Marco Sturm’s BRUTAL Assessment of John Beecher—Did the Bruins SACRIFICE Future VALUE?

Marco Sturm’s BRUTAL Assessment of John Beecher—Did the Bruins SACRIFICE Future VALUE?

Even if John Beecher had fallen out of favor with the head coach and had been ineffective this season, losing him for nothing on waiverss to the Calgary Flames is clear shortsighted asset mismanagement. You’re Locked on Bruins, your daily podcast on the Boston Bruins, part of the Locked On podcast network. your team every day. What is up, Bruins fans, and welcome back to the Locked On Boston Bruins podcast. I’m your host, Ian McLaren, and we’re part of the Locked On podcast network, now the number one sports podcast network. On today’s episode of Locked On Boston Bruins, we are going to discuss the loss of John Beecher on waiverss to the Calgary Flames and the fact that he had indeed fallen out of favor with head coach Marco Sturm. You can defend the move in the short term, but losing a first round pick for nothing while prioritizing a grinding winger like Jeffrey Vl still amounts to asset mismanagement. We will also update the Atlantic Division power rankings and discuss why some models do not uh favor the Bruins in terms of their current playoff hopes despite a strong start to the season. and we’ll preview tonight’s game against the Anaheim Ducks. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Download the FanDuel app now by visiting fanuel.com and win $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. Before we get into it, a quick reminder. You can find the podcast on socials, locked NHL Bruins. That’s on X, Blue Sky, Instagram, Threads, Tik Tok. Again, I’m your host, Ian McLaren. I am a lifelong Boston Bruins fan, and I have been covering this team and the NHL for various major outlets for nearly 20 years. The John Beecher waiver loss has the fan base split, and the reason is simple. There are compelling arguments on both sides. What pushed this from a routine roster move into a full-blown debate? Well, let’s start with Marco Sturm’s pretty blunt assessment of John Beecher’s efforts and his season so far under the new head coach. Uh, Ty Anderson 98.5 reported Sturm’s unfiltered reasoning for waving Beecher. The decision of course comes down to the general manager Don Sweeney, but obviously Sturm’s analysis matters and they tell you exactly how the coach saw the player. He said for him as a new coach, he gave Beecher a new opportunity. And quite frankly, Sturm thought he would be a little better, more effective, and he just wasn’t. At some point, Sturm added, “The Bruins have to make a decision to move forward, and that’s where they’re at.” He added, “It’s not easy being out of the lineup, but there are guys just waiting for their moment, and at the end of the day, it’s always up to the player.” Beecher had a new voice, a fresh set of eyes, didn’t really care about his past, but it was up to him. For some reason, it didn’t work out. And those quotes make one thing crystal clear. Sturm did not think Beecher grabbed the opportunity. And this is kind of where the organizational asset management debate begins. And look, I have no problem with giving Beecher a timeout, per se, and trying to send him down to Providence in order to try to find his game. But the reality is he had to go on waiverss in order to be assigned there. And the Bruins just lost a first round pick for nothing. the 30th overall pick in 2019. Late first round picks, even if it’s a firstrounder, can still be a bit of a crapshoot. They’ve made a five-year development investment. Losing that asset on waiverss to the Calgary Flames without even recouping a late pick kind of drives me crazy. And this is about process, not necessarily hindsight. To me, there’s zero chance that a guy like Jeffrey Vel, if you put him on waiverss, he’s going to get claimed. I I don’t believe for a second that he was going to get claimed. A guy like John Beer, I was fairly certain he would get claimed. Uh you had the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadians in need of help. It was the bottom team in the NHL that ended up claiming him. So, who knows who else put a claim in, but uh Calgary had first priority. They grabbed him. And even if his production has stalled, his traits are still valuable. He’s 6’3. He’s a good skater. 53% career faceoff win success rate. Penalty kill ability. He’s only 24. He’s got control as a restricted free agent. And he’s only making around $900,000 against the cap. To me, that’s not a profile you just give away, especially on a cap tight roster. And Calgary’s immediate claim proves there was value. You can argue where he fits in on the lineup, whether he’s been passed over by Fraser Minton, Morat, uh, Hninov, Mate Bluml, Alex Steves, but I believe there’s still something there to be uh, mined or valued. He hadn’t yet reached his breakout threshold of 200 games. You look at Jeffrey VL, 28 years old, career depth grinder, mostly at the AHL level. For me, there’s really zero long-term upside there with regards to VL. Beecher though, 24 cost controlled, still developing, still at only 24. And choosing VL over Beecher says the Bruins prioritized shortterm sandpaper, short-term piss and vinegar over long-term asset value. And that fuels the mismanagement argument more than anything. You can’t make a case though that it was a justifiable move, right? Beecher had 22 points in 136 games, one goal in six games this season. Sturm highlighted effort and consistency as genuine issues. And when the new coach says he expected more effective play and didn’t get it, it does soften the sting. Uh Elish Lynholmes traveling with the team nearing a return. Someone had to be squeezed off the roster, especially to make room for a defenseman with Charlie Makavoy likely out for a considerable amount of time. Michael Callahan was recalled ahead of the road trip that they’re embarking on. The Bruins didn’t force the Bruins to keep him. Even