End of an era

 The Bruins season came to an end on Wednesday night. Having watched the game i can say with confidence they did not deserve to win that game. I think fans knew that going into Uniondale and trying to win a pivotal game with that crowd was going to be a hard task. Add to that the goalie situation, It was almost doomed before the puck dropped. But now that the season is over we can take a look at somethings that i think need to change and things that need to be explored. 

Lets start with the aforementioned goaltending issue. I whole heartedly hope that Bruins fans have watched Tuukka Rask play his last game for the bruins. People always talk about Elite goaltending. Funny thing though the ones who are actually Elite are never talked about. I knew after the 2013 season that the bruins would never win a cup with Rask in net. I don't blame the loss that year on him at all but just watching how he played you could tell he would always get you right there and then implode. Another example is Carey Price. He has been regarded as one of the best goalies in the league or even of his generation. Let me ask you, What has he won? How many conference finals has he been to? Tuukka at least has been to 3 cup finals and a few conference finals in his time here. But as the saying goes Always the brides maid never the bride. The bruins "window" has always been attached to the core guys of Bergeron, Marchand, Krejci, Rask but no one every took a longer look at Rask because of his regular season success. Now lets go over his excuses. This season it was "well I wasn't 100% I had a torn labrum and other nagging injuries." Last year it was "I have to leave the bubble for a family emergency" And in the loss to St. Louis it was the lack of shots faced in each game made him ill prepared for the on slot of shots in game 7. Again I'm gonna ask you the readers to think, When has someone who is supposed to be elite made so many excuses for why he cant get over the hump. I hear it a lot out of Lebron James. Heard it a lot from Payton Manning. But you never hear much from the guys who know how to win. As i said at the beginning of this I whole heartedly hope and believe that Tuukka has played his last game for the bruins. His current injury has him pegged for a January/February return next season. So lets say he resigns with Boston. We start the year with Swayman and whoever at backup. Are the bruins just supposed to push him aside when Rask comes back? Yea I'm good. Rask said today in his exit interview that he only wants to play for Boston and that he wont play for another team. Well it looks like its retirement for you then bud. Might be for the best since your body is very fragile. Need to keep it healthy for all those family emergencies. 

The second elephant in the room for Boston this offseason is David Krejci. Long has he been labeled as one our core guys but its long past time we moved on from him. He cost to much money for the little production he has when its needed. Yes he regularly scores 20-30 goals. But anyone can do that against the Sabers, and coyotes. We need him in the playoffs and recently hes been missing. The expansion draft is on July 21st. I cant see a valid reason why Krejci's  name isn't on the unprotected list. The market for high impact low risk second line players is going to be huge this year. Boston can find someone much cheaper for a higher value. 

Jake DeBrusk. he was drafted 3 spots ahead of the islanders Matt Barzal. As you saw in this series who do you think won that draft? DeBrusk had a very good first year. He was tough, fast, smart with the puck. Recently and most notably this post season he has been one of the worst bruins on the ice. He was on the 9th floor for a few games and that's honestly where he should have been all year. He is another guy who I wouldn't mind seeing on the unprotected list. 

Last thing on the bruins. Hall and the defense. The Bruins finally got Taylor Hall this trade deadline. He made an immediate impact. While he wasn't as productive as most would have liked in the post season he is someone the bruins need to lock up for the future. He is not far removed from the being the league MVP. under the right coaching and on a team with much more ambition then the Sabers I think he can thrive. As for the defense. I think this season there was just a rash of injuries. Miller started the season on a tear and was easily the best defenseman we had. Injuries caught up to him and he missed a lot of time. I think with a solid off season of rehab he will come back and be the Defensive leader the bruins need. Brandan Carlo will no doubt come back stronger and ready. Having been knocked out of the season by Wilson WHO ONLY GOT A 5K FINE i think he has a lot to prove coming back. All in all the defense for the bruins is not as big a question as this post season may have led us to believe. 

Ok, Now lets get into the final 4. Montreal, Vegas, Tampa, Islanders.

First off, Holy crap! Who would have ever thought the Canadians would sweep Winnipeg? Not me that's for sure. Is it possible that Cary Price finally leads them to a cup final? I'm not sure they will get past Vegas but after what they have pulled off so far I'm not sure anyone can predict what they are going to do. 

Montreal Vs. Vegas

As I eluded to, what Montreal is doing right now is so far beyond comprehension that i dont have the words for it. They took Toronto a team everyone picked as a heavy favorite to win the cup to 7 games and then beat them. Then they faced Winnipeg who just swept the Oilers and shut down Connor McDavid and promptly swept them out of the playoffs. They came in as a team that under the previous playoff format would not have even qualified and they have so far been the best story in the whole post season. Vegas on the other hand, Has also done some amazing things this post season. They got past a tough high flying Minnesota team and then they took out the heavily favored Colorado Avalanche after being down 2-0. Led by energetic Captain Mark Stone and flanked by offensive threats Riley Smith and William Karlson the golden knights are a force to be reckoned with. This series will be the better of the 2 to watch in my opinion. Putting personal feelings and my Black and Gold blood stream. I think Montreal takes this series in 7.

