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Post by SeaBass on Apr 21, 2021 10:39:37 GMT -5
Attaboy Donny.
Imagine a scenario in which the Bruins re-sign David Krejci, Tuukka Rask, Taylor Hall and Mike Reilly while losing a depth player in the Seattle expansion draft.
It’s all possible.
Whether the Bruins will re-sign any of the four pending unrestricted free agents remains to be seen. But by acquiring two UFAs-to-be in Hall and Reilly, general manager Don Sweeney prioritized organizational flexibility as well as 2020-21 roster improvement for a Stanley Cup run.
That’s because by July 17, Sweeney will have to submit his protected list. The expansion draft takes place July 21.
Had the Bruins acquired players with term beyond this season, they would have had to rethink their protected list. But because Hall and Reilly are on expiring contracts, the Bruins reap the following benefits all around:
• Hall and Reilly remain under team control before the expansion draft even though they do not require protection.
• The Bruins, with exclusive negotiating rights, can re-sign Hall and/or Reilly during the week after the expansion draft and before the opening of free agency July 28.
• The Bruins can stick to their original protection template. It is likely to be the format declaring seven forwards, three defensemen and one goalie off-limits.
Meanwhile, they have the remainder of the regular season and the playoffs, assuming they qualify, to debate the merits of re-signing their pending UFAs.
So far, Hall has been a good fit with his new team. He’s found traction on the No. 2 line next to Krejci and Craig Smith.
A good start should advance Hall’s desire to re-up with the Bruins. He flexed his no-movement muscle with Buffalo to steer the trade in Boston’s direction.
Hall would expand his market by waiting until the start of free agency. But the 29-year-old may classify stability as his priority over a multi-team pursuit. Boston is his fifth team.
It may be different for Reilly. The 27-year-old defenseman has played himself into a generous payday by stitching together good play in Boston and Ottawa. Reilly, who is on a two-year, $3 million deal, could double his term and salary on the open market.
The Bruins like what they’ve seen from Reilly in retrieving pucks, initiating the attack and getting point shots on net. But they have left-side options. They will be cheaper alternatives to Reilly.
As for Krejci and Rask, the franchise will be dealing with lifelong Bruins. The veterans will not be eager to look elsewhere — Rask in particular. The goalie has said he does not want to play for any other team. If that holds true, it will be retirement or an extension for the 34-year-old.
Retirement, conversely, is not in Krejci’s immediate future. If the Bruins consider Jack Studnicka ready for permanent NHL status, they will move on from Krejci. But if they still think Studnicka is a question and Krejci, 35, is willing to sign a one-year extension, the relationship may extend into 2021-22.
If the Bruins proceed with the green light on the four UFAs, they will not have to extend offers until the expansion draft is over. As for that, assuming they follow the 7-3-1 model, they have, in all likelihood, just one spot left to debate.
Up front, Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and Charlie Coyle require protection because of their no-movement clauses. David Pastrnak will be the fourth protected forward. Even though he’s had a down year, Jake DeBrusk will not be going to Seattle for free.
Trent Frederic is currently a healthy scratch. This follows an illness, which was preceded by a quiet stretch of play. Still, I have made a previous case for protecting Frederic because of his age (23), position (center who can play left wing) and future growth.
It leaves Smith and Nick Ritchie to fight it out for the seventh spot. Because the Bruins have fewer options at right wing, let’s assume Smith is the final protected forward. If Seattle grabs Ritchie, it could make a Hall extension more likely.
The Bruins are required to expose two forwards under contract for 2021-22 who have played at least 27 games (40 prorated in a normal season) in 2020-21. Chris Wagner and Curtis Lazar qualify for this criteria.
On defense, Charlie McAvoy, Matt Grzelcyk and Brandon Carlo will be protected. The Bruins have to expose one defenseman under contract for 2021-22 who played at least 27 games in 2020-21. Jakub Zboril, Jeremy Lauzon and Connor Clifton could be exposed.
In net, Rask and Jaroslav Halak will be unrestricted. Dan Vladar can be protected. Jeremy Swayman is exempt from expansion.
Callum Booth will be restricted. If he receives his qualifying offer before the Bruins submit their expansion list, Booth can be exposed.
