November NHL news

cshea

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So they're still working on getting the new season structure and format together. Looks like at the very least, due to travel, there will be a temporary realignment. Canada gets their own division and the rest are split up as best they can geographically. Wysh has the likely new divisions as:

Canada: Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver
East: Boston, Buffalo, Carolina, New Jersey, NYR, NYI, Philly, Washington
Central: Chicago, Columbus, Detroit, Florida, Tampa Bay, Nashville, Pittsburgh, St. Louis
West: Anaheim, San Jose, Los Angeles, Arizona, Dallas, Vegas, Minnesota, Colorado

The Bruins lose Florida and Canada, gain the Metro minus CBJ and Pittsburgh. Think that's break in our favor. Tampa and Toronto are better than anyone in the Metro, except for maybe Philly. Washington is always a shit show as everyone knows, but at least Holtby isn't there anymore. NYI is good but the Bruins have handled the Trotz Isles with ease over the past few seasons.
 

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SoSH's Doug Neidermeyer
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Oct 25, 2007
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Between here and everywhere.
So they're still working on getting the new season structure and format together. Looks like at the very least, due to travel, there will be a temporary realignment. Canada gets their own division and the rest are split up as best they can geographically. Wysh has the likely new divisions as:

Canada: Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver
East: Boston, Buffalo, Carolina, New Jersey, NYR, NYI, Philly, Washington
Central: Chicago, Columbus, Detroit, Florida, Tampa Bay, Nashville, Pittsburgh, St. Louis
West: Anaheim, San Jose, Los Angeles, Arizona, Dallas, Vegas, Minnesota, Colorado

The Bruins lose Florida and Canada, gain the Metro minus CBJ and Pittsburgh. Think that's break in our favor. Tampa and Toronto are better than anyone in the Metro, except for maybe Philly. Washington is always a shit show as everyone knows, but at least Holtby isn't there anymore. NYI is good but the Bruins have handled the Trotz Isles with ease over the past few seasons.
I really like the Bruins chances of coming out of the East in the 1 seed, if this holds true.

This would also seemingly eliminate having to go through TOR and TB again to get to the SCF (in'shallah).
 

biff_hardbody

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Apr 27, 2016
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At what point do we start to worry about the 2021 NHL season not being played? It seems they are far behind the NBA in terms of announcements regarding the start of the season, and likely can't rely on the same TV revenue. I fear the smaller teams will be losing money having a season at all if there are no fans (or dramatically reduced capacity) which would incentivize those teams to push for not having a season at all. Am I being paranoid? No hockey right now sucks.
 

cshea

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They are haggling over money. They agreed on a new CBA back in July and oops owners now want more back from the players to get through the pandemic.

https://theathletic.com/2209381/2020/11/19/nhl-nhlpa-salary-deferral-season/
NHL is asking for more in deferral's in the short term, more escrow down the line. Probably needs to be settled in the next week or two to maintain a plausible 1/1/21 start. I think 82 games was never going to happen, but as we've seen with prior lockouts, they can get in 48+ if a season starts in mid to late January.

Based on the realignment floating around, they'll likely be playing in their own arena's and no bubbles, fans determined by local officials.

Edit: The owners deserve shit for agreeing to a new CBA, which included measures to get them through the pandemic, then 4 months later going back to the players with their hands out asking for money. That said, as Lebrun notes, asking for a deferral is better than looking to prorate.
 
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canderson

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Canadian just denied the NBA/Raptors plan to play ... not sure how the NHL can operate with all the Canadian teams needing US homes.
 

cshea

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Canadian just denied the NBA/Raptors plan to play ... not sure how the NHL can operate with all the Canadian teams needing US homes.
Well there are 7 Canadian teams, enough for them to create their own division and play themselves in the regular season. It doesn't sound like there will be a much, if there is any at all, non-divisional play in the regular season. Cross the post season bridge if/when we get there.
 

canderson

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Very true - but I, curios of provinces would allow it. Manitoba is in straight up lockdown and overwhelmed with COVID, for instance. But maybe they can do a Canada bubble difference.
 

