Bruins Off-Season Thread

[Looch Ness Monster]

Let's be optimistic here. The "we're done dealing for now" is likely smoke screen. They know they can't win the Stanley Cup with the roster they currently have. I'm looking for it to be quiet for a while right up until September.

 

Don't worry guys, the Bruins are pretty much in full control of Kessel right now. Kessel is still playing in their court. He isn't arbitration eligible until next year and he hasn't received any offer sheets. He likely won't until late September so that the Bruins are either forced to go ver the cap, let him walk or trade one of their forwards to match the offer. If the offer's over 4.5 mill, he's gone as the Bruins have no assets over 4.5 (Patrice Bergeron) to move.

 

Even then my belief is that Bergeron is going to be the best player on the team next year and it would be foolish to move him. He put up 70 points before he was even old enough to buy a beer. C'mon now

[yankeessuck013]

I'm not sold on Kessel. But, even though his point totals were surely inflated this past season, he still potted 36 goals which should count for something. No one is going to give him an offer sheet this early. At this point Boston could match it and still trim salary, a week before the season and it's not as easy to do that. He's a good player but I wouldn't mortgage the future on him just yet. I think people are being very cautious with the big offer sheets. Penner is the gold standard of why you should be careful of what you are signing. He had a great season, will he be able to maintain that pace though and is he worth the money AND the picks that it would take to get him?

[TheKilo]

I don't buy the cause and effect there. If Chiarelli could have signed Morris to 3.3' date=' I'm hard pressed to believe he couldn't sign Kessel to 3.5.[/quote']

 

You don't see the cause and effect of not being able to sign Kessel after TT signed that albatross of a deal?

 

They had other areas to improve on as well and while I don't love the 3.3 figure for Morris it's still less than a million more than Ward would have made anyway.

 

I'm not sold on Kessel. But' date=' even though his point totals were surely inflated this past season, he still potted 36 goals which should count for something. No one is going to give him an offer sheet this early. At this point Boston could match it and still trim salary, a week before the season and it's not as easy to do that. He's a good player but I wouldn't mortgage the future on him just yet. I think people are being very cautious with the big offer sheets. Penner is the gold standard of why you should be careful of what you are signing. He had a great season, will he be able to maintain that pace though and is he worth the money AND the picks that it would take to get him?[/quote']

 

He potted 36 goals at age 21. It's been written he's looking for a figure in the $4 million range.

 

This just seems like such a no brainer it's not funny...

[Dojji]

Even after "that albatross of a deal" Chiarelli had the money to sign Kessel at several different points this offseason and said so himself. Kessel is not unsigned because of Thomas. Kessel is unsigned because Chiarelli has, for some reason, not decided that he needs to hurry up and sign Kessel.

[yankeessuck013]

 

He potted 36 goals at age 21. It's been written he's looking for a figure in the $4 million range.

 

This just seems like such a no brainer it's not funny...

 

 

i dunno, kessel seems like a poor man's thomas vanek...not very good on the defensive side, can't back-check very well, undersized forward, goal scoring comes in spurts rather than consistently...

 

im not sure if the "such a no brainer its not funny" is directed towards the bruins mangement on why they havent signed him yet or other teams gm's on why they have extended an offer sheet yet but the notion that "he's a good player, he's not signed, why hasn't anyone given him an offer sheet?" is stupid. It's not true- I'm sure he's negotiated with other teams...but if he and his agent are in this to make the most money long term, then they wouldn't sign a long-term offer sheet. They'd want to do a short one for one or two years, have him boost his earning power and have another kick at the can soon. I'm sure Kessel himself thinks he can improve on this past season- if he does, he's going to make a hell of a lot more money by biding his time and signing a long-term deal down the road. And no team is going to give up the picks to sign the guy to a one-year contract, it just wouldn't be smart.

 

it's going to require an offer sheet of at least $5 million for the B's to let kessel leave. There are very few teams that have $5 million or more to spend and are under the cap, teams like the Islanders, Columbus, and Phoenix come to mind and they have that much cap space for a reason - they’re not going to come close to approaching the cap no matter what. Also, those teams generally rebuild thru the draft, more so in this economy. A team that signs Kessel would have to fork over first-, second-, and third-round picks to the Bruins, in itself is an expensive ordeal, and that doesn't even include the money they have to pay kessel. Not to mention next year, the cap is supposed to decrease by 3 million and teams will have even less money to spend.

[Dojji]

OK, that sounds more like looking for a reason to not like Kessel than it does like a real analysis of the player. Kessel isn't tough or strong, but he's dang fast, and he's got great scoring tools. And he's actually surprisingly good on the backcheck when he commits to it because of his speed.

[BoSox21]

btw, I'd love to know how a team struggling with the cap space to sign Kessel decides to give Derek Morris $3.3 mil

[yankeessuck013]

OK' date=' that sounds more like looking for a reason to not like Kessel than it does like a real analysis of the player. Kessel isn't tough or strong, but he's dang fast, and he's got great scoring tools. And he's actually surprisingly good on the backcheck when he commits to it because of his speed.[/quote']

 

 

im not a bruins fan, but how often does he commit to it? how often would another team who puts in an offersheet expect him to do it? particularly taken in conjunction witha two-way game for almost ALL the forwards - i don't think kessel could do it. as a sabres fan, with the forwards we have on our team, it's a crapshoot if ANY of them backcheck.

 

No doubt kessel has speed and good hands - what he doesnt have is size and grit. We already have speed and good hands on this team - we need size and grit...and leadership.

 

I'm not trashing kessel as a person, i'm just saying he's the wrong type of player for our needs right now and perhaps other teams as well where a 2 way game for forwards is in play.

[WhiskeyBreath]

P.J. is off to Sweden. It's going to be strange not seeing him in Boston next season after playing the last decade plus here.

[redsox1977]

Are you f***ing kidding me?

 

lol.

[Imperial59]

i dunno, kessel seems like a poor man's thomas vanek...not very good on the defensive side, can't back-check very well, undersized forward, goal scoring comes in spurts rather than consistently...

 

im not sure if the "such a no brainer its not funny" is directed towards the bruins mangement on why they havent signed him yet or other teams gm's on why they have extended an offer sheet yet but the notion that "he's a good player, he's not signed, why hasn't anyone given him an offer sheet?" is stupid. It's not true- I'm sure he's negotiated with other teams...but if he and his agent are in this to make the most money long term, then they wouldn't sign a long-term offer sheet. They'd want to do a short one for one or two years, have him boost his earning power and have another kick at the can soon. I'm sure Kessel himself thinks he can improve on this past season- if he does, he's going to make a hell of a lot more money by biding his time and signing a long-term deal down the road. And no team is going to give up the picks to sign the guy to a one-year contract, it just wouldn't be smart.

 

it's going to require an offer sheet of at least $5 million for the B's to let kessel leave. There are very few teams that have $5 million or more to spend and are under the cap, teams like the Islanders, Columbus, and Phoenix come to mind and they have that much cap space for a reason - they’re not going to come close to approaching the cap no matter what. Also, those teams generally rebuild thru the draft, more so in this economy. A team that signs Kessel would have to fork over first-, second-, and third-round picks to the Bruins, in itself is an expensive ordeal, and that doesn't even include the money they have to pay kessel. Not to mention next year, the cap is supposed to decrease by 3 million and teams will have even less money to spend.

 

I agree. He's streaky and he scores most of his goals against bad teams. In my opinion he's overrated.