2008-09 Boston Bruins Thread

[rician blast]

That's fine' date=' but Thomas still let in 5 goals. Sometimes you need a netminder to stand on his head and steal a game. [b']Thomas seems incapable of doing that[/b].

 

There was a stretch where he did exactly that, which is why he's still among the league leaders in many categories (still 1st in GAA or save %? not sure).

 

But I agree, he shows signs of not being able to make the big save when it really counts.

 

More than that, though, this loss today has me convinced this team is not a contender, and now I'm thinking that perhaps the reason the Bruins didn't make a huge splash at the trade deadline (which woulda cost more than they gave up) was that the FO didn't believe this team was a legit Cup contender.

 

If the B's don't turn things around they'll be lucky to get out of round 1 of the playoffs.

[TheKilo]

All aboard the Tuukka bandwagon, I love this:

 

[youtube=Rask loses his mind]FUVGz0MVyKI

[WhiskeyBreath]

Nice win to clinch the division over NJ.

[Cityofchampions33]

Everyone can jump back on the bandwagon now, it's cool

[rician blast]

Everyone can jump back on the bandwagon now' date=' it's cool[/quote']

 

Not me...didn't they give up 42 shots on goal yesterday?

 

Offensively, the first goal was an absolute fluke, the second was a crazy bounce over to Savard that he fired into the open net, the Lucic goal was soft by Brodeur.

 

I liked the play of Thomas yesterday. Beyond that I didn't find their performance very uplifting.

[TheKilo]

Meh, I'm in the middle, they played well for sure but it was clear it was one of Brodeur's off nights. I definitely think Chara and Thomas had excellent games, and after the last few weeks I'm not going to complain about some favorable bounces.

[rician blast]

Meh' date=' I'm in the middle, they played well for sure but it was clear it was one of Brodeur's off nights. I definitely think Chara and Thomas had excellent games, and after the last few weeks I'm not going to complain about some favorable bounces.[/quote']

 

I suppose it's legit to say that the Bruins have been a bit unlucky at times during their struggles, so maybe this is just balancing out.

 

Get a couple more solid W's under their belt and then I think my confidence in them will be stronger...right now, I'm still concerned about their playoff prospects.

[rician blast]

Nice game by the B's, but TB just plain sucked last night.

 

Couple interesting bouts last night...Lucic hits a guy once and the guy was like "no mas"...pretty funny.

[Cityofchampions33]

Not me...didn't they give up 42 shots on goal yesterday?

 

Offensively, the first goal was an absolute fluke, the second was a crazy bounce over to Savard that he fired into the open net, the Lucic goal was soft by Brodeur.

 

I liked the play of Thomas yesterday. Beyond that I didn't find their performance very uplifting.

 

That's like the basis of our defensive strategy when things are going well, give up a lot of shots, but from weak areas. if you look back at our amazing November and december, you can see this rings true. Also fluke goals, or garbage goals, are sometimes a product of dominant play and hard work, which IMO happened that game. the devils hardly got any quality chances on Thomas all game.

 

Looking increasingly like it's Les Habitantes yet again this year for the playoffs, and I say bring it. I think this team when it either gets riled up via fights/atmosphere, it really rises to the occasion. Look at any Stars/Habs game this season, and they play well when a lot is on the line. That is why I feel they are made for the playoffs.

[BoSox21]

Bruins extended Tim Thomas for 3 years at $5.2 million per season. Tuukka Rask looks to be a backup for at least three years beginning next season. Thoughts?

[rician blast]

Bruins extended Tim Thomas for 3 years at $5.2 million per season. Tuukka Rask looks to be a backup for at least three years beginning next season. Thoughts?

 

From the little I've seen of Rask, I think he deserves, at minimum, to play 30 games next year...but $5.2m is big bucks in the NHL..too big for only 50 starts? Could be.

 

Rask has gotta be looking around the league and thinking that Rinne, Hiller, Mason and Quick have all gotten their shots...when will he get his?

 

I'm happy they extended him, but wish they could have done so for a million $ less.

[BoSox21]

$5.2 million isn't money you give a platoon goaltender. The Bruins have made it clear Tim Thomas is their workhorse for the next three years.

[TheKilo]

Bruins extended Tim Thomas for 3 years at $5.2 million per season. Tuukka Rask looks to be a backup for at least three years beginning next season. Thoughts?

 

Link?

 

If true, this is an awful, awful deal for the Bruins.

[msubulldogs21]

Link?

 

http://www.boston.com/sports/hockey/bruins/extras/bruins_blog/2009/04/thomas_inks_new.html

[rician blast]

$5.2 million isn't money you give a platoon goaltender. The Bruins have made it clear Tim Thomas is their workhorse for the next three years.

 

 

I think that's what I was saying...that you can't have a making $5.2m per year sit on the bench 30 times. That said, Rask is still deserving of reasonable playing time, and I'm afraid he won't get it.

 

So what happens? Does Rask get pissed and want a trade? Then what if Thomas goes down? Will we have Vinny Riendau manning the nets? Maybe Jon Casey is available?

