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Post by crafar01 on Nov 12, 2020 7:17:00 GMT -5
it sure doesn't give me an urge to go buy one. I actually like it..Certainly better than sticking a pooh bear smack on the chest!! Pretty similar to the 2010 Winter Classic, minus the crest...not the best, but certainly not bad I think.
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Post by SeaBass on Nov 12, 2020 13:47:28 GMT -5
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Post by KSJ08 on Nov 13, 2020 12:17:15 GMT -5
Yeah Ain't subscribing to Extra Stupid People Network They walked away from NHL
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Post by KSJ08 on Nov 13, 2020 12:24:55 GMT -5
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Post by SeaBass on Nov 13, 2020 12:30:31 GMT -5
Yeah Ain't subscribing to Extra Stupid People Network They walked away from NHL My bad, didn't realize it was espn+
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Post by KSJ08 on Nov 13, 2020 20:14:47 GMT -5
Yeah Ain't subscribing to Extra Stupid People Network They walked away from NHL My bad, didn't realize it was espn+ No worries mate, was a good thought eh!
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Post by KSJ08 on Nov 15, 2020 12:35:35 GMT -5
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Post by nfld77 on Nov 17, 2020 23:05:18 GMT -5
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Post by SeaBass on Nov 18, 2020 7:31:18 GMT -5
Right, not a lot of sense there without DeBrusk either gone or signed. Not sure I want to get rid of Carlo, but his name keeps popping up everywhere.
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Post by SeaBass on Nov 18, 2020 7:34:23 GMT -5
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Post by nfld77 on Nov 18, 2020 14:42:45 GMT -5
Right, not a lot of sense there without DeBrusk either gone or signed. Not sure I want to get rid of Carlo, but his name keeps popping up everywhere. I was wondering same thing..Why the heck Carlo's name keeps popping up is beyond me...Only reason I can think of is affording him after his current contract runs out!!
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Post by SeaBass on Nov 19, 2020 7:44:18 GMT -5
I am starting to miss hockey now that the snow is flying.
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Post by orym on Nov 19, 2020 9:23:53 GMT -5
I am starting to miss hockey now that the snow is flying. Me too brother! Here is another beauty!
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Post by nfld77 on Nov 20, 2020 15:10:16 GMT -5
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Post by SeaBass on Nov 23, 2020 7:45:53 GMT -5
Bruins loan Vaakanainen to SaiPa (Finnish League)
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Post by SeaBass on Nov 23, 2020 7:46:26 GMT -5
Is there going to be a season or what?
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Post by madmarx on Nov 23, 2020 8:41:52 GMT -5
Is there going to be a season or what? Not sure how the way things are trending both sides of the border
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Post by madmarx on Nov 23, 2020 9:17:26 GMT -5
Kinda looking forward to the Jr tournament
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Post by SeaBass on Nov 23, 2020 10:05:19 GMT -5
Kinda looking forward to the Jr tournament Kind of shocked that is still happening.
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Post by madmarx on Nov 23, 2020 11:36:14 GMT -5
Kinda looking forward to the Jr tournament Kind of shocked that is still happening. There going with same set up as the NHL used in Edmonton..
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Post by kjc2 on Nov 23, 2020 13:02:59 GMT -5
It’s tough to side with players when they’re basically asking owners to eat the losses of a 50 game schedule with no asses in the seats while they pretty much get 75% of their salaries. They should take a long look at their AHL and ECHL brothers and realize they got it good.
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Post by kjc2 on Nov 23, 2020 13:04:59 GMT -5
Bruins loan Vaakanainen to SaiPa (Finnish League) Playing somewhere is better than sitting around and not developing.
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Post by kjc2 on Nov 23, 2020 13:07:09 GMT -5
Kinda looking forward to the Jr tournament I hardly turn on the Sports channels anymore, I need to see the WJC to get my mojo back.
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Post by nfld77 on Nov 23, 2020 16:45:42 GMT -5
Kinda looking forward to the Jr tournament I hardly turn on the Sports channels anymore, I need to see the WJC to get my mojo back. Kjc, like you brother, I cannot remember last time I watched TSN or SN..It's so sad what's going on in the world today but all we can do is make each day as positive as we can..Stay safe everyone!
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Post by kjc2 on Nov 23, 2020 19:17:15 GMT -5
I hardly turn on the Sports channels anymore, I need to see the WJC to get my mojo back. Kjc, like you brother, I cannot remember last time I watched TSN or SN..It's so sad what's going on in the world today but all we can do is make each day as positive as we can..Stay safe everyone! We had a good Atlantic bubble for awhile but even that seems to be breaking down now. We’ll get past it though, Christmas and the WJC tournament is just around the corner.
