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Bruins are prioritizing defense over scoring



Bruins are prioritizing defense over scoring

for some Bruins follows Murray started his uh opening takeoff with it uh and here’s Here’s my thought and Matt Porter wrote something I thought good in the globe or boston.com about what was the Bruins problem let me start off by just asking what was ultimately what was 10,000 ft the Bruins problem at the end of that Florida series couldn’t score Bingo very good couldn’t score couldn’t score uh as Matt Porter writes the Bruins in the regular season rank 14th in goals per game not great middle of the pack and then averaged in the postseason or I’m sorry in the second round averaged 2.17 goals per game in the second round against the Panthers they had that fiveg goal Outburst against barosi in game one which barely counts right but they did other than that Boston capped its most recent playoff run with two goals scored or fewer in eight of its last nine postseason games in eight of its last nine games games two goals are fewer Ms that’s what happened okay so now they get to free agency uh alas lol’s kind of the no-brainer they need a center they sign Lindholm and now you got all this money and now you have a choice you can go get a wing out there there’s some scoring wings out there you could you could have repaid Jake D bruski even if you wanted to but as Matt Porter writes out Jonathan maraso is out there Tyler tool is out there both signed marsho signed 5 years 5 a half million roughly what um zidor got Tyler tley six million per year over four years again roughly the same ballpark you want to go a little bit lower Anthony duclair signed with the Islanders three and a half million so some scoring Wingers instead they went with zadorov and that was a conscious decision and and and Sweeney talked about it there he says uh well when you go Center first and then you think about the strength of your team and he said the the strength uh I think the depth of our defense and the strength of our hockey team I wanted to continue to make sure we have those found foundational pieces in place he says I think this group as a whole can tease a little more offense out of it so he had a choice there Maz he did keep to Brusque replace debrusk put that that okay lindol was an automatic now you got a choice scoring Winger or beef on D and he went for the beef and back as opposed to the scoring Winger how do you feel about that so I’m in favor of it I told you this the other day I like that I I was more interested in the defensive pickup than I was with I was more interested in zidor than I was in Lindholm because I feel like the Bruins have been way too vulnerable in the postseason when it comes to uh grinding teams particularly Florida who has four check the crap out of them and their defense is ultimately crumbled and so they the the point being they built a defense-oriented team that couldn’t hack it in the playoffs when the when the uh you know when the pressure got more intensified so uh to me they needed to fix that it’s been an ongoing problem for multiple years not just one now the goal scoring thing is real I’m not telling you that’s not a problem it is I just think it’s not as simple as adding one Winger yeah because they couldn’t keep the puck in the offensive zone due to their defense at times and look M makoy didn’t have a good playoffs but so many times it was going the other way the defense was okay but when it came time for the playoffs they didn’t do their job defensively and the offense really couldn’t produce so I get what he’s saying here and it’s flash year to get a Winger someone like marsho or tioli or somethingone like that I get it but I can understand the methodology here as to why they why he’s going the way he’s going I’m okay with it too frankly I am I I I think I think maybe one of the more important things in hockey is a big beefy defense Corp and and I I don’t know if Florida totally qualifies but a lot of the recent Champions do I mean Tampa had a great deep big Decor that’s how you lost the finals in 19 uh the best player in the game when you want to marcen not that he’s big and beefy but you know controls the game yeah I I I just think like that is to me I’d rather have a great decco than a great goalie I’d rather pay you know I’ll take it all obviously but if I’m talking like having to make a choice in terms of what I’m spending on I’d rather spend on a big deep good defense core than a goalie so I’m okay with it but there was definitely a choice I mean so what I got to tie this in it frustrates me that they’re going to to pay a goalie so much that’s why I would also save I’d save a net and use that up front and feel the need that way and try and get through with what most teams get through with which is good but not great goal tending and you do it by having the best team and you protect the goalie with good defense and all that sort of stuff but it is sort of striking you know not that I’m any fan of debrus but debrus is a 20 goal scorer is eff and dant Heinen scored 17 goals last year I know van reik had 11 you know those guys are gone so you’re going to have to you know so and I did this the other day I went to draw up the lineup I’m like after you get past the fifth guy it’s like you know you can put Coyle on that second line Center Spot he’s better suited for the third line but that’s representative he can be a you know second Center if he plays next to Mar if Marian Coy’s on your second line okay like that you feel all right with that Brad march on at Center don’t do this to me again and up front if it’s zaka with poock and lastas lindome okay you tell me who plays on that other Wing Jordan Kon on the right he’s gone he’s gone we need someone else on the right side or left side maran’s right uh I had left right Daniel P on the left side was he a right side or left side I can’t remember but they don’t have anybody L are fluid thank you which is why Ty Anderson was talking about melov or lysel having to be that guy well Sweeney could have Sweeney could have he could have instead of given this the door off 5 a half million he could have spent that on a Winger and now you got a top six that makes sense so was that the right choice uh discuss 617 779 0985 and I love the whole piece about you know Montgomery after the the after they lost to the Panthers last year saying well we’re trying to win every game two to one it’s hard to win every game two to one and I’ll play the sound coming up two days ago Sweeney said well I don’t know I watched game seven in the Stanley Cup Final they won 2 to one we’re going to have to win some games that way so there’s a little push pull there with the coach and the GM and I I don’t know I I think I might s side with the GM on that one I do you know like that other thing are you gonna win 5’4 like they’re not close to being that like they can’t be that like what do you expect you don’t got that kind of talent out there so they have to win playing the right quote unquote the right way I mean that’s my sentiment and look Ju Just as an example okay and I know there are a lot of variables it’s not as simple as one thing the last time the Bruins won the cup Vancouver was the most explosive offensive team in the league do you remember how many goals they scored in the final yeah they they got shut out in game seven eight eight goals in the seven games oh god wow good eight goals in the seven games is what Vancouver scored so as talented and good as they were and look I know Thomas played great but I don’t know how did you like the Bruins decoy back then did you feel pretty good about it between boy Chuck McQuade fer who who a you know who played bigger than he is and was a freaking as you described them a rabid squirrel it was nuts that year right like so the point is their Deco was I think the strength of the team their foundation of the team was on the decor and they had arguably the single best defensive pairing in the playoffs out there on the ice for 30 minutes a night in Seidenberg and Chara they were impenetrable they were like St Louis was in 2019 so you’d go in there and you’d get buried so I you know to me I and again I’m not telling you this team can do what the 2011 team did I’m just telling you that if you don’t have that you’re screwed no matter how much you score