The Bruins will lose a good player. But it won’t be a roster-changing departure. The Bruins mapped out expansion very well.
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Post by madmarx on Apr 21, 2021 15:38:45 GMT -5
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Post by KSJ08 on Apr 21, 2021 17:16:40 GMT -5
That changed my whole out look on Andrew!!!
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Post by madmarx on Apr 21, 2021 18:01:36 GMT -5
That changed my whole out look on Andrew!!! It’s weird almost everyone here I think hated when he was as resigned to new contract , early on he was made of glass often injured. The game changer for myself was the Dallas line brawl game when Ott and Avery were running Players and Ferrence layed out Ott and fought Avery.. youtu.be/eG6wQRnnT8o
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Post by skemack on Apr 27, 2021 8:34:35 GMT -5
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Post by kjc2 on Apr 27, 2021 11:34:39 GMT -5
It’s tough being a Canadian Bruins fan, CBC hates us, TSN and SPORTSNET despises us. NBC is a bunch of blatantly biased Bruins haters. The only upside this year is we haven’t played any Canadian teams so we haven’t suffered through any Canadian broadcasts.🤬🤮
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Post by madmarx on Apr 27, 2021 17:31:02 GMT -5
More of this Please
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Post by SeaBass on Apr 27, 2021 18:59:38 GMT -5
Interesting to see who TBS and TNT will have as announcers next year.
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Post by madmarx on Apr 30, 2021 9:43:32 GMT -5
Hall: 10 games, 134 5v5 mins, 10-1 Bruins goals.
April 5v5 on-ice goals: Bergeron 18-5, Smith 18-6, Marchand 17-8, McAvoy 15-8 ... Kuraly 4-10, Wagner 1-5, Tinordi 1-5, Miller 3-6
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Post by KSJ08 on May 2, 2021 15:28:53 GMT -5
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Post by SeaBass on May 3, 2021 8:06:58 GMT -5
It’s the morning of Tim Thomas’s 47th birthday and the former Stanley Cup champion is doing something he doesn’t do: laughing and talking hockey with someone who isn’t a close friend or confidant.
Our conversation is meant to be about the impending launch of Thomas’s first non-fungible token (NFT).
But, for Thomas, this is about more than the latest trend in sports memorabilia and crypto technology. It’s about his gradual re-emergence in the hockey world — a world he sat atop just a decade ago but has actively avoided in recent years.
Thomas didn’t become a starting goalie in the NHL until his 30s. As a 37-year-old, he became the oldest winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy when the Boston Bruins hoisted the Stanley Cup in 2011. Just three years later, after the 2014 IIHF World Championships in Belarus, he retired without warning and fell off the hockey map.
He didn’t just leave the game behind; he was doing everything in his power to avoid the sport altogether.
Thomas stopped talking to former teammates, shrinking his contact list to as few as five people. He removed any reminders of his playing career: no photos on the wall, no hockey on TV, no signs of a career of which most would have been proud.
Instead, Thomas hated the sport and struggled with suicidal thoughts, as The Athletic reported in 2019. Thomas had a CereScan, which is used to analyze and diagnose traumatic brain injuries. The scan revealed two-thirds of his brain was getting less than 5 percent blood flow, while the other third was averaging 50 percent.
He was in a dark, confusing place and relied on family members. That small support group helped him push through, but reconnecting with the hockey world at that time presented more potential pain.
For years Thomas’s whereabouts were a rumor or a punchline, until he finally resurfaced in 2019 to be inducted into the USA Hockey Hall of Fame. As part of those festivities, he attended his first NHL game since his final game with the Dallas Stars and informed the world he’d dealt with a concussion in his final NHL season and had severe brain damage from a hit in warmups while playing with the Florida Panthers.
It was the first glimpse into what life had been like for the goalie after his playing career, and while he was lured into public by the USA Hockey Hall of Fame, he still wasn’t ready to tell his full story or voluntarily reconnect with the hockey world. He said hello to a couple of former Bruins teammates on that night in 2019, but he still wasn’t ready to answer the phone or join the group text with the rest of the 2011 Stanley Cup champions.
