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Post by crafar01 on Jan 19, 2021 11:11:32 GMT -5
HA! A hockey fan met a fairy who granted him one wish. “I want to live forever,” he said. “Sorry,” said the fairy, “but I am not allowed to grant that type of wish.” “Fine,” said the man, “Then I want to die when Toronto wins the Stanley Cup.” “You crafty bastard!” said the fairy.
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Post by nfld77 on Jan 19, 2021 12:58:01 GMT -5
HA! A hockey fan met a fairy who granted him one wish. “I want to live forever,” he said. “Sorry,” said the fairy, “but I am not allowed to grant that type of wish.” “Fine,” said the man, “Then I want to die when Toronto wins the Stanley Cup.” “You crafty bastard!” said the fairy. Hahahahaha, damn good one..
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Post by skemack on Jan 20, 2021 10:02:17 GMT -5
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Post by skemack on Jan 20, 2021 10:19:42 GMT -5
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Post by kjc2 on Jan 20, 2021 15:27:01 GMT -5
This guy can crap on our scoring but our D has looked really good. Also it’s not just Pasta coming back, it’s getting players slotted correctly, The second line gets better when we have a top line drawing the best players from the opposing team. Yes of course we’re thin on the right side but Smith hasn’t been 100% and Kase didn’t even last two games but it’s only been three games, Studnicka and Freddy have been showing promise, Ritchie is getting some looks, I’d like to see him drop the gloves though. We’re going to make the playoffs in my opinion but we need some help to be a legit contender.
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Post by madmarx on Jan 20, 2021 16:02:23 GMT -5
These projections sound great and all but I’m sure I saw something last week about us being at or near the bottom in the prospect pool out of 31 teams. I hope Zeny makes it as I do with every Bruins pick but how often do we see a first rounder make it in the league six years after his draft year. He didn’t stand out with Providence, topped out at 26 points I think. I thought maybe his ceiling was a fourth line checker in the NHL but props to management for seeing more and believing this guy can be a player for us. Zboril appears to be an exception to the rule when it comes to a first rounder making it 5 and half years after his draft year. With that said, he’s a defenseman who typically take longer to develop, also there was zero room for him and I think he probably had some maturity issues early on. This report was by four Guys that follow the Bruins prospects the other one (31st) was by a Sportsnet Guy ..Sweeney wouldn’t sign Seny to a contract if he didn’t see something we don’t 🤷♂️
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Post by kjc2 on Jan 20, 2021 17:05:30 GMT -5
These projections sound great and all but I’m sure I saw something last week about us being at or near the bottom in the prospect pool out of 31 teams. I hope Zeny makes it as I do with every Bruins pick but how often do we see a first rounder make it in the league six years after his draft year. He didn’t stand out with Providence, topped out at 26 points I think. I thought maybe his ceiling was a fourth line checker in the NHL but props to management for seeing more and believing this guy can be a player for us. Zboril appears to be an exception to the rule when it comes to a first rounder making it 5 and half years after his draft year. With that said, he’s a defenseman who typically take longer to develop, also there was zero room for him and I think he probably had some maturity issues early on. This report was by four Guys that follow the Bruins prospects the other one (31st) was by a Sportsnet Guy ..Sweeney wouldn’t sign Seny to a contract if he didn’t see something we don’t 🤷♂️ Well I’d be happy to see him get a shot, No time like the present with our number 1 and 2 guys out. Not sure what the waiver situation would be or even the expansion draft implications but I’m not sure how we don’t pull him back in right now.
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Post by SeaBass on Jan 21, 2021 11:31:12 GMT -5
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Post by SeaBass on Jan 22, 2021 13:05:02 GMT -5
Loving this kid.
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Post by madmarx on Jan 22, 2021 13:18:36 GMT -5
Freddy is gonna be liked in Boston
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Post by skemack on Jan 23, 2021 11:58:25 GMT -5
Freddy is gonna be liked in Boston Yes but will he survive the upcoming expansion draft though?
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Post by SeaBass on Jan 25, 2021 9:44:43 GMT -5
Trent Frederic had a night on Saturday. Over 20 shifts and 14:31 of ice time in the Bruins’ 6-1 demolition of the Philadelphia Flyers, the rookie …
drew an offensive-zone hooking penalty on the Flyers’ Mark Friedman that led to a Patrice Bergeron power-play goal. drove to the net and bothered Carter Hart enough to allow Craig Smith to score his first goal as a Bruin. floated a far-post saucer to Charlie Coyle to tap in, recording his first career NHL point. drew a misconduct penalty on Friedman that allowed Brad Marchand to whistle in a power-play goal. “He’s been awesome,” Marchand said. “He’s not trying to do too much. He’s playing hard. He’s winning battles. He’s always stirring stuff up and getting guys off their game. He continues to get more and more comfortable with the pace and with the puck. He just seems to make the right play all the time. He’s not trying to be too flashy. He’s making simple plays, hard plays. But direct.”
This is what Frederic’s coaches have been reminding him to do. It’s been a staff effort from Bruce Cassidy and assistants Joe Sacco and Jay Pandolfo. They have instructed Frederic to apply his 6-foot-2, 203-pound frame in the areas where he can impact the game the most: in front of the net, on the walls, on top of opponents.
“Some of the video we showed him, he was going through and kicking pucks out, then going behind the net and off to the side,” Cassidy said. “Reroute yourself to the front. You can’t run over the goalie. But you’ve got to get to the top of the crease. The Smith goal is a great example of that. Good for him. He took it to heart.”
Frederic will never be interpreted as a Porsche 911. He is a pickup truck, meant to bash through obstacles and run over impediments.
This is not as easy as it sounds. Big men require fast feet to keep pace with the puck and batter opponents.
This year, more than at any other time during his first two pro seasons, Frederic just looks the part: fast, on time, belligerent. He is clubbing bodies and controlling the puck. At the same time, Frederic is chopping and chirping anybody who crosses his path.
Opponents are noticing.
Frederic gave it to the New Jersey Devils’ P.K. Subban in the season’s first two games. The microphone he was wearing in Newark caught the rookie instructing the veteran Subban to post another workout video while mixing in well-timed expletives.
No such technology, sadly, was in place on Saturday at TD Garden. But whatever Frederic did or said, it was enough to convince Friedman to rough him up and get sent to the box. Frederic’s coach gives him a green light.
“The abrasiveness, we welcome it,” Cassidy said. “It’s one of the things we’ve talked to him about. You don’t have to go out there and be a goof. But get to the net, finish your checks, be ornery, piss some people off, whatever it needs to be.”
It’s been a rocket-ship ride this season for Frederic. He made the roster as the 13th forward. But when Smith pulled up lame before the opener, Frederic got his chance to start the season as the No. 4 left wing. He fulfilled his duties there for the first four games.
On Saturday, Frederic earned a promotion to the third line next to Coyle and Smith, replacing Anders Bjork. Frederic is a bigger, harder and more dependable left wing than Bjork. He had instant chemistry with the right-shot forwards. The sauce he delivered to Coyle was extra spicy.
