2019-2020 Bruins

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SoSH's Doug Neidermeyer
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Kinda. Spooner has a top 6 type of game but doesn't have top 6 talent, if that makes sense. Generally the bottom 6 are more grinders, go in the dirty areas, etc. wherase Spooner was more of a finesse type guy. I don't know enough about Senyshyn to say whether he falls into that role or more of a, say, good Chris Kelly role.
I hope I'm wrong, but Senyshen to me screams "Daniel Paille 2.0"

1st round pick. Elite speed. Never puts together the complete game that justifies his draft position.
 

TFP

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I'd be thrilled if he turns out to Paille. I don't think there's much of a chance that happens though.
 

BaseballJones

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Ok more knowledgable B's fans here: Who are the young players I need to be excited about for this year? I still count Pasta, DeBrusk, Carlo, and McAvoy obviously.
 

cshea

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You may want to add Anders Bjork, but they are returning much of the same team so there is no new shiny toy at this point. This is Bjork’s 3rd pro season, each of his first 2 have ended with shoulder surgery. He has played 50 NHL games, has flashed at times, but hasn’t broken out. He has looked good so far in camp but isn’t a lock to make the opening night roster. If things go right he has top 6 potential, but his first 2 years haven’t gone well so he is still a mystery.

Then it is down to Providence. Urho Vaakanainen (D) and Jack Studnicka (C) are their top 2 prospects. Vaakanainen is likely the first D up if/when then injury bug hits. This is Studnicka’s first pro season so he is a bit further down the depth chart in terms of getting called up but is a notable player to follow at Providence. Another player to watch is winger Oskar Steen. 6th round pick from 2016, he broke out offensively in the Swedish Elite League last season. This will be his first NA pro season and he has excelled in camp. He could be up on the NHL roster sooner rather than later.
 

lexrageorge

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Ok more knowledgable B's fans here: Who are the young players I need to be excited about for this year? I still count Pasta, DeBrusk, Carlo, and McAvoy obviously.
Those are the ones to be excited about.

Ones to watch who could also make things exciting include Heinen, Grzelcyk, Bjork, Khulman. A bit further away, but still intriguing are AHL guys like Vaakanainen and possibly Frederic.
 

veritas

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Those are the ones to be excited about.

Ones to watch who could also make things exciting include Heinen, Grzelcyk, Bjork, Khulman. A bit further away, but still intriguing are AHL guys like Vaakanainen and possibly Frederic.
Heinen and Grz are already established valuable NHLers at this point. I think Grz may be close to his ceiling given his physical limitations. I agree Heinen could still take another step though. He is very good defensive winger and capable offensively. Last year he showed his versatility playing on both wings and over 100 minutes with 8 different other forwards. Maybe it's just because of the competition, but he looked quicker and stronger to me in the exhibition games so far. If that's a real improvement he could be in for a big season.

Frederic seems like their 5th center right now, and given Bergeron and Krejci's statuses, I think he's going to play some games to start the season. See my last post for more thoughts on him.

I would add Connor Clifton to the guys to be excited about, but not sure he qualifies for what you are looking for.
+1
 

MiracleOfO2704

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When the Bruins drafted him I hope their expectations were a bit more than that, though.
Considering he was somewhere around middle 2nd round by Central Scouting but trending upward, I'd say they had higher expectations than most.

Honestly, DeBrusk and Carlo keep that draft out of "franchise-altering bad" territory right now, and the best hope for upward movement from its bad outlook might be Zboril.
 

locknload

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Massive miss on Senyshyn which is really hard to swallow when you reach that far on a guy. I would do backflips to get paille quality it off him. Paille had stone hands have but was super valuable special team pkiller. I'm willing to give a bit of time on the draft as young defenseman come along slowly. Zboril still could be really good but the clock is getting shorter.
 

LogansDad

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Also, I know he isn't a prospect, but I am really excited for a full season of Charlie Coyle with this team. I really think he is a perfect fit.
 

cshea

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Final stab at the 23:

Marchand - Bergeron - Pastrnak
DeBrusk - Krejci - Kuhlman
Heinen - Coyle - Backes
Lindholm - Kuraly - Wagner
Ritchie, Frederic

Chara - McAvoy
Krug - Carlo
Grzelyck - Clifton
Kampfer

Rask
Halak

IR: Nordstrom, Miller, Moore

Nothing earth shattering. After Saturday’s game Cassidy indicated that a final decision hadn’t been made but that their original plan was to start Bjork off in Providence to get his offense going. So I’ll put him there. Kuhlman is first up on Krejci’s RW. Backes and Ritchie will go in and out, I gave the nod to Backes for game 1 since he’s the vet. I think Frederic sticks for the opening road trip as an emergency C with Krejci dinged up and Bergy healthy but coming off a limited camp.
 

