JT + Kovalchuk + EDM 2019-2020

Predicting 2 years down the road as far as contracts are concerned is wicked difficult. So obviously smaller ancillary pieces could be moved around. But the general idea was getting Donato, McAvoy and Carlo under contract. So generally speaking, would anyone honestly be that upset if the Bruins looked "something" like this in 2 years?

I still don't see how it works.

You need to add two more players & that D is shakey at best. Don't get me wrong, I hope Zboril is legit, but I am not sure he will be ready to handle a top 4 role 19-20 let alone this upcoming season.

I am not sure Chara has another two years as a top pairing guy left either. Especially not with the amount of minutes he would need to play with Zboril as the guy behind him.

Well because it is so borderline silly to predict down the road this far so I didn't bother adding extra guys to fill out a roster. But add 2 guys at the minimum contract (which for 2019-2020 will be 700K) and cut Chara's salary by 500K and there you go.

As for the D being shaky, having Zboril in the lineup at this point is a product of needing to save money while the Bruins are paying Kovalchuk 6M/year. Whatever the Bruins might lose in performance on D they would more than make up for by scoring at will on everyone else by having JT and Kovalchuk in the lineup, along with the Bergeron line intact. But regarding Zboril himself, I'm not sure if you believe this so this isn't directed at you per se, but I don't get why Bruins fans are so negative about Zboril. I had one delightful exchange with another person on here who was trying to use NHLe to explain that Zboril's development has been horrible, which I just laughed at. I personally don't know how he's been looking at Providence because I'm not at P-Bruins games every weekend, so beyond his stat line, I'm not going to comment. I do look at the fact that they retained Zboril and Lauzon and chose to part ways with Lindgren in the Nash trade, which makes me suspect they rate both of those players higher than Lindgren. I also know that Zboril, like Senyshyn and DeBrusk, have almost unfair expectations surrounding them because of the circumstances of how they were drafted in 2015 (3 in a row; higher than most draft profilers expected; in lieu of Connor and Barzal etc), none of which is their fault. Zboril and Lauzon are clearly there to compete for replacing Chara when he retires, and the other might get another chance to crack the lineup if/when the Bruins move on from Krug.

And regarding Chara, Chara's minutes were just fine as they continued to decline from the previous three years. I credit Cassidy with being aware of that, and for giving Chara less difficult minutes than Julien used to (this was the first time in Chara's career in Boston that he started more faceoffs in the offensive zone than the defensive zone for the season - that being said, it was only a shade over 50%). Chara had his best season possession-wise since the year they won the President's Trophy.I think the Bruins will want Chara around as they incorporate Zboril and/or Lauzon into the lineup, and in the "real world" where the Bruins aren't dealing Krug off in fantasy scenarios like 9/10 Bruins fans (including me) have them doing, that probably happens in 2 years. But in this scenario, if the Bruins were to turn to Zboril for 2018-2019, it would certainly be a risk. But as I said, I think whatever that risk is is mitigated tremendously by their offensive potential with this lineup

Take it for what it's worth, but one of the guys from the hockey news podcast basically called Zboril a career AHL'er. Not sure I agree as he is 21 years old. I think his progression has been slower than they wanted despite what they say, or he would be in the NHL. Carlo was taken in the draft. It's the same with Senyshyn. I don't blame them for where they were picked, or who was picked in front of them, but the fact is there are exactly two skaters from the 1st rd of the 2015 draft that haven't played a game in the NHL; Zboril and Senyshyn (Samsonov -G- too) - That is a little worrisome, at least to me. It's not set in stone, but disheartening. Lauzon, I have more hope for as well as Vaakanainen. This is a big year for Zboril and Senyshyn. I know some of it is circumstance, but the vast majority of guys who are going to make an impact in the NHL are there by 22 years old.

As for dealing Krug - I really don't think it's a fantasy. This is the last summer they can deal him before his NTC kicks in. If they are going to do it, it's this offseason. I think if they do, what they get in return will tip their hand on how they feel about Zboril and Lauzon, or if they sign a LD in Free Agency. I love Chara, and he has played great, but he will be 42 and have played over 1600 NHL games + another 100 or so lockout/Olypmpic/WC games. That's insane. I just can't imagine he has too much left in the tank at a top pairing level. He might be able to hang on for a couple more but he will need to be around 15 minutes a night. He has played 23m a night each of the last two seasons, and yes, it's down from his 24-25m a night, but he also doesn't play the PP anymore, he is still playing the tough minutes.