“He’s earned it,” Coyle said. “He’s gotten better and better as the weeks go by. He’s making a difference. Whether it’s playing that way, being a big body, winning battles, hanging on to the puck, getting under people’s skin the right way without going in the box himself, we saw that tonight too. It’s huge. He knows what we need from him. He’s doing it very well. He’s a fun guy to play with. He’s always happy. He’s always talking on the bench. It makes it easy for us to play with.”
Frederic is doing all this while playing out of position. Late in the third, with the outcome well in hand, Cassidy gave Frederic a shift back at center between Jake DeBrusk and Smith.
Wherever he ends up playing, one thing is for certain about Frederic: He is not coming out of the lineup anytime soon.
“He did his part tonight,” Cassidy said, “and more.”
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Post by madmarx on Jan 25, 2021 15:44:13 GMT -5
I still think Freddy could’ve played last year the Kid is more than ready now ..
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Post by SeaBass on Jan 27, 2021 12:17:39 GMT -5
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Post by madmarx on Jan 27, 2021 16:07:17 GMT -5
Although we won last night there is lots of work to do , really liked the first but the parade to the penalty box was a little over the top by the Refs ..
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Post by kjc2 on Jan 27, 2021 18:03:15 GMT -5
Although we won last night there is lots of work to do , really liked the first but the parade to the penalty box was a little over the top by the Refs .. Weird, most refs keep the penalty count very close which drives me crazy but not only did they call 6 on us and three on the Pens but it was ticky tac calls for the most part. They could have easily kept the penalty count close with the threshold they were calling at last night.
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Post by madmarx on Jan 27, 2021 19:31:08 GMT -5
Although we won last night there is lots of work to do , really liked the first but the parade to the penalty box was a little over the top by the Refs .. Weird, most refs keep the penalty count very close which drives me crazy but not only did they call 6 on us and three on the Pens but it was ticky tac calls for the most part. They could have easily kept the penalty count close with the threshold they were calling at last night. Totally agree with the tick tack calls
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Post by SeaBass on Jan 28, 2021 7:39:59 GMT -5
The Neely trade is still paying off.
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Post by SeaBass on Jan 28, 2021 8:09:05 GMT -5
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Post by kjc2 on Jan 28, 2021 8:14:21 GMT -5
The Neely trade is still paying off. I think that shows that the old saying doesn’t always hold true. “The team getting the best player wins the trade”.
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Post by SeaBass on Jan 28, 2021 12:04:27 GMT -5
Last season, Jakub Zboril was suffering.
Connor Clifton and Jeremy Lauzon, two of his former Providence blue-line running mates, were full-time NHL players. Thomas Chabot, his junior teammate in Saint John, was not only playing top-pairing minutes for Ottawa, but had signed an eight-year, $64 million second contract.
Meanwhile, Zboril was parked in Providence, where he would spend all of the season. The Czech native was peering up at a left side that had no vacancies. The 2015 first-round pick’s entry-level contract was expiring.
Zboril needed help.
The defenseman reached out to Dr. Stephen Durant, the Bruins’ sports psychologist. Durant told Zboril that everybody struggles, including himself. Zboril recognized this every time they spoke. The patch Durant wears over the left eye he lost in a rugby accident reminded Zboril of this reality.
“I opened up and told him what was bothering me. I faced my demons,” Zboril said. “It lifted it all. It helped. It helped a lot. He’s a guy that’s gone through some stuff too. He lost his eye. It helped me a lot.”
A season later, the first of the Bruins’ three 2015 first-rounders has logged six NHL games, tripling his previous output. The 23-year-old recorded his first NHL point on Jan. 23 by assisting on Brad Marchand’s power-play goal. He is averaging 18:44 of ice time per appearance. Zboril has grabbed a third-pairing spot next to Kevan Miller. At 5-on-5, according to Natural Stat Trick, opponents are averaging 17.16 shots per 60 minutes of play with Zboril on the ice, the lowest SA/60 of any Bruins defenseman.
All of this would have been inconceivable last year or at any point of Zboril’s first three pro seasons. But Zboril persevered. His employer practiced patience. Opportunity emerged when Torey Krug and Zdeno Chara said goodbye.
“Some people would have been quick to give up on a guy like that,” said Sportsnet draft analyst Sam Cosentino. “They would say, ‘Ah, you know what? Forget it. We’re done with him. Let’s cut bait and move on.’ You have to give the player some credit. Because I’m sure there were options for him to go home and play.”
Through six games, Zboril has confirmed what Providence Bruins general manager John Ferguson Jr. believed this past offseason: that he was ready for the NHL. Zboril’s development played a part in the organizational signals the Bruins sent to Chara, who will make his first appearance against his old club on Saturday in Washington.
One Z left. Another Z came in. So far, it’s worked out for all parties.
‘A prodigy of sorts’ As a 15-year-old, Zboril played on HC Kometa Brno’s under-18 team. The next season, the 16-year-old smooth-moving defenseman held his own on Brno’s U-20 roster. In his draft year, the Brno native moved to New Brunswick and adapted rapidly to the QMJHL, scoring 13 goals and notching 20 assists in 44 games.
“Jakub was a prodigy of sorts,” said TSN director of scouting Craig Button. “He was always playing ahead of his age group. He was always playing up a level. He was always an underage player playing ahead. Jakub has always had a great level of confidence in his game, a great level of self-belief that he could do anything. And he could.”
The Bruins drafted Zboril 13th, five slots ahead of Chabot, based on a universal projection of a two-way NHL defenseman with high-end wheels and puck play. These days, such defensemen do not take much time between junior and the NHL.
Chabot, for example, played two post-draft seasons with Saint John and 13 AHL games before sticking with Ottawa in 2017-18. Brandon Carlo, a fellow 2015 draftee, does not have Chabot’s offensive touch. But Carlo needed only seven AHL tuneups before cracking the varsity in 2016-17.
Zboril followed a different trajectory. After aging out of the QMJHL, Zboril played his first pro season in 2017-18, the same year Matt Grzeclyk became a full-time NHL player. In Providence, under the watch of Jay Leach, Zboril worked on stout positional play, tight gaps, hardness in the battle, consistency.
Not all the pieces came together.
“It wasn’t that he didn’t have competitiveness or he didn’t have initiative,” Button said. “He had to learn that less was probably going to be more. You don’t want to create vulnerabilities for yourself. When you’re younger, you can make up for those mistakes. He’s a good skater. He’s a competitive player. But in the NHL, those mistakes lead to other teams getting goals and you being on the wrong side of the game. Coaches don’t want that.”
Zboril, in retrospect, was an early adopter of doomscrolling. It got to him. After his first year, Zboril canceled his Twitter and Instagram accounts.
“When you’re a young guy and a first-round pick in a big hockey market, a hockey-crazed market like Boston, and you don’t immediately jump to the NHL, there’s a lot of people online, keyboard warriors, who can be especially brutal,” said Allan Walsh, Zboril’s agent. “It’s very hard for a 20-year-old to sit there online, scroll through people’s comments and have them saying horrible things about you and about you as a player. That can be very dispiriting. It can be corrosive. It can interfere with your focus. When he made that decision, which was his own, it was a way for him to say, ‘I’m going to control my own destiny. I’m going to face adversity and I’m going to face it head on.’ As opposed to letting other people write his story for him.”