NYCSox

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Massive miss on Senyshyn which is really hard to swallow when you reach that far on a guy. I would do backflips to get paille quality it off him. Paille had stone hands have but was super valuable special team pkiller. I'm willing to give a bit of time on the draft as young defenseman come along slowly. Zboril still could be really good but the clock is getting shorter.
When you look at the guys picked in the second half of that draft - Barzal, Connor, Chabot, Svechnikov, Samsonov, Boeser, Roslovic, Konecny and Beauvillier - whiffing once and maybe twice (Zboril) is a really bad outcome.
 

TFP

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When you look at the guys picked in the second half of that draft - Barzal, Connor, Chabot, Svechnikov, Samsonov, Boeser, Roslovic, Konecny and Beauvillier - whiffing once and maybe twice (Zboril) is a really bad outcome.
But then hitting on Carlo and maybe Lauzon later in the draft helps make up for it.

Getting DeBrusk and Carlo out of any draft prevents it from being a really bad outcome, despite how many first round picks they had. It's not ideal obviously, but they're not going to hit on every pick.
 

cshea

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They got franchise cornerstones in 2014 and 2016. In 2015 they got a top 6 winger and top 4 D. Yes, they missed on Senyshyn and maybe Zboril bit it is what it is at this point. It doesn’t need to be re-litigated over and over.
 

burstnbloom

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When you look at the guys picked in the second half of that draft - Barzal, Connor, Chabot, Svechnikov, Samsonov, Boeser, Roslovic, Konecny and Beauvillier - whiffing once and maybe twice (Zboril) is a really bad outcome.
This has been hashed, rehashed, overhashed, its totally hashed. The Bruins could have done better in the 2015 first round. They could have taken Debrincat instead of Frederic. There are a lot of misses. All teams have misses. The Athletic did a piece last year where they analyzed the actual value teams have gotten out of players they've drafted in the last 7 years and the bruins were number 1 by a mile. It's not even worth having this conversation again. The 2015 draft class is coming out of their ELC's, I think we can move on now.
 

Salem's Lot

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The irony is, if they actually drafted Barzal and Chabot there is no way that they’d be able to pay them next year without losing some serious pieces off of this roster.
 

TFP

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The irony is, if they actually drafted Barzal and Chabot there is no way that they’d be able to pay them next year without losing some serious pieces off of this roster.
And they likely wouldn't have drafted McAvoy the following year too. Who knows how it would have played out. The 2014-2016 drafts gave them the following players with 50+ NHL games played:

  • Pasta
  • Donato
  • Heinen
  • Bjork
  • DeBrusk
  • Carlo
  • McAvoy
I'm ok with that looking at it as a group.
 

PedroSpecialK

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With Baertschi and Ho Sang on waivers, I'm relatively confident Cehlarik would clear - on that note, I'd love to see them take a crack at Baertschi but I doubt he falls to them
 

lexrageorge

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This has been hashed, rehashed, overhashed, its totally hashed. The Bruins could have done better in the 2015 first round. They could have taken Debrincat instead of Frederic. There are a lot of misses. All teams have misses. The Athletic did a piece last year where they analyzed the actual value teams have gotten out of players they've drafted in the last 7 years and the bruins were number 1 by a mile. It's not even worth having this conversation again. The 2015 draft class is coming out of their ELC's, I think we can move on now.
Part of the reason that draft sticks in memory is that the Bruins ended up with 3 consecutive picks in the middle of the first round: one of them (Senyshyn) was part of the Dougie Hamilton trade, and the other (Zboril) from the Milan Lucic trade.

Anyway, probably not a bad time to once again list the remaining pieces from the Pederson/Neely trade lineage: Sean Kuraly, Jakub Zboril, and Trent Frederic.
 

cshea

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I think Baertschi’s contract is prohibitive for the B’s unless they acquired him through trade.

I’d be interested in Ho Sang or Sprong but I doubt either make it much past Ottawa let alone to the Bruins.
 

cshea

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Krejci is TBD for Thursday. Back at practice today but no-contact. Nordstrom resumed skating as well but will not be ready.

Also, Sweeney says they’ve had discussions with Krug, Coyle, DeBrusk about extensions. Krug was a little grumpy about his contract status early in camp.
 

IdiotKicker

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Soooo has anyone seen anything about the new seating at the Garden?

This is....not good.

