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Post by islamorada on Jan 12, 2024 20:30:21 GMT
Ok Alfred, and how much will that murderers row of “snipahs” score when playoff hockey comes around?…. Maybe it’s not exactly a “snipah” that the B’S are in need of but certainly a meaningful upgrade on offense needs to be made if the B’S are to make it past April…. But seriously... I would say put your view through the filter of regular season goals vs playoff goals. In the last few years, the Bruins have been burned by insufficient ability to score the kind of goals that you have to be able to score to win in the playoffs and too much reliance on the PP. The composition of this team is partly a reaction to that - they are big, they have guys who are good around the front of the net, and they have a few guys who can get the puck to the net from the point. Less pretty pretty. By way of illustration using numbers going back to include the run to the Finals in 2019 (so the 2019-2023; or the last 5), because I think that year was the first to really showcase this issue. Brad Marchand is the fourth leading playoff scorer in that time - 62 games, 32-38-68. But he is the 23rd leading scorer at Even Strength - 17-14-31. Basically, if you take away the PP opportunities for Brad, he scores at the same rate as Freddy or Pooter this regular season. Pasta is the same story; he's under water in terms of points at ES vs. PP: 27 v 28. Bergeron is the same - 21 vs 20. Fataboy 16 v 16. DK is the only guy in the top five who more than 1 point better and even then, he's 22 v 19. Compare Ondrej Palat. 50 v 9. Mark Stone 43 v 15. Mackinnon and Rantanen are 2 and 3 and they are both close to 20 points better at ES than PP. Same story for Aho, Marchessault, Karlsson, O'Reilly, Landeskog, Theodore, Pietrangelo and believe it or not...McDavid and Draisaitl. Josh Bailey, Brock Nelson, Yanni Gourde, Blake Coleman, Jacob Slavin, Jaden Schwartz, Reilly Smith and Carter Verhaeghe all have more ES points in fewer playoff games than Pastrnak and Marchand. Some of those guys are considered good scorers, but Josh Bailey is out of the league now after failing to catch on with Ottawa. Ottawa! Conversely, in that same time period, you'll notice the guys whose offensive games are more about going hard to the net and finishing close to it have done surprisingly well for the Bruins in that stretch. Coyle and Debrusk have 1 and 2 fewer points at ES than Krejci had (more games, but still). And that time frame includes the year plus when both Coyle and Debrusk were hot dog food. If you narrow it to the last two playoffs, DeBrusk has as many ES points as Pastrnak, 1 fewer point overall, and is trailing only McAvoy and Marchand. Zacha's 0.86 points/game overall is better than Pastrnak's over the last two years. The Bruins need to embrace playing a heavy grinding offense like they did in the early 2010s. Look where Geekie, Frederic, JVR are when they score.I'm not saying they're going to score teams out of the building - that's not what they're built to do and if that's what you expect, you're asking for more than adding a player or two. Teams are like ecosystems. If you give some new hotshot scorer the TOI of a key but under-recognized part of the ecosystem, you're going to see the value of that other part clearly even if the hotshot gets hot. Bertuzzi. Orlov. Loss. People were losing their minds about the scoring from those two but Bert had 4 ES points and Orlov 3. DeBrusk and Carlo also had 4 ES points. Foligno had 3. But they all took less TOI so these dinks could hang around for when there was a PP. It was painfully clear that the balance of the record setting team was changed by the acquisitions, and the results showed the consequences. This Bruins team is 11th in the league in scoring, just behind the Rangers and the first place Jets. This team is a team that has chosen to have two first string goalies and put significant investment into the D in McAvoy, Lindholm and Carlo. They have chosen to add size rather than try to replace the skill they lost with Bergeron, Krejci and Hall. 236lb Lucic, a bigger role for 220lb Freddy, 218lb Coyle, and 207lb Zacha, and the additons of 209lb JVR, 216lb Beecher, 211 Lohrei, 203 Shatnerkirk, 203 Geekie. They replaced 196 Bergie, 200 Bert, 210 Hall and Foligno, 192 Cliffy and Krejci. However much that might be a question of necessity with the retirements, it's clearly a direction associated with not scoring in the playoffs when it mattered. So will they score in the playoffs? Hard to say. But I am more worried that the team GAA is up to something like 2.68 after the last month or so of defensive follies than that they aren't scoring more than 3.29 goals/game. I think when they are on, that GAA is closer to 2.2 meaning they average about a goal per game in their favour. That's all you need. The rest of your post is a product of your theorem. I don't disagree, but the size in the playoffs on offense is so very true. The fast and furious of today's Zegras' is negated in the playoffs, Barzal is another. They cannot get to the net. So the trend is shifting in my view. I think on defense the trend should be the same, maybe that is why DS is on Hanafin? I would take a Grubranson type. BTW do you know why Beecher is being singled out? It is a mystery.