Zboril improved parts of his game in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons. No degree of growth, however, would put him ahead of Chara, Krug or Grzelcyk.
Clifton got his chance because he is a right shot. Lauzon is a lefty, but he was comfortable playing his off side and doing so with more abrasiveness than Zboril.
Frustration ate at Zboril. He thought about returning to Czech Republic. Walsh, though, never had to explore overseas opportunities.
“Was there frustration in not being up and playing games sooner? Of course,” Walsh said. “Anyone who doesn’t admit that is just not being honest. But would he have been better off being thrown into an NHL lineup at 20 before he’s ready, perhaps playing 30-40 games before being sent down and having a serious hit to his confidence? Things happen for a reason. We can all look back and say ‘what if’ about any number of situations out there. I like to deal with clients with the present and the future. Whether he got there a year or two earlier, the whole key for him as an individual is to be an NHL player now and have a career. He’s on that road.”
Seizing the opportunity Things were different heading into this season. Zboril had been with the Bruins in the Toronto bubble as an extra player. He signed a two-year, one-way extension on Oct. 14. Krug and Chara left. Zboril accepted a loan to Brno and played in 18 games before returning to Boston for camp.
“You’ve got two guys that leave that play left (defense), so naturally, you should be excited. There’s an opportunity right away,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Sometimes you come into camp and you do everything necessary, but there’s just no room. That was a bit of the case on the left side here with (Chara) and Krug.”
From the start of camp, Cassidy paired Zboril with Kevan Miller. The plan was to mimic the setup that worked well in Providence last season.
Zboril had played well there with Josiah Didier, a hard-working defensive defenseman. Didier urged Zboril to excel. Miller would do the same.
“He’s always pushing me in practices to do my best,” Zboril said. “Be the hardest-working guy out there. I’m trying to do that. I’m trying to be at his level of competition in practice. He’s helping me how to make the next step in practice to always be there, always be hard, always be on time. He’s a really great guy to look up to.”
Initially, Cassidy and assistant coach Kevin Dean proceeded cautiously with Zboril. They didn’t give him any defensive-zone starts at 5-on-5 during the first three games.
Zboril responded by playing brisk but stout defense. He gapped up well. He stayed inside the dot lines, which is not easy for young and exuberant defensemen. Zboril worked well with Miller. He retrieved pucks with purpose and moved them out of harm’s way.
Cassidy and Dean were impressed. Zboril played a career-high 21:52 against Philadelphia on Jan. 21 while logging three defensive-zone starts. Two nights later, Zboril logged 18:34 of 5-on-5 ice time, most of any defenseman on the team.
“He feels, ‘OK, I’m part of this. They believe in me. Now it’s up to me to seize the opportunity.’ Which is entirely on him,” Cassidy said. “And he’s done it. He’s done it. He’s moved the puck. He’s gone in and showed courage going back on pucks. He’s defending hard. He’s still got a ways to go here where we’re only five games in. But we’re very pleased with the games we’ve gotten out of him, the minutes and the ask so far.”
But this is the NHL. There is nowhere to hide when a defenseman has a bad night.
Bouncing back On Tuesday, Cassidy and Dean presented Zboril with his tallest task yet: defending Sidney Crosby.
It didn’t go well.
Zboril was fighting it from the start. He didn’t make good decisions with the puck. He duplicated defensive-zone coverage assignments with Miller. Pucks and people regularly came back at Zboril. No matter how hard he tried, Zboril couldn’t stop the bleeding.
It looked familiar to Cassidy. Against New Jersey on Jan. 16, after Patrice Bergeron won the opening faceoff, the puck came to Zboril. There was no opponent in his face. But Zboril made a defenseman-to-defenseman pass to Miller, who was covered.
“Right away, that sets off a cue to me,” Cassidy said. “A guy that’s a good puck-mover, where that should be a big part of his game, is not ready to play. When he is, he’s going to take that puck, attack and make a play up the ice that he’s certainly capable of. And has shown. I look for that cue right away. Our job as coaches is to prepare the team to be ready to play, whether it’s through information, practice the day before, morning skate, a little bit of motivation. But it is on the player, individually, to be ready to get himself ready. That’s the challenge Jake is going to have at the NHL level. Because there’s not a lot of nights you can have an off night in this league and get away with it. Those are the words to him. It happens. We don’t want it to snowball. This is why we feel he was off last night. Prepare yourself accordingly in practice. Be clean. Work at it. Tomorrow, come ready to play.”
Zboril will go back in against the Penguins on Thursday. He wants to rebound from a 13:39 workload, his lowest of the season.
By now, he is used to challenges. Zboril is playing in the NHL, which he could not say before.
“It was tough to see,” Zboril said of being bypassed earlier in his career. “But at the same time, I would say it strengthened me mentally. It showed me what I had to do to actually make the next step. It was bad, but it was also a good thing. As a player, you want to get that chance. You want to be that guy. If it’s not happening, you either see the negatives in it, or you look at the other side and see positives in it too. You can’t get to the point where you only see negatives. You have to keep going.”
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Post by nfld77 on Jan 28, 2021 14:07:11 GMT -5
“It was tough to see,” Zboril said of being bypassed earlier in his career. “But at the same time, I would say it strengthened me mentally. It showed me what I had to do to actually make the next step. It was bad, but it was also a good thing. As a player, you want to get that chance. You want to be that guy. If it’s not happening, you either see the negatives in it, or you look at the other side and see positives in it too. You can’t get to the point where you only see negatives. You have to keep going.”[/quote]
That was an awesome read, thanks again Seabass, I absolutely love those long write-ups you post about players.
It would have been SO EASY for teams to give up on a young dman like Zacob but Boston showed him the definition of "Patience", something both player and team had to learn. And right now, 5 years after being drafted 12th overall, Zboril and the Bruins are reaping the rewards, all because of Patience!!
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Post by SeaBass on Jan 29, 2021 8:06:16 GMT -5
Last night, Kevan Miller earned his second $250k bonus of the season. This one was for appearing in 10 games. Because of the shortened season, GP and $$ are pro-rated, roughly 68.29%. Miller can earn an additional $500k (pro-rated) for the rest of the season
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Post by SeaBass on Jan 29, 2021 8:23:44 GMT -5
The Bruins completed a perfect four-game homestand on Thursday with a committed and professional 4-1 win over Pittsburgh. The fourth line scored two goals, and Patrice Bergeron netted the others. Jaroslav Halak stopped 16 of 17 shots.
Here are 10 takeaways from the Bruins’ fifth win of the season:
1. Anders Bjork submitted his strongest outing of the season. The No. 4 left wing skated hard, made good decisions with the puck and took smart routes all over the ice. He assisted on Sean Kuraly’s goal and played a season-high 15:21.