 

As well as Thomas has played this year, I don't ever see myself thinking he's a Cup-capable goalie. Maybe winning, oh, say, a playoff series would make me more comfortable.

[BoSox21]

That's what I'm saying, Rask won't get 30 starts unless Thomas gets injured or regresses big time simply because the financial investment in Thomas is too big.

 

It's definitely not a good day for Rask but even if he demands a trade, tons of NHL teams are pulling goalies out of their asses these days anyway.

[TheKilo]

http://www.boston.com/sports/hockey/bruins/extras/bruins_blog/2009/04/thomas_inks_new.html

 

KPD is a hack, I'd like to see it somewhere else.

[TheKilo]

This might be the worst move Chiarelli has made during his tenure with the Bs.

 

Actually, if the $5.2 number is accurate, it is by far his worst deal with the Bs.

[rician blast]

OK, so Timmy stays on at $5.2, as compared to his current cap hit of $1.1m, an increase of $4.1m. Manny leaves and takes with him his $4.3m cap hit. Assuming Rask becomes the backup and spends the year on the NHL roster, he's a hit of $3m I believe.

 

Looks as though this goalie activity will cost the Bruins $2.8m.

 

Krejci, Kessel, Bitz and Hunwick are RFA's. I don't see the latter two commanding too much $, those deals should get done at modest increases. Krejci and Kessel are another story, they'll cost some $ to keep.

 

Meanwhile Yelle and Axy, two of the better defensive forwards are UFAs. I believe Sobotka can fill one of those roles...the other I'd think they can sign at similar dollars to this year...Axelsson represents the greater cap hit...he might be the odd man out.

 

My hunch is the B's will explore moving Sturm and his $3.5m cap hit or Bergeron ($4.75m hit).

 

Somehow they'll get this done, be close to the cap limit and possibly suffer a little bit in terms of depth.

[rician blast]

For comparison, here are some NHL goalies, their age and their 2009-2010 salary:

 

Turco 32 5.4m

Huet 32 5.6m

Brodeur 36 5.2m

Giguere 31 6.0m

Vokoun 31 5.7m

Kiprusoff 31 7.0m

Backstrom 30 6.0m

 

Based on his career body of work, $5.2m for 3 yrs for a 34 yr old sounds high. Factor in that he's having an outstanding year, and maybe it's not too bad. Factor in that apparently the contract includes a buyout feature that limits the Bruins exposure and it's probably about right...I'd still like to understand more how that buyout works and what it potentially saves the organization before calling this a good signing.

 

Now the timing of the deal is something I don't quite get..I'd like to see Thomas win a round or two of the playoffs first...maybe the thinking was get this done, let him relax a little so there wasn't so much pressure on him to earn that next deal via the playoffs? Tell him he earned it already then let him go out and be confident? Not sure the motivation here.

[BoSox21]

It's actually a 4-year deal

[TheKilo]

For comparison, here are some NHL goalies, their age and their 2009-2010 salary:

 

Turco 32 5.4m

Huet 32 5.6m

Brodeur 36 5.2m

Giguere 31 6.0m

Vokoun 31 5.7m

Kiprusoff 31 7.0m

Backstrom 30 6.0m

 

Based on his career body of work, $5.2m for 3 yrs for a 34 yr old sounds high. Factor in that he's having an outstanding year, and maybe it's not too bad. Factor in that apparently the contract includes a buyout feature that limits the Bruins exposure and it's probably about right...I'd still like to understand more how that buyout works and what it potentially saves the organization before calling this a good signing.

 

Now the timing of the deal is something I don't quite get..I'd like to see Thomas win a round or two of the playoffs first...maybe the thinking was get this done, let him relax a little so there wasn't so much pressure on him to earn that next deal via the playoffs? Tell him he earned it already then let him go out and be confident? Not sure the motivation here.

 

It's not the fact that Thomas doesn't deserve his money - he absolutely 100% does - it just shouldn't be the Boston Bruins who are paying him.

 

The top priority of the Bruins this offseason should have been to sign Krejci and Kessel, then sign guys like Hunwick and Bitz for depth purposes.

 

With this deal in place, Thoma's salary will be more than 10% of the cap next season - and what happens if the cap goes down? There's been lots of rumblings about that and this deal will hamstring the team even further.

 

Thomas has done well in Boston, but he should have been shown the door when it was found it would cost this much to re-sign him. Knowing full well that Rask and his ~3 million would be up with the team next season, the Bruins should have saved some money and signed a veteran goalie on the cheap to spell Rask when need be.

 

Throwing this kind of money at a 34 year old goaltender is lunacy. It's looking more and more like Kessel will be on his way out at the end of the season, and if that's the case they should have made the deal for Pronger.

[TheKilo]

I think this signing spells the end of Tuukka Rask in Boston

[Dojji]

I think this signing spells the end of Tuukka Rask in Boston

 

That's a pretty ridiculous thing to think. With the bonus cushion coming back the Thomas-Rask tandem only costs the Bruins about a cap hit of 1.3M more than the Thomas-Fernandez combo. It's more likely to cost us Ward than Rask.