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Post by fiberglassmask on Jan 12, 2024 22:31:26 GMT
Leach and McLeish were big pieces the Bruins could have used, but IMO the Bruins of that era missed the loss of Parent more than anything. I loved Cheesy and EJ as much as the next Boston-area kid goalie, but subtract Parent from the Flyers and add him to the B’s and its +3 Cups, minimum. Same with Dryden even if it’s just forcing the Scabs to find someone else. Absolutely true.
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Post by bookboy007 on Jan 12, 2024 23:07:59 GMT
But seriously... I would say put your view through the filter of regular season goals vs playoff goals. In the last few years, the Bruins have been burned by insufficient ability to score the kind of goals that you have to be able to score to win in the playoffs and too much reliance on the PP. The composition of this team is partly a reaction to that - they are big, they have guys who are good around the front of the net, and they have a few guys who can get the puck to the net from the point. Less pretty pretty. By way of illustration using numbers going back to include the run to the Finals in 2019 (so the 2019-2023; or the last 5), because I think that year was the first to really showcase this issue. Brad Marchand is the fourth leading playoff scorer in that time - 62 games, 32-38-68. But he is the 23rd leading scorer at Even Strength - 17-14-31. Basically, if you take away the PP opportunities for Brad, he scores at the same rate as Freddy or Pooter this regular season. Pasta is the same story; he's under water in terms of points at ES vs. PP: 27 v 28. Bergeron is the same - 21 vs 20. Fataboy 16 v 16. DK is the only guy in the top five who more than 1 point better and even then, he's 22 v 19. Compare Ondrej Palat. 50 v 9. Mark Stone 43 v 15. Mackinnon and Rantanen are 2 and 3 and they are both close to 20 points better at ES than PP. Same story for Aho, Marchessault, Karlsson, O'Reilly, Landeskog, Theodore, Pietrangelo and believe it or not...McDavid and Draisaitl. Josh Bailey, Brock Nelson, Yanni Gourde, Blake Coleman, Jacob Slavin, Jaden Schwartz, Reilly Smith and Carter Verhaeghe all have more ES points in fewer playoff games than Pastrnak and Marchand. Some of those guys are considered good scorers, but Josh Bailey is out of the league now after failing to catch on with Ottawa. Ottawa! Conversely, in that same time period, you'll notice the guys whose offensive games are more about going hard to the net and finishing close to it have done surprisingly well for the Bruins in that stretch. Coyle and Debrusk have 1 and 2 fewer points at ES than Krejci had (more games, but still). And that time frame includes the year plus when both Coyle and Debrusk were hot dog food. If you narrow it to the last two playoffs, DeBrusk has as many ES points as Pastrnak, 1 fewer point overall, and is trailing only McAvoy and Marchand. Zacha's 0.86 points/game overall is better than Pastrnak's over the last two years. The Bruins need to embrace playing a heavy grinding offense like they did in the early 2010s. Look where Geekie, Frederic, JVR are when they score.I'm not saying they're going to score teams out of the building - that's not what they're built to do and if that's what you expect, you're asking for more than adding a player or two. Teams are like ecosystems. If you give some new hotshot scorer the TOI of a key but under-recognized part of the ecosystem, you're going to see the value of that other part clearly even if the hotshot gets hot. Bertuzzi. Orlov. Loss. People were losing their minds about the scoring from those two but Bert had 4 ES points and Orlov 3. DeBrusk and Carlo also had 4 ES points. Foligno had 3. But they all took less TOI so these dinks could hang around for when there was a PP. It was painfully clear that the balance of the record setting team was changed by the acquisitions, and the results showed the consequences. This Bruins team is 11th in the league in scoring, just behind the Rangers and the first place Jets. This team is a team that has chosen to have two first string goalies and put significant