“I haven’t really been happy with my game,” Bjork said. “There’s been some holes in it the first 5-6 games. I’m trying to build up and learn from my teammates and the coaching staff to fix those things.”
2. It may have helped that fourth-liners Bjork, Kuraly and Chris Wagner met with assistant coach Jay Pandolfo to review their game, reinforce good habits and point out areas of improvement.
Kuraly and Wagner were strong on the boards. Wagner was opportunistic by jumping on a loose puck to rifle his first puck of the season into the net. Later in the first, by being positioned in front of the net, Kuraly was in the right place to get a piece of Bjork’s snapper.
“We’ve been working to try to find that exact mix,” Kuraly said of himself and Wagner, the two fourth-line mainstays. “Bjorkie’s got a lot of skill and a ton of speed. For both of us, it’s been a little bit of a change. I think we knew that if we could get it figured out, it would work well. I think we’re getting closer. That’s the good sign. Bjorkie played great. He skated. I think he was the big driver of our line tonight.”
3. The Bruins limited the Penguins to 13 five-on-five shots. Pittsburgh’s best chance took place on an extended second-period cycle against the fourth line and the No. 3 pairing of Kevan Miller and Jakub Zboril. But otherwise, the Bruins didn’t give the Penguins any room to breathe around Halak. They closed on the puck rapidly, defended with layers and eliminated any cross-ice seams.
“I think it’s been good all year,” coach Bruce Cassidy said of the defense. “It’s the trademark of the team. Guys are buying in. Bringing in some young defensemen, they’ve been in the system. So they know the drill. They know the culture here. We’ve given them the opportunity to buy into it.”
4. Craig Smith opened the game on the No. 1 line. Midway through the second, Cassidy flipped Smith and Charlie Coyle.
Smith likes to slash through the neutral zone. It doesn’t necessarily mix well with Marchand and Bergeron, who are more straight-line skaters in open ice. Coyle, meanwhile, is good at filling the right side when he plays wing.
The switch paid off immediately. Bergeron took a net-front feed from Grzelcyk and punched in a five-on-five goal at 8:13 of the second.
5. Matt Grzelcyk was not able to play in the third period because of a lower-body injury. It was unrelated to the ding he took that kept him out for the two previous games. Cassidy did not believe Grzelcyk would be available on Saturday against Washington.
“We’re going to put him as day-to-day for now. But it looks like it might be a few days anyway,” Cassidy said. “We’ll probably have a much better idea tomorrow. Or, worst case, Saturday morning when it calms down.”
Grzelcyk made an impact in 12:31 of ice time. He touched the puck in the offensive zone before each of the Bruins’ three goals through the first two periods. He was active, opportunistic and sharp with his feet and skates.
Connor Clifton, who played his off side in Grzelcyk’s spot the two previous games, could go back in against Washington next to Brandon Carlo.
6. Jake DeBrusk missed his first game because of a lower-body injury. He underwent an MRI that showed “no real structural damage,” according to Cassidy. It is unknown whether DeBrusk will accompany the Bruins on their four-game trip to Washington and Philadelphia.
DeBrusk, usually the No. 2 left wing, had been riding with Marchand and Bergeron when he was hurt against Pittsburgh on Tuesday.
7. Miller earned a $250,000 bonus by appearing in his seventh game. The bonus was originally set at 10 games played. That number was prorated to the 56-game season.
8. Dan Vladar backed up Jaroslav Halak. Tuukka Rask, injured in Tuesday’s third period, was granted the day out of uniform and off skates to recover. Cassidy expects Rask to play Saturday against Washington.
9. The Bruins pledged at least $100,000 to support the family of A.J. Quetta, the Bishop Feehan player who suffered a spinal cord injury Tuesday. The Bruins hung Quetta’s white No. 10 jersey behind their bench during pregame warmups.
“We’re all praying for A.J.,” Wagner said. “Way bigger than hockey. Such a freak accident. Our team’s really thinking about him, his family, anybody affected. Really makes us think how fragile our careers are and life is. We just want to say we’re praying for him.”
10. The Bruins will practice on Friday to prepare for Saturday’s game against Zdeno Chara and the Capitals. Chara scored his first goal for his new team Thursday.
“We’ll see his best,” Cassidy said. “He bled black and gold here for the Bruins for years. I think he’s going to want to show his teammates and everyone in the organization that he can still bring it. I would expect nothing less. It’ll be good to see him. It’ll be odd not seeing him in a Bruins jersey. But it’ll be good to see him. He’s a good person. I’ve always liked Z. Hopefully we’ll have a friendship down the road as a guy who helped me a lot when I first got here. Probably he helped me a lot more than I helped him. He’d been in the league a long time. I always appreciated that.”
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Post by SeaBass on Jan 29, 2021 8:38:26 GMT -5
Keith Gretzky was excited and scared. It was June 27, 2014, and the Bruins’ former director of amateur scouting saw a prize ready to be plucked.
But there was a problem.
The Bruins, owners of the 25th pick, were waiting on one club at No. 24. It was Vancouver.
A month earlier, the Canucks had hired Jim Benning as general manager. Benning was formerly the Bruins’ assistant GM.
Benning, an eight-year Bruins employee, helped write their playbook for the 2014 draft. Not only did Benning know every player his former employer preferred, he shared many of their team-building philosophies.
The Bruins adjusted their list following Benning’s exit. This didn’t guarantee, however, that Benning wouldn’t one-up his former employer.
Gretzky’s nerves were somewhat calmed by the 2013-14 viewings he conducted alongside Benning. His ex-colleague had a thing for Jared McCann, the hard-nosed left-shot center who had scored 62 points in 64 games for Sault Ste. Marie of the OHL.
“Every time I would take Jim to a game, he scored a couple goals,” Gretzky said. “I knew he liked him. How much say he had in it, I don’t know.”
Sure enough, the Canucks drafted McCann at No. 24. Gretzky and his coworkers tried to stay composed. But the energy at the Bruins’ table at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center crackled.
The Bruins were about to draft David Pastrnak.
“When you get a guy like that at 25, a guy as good as he is, it’s luck,” said Gretzky, now Edmonton’s assistant GM.
In the days to come, Pastrnak, the defending Rocket Richard Trophy winner as the NHL’s leading goal-scorer will make his season debut for the Bruins, perhaps as soon as Saturday against the Washington Capitals. He will return, hip fully healed, to his rightful spot riding top-line shotgun with Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron.
If fortune affected the circumstances of his Boston arrival and superstar growth, so did preparation, forecasting, intuition, development and drive. All of this exploded into a supernova who could someday be considered the best 25th pick in NHL history.
“At 25 to get David Pastrnak? You hit a 500-foot, upper-deck grand slam in the bottom of the ninth inning of the World Series,” said TSN director of scouting Craig Button. “That’s what you did.”