Fred not Lynn

Dick Button Jr.
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Jul 13, 2005
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Very true - but I, curios of provinces would allow it. Manitoba is in straight up lockdown and overwhelmed with COVID, for instance. But maybe they can do a Canada bubble difference.
The only provinces that will allow this are the ones where the government wants to get re-elected...

In all seriousness, Canadian fans and media LOVE the “Canadian Division” concept.
 

LogansDad

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Nov 15, 2006
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Alamogordo
It's a fun read, but I just got to this quote, and might have to stop:

What a draft class 2015 has already turned out to be: McDavid. Eichel. Marner. Provorov. Werenski. Rantanen. Barzal. Connor. Chabot. Konecny. Boeser. Aho.
 

cshea

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It's a fun read, but I just got to this quote, and might have to stop:
It is what it is. There's a lot of revisionist history with that draft, but I think the Bruins get unfairly slammed for it. Zboril was the 12th ranked prospect by Central Scouting and they picked him at 13. He was the consensus best defenseman left when they selected him. DeBrusk was ranked 18th by central scouting and they picked him at 14. Connor, Konecny and Barzal were ranked ahead of him, but it's not like the Bruins went crazy with this pick. DeBrusk was considered a mid-first round pick by the draft pundits, Senyshyn was the reach and thus far it hasn't panned out. DeBrusk has turned into a pretty nice player, I'd make that pick again. Zboril is about to get his chance, maybe we view this draft differently a year from now if he is able to establish himself as an NHL regular. Senyshyn looks like he may bust but he does have some tools where he could latch on as a bottom 6 winger. His path to a spot on the Bruins is pretty blocked and crowded so he'll need to make something of it if he gets an opportunity. He had a chance last year but got hurt right away and that was it.

Obviously there are players that they passed on that we wish they picked, but all in all that draft ended up yielding a good haul for the Bruins. They got a top 6 winger (Debrusk), a top 4 defenseman (Carlo), a depth D establishing himself as a useful NHL player (Lauzon), a promising goalie prospect (Vladar) out of it which all things considered is pretty good. And that doesn't count any contributions they may end up getting from Zboril or Senyshyn.
 

LogansDad

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All of that is fair, of course, and in some (maybe a lot of) way I take DeBrusk over Barzal (who the Bruins weren't the only team to miss on, if we are being fair). I think the immediate reaction in 2015 of, "Man, I wish they had done more with those three picks" has stuck quite a bit for a lot of people, myself included.

And, of course, it happens every year.... just look at Pasta. I think it's the "3 picks in a row" that make that particular draft stand out in a lot of people's minds.
 

cshea

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All of that is fair, of course, and in some (maybe a lot of) way I take DeBrusk over Barzal (who the Bruins weren't the only team to miss on, if we are being fair). I think the immediate reaction in 2015 of, "Man, I wish they had done more with those three picks" has stuck quite a bit for a lot of people, myself included.

And, of course, it happens every year.... just look at Pasta. I think it's the "3 picks in a row" that make that particular draft stand out in a lot of people's minds.
Yeah, I get it. That day and week was also a roller coaster. Rumors were everywhere. Everyone thought they were packing the picks to get Hanifin which fell apart on them. There were rumors Rask was also traded on the but something happened and it fell through. The whole day.week was nuts. They traded Hamilton (bad), traded Lucic (good), signed McQuaid (bad), acquired Shithead (really bad), traded Jones to San Jose (good), acquired Hayes for Savard and Smith (bad, but at the time thought to be good), signed Beleskey as a UFA (same- bad but at the time thought to be good).It was a dizzying time to be a Bruins fan and when taking in the full picture, draft, trades and free agency the end result was a pretty bad week for the team.
 

