One Positive from Last Night's Game

[Vic Rattlehead]

We'll never have to see Steve Montador play for the Bruins again. Talk about a trainwreck in his own end.

[IcE ColD]

Quick interesting question (well, for me):

With already 46.7M$ engaged in salary for next year (nhlnumbers.com), is it possible to fit Kessel, Krejci, Hunwick and Bitz under the cap and replace whoever needs to be replaced as UFA?

If not (and I know it would never happen with the Habs, but I'm genuinely curious), who are you guys willing to trade?

(I know I could have possibly posted this in another thread, but I think it can fit in this one too).

[Vic Rattlehead]

Quick interesting question (well, for me):

With already 46.7M$ engaged in salary for next year (nhlnumbers.com), is it possible to fit Kessel, Krejci, Hunwick and Bitz under the cap and replace whoever needs to be replaced as UFA?

If not (and I know it would never happen with the Habs, but I'm genuinely curious), who are you guys willing to trade?

(I know I could have possibly posted this in another thread, but I think it can fit in this one too).

I think it's possible. The B's would rather give up the following players than lose the four above:

Ward
Ference
Ryder


Ward and Ference are just not reliable, and as good of a season Ryder had, his contract is too much for a player that disappeared in the Carolina series.

[Ice Poutine]

...and as good of a season Ryder had, his contract is too much for a player that disappeared in the Carolina series.

Now you understand when we laughed when the Bruins signed him...

[Vic Rattlehead]

Now you understand when we laughed when the Bruins signed him...

Meh, he did a lot for Boston, it was just the last several games where he disappeared.

It was a good signing at the time, but I would have preferred one year. I do think he boosted his value which will help the Bruins if they trade him to keep Kessel and Krejci.

[Zarley Zalapski]

Weird, I thought Montador was decent in these playoffs.

I knew it the Bruins wouldn't make it past the 2nd round with Thomas in the net.

[IcE ColD]

Meh, he did a lot for Boston, it was just the last several games where he disappeared.

It was a good signing at the time, but I would have preferred one year. I do think he boosted his value which will help the Bruins if they trade him to keep Kessel and Krejci.

Hum... Ryder tends to disappear during playoffs and it seems that only the fact that he played Montreal could get him a little boost... this said, I don't know if a team would be interested in Ryder, given his contract.

[blades of steel]

Hum... Ryder tends to disappear during playoffs and it seems that only the fact that he played Montreal could get him a little boost... this said, I don't know if a team would be interested in Ryder, given his contract.

How is his contract not ideal? If he were a free agent this summer he'd be getting offers of 5M.

[mcphee]

I mentionned it on our side but the talk of a deadline deal, with Tkaczuk/Perron goiung to Boston for Kessel, may have been discussed with an idea of what's coming in terms of contract.

[IcE ColD]

How is his contract not ideal? If he were a free agent this summer he'd be getting offers of 5M.

I don't know, it's a hard pill to swallow for some team to pay 4M$ a year for a guy that automatically disappears in the playoffs. Especially a guy that plays a a one-sided games and tends to reach his 25-30 goals plateau in the very last 5 games.

Call him Mr March.

[Vic Rattlehead]

Weird, I thought Montador was decent in these playoffs.

I knew it the Bruins wouldn't make it past the 2nd round with Thomas in the net.

The Bruins losing in the second round had absolutely nothing to do with Thomas. If anything, he was the best Bruin in the second round.

You should talk about stuff you know about.....

[Phoenix Wright]

I don't know, it's a hard pill to swallow for some team to pay 4M$ a year for a guy that automatically disappears in the playoffs. Especially a guy that plays a a one-sided games and tends to reach his 25-30 goals plateau in the very last 5 games.

Call him Mr March.

He's fantastic for a team needing secondary scoring on the wing. I think Nashville or Minnesota would gladly take him.

[Zarley Zalapski]

The Bruins losing in the second round had absolutely nothing to do with Thomas. If anything, he was the best Bruin in the second round.

You should talk about stuff you know about.....

Well, I watched the whole series. Thomas wasn't bad, but with his flip-flop-flap-turn around, do the turtle ninja move on the ice, he is prone to let in a softy in a clutch time like last night. He choked two years in a row in a game 7, (IMO).

