Bottom 6 revamped in Boston - 2019-08-04
Boston, Mass
The Bruins playoff run ended at the hands of The Washington Capitals this spring, a year removed from hoisting the Stanley Cup in year 2 of the CCHL. Despite that success, success(?), GM Grant did not sit quietly. After a rather slow start to the offseason, Grant finally found some willing GM's to dance with. Without hurting the core of the team that has been responsible for the last two seasons results, the GM was able to add to a forward group that did get thin after the top 6. Doing so did come at a cost however but the team is clearly a top 5 organization in the league and the time is definitely now for this group.
Gone but not forgotten;
D - Brandon Carlo. Carlo was thought to be a top 4 fixture in Boston for, honesty, ever...but the dman became expendable with the graduation of Julius Honka. Carlo loves the penalty box too which was something the GM was tired of.
C - Pavel Zacha. Had a nice year in providence but his numbers would have had him on the 4th line. Hardly the place for a kid needing minutes in the pro's.
RW - Cal Clutterbuck. Nice depth forward who loves taking penalties. Was a good fit for the season however but has been replaced with a younger, better option.
RW - Troy Brouwer. Acquired at the deadline, Brouwer gave the second line a boost but then quietly got quieter and quitererly left as a FA.
C - Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson. He was once considered to be in the running for the 3rd line C this season but a so-so year in the A has left him a victim of the numbers game with Trent Frederic and Jack Studnicka in the 1-2 hole for Providence.
G - Jaro Halak. Halak was solid for Boston but with Rask being capable of playing so many games, the need for an expensive backup was unnecessary. He split via FA.
Hello, Handsomes!
RW - Ryan Callahan. 60pts for the wild last season is exactly what caught the GM's eye here. Callahan will slide into the top 6 and replace the departed Troy Brower who was underwelming after being acquired at the deadline.
LW/RW - Brett Connolly. A nice add for 2 draft picks from Toronto. Connolly will replace Clutterbuck on the 3rd line and bring decent scoring and DI.
D - Jakub Zboril. Providence gets a top pairing prospect to play with Matt Grzelcyk.
C/LW - Valtteri Filppula. A welcome back to Boston story. Filppula lands back in Boston to anchor the 3rd line C spot. The move allows Sean Kuraly to develop in Providence instead of being overmatched in the pro's again this season.
C/LW/RW/D - Matt Read, Eric Fehr, Matt Irwin, Tom Gilbert, Craig Smith, Darren Helm. Solid veteran depth adds via late pics, Clutterbuck/JFK and FA. These players all bring good DF and DI to add a team that needed to shore up in those categorys. All on good contracts as well.
G. Anders Lindback. He will play 15 games likely after leading the Providence Bruins to their first playoffs this past season. A finalist for goalie of the year in the A, he is ready for pro duty.
Season 4 lineup.
Staal-Krejci-Oshie
Grabner-Coyle-Callahan
Connolly-Filppula-Smith
Read-Helm-Fehr
Pietrangelo-McAvoy
Boychuk-Honka
Gilbert-Irwin
TUUKKA RASK
Anders Lindback
The team is deeper, the GM is older(!!!), and the Bruins are ready to take the Cup back to Boston. In a truly numbers game, will those numbers meet the GM's expectations? They sure as hell better. This team is better suited for a stronger finish in the standings but the GM will not wait to make changes if things dont start well. As noted before, for this team, the time is certainly now.