investment into the D in McAvoy, Lindholm and Carlo. They have chosen to add size rather than try to replace the skill they lost with Bergeron, Krejci and Hall. 236lb Lucic, a bigger role for 220lb Freddy, 218lb Coyle, and 207lb Zacha, and the additons of 209lb JVR, 216lb Beecher, 211 Lohrei, 203 Shatnerkirk, 203 Geekie. They replaced 196 Bergie, 200 Bert, 210 Hall and Foligno, 192 Cliffy and Krejci. However much that might be a question of necessity with the retirements, it's clearly a direction associated with not scoring in the playoffs when it mattered. So will they score in the playoffs? Hard to say. But I am more worried that the team GAA is up to something like 2.68 after the last month or so of defensive follies than that they aren't scoring more than 3.29 goals/game. I think when they are on, that GAA is closer to 2.2 meaning they average about a goal per game in their favour. That's all you need. The rest of your post is a product of your theorem. I don't disagree, but the size in the playoffs on offense is so very true. The fast and furious of today's Zegras' is negated in the playoffs, Barzal is another. They cannot get to the net. So the trend is shifting in my view. I think on defense the trend should be the same, maybe that is why DS is on Hanafin? I would take a Grubranson type. BTW do you know why Beecher is being singled out? It is a mystery. Not a clue, really. I could guess, and my guess would be that he's not being hard enough on the puck, not managing the puck well enough, and not being aggressive with his size and speed. Could be that they want more from him based on the tools. I can't think of anything I've seen in his game to point at and say "like when he didn't X, and you could see blah blah and he chose to mehneheh instead". I sympathize with the kid like with most 4th line kids. It's not easy to be effective playing 10 minutes or less. Beecher's seen his TOI drop since the start of the year. First two months, he was getting a shift or two more than he's getting now. Since December 1, his TOI when he does play has dipped below 10, and in the 7 games since Christmas (for him), it's down to 8:23.
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Post by thanx4memORRies on Jan 12, 2024 23:59:05 GMT
But seriously... I would say put your view through the filter of regular season goals vs playoff goals. In the last few years, the Bruins have been burned by insufficient ability to score the kind of goals that you have to be able to score to win in the playoffs and too much reliance on the PP. The composition of this team is partly a reaction to that - they are big, they have guys who are good around the front of the net, and they have a few guys who can get the puck to the net from the point. Less pretty pretty. By way of illustration using numbers going back to include the run to the Finals in 2019 (so the 2019-2023; or the last 5), because I think that year was the first to really showcase this issue. Brad Marchand is the fourth leading playoff scorer in that time - 62 games, 32-38-68. But he is the 23rd leading scorer at Even Strength - 17-14-31. Basically, if you take away the PP opportunities for Brad, he scores at the same rate as Freddy or Pooter this regular season. Pasta is the same story; he's under water in terms of points at ES vs. PP: 27 v 28. Bergeron is the same - 21 vs 20. Fataboy 16 v 16. DK is the only guy in the top five who more than 1 point better and even then, he's 22 v 19. Compare Ondrej Palat. 50 v 9. Mark Stone 43 v 15. Mackinnon and Rantanen are 2 and 3 and they are both close to 20 points better at ES than PP. Same story for Aho, Marchessault, Karlsson, O'Reilly, Landeskog, Theodore, Pietrangelo and believe it or not...McDavid and Draisaitl. Josh Bailey, Brock Nelson, Yanni Gourde, Blake Coleman, Jacob Slavin, Jaden Schwartz, Reilly Smith and Carter Verhaeghe all have more ES points in fewer playoff games than Pastrnak and Marchand. Some of those guys are considered good scorers, but Josh Bailey is out of the league now after failing to catch on with Ottawa. Ottawa! Conversely, in that same time period, you'll notice the guys whose offensive games are