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Monday, December 04, 2006

Bruins Need Help Defensively

Tonight's victory over the Canadiens show that the Bruins really need some defensive help. Chara and Stuart are usually pretty consistent, but after that the defense is lacking another shutdown defenseman. Alberts has his moments when he plays well, but then he gets out of position a lot. York is just awful, he is very slow, not physical, too small and just plays his man completely wrong on almost every occasion. He looks lost many times, especially when he is handling the puck. He has absolutely no shot either. Mark Stuart is not built for the "new nhl", he does not skate well enough or hit anyone. He's often out of position and with more ice time, more penalties will come. His lower hand is always coming off his stick and when refs see that it is almost always a holding call. Jurcina has the greatest upside of the defensemen. Last year he played well but this year he too looks very lost out there. He makes bad clears and does not use his big body to his advantage. If he would learn to hit someone, he would be a much better defenseman. As for Mara, once he returns look for him to get the minutes York is currently recieving. Mara is slightly better than the rest of the bunch but not by much. He is slow, not great in his own end, and takes bad penalties. I think the Bruins need to address this problem first if they are trying to go anywhere. They need to trade someone for a good defensive defenseman. I don't know who is available but this is where the Bruins must start.

3 Comments:

Blogger BomberDrz said...

Mark Stuart will be fine I think in time he has only played 17 games in the NHL before this season and missed camp after knee surgery then only got a few games in Providence before getting thrown into the fire. York bugs me like other D-men like him. What style is he? Physical? no wouldn't swat at a fly, rushing? no doesn't skate passed the other teams blue line he has no offense and is poor defensivly he brings nothing they might as well have a tough guy for their 6th or 7th D-man at least that would be entertaining.

10:19 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think it's wrongheaded to think in terms of solving every problem via a trade. After all, who would you trade to solve your D problem? The B's can't afford to lose offense. That would be one step forward and two steps back. Do you really think you could trade Premeau for "another shutdown defenseman?"

We just went through a period where it seemed everyone wanted to trade for better goaltending, remember? Thomas sucked? Wasn't a number one? Ring any bells? A trade wasn't the answer then and it isn't the answer now, for exactly the same reasons.

What we need is to get the most out of the players we have. Take Alberts, for instance. Last year at this time he was projected as a lowest-teir defenseman. But he got better! Players aren't locked forever into how well they played their last game.. They can get better--if you have the right coaching and the right atmosphere and if you give them a chance.

That's what the B's need, not a trade.

1:05 AM  
Blogger Latrappe said...

It was UGLY. I don't remember a game where the defense was in such disarray. Always on the panic mode, the puck looked like a grenade on their stick. Unable to clear the zone; our D squad maked a point to gaveaway the puck on a constant base. It was UGLY.

They got the 2 points and i guess that those kind of wins replace games where you've played better but ends up with a defeat. Let's forget that last game and focus on the other one.

7:26 AM  

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