‘A contributing player’ Fifty-two players, including three goalies, have been drafted 25th. Only one of them is true competition for Pastrnak as the best ever picked in the spot: Hall of Famer Mark Howe, drafted by the Bruins in 1974. Pastrnak has already eclipsed the rest, which include two 1,000-gamers (Andrew Cogliano, 2005; Todd Gill, 1984) and four who never played in the NHL (Patrick White, 2007; Kevin Griffin, 1981; Danny Arndt, 1975; Terry French, 1971). The league awaits Justin Barron (2020), Dominik Bokk (2018) and Riley Tufte (2016).
Excepting goalies Cam Ward, Marc Denis and Gilles Gilbert, each of the No. 25 picks has averaged 280.6 games, 46.6 goals, 75.6 assists, 122.1 career points and 0.27 points per game through Jan. 26. In comparison, No. 1 picks over the same period have averaged 805.6 games, 262.2 goals, 404.1 assists, 666.3 career points and 0.83 points per game.
A team with a 25th selection, in other words, usually targets what it believes to be a dependable NHL player: a third-line center, for example, or a forward with top-six potential, but with work to be done.
One of the sharpest No. 25 picks was Brenden Morrow in 1997. The hard-working Morrow would become Dallas’ captain and appear in 991 career games.
“Maybe he wasn’t the greatest skater,” said Button, the Stars’ director of amateur scouting from 1992 to 1998. “But he was 18 years old. You’re looking for that progression. Brenden became a really good, solid player. You’re looking for a contributing player.”
Nobody identified a future third-line workhorse in a teenage Pastrnak. Everybody noticed hands, wheels, smarts and competitiveness in the slender Czech Republic boy playing for Sodertalje in Sweden’s Allsvenskan, where he earned stick salutes for spending two seasons in a foreign country and learning English and Swedish.
“There’s respect for that in the business,” NHL Central Scouting director Dan Marr said. “Someone who left home, you know this kid is focused, that he wants to be a hockey player. He went to play at a little higher level of competition. There’s a respect that goes with that. At that age, just making the move and going to another country with a foreign language, it’s a difficult step to take.”
There were times, though, when Pastrnak fell short of his peers’ threshold. At 17 years old, Jake Virtanen (drafted sixth overall) offered the complete package of skating, skills, physicality and nastiness. William Nylander (eighth overall), on occasion, looked more promising than his Sodertalje teammate. Brendan Perlini’s (12th overall) talent leaped off the ice. Nikolaj Ehlers (ninth overall) could move in a way Pastrnak could not.
“Did he jump off the page with Nylander’s skill? Not necessarily,” said Sportsnet analyst Sam Cosentino. “Did he have the size of Perlini? No. Did he have elite skating ability like Ehlers? No. Was he big, rough and heavy like Nick Ritchie? Definitely not. So now you’re looking at, ‘OK, what is he exactly?’ Is he one of those tweener guys who gives you enough skill and you hope will grow? And is that enough to take a leap of faith in the first round?”
Ex-Bruin P.J. Axelsson, the franchise’s Swedish boots on the ground, took to Pastrnak. So did Gretzky. As they shaped their list for the Class of 2014, they penciled in Pastrnak’s name higher than 25th.
“It was his skill,” Gretzky said. “His ability to make plays was what really stood out.”
Not everybody agreed.
During his draft year, Pastrnak (8-16—24) was limited to 36 games because of a back injury and a concussion. Perhaps because of his injuries, Pastrnak did not score a single goal in the 2014 World Under-18 Championship. Scouts view the spring tournament critically. In comparison, Jakub Vrana, his fellow draft-eligible teammate, popped in eight goals. Washington would draft Vrana 13th overall.
“They put a lot of emphasis on what they see at the end of the year versus your best peers in your age group,” Grant McCagg, president of Recrutes.ca and a former Canadiens scout, said of NHL teams. “Vrana scored eight goals. (Pastrnak) scored zero. You want an idea of why Vrana ended up going ahead of him, you can’t discount that.”
Nine days before the start of the tournament, NHL Central Scouting released its final rankings for 2014. Sam Bennett was No. 1 among North American skaters. Kasperi Kapanen earned the top spot among European skaters. Pastrnak was fifth behind Kapanen, Nylander, Kevin Fiala and Vrana.
“It wasn’t a big spread between them,” said Marr. “Our goal is to put them within a range. Some had a little more attention. Some had a little different exposure, a little more history to how much they’d been scouted. Some of them had a little more experience at the pro level. At three, four and five, they were kind of interchangeable when it comes to the grading assignments and number assignments we give players on their skills and attributes.”
Pastrnak had one last pre-draft opportunity to make an impression. That May, Pastrnak arrived at the NHL Combine in Toronto. Something else did not.
Character comes through At the combine, suit and tie are standard. Some teams consider interviews more important than physical testing.
For Pastrnak, face-to-face interaction could have unraveled before it started. Pastrnak’s dress clothes were in his luggage, which was nowhere to be found when he touched down at Pearson International Airport.
“Some guys at the combine, they feel the pressure. It would be the end of the world,” said Marr, whose staff fitted Pastrnak with a combine polo shirt while conducting regular checks with the offending airline. “They’d stand out because they don’t have a shirt and jacket. He just went with the flow.”
Pastrnak’s casual outfit didn’t make an impression on Axelsson, Gretzky and Scott Bradley, the Bruins’ combine representatives. The teenager’s words stuck with his adult inquisitors.
The party of four went out to dinner. The conversation steered toward Pastrnak’s family.
On May 21, 2013, just about a year before the combine, Milan Pastrnak, David’s father, died due to skin cancer. As Gretzky, Axelsson and Bradley listened, Pastrnak discussed his father’s death, his mother Marcela Ziembova’s grief and his own suffering. At the end of the night, Gretzky said goodbye to Pastrnak with a parting message.
“If you don’t play for the Boston Bruins,” Gretzky told the teenager, “I hope, one day, you play in the NHL for your mom.”
The dinner confirmed what Gretzky and his colleagues already knew. Pastrnak was committed. His move to Sweden as a 16-year-old said so. He sparkled off the ice in lockstep with his bubbly playing style. Tragedy touched Pastrnak with gravity and perspective missing in most teenagers.
“We were really impressed with his interview,” Gretzky said. “We wanted him. We really wanted that guy. We thought he was a difference-maker.”
The Bruins interpreted Pastrnak’s poise as confidence. Other teams may have disagreed.
“Sometimes when you have someone with David’s personality, it can backfire a little bit,” Marr said. “They think it’s too strong a personality. He might not be able to bear down to be a professional. Or it comes across as cockiness or overconfidence. But I’ve dealt with this age group all along. All these perceived issues or baggage — whatever phrase you want to use — that’s around them when they’re 17 or 18 with these good players, it’s not an issue 3-4 years down the road. They just grow out of it. They develop.”
The draft-day slide The 2014 draft started without surprises. Aaron Ekblad, the man-child right-shot defenseman, went first to Florida. Buffalo picked right-shot center Sam Reinhart next. At No. 3, Edmonton selected Leon Draisaitl, the German center who had prepped for two seasons for Prince Albert in the WHL.
If the draft progressed as expected, Pastrnak was due to hear his name called, in all likelihood, between 15 and 20. For whatever reason — injuries, personality, inconsistent international play, his 167-pound weight — it didn’t happen.
