2014-2015 NHL Regular Season Thread

[fokof]

I thought this one is pretty funny

 

[dangnewt]

It was more the return than that there was a trade that surprised me.
had to be a cap move.

The Boychuk trade a case of long term gain (a couple of 2nd round draft picks and a conditional 3rd) vs. short term pain (no Boychuk for a year) Having the 2nds made it possible for the B's to use their own 2nds to pick up Connelly which didn't help this year but who may be a solid addition longer term. But losing Boychuk was a huge loss - a solid defenseman with a crazy hard slap shot that was a big part of the power play and he is a leader in the dressing room. It was a cap move in the sense that the Bruins (correctly, IHMO) thought that they would not be able to resign Boychuk for the 2015-2016 season; but they did not have to move him this year in order to get under the cap. The theory was that it was better to get something in return for losing Boychuk in the form of draft picks than to keep him and see him sign with someone else next year and get nothing in return. In addition to the draft picks, it gave them more cap room this year so they had more ability to make a mid-season deadline deal. The problem was that the move weakened the team from the beginning, the players interpreted it as the front office sacrificing this year for the future and then it got worse when the injuries started to pile up on the blueline (Chara, Seidenburg, Miller and lately Hamilton) and too much pressure was put young d-men who were not quite ready for the load. In essence, the front office sent the players out with one hand tied behind their backs and the team never got over that. I haven't looked back see if I commented at the time of the trade - as the season went on, it was pretty clear to me that it was a big mistake.

It is the kind of risky move that if it doesn't work, you should lose your job. The B's overestimated the quality and depth of the team and figured that they were still a playoff team without Boychuk. To a certain extent, the other high risk move Chirelli made that put the B's in cap jail was the Iginla deal last year - that at least worked out in the sense that they were a #1 seed. However, to think that without Iginla and Boychuk that the B's were going to waltz into the SCP because, hey, we're the Bruins, was hubris. And it is a waste of one of the last years that Chara will be dominating presence and it was a waste of prime years of core players like Rask and Bergeron.

Claude doesn't deserve as much blame, I think he did well with what he had, but the players might be starting to tune him out. A change of scenery would do Claude and the team some good. There will be changes in the players as well. Ownership and team president Cam Neely are not happy and heads are going to roll.

 

[ColonelZulu]

Official 2015 NHL Playoffs Thread | TalkBass.com

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