“About 16 months ago, I came through the other side, so to speak,” Thomas said in the interview earlier this month. “As I continued to get better and better, I’m looking for things to be involved in that are interesting. I’m looking to reconnect with friends and acquaintances that I built over my life.”
Privately, it’s meant picking up the phone and responding to texts about hockey. Publicly, Thomas will take a step back into the hockey world next week when a series of NFTs, a collection of digital memorabilia, will be released to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the Bruins’ Stanley Cup victory and the goalie’s historic Conn Smythe and Vezina Trophy-winning season.
Thomas still isn’t ready to share his full story, mainly because he still is coming to grips with what exactly happened during that time he disappeared.
“It’s a process,” Thomas said. “It takes a while to put the story together for yourself when you essentially can’t think and then start to rebuild the ability to think, then you’ve got a lot of thinking to do to put together all the pieces.”
Thomas said he discovered something else that was impacting his health after the USA Hockey Hall of Fame Induction in 2019. Learning and dealing with that has helped him take major strides, to the point of getting on the phone with The Athletic. He’s not ready to talk about the details, though.
“That’s something I want to hold back until I’m ready to tell the full story of what happened to me,” Thomas said. “You can’t really tell the world the story of what happened to you until you’ve figured it out yourself.”
But even these expanded snippets offer a larger window into his progress. Back in 2019, Thomas wasn’t willing to tell a reporter his location and only divulged that going to a game in Boston wouldn’t be a smart decision for him because of the crowd. Two years later, he’s launching NFTs and spending an hour on the phone with a reporter from his home in Arizona, exchanging personal stories about a shared geographic area and making the occasional joke when he stumbles over his words.
Thomas is willing to share that his relationship with hockey has improved and that he’s slowly reconnecting with old friends and teammates.
When the Bruins held a video-conference gathering of the 2011 Stanley Cup team last summer, Thomas took part and used it as a springboard to connect more frequently with those teammates. He recently spoke with Tuukka Rask on the phone and texted Milan Lucic to congratulate him on his 1,000th NHL game. He watched part of the 2020 Stanley Cup Final on TV from his home in Arizona — the first time since he played for the Stanley Cup that he’s paid any attention to the final series.
Thomas’ 15-year-old son, Keegan, watches highlights each morning in the kitchen on his computer and often talks about the sport with Thomas’ wife, Melissa.
“I guess I’m a casual observer of the game now,” Thomas said. “And as I’m making more contact with ex-teammates, I feel like I’m slowly stepping back into that world, so to speak.”
Thomas, through his NFT and conversations about what to include about his career, is also getting to do something he was never able to do after his retirement: celebrate his career.
“It’s helped me to appreciate the experience that I had,” Thomas said. “The past year, and not just the NFT, it’s helped really appreciate the experiences I’ve had due to the game of hockey, to appreciate the relationships I’ve had that were built because of hockey … when you are in the space I was in, I devalued everything I ever accomplished and devalued everything that hockey allowed me to be a part of.
“When you’re in a place where I was, where you are just struggling to be able to think anything, then you know,” Thomas said, pausing to find his words. “Let’s just say my view swung too far to the negative.”
Thomas now calls this the “reconnection period” of his life, something that he’s willingly embraced, and something that his close friend, Mike Valley, said has been noticeable when listening to Thomas’ tone and demeanor on their calls.
“And now I’m taking this first small step into the public,” Thomas said. “It’s part of that reconnect that I needed.”
In the time between his retirement and enshrinement into the USA Hockey Hall of Fame, Thomas’ only contact from his former hockey life was Valley.
They had played against each other in college, both played for the same team in Sweden, AIK, but not at the same time, and in Thomas’ short-lived stint with the Stars, Valley was his goalie coach in Dallas.
They would text and they would talk, but they never discussed hockey. If Valley even brought hockey up, the line would go dead or the text would go unreturned; instead, they discussed life and other various interests away from the ice.
In the past six months, Valley and Thomas started discussing cryptocurrency and eventually began having lengthy discussions about NFTs. NFTs, non-fungible tokens, are crypto-collectibles that have taken hold of the sports marketplace in 2021. It’s more prevalent in other sports, particularly the NBA with Top Shot, but has become more common in hockey with players like Matthew Tkachuk and Auston Matthews selling their own digital pieces of art in the past two months.