“There might have been other players where the teams’ comfort level was stronger,” Marr said. “Maybe that’s what they went with. Nobody ever wants to get burned with a first-round pick. This is the bread and butter for clubs, the one way you get to make your organization better.”
Ritchie, Pastrnak’s current teammate, went to Anaheim at No. 10. Travis Sanheim, a late bloomer that year, went 17th to Philadelphia. Tampa Bay took Tony DeAngelo 19th, even though the defenseman had been suspended by Sarnia, his junior team, for using racist language. The only off-the-board reach was Colorado at No. 23. The Avalanche selected Conner Bleackley, who has yet to appear in the NHL.
But even in retrospect, Pastrnak’s availability at No. 25 did not reflect a systemic failure among every team that said no.
“(Robby) Fabbri, (Nick) Schmaltz, DeAngelo, (Haydn) Fleury, Nylander — I can make a case for all those guys being picked at that time ahead of David,” Cosentino said. “Especially the guys I saw: Bennett, Dal Colle, Virtanen, Fleury, Ritchie. DeAngelo was ridiculously skilled. (Alex) Tuch had size and skill. Sanheim was a huge riser. Maybe a bit of a surprise at 17, but he was projected to go in the first round with how good a year he had. The only guy is Conner Bleackley.”
It was not draft-day thievery, then, that had Gretzky leaving Philadelphia with Pastrnak in his back pocket. Based on previously viewed on-ice performance, the right wing went within his projected band.
Sometimes, prospects take the biggest steps off the ice.
“As a young kid and teenager, you want to be picked the highest,” Pastrnak said. “You’re getting compared to the guys you compete with since you’re 15, 16 years old in the whole world. But right now, it’s just a really, really small step out of many. I couldn’t be luckier to end up in Boston and with an organization like this. They did unbelievable work with me. The leaders, trainers and coaches took the time to develop me as a player and person.”
Boy to man That fall, Pastrnak participated in Nashville’s rookie tournament. Pastrnak seemingly did two things: light it up or tumble to the ice.
“You could just see the skill,” Gretzky said. “But I was a little worried. He wasn’t strong at that time. Maybe he weighed 168 pounds, I don’t recall. He was not a heavy player. He was falling all over the place. If you breathed on him, he fell.”
In main camp, perhaps partly because of his slightness, Pastrnak suffered a shoulder injury. A month later, Pastrnak started his North American pro career in Providence. Teenage determination faced off against adult physicality. It was a coin flip on which would win.
“Love of the game, willing to work hard, fearless in terms of trying to grow as a player and putting himself out there as a young kid,” recalled Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy, Providence’s head coach that season. “He wasn’t afraid to go into traffic when need be and try certain things that some other younger guys may not and bounce back from things that didn’t go his way. He was strong on the puck in battles along the boards where he could fish pucks out like he can now, with his hands high. You could always tell he had some strong hands and leverage and a good stick that way. The thing with David early on was he got knocked off pucks a lot.”
Pastrnak split his first pro season between Providence (11-17—28 in 25 games) and Boston (10-17—27 in 46 games). In both cities, the rookie trained under detailed coaches: Cassidy and Claude Julien. Up top, much of the 2011 championship infrastructure was still in place: Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, Chris Kelly, Dennis Seidenberg, Adam McQuaid, Milan Lucic, Daniel Paille, Gregory Campbell. Pastrnak breathed in their professionalism.
A broken foot limited Pastrnak to 51 games in 2015-16. He put his time off to good use. Pastrnak bulked up his body to the point where even his first-year coach did not recognize the man who was training in the gym.
“From behind, I had no idea it was him,” Cassidy said. “His whole frame had started to pack on weight and develop. That was part genes, I’m sure, and part just his ability to put in the time in the gym. That ends up making him a much stronger player on his feet. You see that now all the time. People hit him or get pieces of him. But they don’t knock him off stride or off the puck.”
His teammates noticed too. Pastrnak gained the most respect from them for what he did on the bench, in the gym, in the video room and at the dinner table.
“That’s where you lose it in a lot of kids these days,” said Marchand. “They come in and they think they know everything. They’ve been told they’re the best from day one. They think they know it all. Where Pasta came in, he knew there was a lot to learn. He wanted to learn. He wanted to listen to the older guys. I think that’s a big reason he’s as good as he is today. He takes a lot of pride in that. When you saw his attitude, you knew he was going to be a good player. Because he was going to continue to improve. A lot of guys get the opportunity to come into the league and they’re satisfied with where they’re at and what they’ve accomplished. It can be quick to end if you take it for granted. That’s something he hasn’t done. Now he’s the best goal scorer in the league.”
Pastrnak’s 0.97 points-per-game average is the highest of any 25th pick. Still only 24 years old, he has scored 180 NHL goals. Seven years later, he would most likely go second overall after Draisaitl in a 2014 re-draft.
Draft experts classify top-five picks as franchise-defining selections. The Bruins haven’t picked that high for 11 years.
But sometimes teams strike late gold. Appropriately, this is the preferred color of Pastrnak’s Bauer stick and gloves. The defending goal-scoring champion is the Bruins’ golden child.
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Post by SeaBass on Feb 1, 2021 8:19:39 GMT -5
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Post by SeaBass on Feb 1, 2021 9:41:46 GMT -5
When Zdeno Chara patrolled the ice in Boston, he planted a do-not-enter sign before his goalies. If Charlie McAvoy charged at a puck-carrying opponent in the corner, Chara marked his net-front territory, using his strength and stick to snuff out all close-range threats.
It’s different now. Chara is in Washington. Jeremy Lauzon, 20 years Chara’s junior, is filling his spot on McAvoy’s left flank. Both defensemen, like all other Black and Gold pairs, have the green light this season to pursue dangermen below the goal line. It then becomes the centers’ job to occupy the front of the net.
“Before, we were a little reticent to send that second guy down,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “He liked to play in front of the net. Some of that is Z being in the league a long time. He’s got a long stick. So he’s more effective there clearing guys out. Torey (Krug) was a little bit of the same. That was the way they had played for years. So we’ve made an adjustment there where we’re OK if Lauzon and McAvoy both want to close. They’re young guys. They’ve got lots of energy. They’re long. They’re willing to be physical.”
Under Cassidy, team defense has always been the Bruins’ strength. This has become even more pronounced this season.
The Bruins lost to Chara and the Capitals on Saturday in overtime, 4-3. Alex Ovechkin netted the winner by winding up through center ice and launching a snapper past Tuukka Rask.
The loss, however, did not shake anything about the Bruins’ five-on-five defense. Washington scored twice at five-a-side. Neither goal — a Nicklas Backstrom wrister past a flat-footed Patrice Bergeron, a long-distance Trevor van Riemsdyk wobbler through traffic — was the result of any systemic shortcoming.