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Post by crafar01 on Nov 24, 2020 7:40:37 GMT -5
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Post by SeaBass on Nov 24, 2020 9:43:34 GMT -5
The Boston Bruins have had a very interesting offseason. They shored up their forward group in signing Craig Smith, but they also lost a big piece of their top-four defencemen in Torey Krug. Couple that with Zdeno Chara’s future being uncertain and the team’s defence goes from being a major source of strength to a legitimate weakness — one that likely needs to be addressed if the Bruins have serious aspirations of contending for a Stanley Cup this season.
As it stands, the team has three legitimate top-four defenders in Charlie McAvoy, Matt Grzelcyk and Brandon Carlo, but the rest of the group appears mostly replaceable featuring some combination of Connor Clifton, Jeremy Lauzon, John Moore, or Jakub Zboril. That makeup might be good enough to still be one of the league’s best teams considering Boston’s other strengths, but come playoff time the team’s lack of depth will be a problem.
The fortunate thing is that the Bruins have some cap flexibility with $6.6 million worth of space (and potentially a bit more depending on how healthy Kevan Miller is). That’s enough to add a very capable piece to the top four, but the market isn’t exactly flush with options. There’s no one left in free agency that can be that guy and there doesn’t appear to be anyone available via trade either.
But there is one other player acquisition option, a rarely used one: an offer sheet.
And there just so happens to be a perfect candidate eligible for one: Mikhail Sergachev.
I’m not usually one to say specific teams should do specific things with regards to player acquisition, but from the Bruins’ perspective, there’s a lot of things that make too much sense to ignore. In the dog days of the offseason, it’s an idea that’s at least worthy of discussion. (I do realize it takes two to sign and all indications are Sergachev loves it in Tampa Bay, but for the sake of argument let’s just say he’s interested in more money and a bigger role without losing much in terms of Cup contention probability).
For starters, Sergachev is a helluva player and just 22 years old. Everything about him screams “future No. 1 defenceman” from his play-driving prowess at both ends of the ice to his ability to move the puck up ice in transition to his offensive production. There are a lot of indicators he’s the real deal with the only issue being he hasn’t been tasked to do it very far up the lineup in Tampa Bay. By value added, he’s already there, albeit in a sheltered role.
In most cases a sheltered player is a red flag and Sergachev is in the bottom fifth for defenseman usage. It denotes a lack of trust from the coaching staff, but on a team that has Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh it’s likely more of an opportunity problem than a trust problem. Head coach Jon Cooper doesn’t need to trust Sergachev to play tough minutes when he already has the horses to do so, but that doesn’t mean Sergachev couldn’t succeed with more responsibility. Over the past two seasons he has a 55 percent expected goals rate and a 58 percent actual goals rate at five-on-five and while it’s unlikely he puts up those exact numbers higher in the lineup, there’s enough leeway to figure they’ll translate well enough that he can handle the role.
The biggest key to that is Sergachev’s ability with the puck. Anecdotally, the defenders who have proven they could handle bigger roles in the past were the ones with strong puck skills that can safely move it out of trouble with control. Based on tracking data from Corey Sznajder over the past two seasons, Sergachev looks elite in that regard in terms of both exiting the defensive zone and entering the offensive zone. There aren’t many defenders in the league with his profile — not even the departed Krug who was a strong puck-mover playing similarly sheltered minutes.
It remains to be seen whether Sergachev can pass the ultimate test and play on a top pairing against the opposition’s best on a nightly basis, but the potential is there at 22. That’s the key in the acquisition as Sergachev can not only be an adequate Krug replacement, but there’s a ceiling he hasn’t reached yet where he might be even more. In terms of replacing Krug, the big question will be whether Sergachev can replicate Krug’s impact on the top power play. It’s a tall order, but he has the talent to do so and did decently enough whenever he played with Tampa Bay’s top unit.
Sergachev is a player worth targeting, but for how much? When it comes to offer sheets there are two considerations: the annual average and the draft pick compensation attached to the annual average. For a player of Sergachev’s calibre, we’re looking at the following two tiers.
$4.36M – $6.54M: First- and third-round pick
$6.54M – $8.73M: First-, second- and third-round pick
Generally, there’s a fear in the draft picks going the other way, but with the Bruins being a contender that’s hardly a concern. For a contending team, the draft pick haul for the first tier is about 3.7 wins over their first seven seasons and 4.9 wins for the second tier on average. Sergachev is expected to deliver that value over the next three seasons. There’s a chance the draft picks turn into more, but it’s a low chance. It’s a non-issue and for a team whose window might be closing soon anyway, the time to go all-in is now regardless. Boston shouldn’t be that worried about losing picks.
So the next question is how much and for how long. It’s a balancing act between what Boston can afford, what it does to their current internal cap structure (Charlie McAvoy’s deal is up in two years), and how high the Bruins need to go before Tampa Bay has to say no.