Tampa vs. New York Islanders

The Islanders took care of the Bruins last round. They did it behind some solid goaltending in Semyon Varlmov. And the goal scoring of Matt Barzal and Kyle Palmari. Add to them the Defense and shot blocking of JG Pageau and the shut down blueline play by defenseman Adam Pelech, the islanders made it look easy against Boston even though it went 6. Tampa on the other hand took care of the hurricanes rather easily. Carolina defenseman Dougie Hamilton said "we lost to team that was 18 million over the cap". While this is true it doesn't really matter. Those salaries aren't what beat you, it was your lack of ability to score when needed and your terrible clearing of the puck from your zone. The NHL has not had a repeat Stanley Cup champ since the Penguins in 2016-2017. But if anyone has a good shot at it its going to the the lightning. I think they win this series in 5.

One last note on the Bruins. There were a number of things they did wrong against the islanders that ultimately led to their demise. One of the main things I can say is that for the first time since hes been here Bruce Cassidy plain and simple got out coached. Barry Trotz had the better matchups, He made the better play calls. Cassidy made the mistake of starting a whiny and hurt Rask over Swayman and I truly believe that if Swayman had started game 6, Boston would be playing game 7 tonight at the garden instead of making tee times for this weekend. I don't put all the blame on the coach. He can only do so much with what is given to him. This idea that Don Sweeny and Cam Neely make a great front office has been debunked for good. Sweeny had a great trade deadline this year but it was his only good one since hes been the GM. He whiffed on the draft that cost us Matt Barzal and left us with Jake DeBrusk and 2 other guys who have yet to make a decent impact at the NHL level. I think that his short comings are starting to pile up against his successes and its not looking good. I think a shake up in management might be the key to what Boston needs in order to cash in on this "window" that seems to closing a lot faster then anyone hoped. 

Comically Bad

 The Toronto Maple Leafs are the funniest losing team I have ever seen in my short 32 years on the planet. On Monday night they once again blew a 3-1 series lead and were eliminated in the playoffs. I would rather be a fan of the Sabers then the Leafs. At least with Buffalo you know your out before Christmas. The Leafs had the best record in the north divison this season and everyone had them pegged as a cup favorite. I even said on this very blog that they would easily beat the Canadians in 5. I was so close to being right. Then I realized oh yea, Toronto doesn't ever finish a 3-1 lead. It is seriously comical at this point. What makes it even better and more hilarious is that once it hit 3-1 everyone wrote them off. It would have probably been better if they went down 2-1. But in any event the leafs are done in round one again. Now that the second round is underway and we know all the matchups I am going to share my predictions for round 2.

Boston vs New York Islanders

This one is interesting. Through 2 games it it still tough to call. Game 1 was all Boston start to finish minus a fluke goal early by the Isles. Game 2 seemed to be going in the same direction with Coyle just having his way with the D on that sweet opening goal. But from there it kind of went down hill. The Bruins did battle back and eventually tie the game and send it to over time but a freak bounce of Lauzon sent Cizikas on a break away and he buried the game winner. Overall after 2 games I do think the bruins have the better team and they will get passed the islanders. Bruins in 6.

Carolina vs. Tampa Bay

The Lightning are healthy for the first time all season and it has shown so far in the playoffs. Getting back Kucherov and Stamkos was exactly what they needed. I had them losing to the Panthers but I wrote that blog before they announced Kucherov and Stamkos were back. Had I known that I would have said no problem for them. Carolina made fairly easy work of the Predators in the first round. But they are gonna need a lot more out of Aho and Stall if they hope to get past Tampa. I don't think they have it. Lightning in 5.

Winnipeg vs Montreal

Ok this series I never imagined would happen. Winnipeg swept the oilers and did it with ease. McDavid and Drastial were completely irrelevant in the series. The jets exploited that and marched easily to the sweep. Montreal as I stated in the opening paragraph didn't have a chance in hell of getting past the Leafs. Until the leafs went up 3-1. But even though they took them to 7 games I didn't really see much that would make me think they will catch fire here and take out Winnipeg. I just don't think Carey Price is that good. People ay hes one of the best but he has only made it out of the first round once in his career. I could entertain the conversation if he even lost a few conference finals but hes never been there. So I don't think this year is going to be any different. Jets in 5.

Colorado vs Vegas

Tom Wilson only got a 5 thousand dollar suspension for slamming someone's head into the ice causing him to miss the remainder of the season. Ryan Reeves pulled someone down and had a knee on their face until he realized it and moved it and he gets 2 games. The NHL Safety department is a bigger joke then the leafs in the playoffs. Not only did they get this one wrong they basically told the league that Wilson in untouchable. For Vegas to lose a guy like Reeves for 2 very important games in the second round is gonna be tough. He may only get 8-12 minutes a night but hes the emotional leader more teams need. Colorado on the other hand is playing at a pace I have never seen before. Nathan McKinnon has to be one of if not the fastest player in the league. He just moves through defenses like nothing. I'm sure McDavid would do the same if he ever got out of the first round. Cale Makar is becoming one of the best shut down defenseman in the NHL. Those 2 guys alone are gonna take this team very far in the future. As much as it pains me to type this. I think Avalanche in 6.

Those are my round 2 predictions. In round 1 I went 4-4 so not to bad. I just didn't count on Toronto crapping them selves again and for Edmonton to get bent over like they did. Hopefully I do a little better this time around.

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