more about going hard to the net and finishing close to it have done surprisingly well for the Bruins in that stretch. Coyle and Debrusk have 1 and 2 fewer points at ES than Krejci had (more games, but still). And that time frame includes the year plus when both Coyle and Debrusk were hot dog food. If you narrow it to the last two playoffs, DeBrusk has as many ES points as Pastrnak, 1 fewer point overall, and is trailing only McAvoy and Marchand. Zacha's 0.86 points/game overall is better than Pastrnak's over the last two years. The Bruins need to embrace playing a heavy grinding offense like they did in the early 2010s. Look where Geekie, Frederic, JVR are when they score.I'm not saying they're going to score teams out of the building - that's not what they're built to do and if that's what you expect, you're asking for more than adding a player or two. Teams are like ecosystems. If you give some new hotshot scorer the TOI of a key but under-recognized part of the ecosystem, you're going to see the value of that other part clearly even if the hotshot gets hot. Bertuzzi. Orlov. Loss. People were losing their minds about the scoring from those two but Bert had 4 ES points and Orlov 3. DeBrusk and Carlo also had 4 ES points. Foligno had 3. But they all took less TOI so these dinks could hang around for when there was a PP. It was painfully clear that the balance of the record setting team was changed by the acquisitions, and the results showed the consequences. This Bruins team is 11th in the league in scoring, just behind the Rangers and the first place Jets. This team is a team that has chosen to have two first string goalies and put significant investment into the D in McAvoy, Lindholm and Carlo. They have chosen to add size rather than try to replace the skill they lost with Bergeron, Krejci and Hall. 236lb Lucic, a bigger role for 220lb Freddy, 218lb Coyle, and 207lb Zacha, and the additons of 209lb JVR, 216lb Beecher, 211 Lohrei, 203 Shatnerkirk, 203 Geekie. They replaced 196 Bergie, 200 Bert, 210 Hall and Foligno, 192 Cliffy and Krejci. However much that might be a question of necessity with the retirements, it's clearly a direction associated with not scoring in the playoffs when it mattered. So will they score in the playoffs? Hard to say. But I am more worried that the team GAA is up to something like 2.68 after the last month or so of defensive follies than that they aren't scoring more than 3.29 goals/game. I think when they are on, that GAA is closer to 2.2 meaning they average about a goal per game in their favour. That's all you need. The rest of your post is a product of your theorem. I don't disagree, but the size in the playoffs on offense is so very true. The fast and furious of today's Zegras' is negated in the playoffs, Barzal is another. They cannot get to the net. So the trend is shifting in my view. I think on defense the trend should be the same, maybe that is why DS is on Hanafin? I would take a Grubranson type. BTW do you know why Beecher is being singled out? It is a mystery. Scoring gets harder in the playoffs and even more difficult for guys not exactly known for their scoring…. If I remember correctly, Barzell looked pretty good against the B’S a few years back…. guys like him don’t necessarily need to get to the net but just need to draw attention in order to create scoring opportunities for others…. As great as the B’S goaltending has been, the pop gun offense they possess probably won’t be enough to sustain a long playoff run….
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Post by davinator on Jan 13, 2024 0:17:27 GMT
The B's have taken 3 pts out of the 6 available so far on this road trip so they're 500, win in St Loo and call it successful. That's why I'm happy with regulation ties, and not upset with gimmick 3-on-3s to decide extra points. Apparently, so is Pasta and the rest of the Bruins...
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Post by davinator on Jan 13, 2024 0:20:08 GMT
For now on just after 60 minutes go directly to lockerroom, instruct Marchand to tell Refs "we forfeit the point, good night" That would have saved an injury to Ullmark...
