What should we expect in the offseason?

8 comments

1. I don’t think we are getting a coach that is not getting fired.

2. I think we will sign some players, get some entry levels, and get a coach. I hope this helps

3. I held off on agreeing with those saying use holtz as a good trade piece, but after the last 2 games he should be traded if he still has the value people seem to think he does reading other comments on here

4. Like you said, goalie and coach are obvious. Coaches we have to see who is available come June, but for goalies it’s a different story. The bruins are cap strapped and have someone ready to come up, so it’s basically necessary for them to move ullmark. Other than him the prime targets are Markstrom and *preferably* Saros. My list is 1) Saros 2)ullmark 7) Markstrom (I skipped numbers on purpose)

   As for coaches, Sullivan would be good, but he won’t be available unless Pitt missed playoffs, and even then it’s a maybe. I’m not sure who I want as head coach, but my trust is in fitz.

   Other than that, bring back Macdermid on a 1-2 year deal, let smith walk, bring back desimone, sign RFA’s, Nosek and tierney walk.

   Cap is in a *decent* spot, but it’ll work from my math. Going to be an interesting/ make or break offseason for fitz, but he’s given me **zero** reason not to trust him

5. Probably the summer

6. I think if we want to offload players, holtz and smith immediately come to mind. I’d also like to see what we can get for bahl. Palat’s contract is a blemish in a sea of really favorable contracts on our roster so I wouldn’t mind getting rid of him.

   In general, out of our offensive lineup, I would say there’s 8 guys that i think we definitely start next year if they don’t get traded and we resign them. That list would include Bratt, Hischier, Meier, Palat, Hughes, Mercer, Haula, Lazar. Nosek I think is going to be a good look for our roster though I’ve heard some negative opinions around here on him in particular. If we want to keep that core, we’d need to find 3-4 bottom 6 guys (potentially 1 top 6 forward if we want to move someone down) for next season which is a very tall ask, and at this point we’re looking at more of a complete overhaul of our bottom 6, which I doubt gets cleared up in a single offseason. We will need to sign some physical, two-way forwards in general to bolster our offense. Luckily for us, we do have some wingers in our pipeline though they aren’t very hard hitting. I like Josh Filmon, he’s been killing it in the WHL, and I think if he makes next year’s roster, he will be a good addition to the 3rd/4th line. Overall, the situation is kinda bleak. Losing toffoli and McLeod really hurt us.

   As for the defensive side of things, we will have dougie back, but I don’t think he will be as good as he was before. Now before y’all call me a doomer, just know that a torn pec is an injury most players don’t 100% bounce back from and given Dougie’s age, it will most definitely ruin his physical capabilities. To what extent we’ll just have to find out. Nemec looks solid on the defensive side as a rookie, Siegs has a down year but his contract is still very favorable for us regardless. Marino’s regression is extremely worrying, though Lindy’s aggressive scheme without adjusting for the lack of Hamilton definitely did not help that at all. Luke unfortunately is a byproduct of Michigan’s aggressive play style and still needs work unlearning the turnover-heavy aspects of his game. If you look at just the stats, Smith is a decent blocker but unfortunately I don’t think we should keep him around, and we should probably look to replace either him or Bahl, possibly with a vet defensemen to keep the young ones in line. The defense was ass this season, but having Dougie back, more experienced rookies, and a better defensive scheme should help us out next season.

   Obviously need a goalie. Jake Allen has single-handedly kept us in games we had no business staying in. He will be a good 1B, and has proven himself. I would like for us to potentially use our 1st round draft pick for a goalie. The issue with the goalie problem is that we will most likely need to give up quite a bit to get someone like Saros or Ullmark, and I rather not exacerbate our problems with our bottom 6 and defense. Hoping to see a goalie trade but I hope Fitz is smart enough not to mortgage a large sum of our future for one.

   Green is absolutely not the answer and I can’t believe people on this subreddit actually entertain keeping him for next season. We need a proven winner to lead this young team. I think Jay Pandolfo is a great candidate who has experience working with the bruins as an assistant and has had success as BU head. I would love for a cerebral and dedicated former devils player to come back and work for us again, this time as a coach. Mike Sullivan will absolutely be a slam dunk hire though I don’t know how likely it is he’ll be available.

   Finally, our draft. We whiffed on the yegor (and subsequently toffoli) trade, and the end result is draft capital that we can’t use to draft someone this year. We have a top 10 draft pick which is a good spot for trading. This years draft is really good though, I am spying Zeev Buium as a solid first round pick if we stay at 10. It might make more sense to trade the pick since we have multiple things to work on this offseason.

   Overall, the future is still bright, but after doing some investigating on our current situation, I’ve found that this team still has quite the journey to go through if we want to be cup contenders. Realistically I don’t think we can resolve our bottom 6 problems, and the regression on defense + injuries put a huge question mark for next season. Hopefully we will figure it out. I’m looking forward to the moves Fitz will make, as I think this offseason will absolutely make or break our cup window.

7. We need a coach who gets results, a stud goalie, a shut down defensemen who can hit, and a big power forward.

   Tall order, but otherwise prepare for another season of the same old “we’re just… away from being a contender” or “trust the process” and “their still young” excuses.

8. Probably this question, but asked only three times per week instead of six 😇