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Sunday, August 20, 2006

Bruins Season Preview

The Bruins started off this offseason needing to make a big splash. After trading Joe Thornton and Sergei Samsonov, many fans were loosing faith in the team. The Bruins, within the first 4 hours of free agency, snagged two of the most prized pieces in the market. As I was reading rumor sites, I heard Zdeno Chara signed with LA as many people thought. I was very mad the Bruins didn't sign him and thought here we go again. But I soon found out he had signed a monsterous 5 yr, 37.5 million dollar deal with the Bruins. This deal is the largest in team history. They then signed C Marc Savard, who scored 97 points, to a 4 yr, 20 million dollar deal.

Chara, is a huge upgrade over Leetch. Many people believe Chara was overpaid, but I think his fair market value was 7 million. Also, Los Angeles offered 8 Million for him. Chara's only weakness is that small forwards like a Samsonov have the ability to burn past him. The Bruins definately bolstered their blueline by also acquiring Paul Mara from the Phoenix Coyotes for Nick Boynton. Now many could argue Nick is better than Paul, but Mara provides an offensive punch to this blueline, something we didn't get from Leetch last year. They also got some depth with Nathan Dempsey, and Jason York.

Savard maybe a risk given he scored 97 points, but with Hossa and Kovalchuk at the wings, I could have had 80 assists. Savard will probably not put up the same number he did last year, but could put up hopefully 70-80 points. Murray and presumably Kessel with provide a sniper in Murray and a scorer in Kessel for Savard. With a 2nd line of Kessel, Savard, Murray, we will see a lot of goals. The Bruins also inked Brad Boyes to a new deal, which will keep him in black and gold for 2 more years. To also fill the role for a 3rd line wingers, the club signed one of the best in the NHL, Shean Donovan, who is known to go on streaks. The B's bolstered their offense a lot this year. Looking at the Roster, their are no stiffs in sight. The only issue is Alexei Zhamnov, who's contract is supposed to come off the books.

The goaltending will be anchored by Hannu Toivonen and Tim Thomas. Toivonen is expected to be a starter after Andrew Raycroft was traded to the Leafs for G prospect Tuuka Rask. Thomas is expected to be the backup after signing a 3 yr, 3.3 million dollar extension last year, one of last moves by former GM Mike O'Connell. Expect a ROY type performence from Hannu.

Predictions:

The Bruins face a tough division. The Sabres, Leafs, Senators, and Canadiens. The Bruins will beat the Leafs in the division, and also prbably the Canadiens, but as history shows, we always have trouble beating them. The Sens will drop off this year due to HUGE losses in Havlat, Smolinski, Chara, and Hasek. The Sabres didn't improve or get better. If anything they got worse. I expect the Bruins to finish 2nd in the division. They will be seeded around 4 or 5th in the conference and loose in the 2nd round of the playoffs, and improvement from last year. I just don't have confidence with M Stuart, Alberts, and Jurcina, all rookies, holding up the defense. We saw how that worked last year. I'd feel more secure if they brought back Leetch.

Roster:

Sturm Bergeron Boyes
Kessel Savard Murray
Axelsson Primeau Donovan
Walter Stastny Mowers

Chara B. Stuart
Mara Alberts
Jurcina M. Stuart

Toivonen
Thomas

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

jurcina and alberts are not rookies they are softmores, and alberts i already trust more than gill(thank God he's gone), and jurcina is becoming a scoring defencemen(remember that strech 4 goals in 2 games) in my perspective they will do just fine

10:41 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Bruins are not going to beat the Leafs! It just won't happen!

11:37 AM  

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