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Post by SeaBass on Sept 25, 2024 9:39:35 GMT -5
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Post by SeaBass on Sept 25, 2024 9:03:02 GMT -5
Ha!
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Post by SeaBass on Sept 24, 2024 20:43:42 GMT -5
Potsy looked good for sure. Glad he put on some pounds.
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Post by SeaBass on Sept 24, 2024 17:23:09 GMT -5
Montgomery on Lysell: “He needs to do a little more than he’s done if he wants to make the Bruins.”
Adds that’s true of most guys who played the first preseason game.
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Post by SeaBass on Sept 24, 2024 17:21:48 GMT -5
Spittin idiots at it again..I agree with ONE thing he said..Sweeney SHOULD of made that arbitration ruling a 2-yr deal..Swayman would be in camp signed to same contract as last season..WHY did he make it just a 1 yr deal? I spoke about this before.. My guess is that he did it in good faith. Not knowing he would be a prick to deal with again.
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Post by SeaBass on Sept 24, 2024 17:20:30 GMT -5
Hampus Lindholm on skating with Brandon Carlo: “We are two big guys that can both skate…I don’t think guys like to play against us because of those two aspects.” Too bad you are both big bags of baby soft shit. Maybe Lindholm had an off season but I thought Carlo had a career best season..He'll never be a tough rugged defenseman but he was one of our better dmen last season, at least my thought.. I agree that Carlo had a good year. I disagree that Lindholm thinks other players don't like to play against them.
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Post by SeaBass on Sept 24, 2024 13:21:14 GMT -5
Hampus Lindholm on skating with Brandon Carlo: “We are two big guys that can both skate…I don’t think guys like to play against us because of those two aspects.”
Too bad you are both big bags of baby soft shit.
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Post by SeaBass on Sept 24, 2024 10:43:07 GMT -5
AM lines:
Harrison-Frederic-Poitras Johnson-Merkulov-Brazeau Tufte-Nelson-Lysell Abate-Brown-McLaughlin
Lindholm-Carlo Callahan-Mitchell Oesterle-Sweezey
Korpisalo DiPietro
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Post by SeaBass on Sept 24, 2024 10:33:12 GMT -5
Swedish D-man prospect Loke Johansson has been cut from Bruins training camp and returned to Moncton in the Q for his junior season
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Post by SeaBass on Sept 24, 2024 9:17:35 GMT -5
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Post by SeaBass on Sept 24, 2024 8:51:53 GMT -5
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Post by SeaBass on Sept 23, 2024 20:06:42 GMT -5
First Video to air on MTV ? The Buggles - Video killed the radio star. Won me a trivia contest knowing that one.
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Post by SeaBass on Sept 23, 2024 18:25:33 GMT -5
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Post by SeaBass on Sept 23, 2024 8:36:59 GMT -5
18 minute mark is where he talks about going to business school and his contract.
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Post by SeaBass on Sept 23, 2024 8:30:16 GMT -5
Some four-plus months since being early knockouts in the playoffs again (Round 2 vs. the Panthers), the Bruins this season will strive to be faster and stronger, particularly on the forecheck. Quick translation: they want to make life a little more miserable on their 31 opponents, especially when the Stanley Cup puck drops in April.
Kuntar, a sturdy 6 feet and 205 pounds, showed the kind of pluck that could keep him in camp for most, if not all, of the seven-game exhibition season. He looks capable of playing with a consistent grind factor and pushing back when pushed. That used to be a standard in the game, but’s become increasingly rare. He scored with a nifty short-range backhander, cashing in loose change left by a shot from Patrick Brown (a fellow BC alum).
“Hopefully, I’ll catch eyes by playing my style of hockey,” said Kuntar, pondering what it might take to court the coaching staff’s attention. “I think I have a unique playing style where I like to play on the edge and I also can score, too. I want to be the hardest worker on the ice, not lose any battles … finish my checks and play hard and be hard around the net. Hopefully that is what catches the eyes.”