Matthews recently sold a 107-piece collection netting close to $200,000, with one piece selling for more than $95,000.
Valley, who’s bought and sold NFTs before, talked to Thomas about using the 10-year anniversary of his Stanley Cup championship as an opportunity to build an NFT line, and the duo connected with Blake Jamieson, an artist who has specialized in athlete portraits, but recently developed a foothold in the NFT space.
Jamieson has also built NFT collections for NBA star Damian Lillard and former NFLer Terrell Owens and didn’t know much about Thomas before he and Valley connected through Twitter about the project.
“I knew a little about his career on the ice, but that was about it,” Jamieson said. “We connected on Zoom, and he had a lot of funny stories and things to share, and he’d say something like, ‘This is probably not great for an NFT’ and then he’d tell the story, and it was awesome for an NFT.”
Thomas’ NFT line will go up for auction next week. Some of the proceeds will be donated to charity and causes that work to help individuals with traumatic brain injuries.
One of the most important things about an NFT, Jamieson said, is the story behind it and being able to provide unlockable content for the owner that isn’t available to the general public. Unlockable content is additional audio or video that only appears for the owner of the NFT, as opposed to the digital art that can be viewed by anyone while it’s in the auction space.
That’s why Jamieson and Thomas leaned hard into personal stories. For example, Jamieson asked Thomas about what was one of his favorite things he did when he had the Stanley Cup in 2011. For Thomas, it was bobbing for apples in the chalice. Growing up in a poor family, his parents once sold their wedding rings to pay for a hockey tournament when Thomas was a child. To raise money, he would sell apples at a roadside stand in Davison, Mich. When he celebrated with the Stanley Cup in 2011 with close to 2,500 people at Davison High School stadium, it was less than a mile from where he used to sell apples.
“We are trying to tell those types of stories, those things that you can share further with the unlockable content,” Jamieson said. “That’s what makes a good NFT, what can take you down the rabbit hole and if someone really wants to get more than one, they can really weave together even more of a story.”
Thomas said that opening up in this way is something that never would have happened a couple of years ago. Putting his personal stories into the world would have been a non-starter, especially stories that revolved around hockey.
“But that’s starting to change,” Thomas said. “I can let hockey be part of my life again.”
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Post by SeaBass on May 4, 2021 10:38:48 GMT -5
Patrice Bergeron - Brad Marchand
Players with ≥ 20 goals in each of the last 8 seasons
Patrice Bergeron Brad Marchand Alex Ovechkin
END OF LIST
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Post by nfld77 on May 4, 2021 17:25:17 GMT -5
Patrice Bergeron - Brad Marchand Players with ≥ 20 goals in each of the last 8 seasons Patrice Bergeron Brad Marchand Alex Ovechkin END OF LIST Just WOW, really surprised me..
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Post by SeaBass on May 4, 2021 18:09:01 GMT -5
Patrice Bergeron - Brad Marchand Players with ≥ 20 goals in each of the last 8 seasons Patrice Bergeron Brad Marchand Alex Ovechkin END OF LIST Just WOW, really surprised me.. Patrick Kane has 14 in a row but only 15 so far this year.
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Post by SeaBass on May 6, 2021 7:48:55 GMT -5
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Post by kjc2 on May 6, 2021 9:01:03 GMT -5
Sweeney has revived the Bruins twice, he did it at the 2019 trade deadline as well. Coyle and Marcus Johannson basically gave us another scoring line during that playoff run. This year the deadline acquisitions are even better but we were a much lesser team and has no bearing on whether we lose in round 1 or go to the final. Hall makes our 2nd line a scoring threat while previously with Debrusk or Ritchie it was a horrible 2nd line. Lazar makes our fourth line more energized and physical when previously it lacked energy and were constantly out of sync. I see Reilly as a #4 D and the two D he pushed out of the lineup (Zboril, Tinordi) are 7s or 8s at best. Our team is so much better but I’m not willing to make any bold predictions. I certainly think we are capable of beating the other three playoff teams in our division but all 4 are closely matched. Hopefully Donny will come away from the draft with a steal of a player in the first round. Like a Pasta or McAvoy😀
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Post by SeaBass on May 7, 2021 8:10:49 GMT -5
Not sure if this is true or not....interesting though.
