I'm hoping to start getting into bruin hockey, so any help with the games would be appreciated.

 

[cshea]

We may be SOL tonight since it is not televised locally, and it doesn't look like Washington is carrying it. Down the road, NHL Gamecenter is very good but it is a subscription service. Hockey Streams is another, cheaper option, but I haven't used them so I can't vouch for the quality. If Zane goes down to Providence, there is a streaming device for the AHL that I think you can buy game-by-game, but I'm not 100% sure.

Anyways, back to the Bruins, it was talked about a bit in the game thread, but Koko essentially wants the Bruins to shit or get off the pot.

http://bigbadblog.weei.com/sports/boston/hockey/bruins/2015/09/19/opposite-day-alexander-khokhlachev-running-out-of-patience-with-bruins/

Long story short, Koko says he's led Providence in scoring for 2 straight years and all he has to show for it is 2 games and a 3rd where he played 2 minutes in. He says he can't play in Providence forever and would like an opportunity.

 

[opes]

Thanks for the info.  Much appreciated!