View: https://twitter.com/antonchigurh81/status/1178141781503959040?s=21
I guess I don't understand how they could move seats closer together from a row perspective. Like, the concrete for each row is already in place, and to my knowledge, they didn't do any demolition or reconstruction of that. It wouldn't surprise me if they went to narrower seats, but I guess I just don't understand how they could move rows closer together once the building is already built.
 

savage362

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I guess I don't understand how they could move seats closer together from a row perspective. Like, the concrete for each row is already in place, and to my knowledge, they didn't do any demolition or reconstruction of that. It wouldn't surprise me if they went to narrower seats, but I guess I just don't understand how they could move rows closer together once the building is already built.
I think they went with narrower seats to be able to add 1-2 per row in some spots. The new seats, also from what I've read, seem to be a bit more "reclined" which reduces the leg room in the row behind.
 

tonyandpals

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I've heard a lot about the new seats being smaller in order to fit an extra in most rows. They even filled in a few smaller aisles in the lower level to get more seats in. Yes, the recline is greater in what seemed to be an effort to make them more comfortable, but in reality just puts you on top of the next person. I'll report back from loge 18 and balcony 317 after 10/12 and 10/14.
 

Salem's Lot

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This is going to be such a security problem, especially in the balcony. I’m surprised the city hasn’t gotten involved yet. There were enough fights up there already, now you’re squeezing more people in various states of sobriety into the same small area? Total nightmare for Boston PD. Imagine having to police that?
 

Senator Donut

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As someone whose Celtics seats didn't exist under last year's configuration, I wonder what this "re-assessment" will mean for my tickets.

This is going to be such a security problem, especially in the balcony. I’m surprised the city hasn’t gotten involved yet. There were enough fights up there already, now you’re squeezing more people in various states of sobriety into the same small area? Total nightmare for Boston PD. Imagine having to police that?
I believe the fire marshal approved the additional capacity, but their concern was egresses, not fights.
 

cshea

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Additionally, it’s going to be cold in the building as they try to improve the ice conditions. They are going to have the building around 58 degrees to start games. So bring a jacket.

View: https://twitter.com/flutoshinzawa/status/1182350020600881153?s=21


They blamed the construction project on the shit(ier) ice surface last season. They think with some projects completed they have sealed the building better which theoretically should keep humidity down.
 

TheRealness

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Additionally, it’s going to be cold in the building as they try to improve the ice conditions. They are going to have the building around 58 degrees to start games. So bring a jacket.

View: https://twitter.com/flutoshinzawa/status/1182350020600881153?s=21


They blamed the construction project on the shit(ier) ice surface last season. They think with some projects completed they have sealed the building better which theoretically should keep humidity down.
I am a full supporter of this. Boston ice should always be good.
 

stepson_and_toe

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Aug 11, 2019
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Additionally, it’s going to be cold in the building as they try to improve the ice conditions.
Back in the old Boston Garden they had to postpone some Celtic game because the ice under the wooden floor for a following Bruins' s game caused it it to be too slippery for safe play and I think once because fog formed.
 

The Napkin

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right here

PedroSpecialK

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Bjork needs to come up at some point, I think that much is clear. Ritchie in particular has looked like a butcher out there - I would rather see Nordström out there with Coyle / Heinen and have Lindholm skate line 4 in the interim
 

Trotski

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Coyle has been a monster at times, and Heinen has looked really good too. My only concern with this team as it stands now is a lack of finishers. They seem to have plenty of players who are strong on the puck, but when the time comes to put the damn thing in the net, they look terrible. Heinen in particular. Bjork would help that I assume. Obviously gotta get someone other than 63-37-88 who can score. Of course, when the goalies are playing as well as they are right now, 1-2 goals is all it takes.
 

tonyandpals

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My seats in loge 18/4 are fine. But move back to row 10 and my knees hit the seat in front of me.
I share seats in 317/4 and they are fine too.
Some of the loge corners look real tight.
 

cshea

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Game #7 on tap tonight and it’ll be game 6 for Ritchie with Backes getting scratched for the 4th time. Not sure if there is anything to read into this split, but I think it is noteworthy. They could just be trying get a large sample to figure out what they have in Ritchie whereas Backes is a known commodity. They play a similar game though so at some point I’d think the B’s would have to pick one and waive/demote the other.
 

lexrageorge

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It was time for a call up regardless, as they have one scoring line so far this young season.
 

cshea

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I think Gaunce will be called up if they need a player for tomorrow. A call up is tied to Bergeron’s availability. Krejci is already ruled out so If Bergy can’t go they’ll be down to only 3 centers. Gaunce is a center with NHL experience and is off to a good start so he makes more sense in the emergency scenario. If Bergeron can play then they’ll just put Backes in for Nordstrom.

Bjork will be a regular call up at a later date. They’d need to create a roster spot for him, and cap space is tight, so there’s some complications that need to be worked out. My guess in the game thread was next week when Providence returns home from their road trip and the Bruins have 3 days off between games. At that time they’ll have a better idea on the extent of the injuries to Nordstrom and Krejci plus a slightly larger sample on Ritchie, Backes, Kuhlman who Bjork would displacing.