Typically, a player of Sergachev’s ilk would sign for around $6 million as an RFA. That’s according to his on-ice value and tracks with Evolving Hockey’s projections — though they’re slightly lower for everything below an eight-year deal. The Bruins could sign him to a $6.54 million deal, save a second-round pick, have just over $150,000 worth of cap space left and put the Lightning $3.6 million above the salary cap with Anthony Cirelli and Erik Cernak still left to sign. It’s a reasonable deal that puts the Lightning in a very challenging spot, especially if the Bruins don’t offer much in the way of term (a three-year term effectively makes the contract a $6.5 million bridge which would be tough to swallow since his bridge price should be closer to $4 million) and/or add a steep salary in the final year to up the qualifying offer.
I’m not sure how much farther I would go or how necessary it is given Tampa Bay’s current bind. Whether it’s $6.5 million or $8 million (considering the Bruins were in on Oliver Ekman-Larsson at $8.25 million earlier in the offseason, that’s probably as high as can be expected), it’ll take more than giving up Tyler Johnson for the Lightning to get cap compliant with their other RFA’s to sign. That’s something the team already had trouble doing.
The one issue from the Bruins’ perspective that arises from this is that the team still hasn’t signed their own RFA, Jake DeBrusk. A Sergachev signing wouldn’t leave much of anything for DeBrusk, a productive top-six winger, but in terms of balance and depth, a player like Sergachev is arguably much more necessary than DeBrusk. Considering the team’s forward depth, DeBrusk can be expended and the team has sort of treated him as such this past offseason, with his name being floated in rumour mills. That can potentially recoup some draft capital lost in a Sergachev offer sheet. DeBrusk is a good player and there are other ways to fit him (Miller on LTIR, buried money, trading someone), but there are also players on the come-up like Jack Studnicka and Anders Bjork that can step in without losing much. I like DeBrusk and would find a way to fit him, but I like Sergachev a lot more, especially on this team.
While the addition of Sergachev is already pretty appetizing, there’s one other major reason that Boston should consider this and it follows the same principle as a “four-point game.”
When Boston plays Tampa Bay, a regulation win is doubly important because it’s not just two extra points for the Bruins, it’s also two fewer points for the Lightning. In a divisional matchup, it creates a big swing when it comes to playoff seeding as how much you gain is just as important as how much the team you’re competing with loses.
It’s that exact scenario that makes this proposition uniquely tantalizing compared to an average acquisition. This isn’t just about Boston helping itself to a potential star defenceman, it’s just as equally about hurting the Lightning and taking one away from them. Tampa Bay is by far Boston’s biggest threat in the Eastern Conference and the two are very close in terms of total win value on the roster. Under normal circumstances, the Bruins adding a player of Sergachev’s calibre would add nearly two wins to their lineup while doing nothing to their rivals because that player will usually come via free agency or a bottom feeder. This particular deal also has the added benefit of taking away two wins from Tampa Bay’s, creating a four-win gap where previously there would be nearly none (if the two teams are equal). It’s a massive swing that’s double the actual player’s value — a four-win acquisition. That type of opportunity doesn’t come around often as most contending teams don’t have the cap flexibility that Boston does to bring in a player of Sergachev’s calibre where his potential is still untapped due to being sheltered on an elite team.
But that’s just what happens if Tampa Bay doesn’t match. Ideally, the Bruins want the player first and foremost, but the cherry on top of this potential move is that if the Lightning do match, they’re now in very serious cap trouble being $3.6 million over with Cirelli and Cernak still left to sign, as mentioned before. It leaves them more vulnerable than before (especially if Tampa Bay’s plan was the bridge route) with the benefit of the Lightning having to shed value off its roster still very much in play in order to fit Sergachev’s new deal. Boston may not get the player or the added value, but the move still screws with Tampa Bay’s books in a serious way enough where they lose value. Either way, Boston comes out ahead by forcing Tampa Bay’s hand.
When it comes to offer sheets there’s an unwritten code among general managers not to mess with each other through this avenue, and this proposed offer sheet may seem especially vindictive in that regard. It’s equally about helping one team as much as it is about specifically hurting another, a rival competitor.
Frankly, I don’t care about the code when offer sheets are a tool that was collectively bargained for. If I’m Boston, I care about one thing only: Boston. If it helps Boston improve its Cup odds, then it’s something worth considering and this is a very unique case where the deal has even bigger ramifications given the team that’s being targeted. It helps Boston’s Cup odds in two different ways.
Boston is already the league villain, a team nearly everyone outside of Boston loves to hate. This type of move would only cement that, and when you’re already the heel, you might as well lean into it.
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Post by SeaBass on Nov 24, 2020 10:22:16 GMT -5
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Post by madmarx on Nov 24, 2020 10:24:05 GMT -5
Vegas and Columbus have Players that have tested positive for Covid
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Post by madmarx on Nov 24, 2020 11:43:59 GMT -5
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