I believe sweeney and cassidy are starting to come into agreement that boston needs to get back to their former play where weren't the most dominant offensive team but we were very strong defensively and physically.
The theme of this team is better 5v5 scoring and more pricks line cassidy wanted
Nichushkin has been one of the more dominant defensive players in the league the last 2-3 years, i think his play would fit in nicely alongside bergy and marchy as they would create a line that has 3 guys who were top 10 in selke voting the last 2 seasons, nichushkin is still productive offensively, he could be a solid 3rd scoring option for that line. He has good puck control due to his large frame being hard to bump off that puck, he play a decent physical game and i think he would be a good net front player for boston and he can be that guy who gets into the dirty areas and wins the puck battles so marchy and bergy don't have to get beat up. Most his scoring this season has come from 5v5 play 28 of his 37 points have come from 5v5 and 3 of them from SH
Kerfoot i already described above how his play would fit in with boston, like nichushkin another strong 5v5 scoring forward with a strong work ethic and a solid 200 ft game
Lyubushkin solid sized dman not expecting much offence out of him, for our 3rd pair i just want a Dpair that creates havoc. Bush and Cliffy both are hard hitters and i think they would be a good dpair for playoffs, Bush even though not a standout offensively keeps the turnovers low which is a positive, i think he could be a good stay at home guy for cliffy because he does like to bring the pick into the offensive zone a lot hopefully cliffy can work on his puck control and defensive awareness in the off-season because this could be a very strong 3rd pair
Deslauriers i really wanted him at the TD but B's might have to wait till the off-season to acquire him. I think a 4th line of Fliggy, Freddy and Des would be a close comparison to NYI's identity line Fliggy and Clutterbuck have similiar playstyles both aren't the strongest offensively but are very solid defensively, paly physical, both are pricks and like to start scrums, they both have strong work ethics and rarely give up on the play and they both bring great leaderships qualities, Des and Martin are very similiar both hard hitting, mean and gritty forwards these are your scrapers that will defend anyone on the team i think Des brings more in terms of defensive skill though, Freddy and cizikas i think cizikas is definitely the better of the 2 but cizikas has been in the league much longer and this season freddy has developed his 200ft game very well another big thing i have noticed is freddy's skating has improved a lot, last season he was a pylon and now this season freddy has no problem keeping up with the play and sometimes even being the play driver. Qualities they share, Both are solid 2 way players that play a good physical game, both are not scared to drop the gloves if needed to and i think Freddy could become are bigger more offensively talented version of cizikas
I know it would suck to break up the 3rd line but i think haula is still the more skillful of the 2 and if we wanted to have a very productive 3rd line all season haula-coyle-smith would be the most consistent variation of what we could do but if cassidy didn't split up the 3rd line i wouldn't have a problem playing haula 4th line he is a strong skating forward with a good 200ft game, for a smaller sized guy he plays with a lot of grit and doesn't shy away from physicality, i think he got real tired being pushed around because around 35ish games into the season he started to become very physical and was getting into quite a few scrums because he was unwilling to back down to players.
Overall I think this is our last competitive year i think management is starting to realize we can't rely on our team can't win by out scoring our opponents every night like we used to, I do think all these additions definitely improve our offence especially our 5v5 scoring but i think B's need to look to build a team that focuses more at keeping the puck out of the net
i definitely think this team would be the strongest all around defensive team in the league you got about 9 pkers on the offence 3 of them being selke candidates in bergy, marchy, nichushkin and coyle, kerfoot, fliggy, freddy, haula and des are also all very solid in the Dzone
on the defence i trust that mcavoy, grzz and lindholm could get it done offensively, but this defences strength is definitely shutdown ability. chucky, carlo, lindholM and bush all are very strong in their own end cliffy and grzz are decent aswell i think the only thing that hinders Grzz from being of the best 2 way dmen in the league is his size if he was 6+ft he would be very dominant.