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Post by MrHulot on Jan 13, 2024 3:17:10 GMT
Ah, it must be close to All Star break, when the winter fully sets in and Bruins fans start pining for a snipah. Watching these games, these losses - because they are losses whether you get the loser point in a gimmick or not, I'd say three things relevant to the question of acquiring a sniper. 1. Colorado is loaded with Snipers. MacKinnon, Rantanen, Nichushkin are all top 15 in the league with 21 plus in under 40 games. Makar, Johanssen is a former 30 plus guy, and they have high skill guys like Drouin who may suck at other things, but you can't say they don't have puck skills. Arizona has a bunch of players drafted top 20 for their offensive skills - Keller, Crouse, Schmaltz, Bjugstad. Many may be finally realizing that potential very late, but they have skill. Vegas is the defending champ. Their first goal was scored by a guy some people thought was possibly worth drafting ahead of McDavid. Not many. Some. They may be diminished by injury right now but they're still a very good, talented, big and well coached team. Colorado and Vegas are top 3 contenders to come out of the west. None of these teams could beat the Bruins at 5 on 5 hockey. 2. The Bruins top three goal scorers - Pastrnak (25), Marchand (17) and Coyle (14) have 56 goals. Edmonton's top 3 have 61. Delta of 5 goals in half a season. Colorado is 65. Florida 63. Toronto is probably the top of the list with 71 because Matthews and Nylander have had hot starts. Vancouver's got 68. But Winnipeg's got 46. Rangers have 60. Dallas 49. LA 47. So in terms of the top teams in the standings, the Bruins are solidly in the middle of the pack in what they get from their top snipers. Colorado's next 3 have 29. Toronto 30. Vancouver 34. Rangers 31. Florida 27. Bruins? 30. So looking at the roster and the production from the top six, the Bruins are squarely competitive with the top competition in the league. 3. The primary reason the Bruins have lost so many 3 on 3 games this year? Possession. In at least half of these losses, we've seen the Bruins goalie make as many good saves in 3 on 3 as the opponent, or rather, we've seen the opponent fail to score on great chances at least as often as the Bruins have. But what stands out is that they dominate the puck and keep trying until they succeed. Boston seems unable to win faceoffs in OT, and when they do, they seem unable to make possession plays. This lines up with one of the primary reasons they have had trouble scoring the last couple of games - a real lack of precision in their passing and puck management. They don't need a "snipah!" They have one, maybe two already. When your snipers don't score on glorious chances, like Pastrnak on repeated breakaways this week, it doesn't matter how many of them you have. If you don't have the puck and can't get it back, a sniper is useless. If they start scoring on those chances, we're not talking about another sniper...well, we are, but it's the usual background noise of Bruins fans wanting a roster like the 71-72 team or the late 70s teams where they had all sort of guys who could score goals. But I think from a personnel standpoint, their biggest need remains a C who can win 52%+ at the dot reliably. Now look at who is good at the dot and also scores in any reliable fashion - even just 17 points at this point of the season - and plays more than 4th line minutes. McLeod in Jersey. Trochek in NT. Tavares, Crosby, Schwartz in Seattle. Draisaitl. Kopitar. Duchene. Hertl. See a pattern? The cheapest guy on that list is also the guy who is most likely to be injured - Schwartz at $5.5M. In the list this creates, there are maybe three possibilities - Monahan in Montreal has top 15 faceoff skills and second line scoring numbers with a sub $2M contract. JG Pageau is over 55% but just barely makes the cut 17 points; he's best as a third line C and still has two more years at $5M. Henrique is having a good season and is near 54% with Anaheim. He's on an expiring deal. But he's also a hair above Zacha, so not sure how much incremental value he brings. The Bruins have played 41 games. Double everyone's current goal total and Freddy has 24, Marchand 34, Pasta 50, Coyle 28, Debrusk and Zacha 18, Geekie 16, and JVR 14. Frankly, I think there's some room for those numbers to improve in the middle of the roster. I think Debrusk is recovering from a slow start and has a shot to hit 25 with a good second half. I think Zacha can go over 20 if he shoots the goddamn puck. I think Geekie has earned a chance to stay higher in the lineup and if he does, I can see him hitting 20 (he has 6 and 15 points in his last 19 games, playing 16:21 a night - that would be over 60 points and 24 goals over a full 82). I'm not sure what to think of JVR at this point, and maybe they're conserving him for the playoffs? I'm not sure what to think of Pooter given how Montgomery has handled him lately. He's still a 0.50 points/game guy, but hasn't had a goal since Nov 27th. He's better than that. Long story short, I think scoring alone isn't the issue and if they go swinging for some kind of one dimensional shooter, it will be a huge mistake. I generally like your posts, book, but you most of all should realize that it's not just about "needing a snipah!" but also about ending the team's dependence on players who can and will be stopped in the playoffs when opposing team can simply focus on them (and what we have seen year in and year out during the Pasta era). And to me it's also a matter of giving Montgomery a chance to get a bit more creative, particularly on the PP. Remember the 1990 SCF? The Bruins had Neely as a sniper, with Bourque providing more than anybody could hope for, but not much else. When they finally were more balanced in 2011, when the goal scoring was spread among Horton, Lucic, Marchand, Ryder, and Popsicle Pete (not to forget #46 and #37), they could not be stopped. Simple as that. And nobody said they should go for a one dimensional shooter.
