Jan 27
Andre Ringuette/NHLI via Getty Images
Captain Zdeno Chara and Tyler Seguin of the Boston Bruins show a little love after Chara left Seguin among the final four to be chosen in the 2012 NHL All-Star Draft. Seguin, once picked, was greeted with a smiling Chara asking, “Want to hug it out?”. One of the funnier moments of the night.
It looks to be a good lineup for both teams. Anyone else hoping for a Pavel Datsyuk / Evgeni Malkin line?
Jan 11
Photo by Elsa/Getty Images
Tyler Seguin #19 of the Boston Bruins sports a Michael Jordan tongue as he stick-handles in the Winnipeg Jets’ defensive zone. Seguin has been a fantasy late round gem with 17 goals and 21 assists in 38 games played thus far. Seguin is only in his second year as a NHL professional, winning the Stanley Cup his rookie season with the Boston Bruins. Look at the bend of his right ankle in his Bauer Vapor APX ice hockey skates.
Key Offseason Losses: Michael Ryder, Tomas Kaberle, Mark Recchi (retired)
Key Offseason Additions: Benoit Pouliot, Joe Corvo
Last Season Ranking: 3rd in the East
Offense: The Bruins are a rare team that doesn’t rely on two or three superstars for most of their offense. Instead, the Bruins spread the wealth and get everyone to contribute on a nightly basis. Last season, Boston finished 5th in the league in goals scored per game with an average of 2.98. Six of the eight players who scored 40 or more points last season will return this year.
Milan Lucic, David Krejci, Patrice Bergeron and Nathan Horton form the foundation of the team’s offense. Each player had 50 or more points last season while Krejci was the only one of the four to not post 20 or more goals, although he led the team with 49 assists. These players will again form the nucleus of the offense this season.
To help shore up the departures of Michael Ryder and Mark Recchi, both Tyler Seguin and Brad Marchand will be looked upon to provide secondary scoring and take on more responsibility in their second full years in the NHL. While Marchand remains unsigned, his clutch performance in the playoffs gave a good indication of what he is capable of. A second 20+ goal season and 50 or more points may not be out of reach.
The player to watch this season is Rich Peverley. The trade to Boston from the Thrashers at the trade deadline last year was a bit under the radar, but Peverley is a solid contributor capable of posting 40-50 points a season. He certainly helps the Bruins’ depth and should get more attention now that he’s in a hockey market, much like Horton did last season after getting traded from Florida.
Defense: The Bruins play team defense. They are smart and they are accountable. In fact, nine players last season were plus-15 or better while five of those players were plus-25 or better. Not many teams can match those types of stats.
Captain Zdeno Chara remains the foundation of the team’s defense and is every bit the leader on the ice. His 44 points were good for 6th on the team and his plus-33 led the team. Beyond Chara, the team has a lot of talent defensively with Dennis Seidenberg, Andrew Ference and Matt Hunwick. Youngster Adam McQuaid also showed a lot of promise with 15 points and a plus-30 rating in 67 games and will get the chance to expand on those numbers this season.
The addition of Joe Corvo gives the Bruins another strong offensive defenseman capable of reaching the 40-point plateau. Corvo should be what the Bruins expected Kaberle to be last season. Kaberle never really materialized into the puck-moving defenseman they desired and were willing to let him walk this summer and take Corvo instead.
The Bruins finished 2nd in the NHL in goals allowed with an average of 2.30 per game last season. With most of the blue line from last season returning this year, and the addition of Corvo, expect Boston’s defense to be as good, if not better, than last year.
Goaltending: At 37 years old, everyone keeps waiting for time to catch up with Tim Thomas. But Thomas, like a fine wine, seems to only get better with age. While there remains the threat of a Stanley Cup hangover, Thomas plays the game with determination and heart and if he’s healthy, he will do whatever it takes to win.
Don’t count out backup goaltender Tuukka Rask, who successfully stole the number one job from Thomas in 2009-10. Rask is capable of challenging Thomas and together they push each other to greater heights and form one of the more formidable tandems in the NHL.
HWB Playoff Prediction: Playoff bound.