come TD i think the only need they might want is possibly a stronger 2 way LHD for the 3rd pair if the defence isn't scoring at a high enough rate they could end up targeting someone who does bring more of an offensive touch, depending on how kerfoot plays again they could maybe look for a 2C but i am pretty confident kerfoot could get it done but if need be there is a few vet rental C's like toews, pavelski, Staal that B's could look to trade for or they could try and acquire someone younger and more open to an extension like JT miller or horvat maybe even monahan if his game picks up again another guy that could be an intriguing target if he doesn't sign an extension and his production continues on to next season is barbashev. B's haven't been overly involved with russian players for a while i think we had a bit of curse with them not panning out for a while i also think Julien and charelli had something against them aswell maybe under sweeney and cassidys reign that could turn around
even though this team doesn't have the most all stars i would have a lot of confidence with this team next season, it may not be the flashiest or the most skilled but when it comes to playoffs 2 things standout the most defence and physicallity and i think this team would have atleast a B+ grade in both of those categories
also just want to note some values may be off kinda trying to compare them off recent TDL trades
debrusk 1st or 2nd+ B tier prospect comp; Lehkonen
reilly+ forbort 2nd or 3rd+ reilly comp: Leddy forbort comp: braun, kulak, chariot
Nosek 3rd or 4th comp: brassard, motte, larsson
also outside of 3 team trade, the other deals could be to any team who have interest in the given players i assume all those players will go to contenders
Kerfoot is a small gritty forward who can play anywhere on the ice, he has looked solid this season with nylander and tavares and i think he could work very well with hall and pasta given his relatively strong playmaking abilities
I think there is multiple things in Kerfoot's game B's would like
-Strong 200 foot game/ one thing B's have always prided themselves in is team defence, kerfoot can play PP and PK and he is a very strong PKer not afraid to hit and not afraid to block shots 53 blocked shots in 63 games is great for a forward
-5v5 scoring Kerfoot has 45 points in 63 game this year 35 of them being assists which is something B's have been looking for at 2C someone who can set up Hall and Pasta
Of those 45 points 41 come from 5v5 3 from SH and 1 from PP, B's PP is no longer as dominant as it once was during the Krug ERA, they now have had to work better at producing at 5v5 Kerfoot would very much help with that
-speed, one thing a C needs to play with hall and pasta is speed i believe one of they key reasons haula has been producing so well on that line is because his speed allows him to keep up with the play, kerfoot will be able to keep up with those 2, all he needs to do to have success on that line is be well positioned and make nice passes, hall and pasta are the play drivers and main puck handlers but i do think kerfoots puck handling and playmaking abilities will translate to more success for that line.
one thing kerfoot needs to work is a higher FO win %
Was not sure about the Leafs trade on it’s own. Then i read the 3 way aspect of it. Leafs not moving Knies for that.
LA declines.
Not sure you can get a 3rd for Forbort.
Nichushkin is a hard pass. Other options and Boston avoids Russians like the plague under normal circumstances.
No need for Lube job and Brown both. Not sure the discrepancy in pay between them either. They are not all that different.
toronto would definitely need to give up 1 of robertson, knies or niemala for murphy he is a very good shutdown dman
also i was gonna mention i think either nichushkin or marchment would be solid additions for the 1st line i hope B's can move past the whole russian thing because nichushkin would be a near perfect fit for bergy and marchy
also when looking at advanced analytics bush is much less prone to turnovers, had more blocked shots a high corsi and his WAR, 5v5 defence and PK stats were all higher then brown's i think bush is a good bottom pair dman where brown is more of a 6-7 dman he can play bottom pair but he needs a solid partner with him if that is the case
as someone else mentioned, the Leaf deal doesn't happen because it's been reported that they won't move Knies at all.
fair enough didn't know that i think Maple leafs need a shutdown RHD for sandin or reilly and for guy of murphys caliber they would need to add 1 of their top 4 prospects of knies, robertson, niemala, amirov especially if they aren't giving up a first and because murphy is on a good deal
Los Angeles might have interest in Reilly but wouldn't have any desire to add another middle-6 left-handed winger to the cast of characters we already enjoy.
toronto would definitely need to give up 1 of robertson, knies or niemala for murphy he is a very good shutdown dman
also i was gonna mention i think either nichushkin or marchment would be solid additions for the 1st line i hope B's can move past the whole russian thing because nichushkin would be a near perfect fit for bergy and marchy
also when looking at advanced analytics bush is much less prone to turnovers, had more blocked shots a high corsi and his WAR, 5v5 defence and PK stats were all higher then brown's i think bush is a good bottom pair dman where brown is more of a 6-7 dman he can play bottom pair but he needs a solid partner with him if that is the case
Which is why it wouldn't happen. No use in giving up a top prospect for a man when you have plenty of options within the system
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