Interesting stat from @vallysview on #NYR post game: #NHLBruins allow the 5th most shots when #Tuukka is in net...and 5th fewest w/either #Halak or #Swayman is the goalie.
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Post by SeaBass on May 7, 2021 9:02:54 GMT -5
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Post by SeaBass on May 7, 2021 9:06:21 GMT -5
Since trade deadline, the Bruins defense has recorded 7 goals 25 A and 32 PTS. That translates to 32 G 125 A and 160 PTS over 70 games. Trade deadline hasn't just had an effect, it has had an enormous effect.
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Post by madmarx on May 7, 2021 9:50:01 GMT -5
Just read it good article 👍
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Post by madmarx on May 7, 2021 10:23:36 GMT -5
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Post by kjc2 on May 7, 2021 19:40:23 GMT -5
Just read it good article 👍 One thing I’ve learned from working with kids for the past 15 years. They all needed to be treated fair but not necessarily all the same. I’m sure Bruce is old school and believes it’s a privilege to coach or play in the NHL (which it is) but that doesn’t make it easier or doesn’t necessarily make you happy. We are talking about goals, assists and points for an NHL player when what it is for them is a career, self worth and happiness. Management should take a page from the movie “Trouble with the Curve” and fly Jake’s mom into Boston to get him some home cooking.
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Post by madmarx on May 7, 2021 20:58:33 GMT -5
Just read it good article 👍 One thing I’ve learned from working with kids for the past 15 years. They all needed to be treated fair but not necessarily all the same. I’m sure Bruce is old school and believes it’s a privilege to coach or play in the NHL (which it is) but that doesn’t make it easier or doesn’t necessarily make you happy. We are talking about goals, assists and points for an NHL player when what it is for them is a career, self worth and happiness. Management should take a page from the movie “Trouble with the Curve” and fly Jake’s mom into Boston to get him some home cooking. Or do you fly his Dad in to kick him in the butt ..
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Post by kjc2 on May 7, 2021 22:03:48 GMT -5
One thing I’ve learned from working with kids for the past 15 years. They all needed to be treated fair but not necessarily all the same. I’m sure Bruce is old school and believes it’s a privilege to coach or play in the NHL (which it is) but that doesn’t make it easier or doesn’t necessarily make you happy. We are talking about goals, assists and points for an NHL player when what it is for them is a career, self worth and happiness. Management should take a page from the movie “Trouble with the Curve” and fly Jake’s mom into Boston to get him some home cooking. Or do you fly his Dad in to kick him in the butt .. Try his mom first🙂 Plus I’m sure Butch and all his coaches have already tried the tough love approach.
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Post by madmarx on May 8, 2021 7:47:00 GMT -5
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Post by kjc2 on May 8, 2021 8:16:19 GMT -5
Pretty sound reasoning to me. Hopefully next season things are back to normal schedule wise. Rask will start to show signs of age and most likely will have nagging injuries along the way so Swayman will get his starts with the big Bruins. It’s a great way to bring him along but as a fan it’s hard to be patient.
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Post by madmarx on May 8, 2021 13:31:55 GMT -5
Or do you fly his Dad in to kick him in the butt .. Try his mom first🙂 Plus I’m sure Butch and all his coaches have already tried the tough love approach. This should help The #NHL has relaxed its COVID-19 protocol for playoff teams that will allow for greater freedoms with regards to masks, testing, team meetings, social gatherings and travel - once 85 per cent of a team’s traveling party is fully vaccinated.
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Post by KSJ08 on May 9, 2021 12:57:04 GMT -5
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Post by kjc2 on May 9, 2021 13:55:58 GMT -5
Pasta definitely has the “it” factor on and off the ice. Excellent article and great person.
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Post by SeaBass on May 10, 2021 6:03:48 GMT -5
Curtis Lazar on the change he's seen in Taylor Hall since arriving in Boston:
"It's almost like he's reborn."
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