TFP

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The 2015 draft is also a lot easier to stomach when you look at the 2014 draft right next to it.
 

biff_hardbody

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Apr 27, 2016
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Their hands were tied with Hamilton, IIRC. He wasn't going to sign was the issue? I remember thinking they had to trade him.

Who does the Athletic list at #1? MacKinnon?

Edit re Hamilton: "He was a restricted free agent at the time, and although Boston controlled his future, he gave every indication he wanted to play somewhere else. The Bruins offered him three different contract structures, and he and his agent never even countered." From: https://causewaycrowd.com/2019/12/03/boston-bruins-dont-miss-dougie-hamilton/
 

Frisbetarian

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I'm not speaking out of school when I say this, but there's obviously a ton of regret in the organization re: the 2015 draft. But don't sleep on Zboril just yet. He played incredibly well during the last month and a half of the Providence season, to the point some coaches and front office folks thought he was among the best defensemen in the AHL over that stretch. And our advanced analytics support that opinion of him.
 

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SoSH's Doug Neidermeyer
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Oct 25, 2007
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Between here and everywhere.
I'm not speaking out of school when I say this, but there's obviously a ton of regret in the organization re: the 2015 draft. But don't sleep on Zboril just yet. He played incredibly well during the last month and a half of the Providence season, to the point some coaches and front office folks thought he was among the best defensemen in the AHL over that stretch. And our advanced analytics support that opinion of him.
Fris - greatly appreciate the insight here. I guess my followup to this would be - is that regret purely hindsight? Or has the FO discovered something in their process/vetting/evaluation that has lead to that regret, and should give us hope for the drafts since then?
 

Frisbetarian

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Fris - greatly appreciate the insight here. I guess my followup to this would be - is that regret purely hindsight? Or has the FO discovered something in their process/vetting/evaluation that has lead to that regret, and should give us hope for the drafts since then?
I really can't share too much, but will say the draft process has changed exponentially in the last few years.
 

TheRealness

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Feb 8, 2006
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I'm not speaking out of school when I say this, but there's obviously a ton of regret in the organization re: the 2015 draft. But don't sleep on Zboril just yet. He played incredibly well during the last month and a half of the Providence season, to the point some coaches and front office folks thought he was among the best defensemen in the AHL over that stretch. And our advanced analytics support that opinion of him.
Zboril is a very interesting guy to me. It is not uncommon for defensemen to take longer to develop, and the skill was always there. I think he had difficulty adjusting to the size, speed and physicality of the pro game, and last year it seemed to all click.

When they didn't re-sign Krug, and basically didn't do anything else to replace him, I really wondered how they knew what they had better than we did. When you consider Vaak, Zboril and Lauzon as LDs on their roster, it did make some sense to free up space to give them a shot. Given how they all played last year, I still believe Zboril has the most upside as a complete defenseman.

Assuming the NHL has a season, the development of those LDs will be a real interesting part to watch. If they do well, that really frees up the Bruins to focus on adding on the front end.
 

LogansDad

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I've been with the team for 7+ seasons, and am currently the Senior Analytics Advisor to the General Manager, with the senior referring mostly to my age, I think.
This is really cool. Would you mind if I send you a PM and pick your brain a little? I recently retired from the military and am looking for some supplemental income, and am curious about getting my foot in the door in sports in some way, but don't want to just message you out of the blue.

Also, tell Don and the crew I said thanks for being a world class organization.
 

Frisbetarian

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This is really cool. Would you mind if I send you a PM and pick your brain a little? I recently retired from the military and am looking for some supplemental income, and am curious about getting my foot in the door in sports in some way, but don't want to just message you out of the blue.

Also, tell Don and the crew I said thanks for being a world class organization.
Feel free. I'll be happy to advise and help as best I can.

Don Sweeney is an outstanding GM, and the Bruins are in extremely good hands with him. When I retire, which may be very soon, I'll share what I can about my relationship with him and what he means to the team and the sport.