But anyway, my point of the post was about Montador. He wasn't awful.

[Vic Rattlehead]

Well, I watched the whole series. Thomas wasn't bad, but with his flip-flop-flap-turn around, do the turtle ninja move on the ice, he is prone to let in a softy in a clutch time like last night. He choked two years in a row in a game 7, (IMO).

But anyway, my point of the post was about Montador. He wasn't awful.

He didn't choke - his defense let him down, especially Wideman and Montador. Without Thomas, this would have been over in game 6, maybe even game 5. Hell, Thomas was the only reason that the third game even went into OT.

Neither defenseman was capable of moving the puck out of the zone easily. Both had trouble moving the puck out of the zone because they wanted to do something fancy instead of something simple.

Montador got better in games 5, 6, and 7, but he was still pretty bad.

[Beaker]

He didn't choke - his defense let him down, especially Wideman and Montador. Without Thomas, this would have been over in game 6, maybe even game 5. Hell, Thomas was the only reason that the third game even went into OT.

Neither defenseman was capable of moving the puck out of the zone easily. Both had trouble moving the puck out of the zone because they wanted to do something fancy instead of something simple.

Montador got better in games 5, 6, and 7, but he was still pretty bad.

Tim Thomas is a rebound machine.... how many times did his defence bail his ass out when he gave up absolutely brutal rebounds??

Thomas is not that good... it was guys like Chara, Wideman and Ward that kept that game going. Heck a couple times big juicy rebounds were cleared by Lucic and Savard just before the Canes were about to capitalize.

I stand by what I've said all along about Thomas.... He is being protected by Claude Julien's great defensive system, played by a very talented team in front of him. He is not near as good as his stats indicate. Add to that an unorthodox style that confuses shooters who don't see it regularly in the regular season, but in the playoffs have a chance to focus on it as they see him every other night for 2 weeks at a time and over the course of the playoffs he will continuely get exposed in his career.

He is the equivalent of Roman Cechmanek on the Flyers behind Ken Hitchcock's tight defensive system that limited the chances against him. And Cechmanek's unorthodox style worked in the regular season, but by the end of a long playoff round teams figured him out.

[Psycho Papa Joe]

Meh, he did a lot for Boston, it was just the last several games where he disappeared.

It was a good signing at the time, but I would have preferred one year. I do think he boosted his value which will help the Bruins if they trade him to keep Kessel and Krejci.

To be honest, I think the Bruins would have been just as good this season if they hadn't signed Ryder. The lines would have been different, but IMO he isn't a difference maker.

[Vic Rattlehead]

Tim Thomas is a rebound machine.... how many times did his defence bail his ass out when he gave up absolutely brutal rebounds??

Thomas is not that good... it was guys like Chara, Wideman and Ward that kept that game going. Heck a couple times big juicy rebounds were cleared by Lucic and Savard just before the Canes were about to capitalize.

I stand by what I've said all along about Thomas.... He is being protected by Claude Julien's great defensive system, played by a very talented team in front of him. He is not near as good as his stats indicate. Add to that an unorthodox style that confuses shooters who don't see it regularly in the regular season, but in the playoffs have a chance to focus on it as they see him every other night for 2 weeks at a time and over the course of the playoffs he will continuely get exposed in his career.

He is the equivalent of Roman Cechmanek on the Flyers behind Ken Hitchcock's tight defensive system that limited the chances against him. And Cechmanek's unorthodox style worked in the regular season, but by the end of a long playoff round teams figured him out.

You really have it out for Thomas. I don't understand why, but you just do.

The Canes had plenty of time to focus on Thomas and they still couldn't quite figure him out. I've seen enough games that Thomas clearly stole two points to know that he's good.

Tight defensive system? You do realize the Bruins are continuously outshot, right? Did you watch the entire Canes series? If you did, you would have realized that Thomas was the Bruins best player.


EDIT---Funny how you mention Wideman - he was a turnover machine in the series. Ward? He was slow as hell. Both defenseman, along with Montador, were mediocre during that series.

Listen, I understand you guys want to create discussion, but I hate how every Bruins thread here ends up with me having to defend the Bruins. It gets annoying, and it's partly one of the reasons why I rarely came here over the last month. You guys add a lot to the discussion, but sometimes I just want to talk about the Bruins without having to defend my team against Habs fans.