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Post by RichHillOntario on Jan 13, 2024 19:14:18 GMT
Was going winger for winger but that works out also…. I prefer not using any Scabs as an example of something good.The best part of last year for me was the wresting of long-standing regular season records from their previous Les Shabitants curators into Bruin hands.
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Post by Fletcher on Jan 13, 2024 19:32:14 GMT
One suggestion for the league to improve 3-on-3 overtime: If a team with possession of the puck deliberately exits the O-zone, without losing possession, whistle, faceoff.
Part of the reason that 3-on-3 has gone from exciting to boring, are the long holds of possession to get just the right combination on the ice.
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Post by dannycater on Jan 13, 2024 19:37:04 GMT
Can't we go one fucking thread about reminding me why the Big Bad Bruins won just 2 fucking Cups??? argggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggh
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Post by bookboy007 on Jan 15, 2024 1:18:07 GMT
One suggestion for the league to improve 3-on-3 overtime: If a team with possession of the puck deliberately exits the O-zone, without losing possession, whistle, faceoff. Part of the reason that 3-on-3 has gone from exciting to boring, are the long holds of possession to get just the right combination on the ice. I like that better than the shot clock, but I'm not sure I would whistle it dead. There are times where a guy under pressure at the blue might choose the faceoff. Maybe give the refs discretion to call that delay of game? Or force a change instead. You can't re-enter the zone until the players who deliberately exited the zone have all left the ice.
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Post by bookboy007 on Jan 15, 2024 1:30:36 GMT
Ah, it must be close to All Star break, when the winter fully sets in and Bruins fans start pining for a snipah. Watching these games, these losses - because they are losses whether you get the loser point in a gimmick or not, I'd say three things relevant to the question of acquiring a sniper. 1. Colorado is loaded with Snipers. MacKinnon, Rantanen, Nichushkin are all top 15 in the league with 21 plus in under 40 games. Makar, Johanssen is a former 30 plus guy, and they have high skill guys like Drouin who may suck at other things, but you can't say they don't have puck skills. Arizona has a bunch of players drafted top 20 for their offensive skills - Keller, Crouse, Schmaltz, Bjugstad. Many may be finally realizing that potential very late, but they have skill. Vegas is the defending champ. Their first goal was scored by a guy some people thought was possibly worth drafting ahead of McDavid. Not many. Some. They may be diminished by injury right now but they're still a very good, talented, big and well coached team. Colorado and Vegas are top 3 contenders to come out of the west. None of these teams could beat the Bruins at 5 on 5 hockey. 2. The Bruins top three goal scorers - Pastrnak (25), Marchand (17) and Coyle (14) have 56 goals. Edmonton's top 3 have 61. Delta of 5 goals in half a season. Colorado is 65. Florida 63. Toronto is probably the top of the list with 71 because Matthews and Nylander have had hot starts. Vancouver's got 68. But Winnipeg's got 46. Rangers have 60. Dallas 49. LA 47. So in terms of the top teams in the standings, the Bruins are solidly in the middle of the pack in what they get from their top snipers. Colorado's next 3 have 29. Toronto 30. Vancouver 34. Rangers 31. Florida 27. Bruins? 30. So looking at the roster and the production from the top six, the Bruins are squarely competitive with the top competition in the league. 3. The primary reason the Bruins have lost so many 3 on 3 games this year? Possession. In at least half of these losses, we've seen the Bruins goalie make as many good saves in 3 on 3 as the opponent, or rather, we've seen the opponent fail to score on great chances at least as often as the Bruins have. But what stands out is that they dominate the puck and keep trying until they succeed. Boston seems unable to win faceoffs in OT, and when they do, they seem unable to make possession plays. This lines up with one of the primary reasons they have had trouble scoring the last couple of games - a real lack of precision in their passing and puck management. They don't need a "snipah!" They have one, maybe two already. When your snipers don't score on glorious chances, like Pastrnak on repeated breakaways this week, it doesn't matter how many of them you have. If you don't have the puck and can't get it back, a sniper is useless. If they