Kuntar played in the rookie tournament last weekend in his hometown Buffalo (he grew up in Gronk’s Williamsville neighborhood). Before boarding the bus back to Boston, he heard Providence coach Ryan Mougenel tell the rooks to stick to their game once here in main camp. All the kids have heard exactly the same from Montgomery.
All good. But any kid with a dream to stick in the NHL, especially to earn a spot on a team with a chance to win the Cup, wants to bring more, do more, albeit without getting too far over those steel-capped toes.
“Of course, obviously I think everybody has roles,” said Kuntar. “I think me coming up [after last season at AHL Providence] and me coming to Boston … I just want to make sure I am doing my job, and my role, but also doing more if I can.”
Montgomery liked what he saw from Kuntar, the son of goalie Les Kuntar, who played pro for six seasons as a Canadiens prospect. Kuntar was drafted as a pivot. If he can survive camp, he most likely would line up where he did vs. the Rangers, at No. 4 left wing.
“He’s a feisty, energetic winger,” lauded Montgomery. “He plays with a lot of edge — we like that. Seems to be always around the puck, which hockey players tend to do.”
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Post by SeaBass on Sept 23, 2024 8:29:51 GMT -5
Kids, kids, and more kids took the stage late Sunday afternoon at the Garden for the Bruins. No one was kidding anyone, because the vast majority of those kids won’t be suited in varsity Black and Gold threads when the season opens for real Oct. 8 in Florida.
Cole Koepke, with the help of homegrown defenseman Billy Sweezey (Hanson, Nobles, Yale and undoubtedly the requisite Dunkins degree earned by all Bay Staters), scored the preseason-opening goal. Ex-BC Eagle Trevor Kuntar, a potential delightful pest, also potted one for the kids table.
But in the end, for whatever it matters, the kids, kids, and more kids who suited up for the Rangers carried the Broadway Blueshirts to a 3-2 victory before a crowd (eyeball estimate: 14,000) that remained remarkably engaged throughout the 60 minutes.
Sweezey, the 2020 Yale grad, looks like he could plug in on the backline if needed. He signed over the summer after three years in the Columbus system, logging nine games in the NHL in 2022-23. He had played in the Garden only once before, as a member of the Blue Jackets. He attended Bruins development camp as an 18-year-old before he began his college career with the Bulldogs.
“It’s been surreal,” he said, asked what it’s like to grow up here and finally wear the Spoked-B on Causeway St. “So hard to say I knew it was coming.”
The Bruins are likewise deep on D. He’s ahead of many of the kids who want to move up the food chain, but most likely he’ll be wearing a Spoked-P when the season starts. Numbers.
Sweezey, 28, graduated from Yale in 2020 with a degree in biomedical engineering. For degrees of difficulty, he rates next to ex-Bruin Joe Juneau, whose RPI degree was in aeronautical engineering.
Always good for kids to have options, right?
“Not a lot of crossover, no . . . maybe time management?” said Sweezey, asked if there were comparisons to biomedical engineering and a sport based on a chunk of vulcanized rubber. “A good four years [at Yale], I enjoyed it.”
And if the hockey thing weren’t to work out for Billy Sweezey of Hanson?
“I don’t know . . . probably go back to school,” he said. “Because I’ve been out a while. Just, you know, do some research and development — work in a lab coat, put a white coat on and be a nerd.”
Kids. They sometimes say the darndest things.
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Post by SeaBass on Sept 23, 2024 8:24:15 GMT -5
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Post by SeaBass on Sept 23, 2024 7:53:40 GMT -5
Houston? Hamilton? Atlanta part 2? Utah Utah Just saw the highlight. DOH!
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Post by SeaBass on Sept 23, 2024 7:45:34 GMT -5
BOSTON — On the first day of training camp, Matt Poitras played right wing next to Cole Koepke and Trent Frederic. Jim Montgomery had his reasons.
Primarily, explained the Boston Bruins coach, it’s because Poitras has the green light from the wing to initiate neutral-zone transition and create offense. In the Bruins’ system, the center, tasked with defensive-zone responsibilities, has no such freedom.
Mastering center at the highest level is a lot to learn for a youngster like Poitras with zero games of AHL experience. If you think that’s irrelevant, Patrice Bergeron logged 68 games with Providence in 2004-05. David Krejci was in the AHL for 94.
