The Bruin's Season Is Over And Now I Am Dead Inside (Until October)
I'm currently typing this introduction after finding out the boys over at The Sit-Down have abandoned the blogging portion of their content. They have decided to strictly focus on their Podcast that I am no longer invited to sabotage with responses that would even put someone hyped up on Adderall or Cocaine into their dream cycle. I'm literally half way through finishing this blog and I feel like I just went to give someone a high five and they didn't see it so I stand there awkwardly looking like a damn fool and put my hand in my pocket or push my hair to the side. Dammit. Oh well, I need to vent away the Bruins season ending somehow. So without further ado, here are more of my thoughts... minus the further mention of drugs (sorry mum).
Well... this sucks. I watched probably like 80 or more games this season of this years version of the Bruins. So it was only natural to have grown so fond of this years team and the changes I saw happening before me. Watching players bloom into young stars of the league, and others wilt into a mere liability when they take the ice. In many respects, they stole my heart this year and let it get ripped out by Dion Phaneuf and let him eat it on our home ice. The Boston Bruins 2016-17 season has officially come to a close as Erik Karlsson and the Senators take out the Big Bad at Stopping Breakaway Bruins like they were in season with the bear traps locked and loaded. The 1-3-1 trap the Senators use after getting a lead can put even the most hardcore fans of hockey to sleep, but it was enough to stifle the Bruins offensive style that allowed Brad Marchand to become recognized as one of the elite offensive talents in all of hockey. Overall the series was filled with ups and downs. Downs like letting Erik Karlsson emasculate the Bruins roster all series (more like season). In 9 games vs. the Bruins this year (he missed one of the ten), Karlsson was responsible for 9 points via goal or assist. He averaged a point per game. One. Point. Per. Game. vs. Boston. Making some video game-like opportunities for his teammates and still playing nearly 30 minutes every game. Seriously, the Karlsson pass to Mike Hoffman in game 3 gave me flashbacks comparable to the likes of Brady to Moss in '07. So to blame the refs for us losing the series I believe is an insult to the effort Karlsson and his team put in all series. Sure, there is plenty debate for the officials this series. But give the Sens credit when it is due, they have some special talent and chemistry brewing up there. Except Wideman, he's a plug. It was such a close series, every game was decided by one goal, 5 periods of overtime, a bit of unnecessary anxiety even by playoff hockey standards.
I really hate Mr. Karlsson now. I feel like the Bruins have to call him dad for a little while, hell I might even have to. I had no relative feelings about him until like a week and a half ago, now he owns real estate in my brain when he touches the puck. The only reason I hate him? He's so damn good. Yet I find things to pretend we can be happy about right now with bright spots like the debut of future Norris Trophy winner Charlie McAvoy (yeah I said it, fight me). The kid looked like he belonged in the NHL when he played for the Team USA junior team a few months back, and proved his worth nearly immediately by entering game 1 of the series with poise and maturity in the defensive and offensive zones. Nothing like having a guy that loves the organization with all his heart.
Now that the hockey season is officially over for Boston's team, what can we gather from what we saw? What can we look forward to for the future?
I actually wrote a preview blog to this season in like June or July of 2016. Seems like just yesterday I accurately predicted the Bruins would be a fringe playoff team and potentially make some noise while my good friend Kyle called me an idiot for having hope in the team I love. Ahh, nothing like some good friendly banter to keep the self esteem up. Take good care of Claude for me Kyle, sometimes you have to burp him like a baby when they have spit up when he gets upset. Anyways, the team has many of the same issues that persisted going into the year that it had prior. Finding NHL ready defenseman you can rely on to skate well, move the puck accurately, and not be over 7 feet tall on skates over age 40 is apparently hard for the Bruins. These marks are all necessities in todays iteration of the NHL. Sometimes we trade exactly what we need (miss you Johnny). Having players like Adam McQuaid to play the tough guy and block shot after shot is key to any team who wants to be a contender. I respect McQuaid a lot after this year. But you can't rely on these guys to be able to create plays or creatively get the puck out of the defensive zone time after time while they put their bodies on the line every game. So that leads me to goal number 1 for Boston this offseason: Don't get your entire Defensive roster injured before or during the playoffs. Kidding, acquire some new defensive talent or groom the prospects you have in the minors into NHL players, find out what they can do. I don't even know what to do with Chara at this point. He had A LOT of miscues in the playoffs. My gut says keep him. His salary cap hit goes down to $4 Million next season, and I honestly see that as reasonable. But he can't keep putting these minutes up all year and be expected to play 30+ minutes in the playoffs every game. Also he has a no movement clause so... tough shit he makes the calls. Also to note, Dennis Seidenberg who we bought out this past offseason played fairly well for the Islanders and Team Europe in the World Cup. Sick, awesome!
One of the other major points I made in that blog was the necessity of having a viable backup goalie to save Rask having to play 65+ games. Needless to say he played 65 games and started in 64 of them. At times he looked off, mechanically, mentally, emotionally, physically. Much of that slump in the middle of the year after the clock struck 2017 could potentially be attributed to a few things. Fatigue, simply just kinda sucking, or the changes that were made to the coaching and play style throughout the year. But the former Vezina Trophy winner proved his worth both down the stretch of the regular season and in the playoffs providing some of the more consistent sources of good play. 37 regular season wins, 2.23 Goals Against Average in the regular season with to be quite frank, a pretty dismal defensive scheme for much of the year if I am being honest. Playoff Rask wasn't much different, boasting a 2.24 GAA and a .920 Save Percentage, not bad for having to face what seemed like 100 breakaways. I'm willing to give Anton Khudobin another year at only $1.2 Million against the salary cap, he showed a lot of fight and promise down the stretch when needed to give Rask a night off. Until he pooped his pants in the last game. People might forget, I had to remind you.
David Backes. $6 Million against the cap for 38 points, while being consistently paired on one of the top two lines. Along with his second lowest shooting percentage in his career at just under 10% (9.7%). He simply has to be better next year. I can't even muster a witty comment. He showed up a bit in the playoffs (4 points in 6 games), that's awesome. We want more, we need more out of this guy. Plain and simple. Could it have been the move from center to right wing? Yeah, sure. But the level of talent he played with all year makes it inexcusable for his production numbers. He can be as much of a character guy in the locker room as you want, $6 Million is a lot of money for a hype man.
Coming down to the end of this blog, I think this has been therapeutically relieving. But I figured I'd make my own to do list if I'm the Bruins and want to make Brian happy.
Improve the defense
Give Tuukka a damn break some times
Keep Cassidy as the Head Coach, he earned it. The guys play their asses off for him.
A tiny bit more depth to the forwards (prospect or elsewhere). Overall I like how Nash and Moore played.
Get Jimmy Hayes and Matt Belesky off my damn team
Let Spooner walk, the center position is already over saturated
Go back in time and and capture Bobby Orr in his prime
And here we are. The end of the blog, the end of me thinking about the Bruins until the draft or the free agency period. It was a hell of a year. A coaching change, getting back into the playoffs, all is fun when you know your team is trending in the right direction. I'm already excited for next season, and cannot wait to see what the offseason holds, especially with the new franchise in Las Vegas that will be doing an expansion draft. Who will be back? Who will leave? Will Chara play until 60? Here's to 2017-18
P.S.
Pastrnak over 40 goals next year