#bostonbruins #nhl #hockey

Thumbnail photo courtesy of Paul Rutherford of USA Today Network

18 Comments

  1. Mac needs to play his games which is offense. And they need to pair him with a guy like Zadorov. What happened to the Bruins offense when Ray Bourque was shut down? I know you guys cover football. So, you get the Belichickian thing where they shut down the opposing team's best. Now, try. Note: same with Lindholm…how to they make Pasta and other players (eg Charlie Coyle) better? They know what the team needs to create more offense in general. Now, look at the defense pairings. Perfect! They now have one guy in each pairing that is very good at getting the puck out with a defensive-minded partner. Oh, and those late round picks? Why not swing for the fence? They were able to grab a few who were rated much higher. And you're not going to get a guy like Dean unless you get them early…try and trade for Tage Thompson.

  2. The Rangers & Oilers , pretty much got shut down too. Both were better offensive teams than Boston. Let's give Florida credit for a shutdown D. Boston did have a lot of break aways, wide open missing the net shots, & hitting posts. They had chances, but don't have finishers except Pasta.

  3. So was the biggest problem that they couldn't score goals or was that they couldn't score goals a symptom and not the sickness? I think it was a symptom. The issue. The sickness was that they couldn't maintain possession in Florida's end of the ice. They couldn't get a cycle going. When they did get into Florida's end they couldn't win a faceoff. Florida dominated in terms of offensive zone time. It's hard to score when you aren't playing in the offensive zone. Lindholm drives possession. He'll keep the puck in the offensive zone. And he wins faceoffs even in the playoffs. They will score more because of Lindholm 100%. He won't necessarily factor in but he'll start the cycle he'll keep the puck in. The other teams d will tire and you will score. You let DeBrusk go, you let Heinen go, you let JVR go. These were 3 of your top 10 points guys. You hope Lindholm replaces DeBrusk's production and then some. You hope a full year of Brazeau replaces one of those guys production. You hope a full year of Poitras replaces another one of those guys production. You hope you see Morgan Geekie come out stronger now that he's not getting used to a new team. And you hope some of your kids take a step. Coyle will start as 2c. You hope at some point during the season Poitras looks good enough that you can swap them. Coyle is a natural 3c. He did a good job playing up last year but it'd be better if you didn't have to rely on him repeating that. Zacha will move to wing. Hopefully with that stress and responsibility lessened he finds more production. If not he's a guy you could easily consider trading. Frankly I'd be looking at that right now. He proved at least in the regular season he can be a 2c numbers wise, faceoff wise. He's not going to be a center for us. But he could be for someone else. If they valued a two c high enough you might be able to wrangle a proven goal scoring winger for him.

  4. With a good Calgary team Lindholm scored 40, WTF are you guys talking about.
    He's in for a 35 goal year.

  5. My lord. You don’t know what wing Marchand plays and zadoov is 5 not 5.5. Look up your facts. Not knowing your captain plays left wing is sad

  6. Couldn’t score may start with not getting the puck out of your zone…I promise this is the last time I will mention Hampus Lindholm sucking…I promise.

  7. 2 solid goalies covered up our rosters shortcoming and, most importantly, kept us competetive & $$$ flowing into Jacobs pockets.
    We lost Linus for a boatload of poop so to keep the sellout streak we'll improve our D regardless of our top 6 being FOUR deep.

  8. Bruins aren’t better. Their different. Maybe 1% better, but how many more games will they lose not having Ullmark. The purpose of getting rid of Ullmark was to take that money and get a scorer. They didn’t get scoring forward. Lindholm # 2 only replaces Debrusk.

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