Key Offseason Losses: Dennis Wideman, Miroslav Satan
Key Offseason Additions: Tyler Seguin, Nathan Horton
Last Season Ranking: 6th in East
Offense:
The Boston Bruins were one of the worst offensive teams in the NHL last season. In fact, the team finished dead last in goals scored per game with an average of 2.39. This was mostly due to key injuries throughout the season, but it was also a partial testament to the lack of depth on the team and showed how much losing Phil Kessel actually hurt the squad in terms of goals. The team didn’t make many moves in the offseason, but they did manage to make moves that matter and should help improve the team’s offense.
The first addition came via trade when the Bruins sent defenseman Dennis Wideman to the Florida Panthers in exchange for right wing Nathan Horton and depth forward Gregory Campbell. Horton is a hard-working player with a lot of offensive potential. If he gets time alongside a healthy Marc Savard this season, Horton could crack the 30-goal plateau for the second time in his young career.
The second addition was center Tyler Seguin, who the Bruins nabbed with their second overall draft pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. With 106 points in 63 games in the OHL last season, Seguin was a natural choice. Rumors have swirled that Seguin could see time on the wing of the second line this season in order to help acclimate him to the NHL game. He would also be more valuable to the team if he got second-line minutes instead of centering the third or even the forth line where he would play more of a grinding role.
Health will be a big factor coming into this season. Center Marc Savard was limited to only 41 games last season because of a knee injury and a concussion. When Savard is healthy, however, he is capable of producing anywhere between 80 to 90 points. Tough guy Milan Lucic will also need to stay healthy this year. The Bruins believe that Lucic is capable of tallying at least 20 goals a season, but last year he was limited to only 50 games and 20 points, including nine goals. Second-line center Patrice Bergeron is also capable of producing at a point-per-game pace, but, again, he will need to stay healthy and play a vast majority of the season if he is to be a valuable asset to the team. Players like David Krejci, Mark Recchi, Blake Wheeler and Michael Ryder should all benefit from having a healthy squad as well.
Defense:
After being one of the best defensive teams in the NHL two years ago, the Bruins’ defense seemingly took a step back last season. Perhaps injuries on the front end plagued the defense as well, but only four of Boston’s defenseman was plus-1 or better last season with Zdeno Chara leading the way at plus-19. Look for Chara to again lead the way on the blue line for the Bruins in terms of both points and plus/minus.
With the departure of Dennis Wideman, the Bruins will need some younger talent to step up and help solidify the Bruins’ defensive core. Matt Hunwick is capable of playing much better than his minus-16 last season while guys like Dennis Seidenberg can certainly help chip in some points as well.
Goaltending:
The enigma about this team is that while they were last in goals scored for per game, the team was second-best overall in goals scored against per game with an average of 2.33. This was largely due to goaltending as the 23-year-old Tuukka Rask virtually took over in net and didn’t look back until he was leading the league in almost all of the goalie stat categories. Rask finished the season with an impressive league-leading 1.97 goals against average as well as a .931 save percentage. Rask was a proverbial brick wall in net and was a big reason why the Bruins finished as well as they did despite losing so many key players to injuries. Whether or not Rask is the go-to guy again this season remains to be seen. Tim Thomas is an outstanding goaltender in his own right and could work his way back to the number one position if Rask falters in his sophomore season. As it stands now, however, the Bruins have a solid tandem in Rask and Thomas.
Season Outlook:
The additions of Horton and Seguin will certainly help add depth to the Bruins roster, but remember that the team is currently over the cap, which means that one or more of the players mentioned may move before the start of the season. Current rumors place Savard, Ryder and Thomas all on the trading block and waiting to see who the right deal comes along for. Regardless, health will again be a big issue for the Bruins and the team’s defense needs to step it up a notch. Goaltending bailed them out last year, but it isn’t a guarantee that the same will happen again. For a team that has a lot of potential, there are still a lot of lingering questions going into the season and a lot of possibilities for how it could all play out.
Tyler Seguin will be a good fantasy pickup for any league, but don't expect him to be the top point getter of an already deep rostered Boston Bruin club.
The Boston Bruins have come to terms with second overall 2010 NHL draftee Tyler Seguin.
Seguin, the proud prospect of the Ontario Hockey League is expected to make the NHL entry level maximum of $900,000 with a additional bonuses based on production that could bring him in the $4 million range, mimicking that of number 1 overall pick Taylor Hall of the Edmonton Oilers.