Poitras’ right-wing residence may be temporary.
Two days later, with Elias Lindholm unavailable for the Bruins’ intrasquad scrimmage in Providence because of an undisclosed injury, Poitras was back at center, this time with Pavel Zacha and David Pastrnak. He looked very comfortable.
“I thought Poitras had a good game,” said Montgomery. “He was around the puck. He had the puck a lot. That’s his game. So it was good. We’ll see him on wing and see where he looks best.”
If granted a free pass to speak his mind without repercussions, Poitras would say he preferred the middle.
“I’ve played center my whole life,” Poitras said with a smile. “I’m ready to play wherever. I’m comfortable on the wing. I played a little bit of wing in junior hockey. But obviously I’ve played center my whole life. So I have a little bit more of a comfort level.”
The Bruins are big on Poitras. Part of considering him at wing is to let him compete for Jake DeBrusk’s old job on the No. 2 line. Poitras has top-six potential because of his hockey sense, creativity with the puck and eagerness to shoot.
Running him at wing is also the Bruins’ acknowledgement that major shoulder surgery is not a helpful prelude for life at center. Relieving Poitras of some of the D-zone workload lets the 20-year-old focus on returning to NHL pace following an interrupted rookie season.
Moving out of a lifelong position, however, does not guarantee success. The Bruins learned this the hard way.
Like Poitras, Jack Studnicka was a talented right-shot center. They were both second-round picks. In 2020-21, the Bruins tried the second-year pro at right wing. It did not go well. Studnicka’s lack of strength on the walls was one reason he looked out of place. It is not easy for natural centers to get pucks out when angry defensemen are pinching down and knocking them into next week.
Then on Oct. 27, 2022, the Bruins traded Studnicka to the Vancouver Canucks.
None of this is to say a downslide and departure are in Poitras’ future. He is a different kind of center than Studnicka. Poitras is similar to Krejci: shifty, cerebral, skilled at east-west playmaking, at his best in the middle of the ice. Krejci saw some shifts at right wing, but not many.
“When the D makes a good play up the middle, you kind of look up the ice,” said Poitras. “For me, I just see a lot of ice. Because the D are coming down the wall hard. The middle of the ice is kind of what’s always open.”
The Bruins have other options at No. 2 right wing, including Fabian Lysell. Nobody, not even Pastrnak, skates as fast as Lysell with the puck. But some of the things that place Pastrnak among the game’s elite are strength on the puck, hockey sense, elusiveness and competitiveness. Lysell, 21, is still learning all of those things.
This was clear in the Bruins’ 3-2 preseason loss to the New York Rangers on Sunday: Lysell, playing with Koepke and John Farinacci, had zero shots in 14:56 of ice time. The 2021 first-rounder did little with his opportunity.
Lysell may not be ready for full-time reps with Brad Marchand and Charlie Coyle. But given how smooth he looked between Zacha and Pastrnak, Poitras may not be a good fit for right-side duty either.
Morgan Geekie, who has been playing center in camp, could move to right wing with Marchand and Coyle. This would allow Poitras to center the No. 3 line, perhaps between Frederic and Justin Brazeau.
The Bruins have five preseason tuneups left before the Oct. 8 regular-season opener against the Florida Panthers. It gives them time to figure out their optimal No. 2 right wing.
So far, neither Lysell nor Poitras appears to be the leading candidate. Lysell could use more time in Providence. Poitras, on the other hand, looks NHL-ready.
At center.
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Post by SeaBass on Sept 23, 2024 6:40:13 GMT -5
Houston? Hamilton? Atlanta part 2?
Utah
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Post by SeaBass on Sept 23, 2024 6:16:16 GMT -5
California Golden Seals Just a random guess. It’s a current team , very current . Seattle.
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Post by SeaBass on Sept 23, 2024 6:16:06 GMT -5
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Post by SeaBass on Sept 23, 2024 6:12:56 GMT -5
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Post by SeaBass on Sept 23, 2024 6:11:40 GMT -5
Things are different this year for Matt Poitras.