I am not sure how much upside Kovalchuk gives you over Heinen/Bjork/Top six ice time Donato at this point in their careers.

They could bring in Tavares and hope they could move Backes or Krejci next off season, but they would undoubtedly lose a good pick or prospect in doing so, and they would be very limited as to where they could move them. Those guys would want to go to a place where winning or lifestyle was at least equal to Boston & a team with $pace to carry those contracts.

Lol I stopped reading or listening to what THN had to say a long time ago, but good for him to whoever believes that. I'm sure he's probably taking flights every weekend from Toronto to Providence to watch Zboril play, just like everyone on here who's got this hardened opinion of him. There's no doubt that Zboril and Senyshyn are slow-bloomers, but I think when comparing Zboril to the rest of the 2015 draft, it's only fair to him to keep it to defensemen. It was clear the Bruins had a major need at D after deciding to trade Hamilton right before that draft. They probably evaluated (accurately) that Hanifin could step in and play immediately in the NHL, which is why they wanted to trade for him. When that didn't work out, they were stuck with drafting the next best defenseman at the spot they were in. Clearly Zboril didn't deserve to be drafted ahead of Hanifin, or Werenski or Provorov. But look at the D drafted after him? Who's to say he won't be better than Thomas Chabot, who is getting his opportunity in Ottawa because he's playing for a crap-bag team. Who's to say he won't be better than Juulsen, who is also only getting his opportunity because he plays on another crap-bag team. Look at Carlsson in CBJ? He get's injured last year after averaging like 12-13 min a night (which is horrendously low for a D), and gets overtaken on the depth chart by Nutivaara who was drafted in the 7th round of that draft and now looks like a mainstay on Columbus' defense. So I put very little stock in that stat about GPs as it relates to Zboril. I absolutely agree the time is coming very soon (if not now, then at the latest next year) when Zboril will have to demonstrate whether he is NHL worthy, and then we'll know. But for people (not saying you specifically) who say his development hasn't met expectations, or has somehow regressed in development because he hasn't stolen a roster spot from Chara or someone lol, I think that's a load of nonsense.



First of all, Krug's NTC specifies he can submit an 8 team no-trade list. That's hardly a reason to deal him right now and risk "being stuck with him" for the next two years. Second of all, the "trade Krug" thing took on a level of seriousness with the comments Neely had at his post-season press conference in May, saying that Sweeny was looking to address that in the offseason. I thought it was a stupid comment overall by Neely, because he seemed to bend over backwards to clarify that he wasn't criticizing Krug and Grzelcyk's game, and that he thought they played very well. Lol. So they both played great, but he want's to get bigger (GRIT!!!) on the left side by essentially replacing one of them? There was a time the Bruins couldn't find a. guy. to move the puck in their entire d-corps, and now that they have 1 on every pair Neely wants to take them back in the other direction. Stupid.

Regarding Chara's "mileage" - it is insane. You know what else is insane? The way Chara trains. If there is one thing I will never in a million years have to be concerned about, it's Zdeno Chara's fitness level. I think he's more committed to fitness than he is to hockey itself sometimes. We can debate whether he may start to seriously decline in the next few years, or whether he merits taking a role other than #1 d-man. But to suggest he should play 15 min a night in order to "hang on for a couple more years" is so absurd. No starting defenseman (Krug, McAvoy, Miller, McQuaid, Grzelcyk) averaged less that 16 min a night, and you think Chara should play less than all of them???? I'm sorry, but you lost me there.



In a word: Plenty lol. He's a hall of fame premier goal scorer who has dominated in the 2nd most competitive hockey league on the planet. Any team looking to contend in the playoffs would be lucky to have him, it's just a question of cost. It's not like the Bruins are considering playing Heinen, Bjork or Donato on Krejci's RW (which is undoubtedly where Kovalchuk would slot in if he signed with Boston), as they are apparently courting Rick Nash for a return. I would much rather they bring in Kovalchuk over Nash if I had a choice.