With all the sporting news of NFL rookies not signing and holding out for big contracts, or other players signing big contracts but not passing fitness tests, it is good to see the NHL have their ducks in a row in regards to rookies. Seguin and all other rookies will have to earn their place on the team as well as the team’s respect.
Seguin will be under a microscope with the hard to please Bruins fans, but expect him to excel at the role he is given, however do not expect him to match numbers like New York Islander’s rookie last year John Tavares. Tavares posted 54 points on a team that asked him to carry the workload, while Seguin will be coming into a more support roll at the second or possibly third line. It would be surprising if Seguin can put up 54 points in his rookie season, but it won’t be surprising for him to at least hit the 40 point mark.
Tyler Seguin, the second overall pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, and the Boston Bruins have agreed on an entry-level contract. While terms were not disclosed, it is assumed that the skilled center signed a deal similar to that of number one pick Taylor Hall. Hall’s deal, worth $900,000 per season, includes a number of bonuses which could raise his salary to $3.75 million.
This signing leaves the Bruins in a unique situation with a lot of skill and depth at the center position. Rumors have been flying around all summer that suggest Marc Savard might be moved by the Bruins before the season begins. Trading Savard would free up cap space, as well as allow a young and skilled centerman like Seguin to take on more responsibility with the team.
May 17
Here are some thoughts on the playoffs over the past couple weeks:
My post praising Miroslav Satan’s performance during the playoffs must have been the ultimate jinx. He carried a six game point streak when I wrote about how excellent he had been. In the four games that followed, and an epic collapse by the Bruins, Satan posted zero points, was a minus one, and only had nine shots on goal. Good news for the Bruins though, they’re still going to land either Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin in the draft this summer.
Daniel Briere has been huge for the Flyers in the playoffs
The Philadelphia Flyers are the first ever seven seed to end up with home ice advantage in a playoff series. How did they pull this off? Well, I think its fair to say that they aren’t necessarily as bad as their seed and 88 point season may indicate. Remember this team has several young, but experienced, scorers. Mike Richards has been great, and Danny Briere has played his best playoff hockey picking up 17 points so far, with seven multi-point games. On top of that, the Flyers are picking up a lot of secondary scoring, especially in Claude Giroux who has six goals and seven assists in 13 playoff games. Ville Leino, a late season acquisition, has even made his presence felt with nine points in as many games. You certainly can’t forget about the defensive prowess this team has, lead by perennial all star Chris Pronger. He’s more than capable of shutting down the oppositions top scorers.
So perhaps the Philadelphia Flyers are finally molding into the team that many thought they were going to be. Maybe the leadership issues and problems in the locker room are a thing of the past. They have all the confidence and momentum in the world right now, and will be a tough team to handle.
The Chicago Blackhawks are outstanding. Young captain, Jonathan Toews has been very impressive so far with 21 post-season points. Goaltending has not been the huge issue everyone thought it would be. Antti Niemi has been solid, and has out-dueled two very good goaltenders in Pekka Rinne and Roberto Luongo.
Things seem to be clicking on all cylinders for the Blackhawks, minus the presence of two players. Marian Hossa had a very good first round against Nashville, posting six points in the series. But since them, he’s been very quiet, much like last year, with only three points in the seven games played since finishing off the Predators. Along with Hossa, Kris Versteeg has been less productive than I expected so far. His six points and minus two rating seem low for a young player with the talent level he has. Remember, Versteeg posted terrific numbers as a rookie last season, but is perhaps seeing a decrease in ice time with the top line being so effective.
The San Jose Sharks are still very much competitive in the west. It seemed like everyone wrote them off after being crushed by the Red Wings in game four of that series. Did everyone just forget that they still had a 3-1 series lead? Even if they were still the Sharks who choke in the playoffs, they could have surely taken one game and prevented the Wings from going on. But instead, they bounced back like a true contender and eliminated Detroit in five.
Montreal is having one of the most impressive playoff campaigns in recent years that I can remember. First, they squandered the top seeded Washington Capitals in seven games. This is a team that featured several of the world’s top players: Ovechkin, Backstrom, Semin, and Green. Then, they followed that performance with a seven game dismantling of the defending Stanley Cup champions. Surely a team that can take out two of the top NHL clubs is capable of making it to the finals, right?
Finally, here’s to hoping for an original six match-up in the finals.