Oh, the boyish grins are still there (he easily could be mistaken for a senior trying out for the Malden Catholic varsity), but there’s no longer any mystery surrounding the 20-year-old Bruins forward.
Poitras took training camp by storm last summer, first flashing with the rookies and then shining with the big boys. He made the opening-night roster and continued to flourish to the point where the Bruins brass decided to keep him up rather than return him to his junior club. Stashing Poitras in Providence was not an option.
Along the way to becoming a big hit, Poitras absorbed his share of them, and eventually shoulder surgery cut short his campaign after 33 games.
“He caught us by surprise to some degree last year, and really until the injury was on target to stay with us,” said Bruins general manager Don Sweeney. “This year is a little different, where we have some options in terms of possibly playing some games in Providence.”
“His goal is to make the team and pick up where he left off. It might take a little bit of time for him to get reacclimated timing-wise and such.”
For the second straight camp, Poitras is out to prove he belongs.
“I want to be here,” said Poitras, who put on a noticeable 8 pounds during the offseason and is up to 189 on his 5-foot-11-inch frame. “I want to be able to show that I belong here and that they don’t have a choice, that they have to keep me here.”
Poitras is getting a look at both right wing and center after playing mostly center last season. He was on the right side with Trent Frederic at center and Cole Koepke on the left side on Wednesday. He centered David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha on Thursday with top center Elias Lindholm taking a maintenance day.
“It’s good to get reps in at both,” Poitras said.
He made it clear either spot is fine with him.
“I’ve played wing in the past and I’m comfortable there,” said Poitras, who had five goals and 15 points last season. “Obviously it’s a little bit less skating than center, so it’s maybe reserving a bit more energy for playing offense, where I like to hold pucks down low and having more energy for that would be good.
“I’m ready to play wherever, whether it’s center or winger. It’s just wherever I fit in best.”
Poitras said an area of concentration for him is getting rid of the puck quicker when there isn’t a play to be made. He frequently took punishment from defenders when he kept possession too long.
“I think it’s just better decision-making around the red line and blue lines,” he said. “You don’t always have to make a play. I was the guy last year who always wanted to hold on to it and sometimes it would put me in a bad position to get hit and stuff like that.
“Also, I had a real long summer. I had three months where I was just lifting and not really skating. For me, it was just about putting on weight and lifting and not really having to worry about the hockey part.
“Then as the summer went on, just gaining as many reps with pucks as possible. When you don’t skate for three months, some of that stuff goes away a bit.”
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Post by SeaBass on Sept 20, 2024 12:16:15 GMT -5
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Post by SeaBass on Sept 20, 2024 10:47:56 GMT -5
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Post by SeaBass on Sept 20, 2024 10:46:51 GMT -5
Johnson-Coyle-Lysell Jones-Geekie-Brazeau Beecher-Kastelic-Duran Harrison-Kuntar/Farinacci-McLaughlin
Lindholm-Carlo Lohrei-Peeke Callahan-Oesterle Millman-Mast
Bussi Kaskisuo Bischel
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Post by SeaBass on Sept 20, 2024 10:41:10 GMT -5
BRIGHTON, Mass. — “I gave him a lot of minuses today,” Jeremy Swayman said with a smile. “I owed him a couple saves.”
It was Feb. 21. Swayman was talking about Charlie McAvoy. The defenseman scored in overtime to give the Bruins a 6-5 win over the Edmonton Oilers. Swayman was referring to McAvoy being on the ice for three straight Edmonton goals, which wiped out a 4-1 Bruins lead. All three were off rebounds.
Three nights later, Swayman stopped 36 of 39 shots in the Bruins’ 3-2 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks. Swayman was very good. He had no chance on the three Vancouver goals.
“Why were pucks sticking to you better tonight versus the Edmonton game?” I asked Swayman.
He didn’t care for the question.
“I didn’t have a good stick in Edmonton, eh?” he responded with a smirk. “Is that what you’re just thinking? Uh huh. OK.”
Swayman proceeded with his answer.