[TheKilo]

That's a pretty ridiculous thing to think. With the bonus cushion coming back the Thomas-Rask tandem only costs the Bruins about a cap hit of 1.3M more than the Thomas-Fernandez combo. It's more likely to cost us Ward than Rask.

 

You really think that there's going to be any kind of significant platoon between the two over the next four years?

 

Tim Thomas is making $6 million the next two seasons, he's the starting goaltender. Rask will not get the playing time he needs to continue his development during the duration of this contract.

 

It's not only the goaltending costs. How are the Bruins going to afford to re-sign Kessel, Krejci, and guys like Axe, Hunwick, and Bitz, all of whom have provided excellent depth for the Bruins this season?

 

No matter how you slice it, giving a soon to be 35 year old goaltender $6 million is a truly awful deal and it's very likely this contract could have cost the Bruins their franchise goaltender.

[Dojji]

We'll see. We know already that even if Thomas is red hot someone else is going to start a few games.

 

I don't honestly see what else the Bruins were supposed to have done here. Thomas is proven in their system and Rask is not. They're in the middle of a playoff run. The move has a certain sense to it.

 

I don't think this will keep us from signing Kessel or Krejci. I've seen some of the math on HFBoards and with the bonus cushion they still have about $9M of cap room this year.

[TheKilo]

http://www.boston.com/sports/hockey/bruins/extras/bruins_blog/2009/04/thomas_everythi.html

 

"I'd like to sign everyone, but we have to make decisions over the summer," Chiarelli said. "We'll look at the performance of players, then we do the math. We've been doing the math from the time I've come here. That's a large part of the job. What is important to the organization is that we have terrific goaltending for a long time. Sometimes you have to put aside the math -- not completely -- and make the decisions like we did with Tim."

 

Thomas has a no-movement clause for each of the first three years of his new deal. There are no restrictions on his fourth year.

 

Ugh

[TheKilo]

We'll see. We know already that even if Thomas is red hot someone else is going to start a few games.

 

I don't honestly see what else the Bruins were supposed to have done here. Thomas is proven in their system and Rask is not. They're in the middle of a playoff run. The move has a certain sense to it.

 

Alex Auld put up a .917 save PCT in Julien's system. i think Rask would have been just fine.

 

I don't think this will keep us from signing Kessel or Krejci. I've seen some of the math on HFBoards and with the bonus cushion they still have about $9M of cap room this year.

 

More knowledgeable hockey people than I disagree (courtesy SoSH):

 

http://sonsofsamhorn.net/index.php?s=&showtopic=43580&view=findpost&p=2188871

 

This brings us to an AAV of $58,428,000. So as it stands, we're over the cap by $1.7m if we wish to retain our RFAs, and that's with a relatively conservative estimate for both Krejci and Kessel (imho). This leaves us the following options:

 

1. Trade Sturm

 

I don't think this can happen. Nobody is going to want to take a chance on a $3.5m AAV guy coming off knee surgery. At the very least, we'll get a similar contract in return.

 

2. Trade 2 of Ference, Ward, and Kobasew

 

This will probably happen. Ference is a huge presence in the locker room but is relatively easily replaced by Hunwick - I think he's the first to go, as Ward's right hand shot plays into his favor here. Replace Ference on the roster with Jeff Penner (almost the same cap hit) or, more likely, Adam McQuaid. That's a savings of about $770,000. Trading Kobasew would likely be the other shoe to drop. This is my main issue of contention - to house Thomas's new deal, we'll have to ship off some of the depth that made this club so deadly in the first place. Yes, Lehtonen, Sobotka, and Marchand are all knocking down the door to get to the bigs, but the fact is they won't get the time they need playing on the fourth line.

 

Kobasew is a guy I've railed on a lot, but I'm willing to admit when I'm overreactionary - he's a valuable part of this team and has played extremely well with Homoleski and Bergeron. It'd be a shame to see him replaced on the third line by someone too green for NHL competition on a cup contender simply because we kept Tim Thomas. Anyways, trade Kobasew, replace him with Lehtonen and you get under the cap, with only Bitz as a spare forward. Not a place we want to be in, folks.

 

If the Bruins sign Krejci and Kessel, they will be a very, very thing team next season. The depth that is a linchpin of their success this season will be gone, because they decided to throw a lot of money at an aging veteran instead of letting their young talent develop.

 

Sounds a lot like the moves the Bruins have made over the last 5-6 years.

[Dojji]

Alex Auld put up a .917 save PCT in Julien's system. i think Rask would have been just fine.

 

Doesn't follow, and even so you don't throw a guy who's barely played in the NHL in as your starter when you've got a quality alternative sitting there right in front of you. Or did we learn nothing at all from Hannu Toivonen?

 

Also, Auld is not a bad goaltender in his own right and his Boston tenure represents a small sample size

 

THat SOSHer overlooked the return of the bonus cushion. That gives us a lot more breathing space when we're dealking with contracts like Wheeler's and Rask's

[rician blast]

The contract is a bit rich, but there is a buyout option, I believe. As for who'll potentially be gone because of tightness vs. the cap, I'd try to move Bergeron...although his contract may be prohibitive, the B's could take back some salary in return, just not Bergeron's nearly $5m.