Per Natural Stat Trick, the Bruins have the following per-60 rates:
44.21 attempts allowed (lowest in the league) 21.54 shots allowed (second-lowest) 1.63 expected goals allowed (second-lowest) In comparison, this is how the Bruins performed in the same categories in 2019-20:
53.14 CA/60 (ninth-lowest) 26.68 SA/60 (third-lowest) 1.98 xGA/60 (second-lowest) “If we play like that every night,” said Bruins forward Brad Marchand, “we’re going to win a lot more games than we lose. We had a good game.”
The disclaimer, of course, is sample size. But the statistics, limited as they are, confirm what all eyes can see: The Bruins have deprived their 2020-21 opponents of any offensive oxygen. In every area of the ice, help is always on the way.
“Five guys, the defense and the forwards, really working together and closing quick,” Bergeron said. “If there is a breakdown, it’s all about the next play and how we compete on that next play.”
Up the ice, the Bruins have continued to emphasize movement over template. Two forecheckers pressure the defensemen while F3, the third forward into the zone, skates above the puck or filling a wide lane.
“So we have a layer of three across,” Cassidy said. “We hadn’t done a lot of that until about two years ago. That’s what we’re doing in the neutral zone. That allows our D to challenge plays at the blue line. We were so much better against Pittsburgh the other night in terms of entries and challenging those plays than we were the first night we played them.”
The Bruins defend in packs because they are optimized to do so. Every defenseman closes rapidly in his own way, from Kevan Miller’s Juggernaut approach to Matt Grzelcyk’s Flash-fast feet. Roster-wide, forward Nick Ritchie might be the only exception.
This has created layers of redundant safety systems. If Miller, for example, overshoots his opponent, Jakub Zboril moves well enough to cover for his partner with assistance from his forwards. By now, if Bergeron chooses to engage in a down-low puck battle, Marchand knows his duty is to collapse even deeper into the net-front real estate.
The pieces have synchronized well to compensate for the mistakes and breakdowns that have and will occur. In fact, because they’ve sent greater numbers at the puck, the Bruins have allowed more net-front sniffs than in previous seasons. But so far Cassidy doesn’t mind that trade-off. Overall, their D-zone aggressiveness has reduced chances against across the board.
This is not to say that Chara, had he stayed, would have been a liability. His reach, strength, intelligence and competitiveness have not been compromised.
But such a system would not have played to Chara’s strengths. Foot speed is not one of them. It’s difficult to project what kind of ripple effect activating Chara in the defensive zone would have had on the Bruins’ coverage.
“We’ve felt the personnel would allow us to do this,” Cassidy said, “with the forwards being able to adjust and help out in front of the net. So far, they have. We’ve probably given up a few more slot chances than maybe we would have over the years. But I think we’ve killed a lot more plays. It shows in our shots against and our chances against.”
Chara, for his part, has adjusted well to his responsibilities in Washington. He went down in the first period after David Pastrnak’s shot rode up his stick and into his face. But Chara did not miss any time.
He is averaging 20:32 of ice time per game, third-highest after John Carlson and Dmitry Orlov. When Orlov, Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Ilya Samsonov were unavailable for the four previous games because of COVID-19 protocol, Chara’s presence at the wheel helped the Capitals go 3-0-1.
“It’s always hard when you’re a more experienced player like Z,” Washington coach Peter Laviolette said. “He goes into quarantine for a bit and comes out. He’s got a new team, new environment, new system. I think his game has gotten better every game. (Thursday) night he played an excellent game for us. He played over 20 minutes. Defensively, he was real strong. Offensively, he contributed and really factored into the game. I think he’s showing his true colors on the ice and off the ice.”
Chara and the Capitals are 6-0-3. He looks like a good fit for Washington’s system.
The Bruins are 5-1-2, three points behind the division-leading Capitals. They’re even harder to score against than before.
So far, Chara’s departure has resulted in wins all around.
Notes Rask helped the Bruins get to overtime by making last-minute regulation stops on John Carlson and Carl Hagelin. But Rask, injured against Pittsburgh on Tuesday, was not at his sharpest. When he’s dialed in, Rask stops the Backstrom, van Riemsdyk and Ovechkin goals. He had no chance on Richard Panik’s deflection of Tom Wilson’s heater.
“We made a few mistakes,” Cassidy said. “They’re a team that can capitalize in a hurry. They’ve got some guys that can score. You need saves to pick you up in some of those instances too.”
Pastrnak was his usual shoot-first self in his season debut. The No. 1 right wing launched 14 pucks on goal and hit the net with five. He nearly set up Marchand for a far-post power-play tap-in. Pastrnak played 20:29, the most of any forward.
The Bruins went with a five-forward power-play setup on two occasions: once when they trailed by three goals, then again in the third period. They scored the first time when David Krejci, the primary point man, put a puck on net that deflected off Backstrom’s stick and went in off Ritchie.
Because of COVID-19 restrictions, the Bruins did not spend any time with Chara on Friday upon arrival or pregame on Saturday.
“Normally, I think we would have had dinner with him last night and spent some time with him then,” Marchand said. “On game days, guys are focused and preparing to do their jobs. I don’t think we expected to see him today. But hopefully at some point.”
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Post by nfld77 on Feb 1, 2021 9:42:34 GMT -5
Seabass, the above article on Pastrnak was a great read..Keep em coming, I'm sure the majority of us read them..
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Post by madmarx on Feb 1, 2021 14:29:37 GMT -5
Let’s start with the locks.
The Bruins will most likely employ the 7-3-1 protection model (seven forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender) for the Seattle Kraken expansion draft later this year.
Up front, that means the Kraken can forget about Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle, David Pastrnak, Jake DeBrusk and Craig Smith. Bergeron, Marchand and Coyle have no-move clauses and are required to be protected. Pastrnak is the defending goal-scoring champion. The Bruins believe DeBrusk will be a top-six fixture. Smith looks like a good fit at right wing.
On defense, Charlie McAvoy, Brandon Carlo and Matt Grzelcyk will be declared off-limits. McAvoy is one of the NHL’s best all-around defensemen. Carlo is first over the boards on the penalty kill. Grzelcyk does everything well.
In goal, we’ll assume that Tuukka Rask continues to play well and remains interested in extending his career.
It leaves the Bruins with one forward to debate regarding the seventh and final protection slot. The candidates:
Anders Bjork
Bjork started the season poorly. Part of this was circumstance. Because of injuries, Bjork hopped around the lineup, from No. 1 right wing to fourth-line left wing.
He submitted his best performance of the year in Thursday’s 4-1 win over Pittsburgh while riding with Sean Kuraly and Chris Wagner. He skated with north-south purpose, applied his shiftiness when necessary and worked stoutly on the boards.
Bjork, however, is a 24-year-old who has yet to define, over a long stretch of games, what he is as an NHL player. It didn’t help that two successive shoulder surgeries stalled his development. But that he has yet to shape his strengths into anything resembling consistent identity indicates a cloudy future.
Projection: Unprotected.
Trent Frederic
Frederic has been one of the hottest risers through camp and the first eight games. It looked like he would open the season as the extra forward. But Frederic poked his foot in the door after Smith pulled up lame prior to Game 1. For the most part, Frederic’s kicked it down by skating hard, drawing penalties, agitating opponents and being strong on the puck.