[Beaker]

You really have it out for Thomas. I don't understand why, but you just do.

The Canes had plenty of time to focus on Thomas and they still couldn't quite figure him out. I've seen enough games that Thomas clearly stole two points to know that he's good.

Tight defensive system? You do realize the Bruins are continuously outshot, right? Did you watch the entire Canes series? If you did, you would have realized that Thomas was the Bruins best player.

I have never liked the unorthodox style that he plays... I'm still saying he's not that good. Watch the rebounds... they are always sitting there. The bruins are very good at pouncing on them, but behind a different defence he would have more trouble. As for being the best Bruins player in the series, i can think of two games where he wasn't very good.... game 2 and game 4. Also that OT winner in game 7 was created by something that the canes created by focusing on his weak rebound control.

You could see the Canes going after those rebounds throughout the game last night, and the bruins as a team did some great work to get a lot of the more dangerous ones but you can't keep doing it forever.

Look again at the OT winner.... Look again at the flukey goal/no goal from game 2... look again at a number of the goals he gave up in the playoffs and the regular season... his weakness is those rebounds, always has been.

As for a defensive system... thats not about shots for/shots against... i've never liked that stat for saying which team is playing better. Shots can be from a number of areas on the ice... The Bruins allow a lot of shots from the outside, but they don't allow shots from good scoring areas. Thats there gameplan... no mistakes... no breakdowns, and capitalize on the other teams mistakes. We saw in numerous games all playoffs long, that once they get the lead they just focus on completely shutting the other team down. Its Julien's MO, and it worked well for the most part this year.. but switch Thomas and Ward and this series lasts 4 games... 5 games tops.

EDIT---Funny how you mention Wideman - he was a turnover machine in the series. Ward? He was slow as hell. Both defenseman, along with Montador, were mediocre during that series.

The Bruins D as a whole is slow and thats a problem for them of course, but the one thing i pointed out that they did very well throughout the playoffs was clear rebounds infront of their own net. Chara, Ward, Montador, and Wideman were a big part of that. I focused on one area of their game last night that i felt they did exceptionally well, and on a number of occassions i thought the puck was gonn end up going in after a rebound and they cleared it.

I never said the whole defence was good, or that they didn't turn the puck over. I sad that they executed Julien's system infront of their own net well.

I wasn't talking about everything Wideman and Ward did... merely this one thing.

Listen, I understand you guys want to create discussion, but I hate how every Bruins thread here ends up with me having to defend the Bruins. It gets annoying, and it's partly one of the reasons why I rarely came here over the last month. You guys add a lot to the discussion, but sometimes I just want to talk about the Bruins without having to defend my team against Habs fans.

Here i thought I was just talking constructively about the team... there is a lot about the bruins team that is good. I'm sorry if my posts aren't fellating Chara as being the best d in the league this year... or if I'm not talking about how great i think Kessel is.... but the thread hasn't run that way.

[Vic Rattlehead]

Here i thought I was just talking constructively about the team... there is a lot about the bruins team that is good. I'm sorry if my posts aren't fellating Chara as being the best d in the league this year... or if I'm not talking about how great i think Kessel is.... but the thread hasn't run that way.

I don't want to see that either, but come on - if I criticized Price on the Habs board, I'd have neg. rep by now. :paranoid:

The only real problem I have with Thomas is his rebounds. Other than that, he does what it takes to make the save, and I'll always take that type of goaltender over the mentally weak ones that give up after a bad goal.

[Ricard_Persson]

Tim Thomas is currently second in SV% with a sizzling .935%. I'm pretty sure it's not his fault.


Anything over a .920SV% is enough to win a championship on a good team.

[Beaker]

Tim Thomas is currently second in SV% with a sizzling .935%. I'm pretty sure it's not his fault.


Anything over a .920SV% is enough to win a championship on a good team.

Cristobal Huet always had a sizzling save percentage with Montreal. I never once believed he was a goalie who would win a championship. The stat is based on shots on goal which as i explained is inherently flawed as some shots are easier to save than others.

For example a guy on Detroit will never have a high Save Percentage cause Detroit always has the puck. They don't give up any as many easy shots.... when they do give up shots they are usually good.