Can we talk about Gryz

Forums/Armchair-GM

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Created by: dpdan

Team: 2020-21 Boston Bruins

Initial Creation Date: Feb. 14, 2021

Published: Feb. 14, 2021

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Description

I really don’t want to keep talking about this, but last night’s game showed the ceiling of the Bs without either Grzelcyk or another top LD. The blueprint on how to beat Boston the last few years has always been (A) to apply a heavy forecheck to get the D to turn it over and (B) limit the power play goals. If MG is healthy and playing well it gives the team a chance against the upper level teams that they’ll face in the playoffs. Subbing in Clifton or Moore is fine against NYR or Philly but not if they have serious Cup aspirations.

I get that they don’t want to expose Grz for expansion. Every single ACGM that’s had them trading for another D has that in the comments. That means that they have maybe 3 options

1) ride it out and hope that Grz can show that these are fluke injuries and he can handle a heavy workload and Zboril and Lauzon won’t shrink come playoffs

2) make a play for a top 4 LD and deal with the expansion draft fallout later because they only have 1 maybe 2 more kicks at the can with this group and flags fly foreva

3) add a veteran rental on the last year of his deal and not worry about protecting him

If there’s another option then please share. Again, I hope that it’s number 1. I have really enjoyed watching this team this year. I also might be in the minority in that I think Sweeney is an ok GM (his record is spotty but you can go down literally every GMs resume and find that they’ve had bad drafts/contracts). But I have a healthy skepticism about the left side and if they lose a winnable series because of a concern that has been there since training camp then I would say that a change should come.

Retained Salary Transactions

David Backes: $1,500,000 (25%)

Draft	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7
2021
2022
2023

ROSTER

LONG-TERM OUTLOOK

EMBED

TEXT-EMBED

ROSTER SIZE	SALARY CAP	CAP HIT	OVERAGES	BONUSES	CAP SPACE
22	$81,500,000	$77,917,314	$964,222	$2,300,000	$3,582,686

Left Wing	Centre	Right Wing
Marchand, Brad $6,125,000$6,125,000 LW NMC UFA - 5	Krejci, David $7,250,000$7,250,000 C M-NTC UFA - 1	Pastrnak, David $6,666,667$6,666,667 RW UFA - 3
DeBrusk, Jake $3,675,000$3,675,000 RW, LW UFA - 2	Bergeron, Patrice $6,875,000$6,875,000 C M-NTC, NMC UFA - 2	Smith, Craig $3,100,000$3,100,000 RW UFA - 3
Bjork, Anders $1,600,000$1,600,000 LW, RW UFA - 3	Coyle, Charlie $5,250,000$5,250,000 C, RW M-NTC, NMC UFA - 6	Wagner, Chris $1,350,000$1,350,000 RW, C UFA - 3
Ritchie, Nick $1,498,925$1,498,925 LW UFA - 1	Kuraly, Sean $1,275,000$1,275,000 C, LW UFA - 1
	Frederic, Trent $925,000$925,000 ($300,000$300K) LW, RW UFA - 1

Left Defense	Right Defense	Goaltender
Grzelcyk, Matt $3,687,500$3,687,500 LD UFA - 4	McAvoy, Charlie $4,900,000$4,900,000 RD UFA - 2	Rask, Tuukka $7,000,000$7,000,000 G UFA - 1
Moore, John $2,750,000$2,750,000 LD UFA - 3	Carlo, Brandon $2,850,000$2,850,000 RD UFA - 1	Halák, Jaroslav $2,250,000$2,250,000 ($1,250,000$1M) G UFA - 1
Clifton, Connor $1,000,000$1,000,000 RD UFA - 3	Miller, Kevan $1,250,000$1,250,000 ($750,000$750K) RD UFA - 1
Lauzon, Jérémy $850,000$850,000 LD/RD UFA - 2
Zboril, Jakub $725,000$725,000 LD/RD UFA - 2

Scratches	Injured Reserve (IR)	Long Term IR (LTIR)
	Kase, Ondrej $2,600,000$2,600,000 RW UFA - 1

Taxi Squad
Lindholm, Pär $850,000$850,000 ($0$0$0$0) LW, C UFA - 1
Kampfer, Steven $800,000$800,000 ($0$0$0$0) RD UFA - 1
Kuhlman, Karson $725,000$725,000 ($0$0$0$0) RW UFA - 2
Booth, Callum $700,000$700,000 ($0$0$0$0) G UFA - 1
McKegg, Greg $700,000$700,000 ($0$0$0$0) C, LW UFA - 1
Blidh, Anton $700,000$700,000 ($0$0$0$0) LW, RW UFA - 1

Feb. 14, 2021 at 4:39 p.m.

#26

Bcarlo25

Joined: May 2018

Posts: 21,571

Likes: 7,109

Quoting: McGruff

Why not have just kept Chara then (no need for AG) - Zee @ 1Yr term, league min $$, Stanley Cup Captain, minute muncher, PK guy, yadda yadda...