“I learn from every game, Fluto,” Swayman continued. “That’s something I want to do, is be known as a goalie that’s going to track pucks, that’s not going to give out rebounds and give my team the best chance to win every game every given night.”
Two days later, the Bruins were in Seattle. Swayman was backing up Linus Ullmark. As such, he was one of the last players off the Climate Pledge Arena ice following the morning skate.
The moment he saw me in the dressing room, he had something to say.
“That sticky enough for you?” Swayman asked.
He followed it up with a head shake and a crack about my question in Edmonton coming from a goalie dad, knowing I have two at home. We laughed it off. We proceeded to discuss a Thai restaurant in Seattle, a joint he termed one of the best in the league.
We get along. But I tell the story to make several points:
Swayman remembers every slight and uses them as motivation. He doesn’t care for critiques. He has a long memory. All of this is relevant to Swayman, his unsigned contract and his uncomfortable 2023 arbitration hearing. As for the latter, Swayman mentioned it, unprompted, on Jan. 13 following a 4-3 overtime win over the St. Louis Blues.
“It’s really special,” said Swayman of being named an All-Star that day. “First and foremost, it couldn’t happen without the team in front of me. I’m so lucky to be on such a defensive-structured team that takes pride in the D-zone and, of course, gets it done in the offensive zone. Huge kudos to them for allowing this to happen. After doing what I did this summer with arbitration and hearing things a player should never hear, it feels pretty special to be in this situation.”
The Bruins had their first on-ice camp practice on Thursday at Warrior Ice Arena. Swayman was not there.
For now, he is committed to the term and salary he wants, whatever that may be. So for the time being, Swayman is unwilling to bend to his employer. It aligns with his personality. Swayman, in addition to the points above, is very confident in himself.
Another story: By January of 2022, Tuukka Rask was ready to return from hip surgery. The veteran had signed a one-year, $1 million contract. Ullmark was in the first season of his four-year, $20 million deal.
Swayman was a second-year pro. Unlike Rask and Ullmark, he could be sent to AHL Providence without waivers. It was the logical and only transaction.
Swayman disagreed. He believed he deserved to be in Boston. In his mind, the assignment was “not ideal.”
It suits Swayman, then, not to accept something he doesn’t believe is right. Arbitration left him with scar tissue. He thinks it’s his turn to respond.
That is his right. It is also the Bruins’ right to pursue alternatives.
On Thursday, they signed depth pro goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo to a professional tryout agreement. The 30-year-old joined Brandon Bussi and Ryan Bischel in the second session.
Joonas Korpisalo, meanwhile, anchored the first session with Michael DiPietro and Nolan Maier. Swayman’s absence gives Korpisalo the reps he needs with goaltending coach Bob Essensa to reach previous levels of performance.
“It doesn’t change my job,” Korpisalo said of Swayman’s absence. “Quite frankly, I just want to focus on my job. Of course, he’s a great guy. I got to work with him before the camp. Great guy. Great goalie. I’m just focusing on myself.”
A final insight on Swayman: He loves being an NHL goalie. Swayman beat the odds of being from Alaska — not a regular stop for scouts — to make it. He knows he could have been a heli-ski guide had he not made the most of a teenage opportunity.
Every camp session Swayman misses will hurt. General manager Don Sweeney, who knows Swayman better than me, is aware of this. It’s why Sweeney made it a point to mention Dec. 1 — Swayman is ineligible to play in 2024-25 if he doesn’t sign by then — on two occasions Wednesday. The last thing Swayman wants is to miss games, to say nothing of an entire season and its accompanying wages.
Meeting halfway, then, could be the solution. One NHL agent, who has a client on the Bruins, concurred with a four-year compromise. The agent, granted anonymity to discuss a player he does not represent, believed Swayman could do as well as $7.5 million annually on a four-year settlement.
Whether the sides have discussed such a meeting point is unknown. For now, the disagreement continues.
Swayman, perhaps more than most of his peers, is wired to dig in.
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Post by SeaBass on Sept 20, 2024 10:27:17 GMT -5
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Post by SeaBass on Sept 20, 2024 10:25:52 GMT -5
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