start scoring on those chances, we're not talking about another sniper...well, we are, but it's the usual background noise of Bruins fans wanting a roster like the 71-72 team or the late 70s teams where they had all sort of guys who could score goals. But I think from a personnel standpoint, their biggest need remains a C who can win 52%+ at the dot reliably. Now look at who is good at the dot and also scores in any reliable fashion - even just 17 points at this point of the season - and plays more than 4th line minutes. McLeod in Jersey. Trochek in NT. Tavares, Crosby, Schwartz in Seattle. Draisaitl. Kopitar. Duchene. Hertl. See a pattern? The cheapest guy on that list is also the guy who is most likely to be injured - Schwartz at $5.5M. In the list this creates, there are maybe three possibilities - Monahan in Montreal has top 15 faceoff skills and second line scoring numbers with a sub $2M contract. JG Pageau is over 55% but just barely makes the cut 17 points; he's best as a third line C and still has two more years at $5M. Henrique is having a good season and is near 54% with Anaheim. He's on an expiring deal. But he's also a hair above Zacha, so not sure how much incremental value he brings. The Bruins have played 41 games. Double everyone's current goal total and Freddy has 24, Marchand 34, Pasta 50, Coyle 28, Debrusk and Zacha 18, Geekie 16, and JVR 14. Frankly, I think there's some room for those numbers to improve in the middle of the roster. I think Debrusk is recovering from a slow start and has a shot to hit 25 with a good second half. I think Zacha can go over 20 if he shoots the goddamn puck. I think Geekie has earned a chance to stay higher in the lineup and if he does, I can see him hitting 20 (he has 6 and 15 points in his last 19 games, playing 16:21 a night - that would be over 60 points and 24 goals over a full 82). I'm not sure what to think of JVR at this point, and maybe they're conserving him for the playoffs? I'm not sure what to think of Pooter given how Montgomery has handled him lately. He's still a 0.50 points/game guy, but hasn't had a goal since Nov 27th. He's better than that. Long story short, I think scoring alone isn't the issue and if they go swinging for some kind of one dimensional shooter, it will be a huge mistake. I generally like your posts, book, but you most of all should realize that it's not just about "needing a snipah!" but also about ending the team's dependence on players who can and will be stopped in the playoffs when opposing team can simply focus on them (and what we have seen year in and year out during the Pasta era). And to me it's also a matter of giving Montgomery a chance to get a bit more creative, particularly on the PP. Remember the 1990 SCF? The Bruins had Neely as a sniper, with Bourque providing more than anybody could hope for, but not much else. When they finally were more balanced in 2011, when the goal scoring was spread among Horton, Lucic, Marchand, Ryder, and Popsicle Pete (not to forget #46 and #37), they could not be stopped. Simple as that. And nobody said they should go for a one dimensional shooter.The beat year of the mature Pastrnak era, they had a red hot Coyle and Johansson, and they got decent production from DeBrusk and Krejci. The depth was there. The problem for every team in this era is that you cannot survive if your top scorers don't score. There's no way to have 1B scoring regularly. It's a lightning in a bottle thing like the Bolts and LTIR or the Knights and LTIR or any team that gets top scoring from a guy on an ELC or a Masterton performance comeback. The chance to be balanced is gone since they signed Pastrnak and McAvoy and Lindholm. They will have to find guya who outperform their contracts and frankly...that's what the acquisitions for this year are supposed to be. JVR - savvy vet who is great at the John Leclair garbage goal hero role. Lucic - heavy body who can pass better than most bottom six forwards and create space down low. Geek - bug body has shown flashes of finishing ability throughout his career but hasn't secured a scoring role to prove it. Add more faith in Freddy and that's four guys (hopefully) who are likely better suited to playoff hockey than regular season 3 on 3. That's why I think chasing a conventional scorer is a mistake because it takes ice from these guys. Like Bert and Hathaway and Orlov did last year. I would focus on the faceoffs and puck possession in any acquisition and then find the guy who seems like the best fit as a passer/forechecker and trust that his numbers will come playing key minutes in the top six. Ideally, he's also a good defensive conscience for the wingers they have.
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