PS: small sample size yeah - but Lauzon is a beast (AG would likely be in the skybox section, row 3 seat 5)

I was pretty critical of the offseason, but Sweeney is making me look dumb right now (about time, Sweeney’s been looking like a moron for years). Zboril has been at the very least adequate, and Lauzon has been really good.

McGruff liked this.

Feb. 14, 2021 at 4:42 p.m.

#27

Bcarlo25

Joined: May 2018

Posts: 21,571

Likes: 7,109

Quoting: desertdog111

Fair enough. I still feel like you’re undervaluing him but I get the premise. And it’s not like the Bruins aren’t still winning games right now so why mix it up

Honestly I think it’s a tough argument to make that Goligoski gives the bruins a better chance than Zboril. Impossible for Lauzon. Factor in that Zboril is going to have a far better chance of developing than Goligoski, cap hit, real money, assets moved etc, and it’s really a no brainer.

Furthermore, if that was the kind of guy they wanted, pretty sure Chara would be a bruin.

desertdog111 liked this.

Feb. 14, 2021 at 4:48 p.m.

#28

desertdog111

Joined: May 2018

Posts: 873

Likes: 262

Quoting: Bcarlo25

That makes sense and absolutely the case with Z. I suppose I read the original post and thought that the Bruins were having defensive issues, hence offering up Goligoski. After reading thru comments here it doesn’t seem like everyone agrees about that, or at least that it’s not that big of a deal

Feb. 14, 2021 at 4:49 p.m.

#29

Bcarlo25

Joined: May 2018

Posts: 21,571

Likes: 7,109

Quoting: desertdog111

If it is, we’ll know at the deadline. If one of the left shot D has injury concerns towards the deadline, goligoski could be a more viable option.

Btw, how awesome is garland?

desertdog111 liked this.

Feb. 14, 2021 at 5:06 p.m.

#30

desertdog111

Joined: May 2018

Posts: 873

Likes: 262

Quoting: Bcarlo25

If it is, we’ll know at the deadline. If one of the left shot D has injury concerns towards the deadline, goligoski could be a more viable option.

Btw, how awesome is garland?

He’s so much fun to watch. I don’t think there’s a player in the whole league that’s better at playing in the corners than him. The coyotes haven’t had someone with his play-making ability since Ray Whitney in 2012 lol. And he was a 7th round pick. It’s been a lot of fun to watch his development

Feb. 14, 2021 at 5:08 p.m.

#31

Bcarlo25

Joined: May 2018

Posts: 21,571

Likes: 7,109

Quoting: desertdog111

He’s a cool guy too. Before covid he used to play for his buddies men’s league team in MA. Remember thinking, “who the heck is this guy?” Before the ref told me he played in the freaking NHL.

desertdog111 liked this.

Feb. 14, 2021 at 5:32 p.m.

#32

desertdog111

Joined: May 2018

Posts: 873

Likes: 262

Quoting: Bcarlo25

He’s a cool guy too. Before covid he used to play for his buddies men’s league team in MA. Remember thinking, “who the heck is this guy?” Before the ref told me he played in the freaking NHL.

That’s awesome

Feb. 14, 2021 at 7:22 p.m.

#33

bruinsdude77

Joined: Jun. 2015

Posts: 506

Likes: 54

You don't go into a postseason with Stanley Cup aspirations with a left side of Grzelcyk, Lauzon, and Zboril, even if they all continue to play well and even if Grz is completely healthy by the deadline. That's a losing mentality. It's essentially two rookies and an undersized offensive dman who has never player on the top pair with regularity. You need to add experience and complete two-way ability. You absolutely go with option No. 3 to improve the roster this year without costing you Grz in the Expansion Draft. Maybe you get lucky and the fit is so good you re-sign them in the off-season to replace an expansion loss or simply to upgrade the defense. Ryan Murray, Jake McCabe, Derek Forbort, Patrik Nemeth, Niklas Hjalmarsson, or even the aforementioned Alex Goligoski. Any of them will help, though I would pay up for Murray or McCabe if it were me.

Feb. 15, 2021 at 1:14 p.m.

#34

nalzugaray12

Bahston Brewins

Joined: May 2016

Posts: 899

Likes: 259

Not too worried about Grz. It's just a clear, nagging injury he's battling right now. When healthy, he's one of the B's best dmen out there. I do think they should give Grz some time to heal up, I think last time they rushed him in when he wasn't 100%.

John Moore is going to be an easy target to bash, but at the end of the day it was his first game all season long. Boston played 13 games before Moore entered the lineup so I was extremely lenient evaluating Moore out there. We know what we have in John Moore. In reality, John Moore is a #6 dman for bottom feeder teams but he's a number 7-8 here in Boston. He is one of two veterans for this D core and brings intangibles.

Grz has had such of an unlucky start to the season but it's still very early and we can count on him returning. We will have a better understanding of what this team does at the deadline as the season progresses...right now, defense is one of the least of our worries. They have been playing very very good team defense. Not one of the dmen has really played awful.

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