It remains to be seen whether Frederic will develop consistent offensive hands. Perhaps his ceiling is as a third-liner. In that way, Ritchie may have the upper hand.
But Frederic is a natural center currently playing left wing. The Bruins will need centers when Bergeron and David Krejci age out. Frederic is 22 years old and setting himself up for an inexpensive second contract when his entry-level deal expires after this season.
Projection: Protected.
Ondrej Kase
Kase looked like he would be one of the seven protected forwards. He opened the season as the No. 2 right wing. He is 25 years old with more growth expected of his game.
But Kase has not been seen since he wobbled to the dressing room in Game 2 after taking a high hit from Miles Wood. Kase has a concussion history. His career high was 66 games played in 2017-18 with Anaheim.
Given his trouble with injuries, the Bruins may make a calculated risk that Seattle would bypass an unprotected Kase. Expansion teams have not been in the habit of picking question marks. The Bruins believe in Kase long-term. They don’t want to see him go. But they may take into account that Seattle would show hesitation.
Projection: Unprotected.
Nick Ritchie
Nothing went right for Ritchie following his exit from Anaheim last season. But the Bruins granted Ritchie a clean slate for this season. It’s showed in his play.
At 5-on-5, Ritchie has been a good straight-line left wing. He’s made the most of his net-front opportunity on the No. 1 power-play unit. Ritchie leads the Bruins with four power-play goals.
Ritchie may be developing into the soft-handed power forward the Ducks identified when they drafted him 10th overall in 2014. But Ritchie is 25, on an expiring contract and eligible for arbitration. Salary could become an issue.
Projection: Unprotected.
The Rest
This doesn’t necessarily mean that Bjork, Kase or Ritchie should start househunting in Seattle. The Kraken could have the hots for any of the defensemen scheduled to be unprotected: Connor Clifton, Jakub Zboril or Jeremy Lauzon.
Clifton, who’ll be 26 at the draft, is a smooth-skating, hard-charging right-shot defenseman. Such players are always in low supply. Clifton is also cost-controlled at $1 million annually through 2023.
Zboril, who’ll be 24, has made an NHL breakthrough as a fourth-year pro. It remains to be seen whether Zboril will become the top-pairing defenseman he was once projected to become. Lauzon, who will also be 24, is not as smooth a skater as Zboril. But so far, he’s done serviceable work alongside McAvoy as a defense-first defender.
The Bruins’ protected list will most likely evolve as the season progresses. Eight games in, this current iteration is a starting point.
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Post by kjc2 on Feb 1, 2021 15:44:10 GMT -5
Let’s start with the locks. The Bruins will most likely employ the 7-3-1 protection model (seven forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender) for the Seattle Kraken expansion draft later this year. Up front, that means the Kraken can forget about Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle, David Pastrnak, Jake DeBrusk and Craig Smith. Bergeron, Marchand and Coyle have no-move clauses and are required to be protected. Pastrnak is the defending goal-scoring champion. The Bruins believe DeBrusk will be a top-six fixture. Smith looks like a good fit at right wing. On defense, Charlie McAvoy, Brandon Carlo and Matt Grzelcyk will be declared off-limits. McAvoy is one of the NHL’s best all-around defensemen. Carlo is first over the boards on the penalty kill. Grzelcyk does everything well. In goal, we’ll assume that Tuukka Rask continues to play well and remains interested in extending his career. It leaves the Bruins with one forward to debate regarding the seventh and final protection slot. The candidates: Anders Bjork Bjork started the season poorly. Part of this was circumstance. Because of injuries, Bjork hopped around the lineup, from No. 1 right wing to fourth-line left wing. He submitted his best performance of the year in Thursday’s 4-1 win over Pittsburgh while riding with Sean Kuraly and Chris Wagner. He skated with north-south purpose, applied his shiftiness when necessary and worked stoutly on the boards. Bjork, however, is a 24-year-old who has yet to define, over a long stretch of games, what he is as an NHL player. It didn’t help that two successive shoulder surgeries stalled his development. But that he has yet to shape his strengths into anything resembling consistent identity indicates a cloudy future. Projection: Unprotected. Trent Frederic Frederic has been one of the hottest risers through camp and the first eight games. It looked like he would open the season as the extra forward. But Frederic poked his foot in the door after Smith pulled up lame prior to Game 1. For the most part, Frederic’s kicked it down by skating hard, drawing penalties, agitating opponents and being strong on the puck. It remains to be seen whether Frederic will develop consistent offensive hands. Perhaps his ceiling is as a third-liner. In that way, Ritchie may have the upper hand. But Frederic is a natural center currently playing left wing. The Bruins will need centers when Bergeron and David Krejci age out. Frederic is 22 years old and setting himself up for an inexpensive second contract when his entry-level deal expires after this season. Projection: Protected. Ondrej Kase Kase looked like he would be one of the seven protected forwards. He opened the season as the No. 2 right wing. He is 25 years old with more growth expected of his game. But Kase has not been seen since he wobbled to the dressing room in Game 2 after taking a high hit from Miles Wood. Kase has a concussion history. His career high was 66 games played in 2017-18 with Anaheim. Given his trouble with injuries, the Bruins may make a calculated risk that Seattle would bypass an unprotected Kase. Expansion teams have not been in the habit of picking question marks. The Bruins believe in Kase long-term. They don’t want to see him go. But they may take into account that Seattle would show hesitation. Projection: Unprotected. Nick Ritchie Nothing went right for Ritchie following his exit from Anaheim last season. But the Bruins granted Ritchie a clean slate for this season. It’s showed in his play. At 5-on-5, Ritchie has been a good straight-line left wing. He’s made the most of his net-front opportunity on the No. 1 power-play unit. Ritchie leads the Bruins with four power-play goals. Ritchie may be developing into the soft-handed power forward the Ducks identified when they drafted him 10th overall in 2014. But Ritchie is 25, on an expiring contract and eligible for arbitration. Salary could become an issue. Projection: Unprotected. The Rest This doesn’t necessarily mean that Bjork, Kase or Ritchie should start househunting in Seattle. The Kraken could have the hots for any of the defensemen scheduled to be unprotected: Connor Clifton, Jakub Zboril or Jeremy Lauzon. Clifton, who’ll be 26 at the draft, is a smooth-skating, hard-charging right-shot defenseman. Such players are always in low supply. Clifton is also cost-controlled at $1 million annually through 2023. Zboril, who’ll be 24, has made an NHL breakthrough as a fourth-year pro. It remains to be seen whether Zboril will become the top-pairing defenseman he was once projected to become. Lauzon, who will also be 24, is not as smooth a skater as Zboril. But so far, he’s done serviceable work alongside McAvoy as a defense-first defender. The Bruins’ protected list will most likely evolve as the season progresses. Eight games in, this current iteration is a starting point. I like Grz but I’m not sold he’d be the third D protected. Definitely think Zboril has a shot or Lauzon. I’m also thinking Debrusk has some work to do, like said before, I hope he can boost his value so we can move his sorry ass.
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