if Beecher has tools, the team seemed to view him as a fourthline center with limited growth and he therefore becomes an easy piece to move. Sweeney could have tried to trade him even for a sixth or seventh round pick, but if that was on the table, he would have. Lack of trade activity suggests other teams weren’t willing to part with assets, but we’re happy to claim him for free. In the short term, you could perhaps validate this decision. Beecher wasn’t producing. Sturm didn’t trust him. Jeffrey V is bringing the effort when he’s given the opportunities and the roster is is tight. Long-term though, there’s also valid criticism. You should not lose a 24year-old RFA controlled first round pick for nothing, especially not while choosing a 28-year-old career depth winger instead. Sturm’s quotes explain why the Bruins moved on, but you can still argue that it’s roster mismanagement to lose him for zero return. You could easily, and look, it’s not as if Jeffrey V is an every night player. you could have easily put him on waiverss, assigned him to Providence, held on to Beecher to give him uh opportunity to get back in the lineup and at least get some value out of him down the road. Neither guy was playing quite regularly and when people are healthy, they’re the extra forwards. The VL overbeer decision exposes the Bruins struggling to balance short-term lineup decisions with long-term asset protection. Taking a chance on a guy like Beecher over a guy like VL is the kind of retooling that the Bruins should be doing. And they did it with Hudinov. They did it with Minton. Uh Blue Mel Steves. Yeah, that bumped Beecher down the depth chart. He hadn’t brought the effort, but to lose him for absolutely nothing is is really frustrating, especially when you are wanting to prioritize uh or you said anyways that you wanted to prioritize speed, skill. Now they’re stuck with a bunch of guys like VL Jano Marass Mikey Acimont the bottom six remains full but with limited upside and Beecher brought that in my opinion. Um, and again, I have no issue with him not being in the lineup night in and night out based on early returns so far this season, but it wasn’t that long ago that he was scoring the opening goal in the playoffs against the Toronto Maple Leafs. And for me, it’s a short-sighted move for the gain of the Calgary Flames. Let me know what you think. Hit me up in the comments or on socials. And coming up, we’re going to take a quick look at the Atlantic Division power rankings before we preview tonight’s game against the Anaheim Ducks. Let’s be real, making excuses does not solve anything. We’ve all heard them before. It’s just stress, I’m tired, or it happens to everyone sometimes. When it comes to performance, sometimes your body just needs a little extra support. And that’s where Rouette comes in. Rouette.com offers fast acting doctor prescribed treatments for ED. Designed to help you stop making excuses and start making moves. Rouette makes it easy to get started. Connect with a boardcertified doctor 100% online and if prescribed your ship your treatment ships directly and discreetly straight to your door. Visit rouette.com/lockedonhl to get 15% off your first order. That’s rugg.com/lockedonhl. Don’t forget to use our code locked on NHL so they know he sent you. It’s about confidence, connection, getting back to the moments that matter. Rouette, stop making excuses and start making moves. The Bruins currently sit in the top three in the Atlantic division and it’s been a very successful start to the season so far. Let’s be clear, the Bruins, nobody thought at any point they would be in first place with the most points. Uh they were earlier this week. They’re now second in terms of points with 24 one behind the Detroit Red Wings. But if you look at uh the athletics playoff model, I think they have the Bruins at 15% chance of making it. And I saw this morning on ESPN via stats 3.2% chance of making the playoffs. The Bruins right now are fifth in the Atlantic. If you look at point percentage ahead of only uh Florida, Toronto, and Buffalo, and Florida and Toronto, of course, two teams that you would expect to be up in the upper echelon of the Atlantic Division. Right now, from bottom to top, these are your rankings for the Atlantic Division. You have Buffalo in eighth, Toronto, Florida, then Boston, and then above them, the Senators, the Lightning, each at 579 in terms of point percentage. Two points back of the Bruins, but both with two games in hand. The Canadians at 605 and the Red Wings at 625. And one of the reasons why people are low on the Boston Bruins is their underlying numbers. And we’ve talked about this several times so far this season on the podcast. What the Bruins are doing well is scoring. Actually, uh they are one of the top teams when it comes to uh goal scoring so far this season. If you look at their goals for at five on five, where the majority of the game is played, they rank ninth right now in terms of scoring five on five. And in the Atlantic specifically, they have the second most goals behind the Toronto Maple Leafs uh right now. So offense, which we thought would be an issue for this team, hasn’t been necessarily. Uh, in terms of goals per game, their goal total kind of inflated because they have played the most games in the NHL. When it comes to goals per game, they ranked 10th at 3.24. The problem though is that they’re still allowing slightly more goals than they are um scoring. 3.2 24 goals per game, 3.29 goals allowed per game. Now, a big improvement for this team has been the special teams. They ranked sixth on the power play, 25.4% success rate, and their penalty kill is eighth, whereas last season they were in the 30s in both categories. And that’s going to sink you big time if your special teams are not succeeding. So they’re getting some scoring, five on five. Their special teams are connecting, but the underlying numbers suggest they are being outplayed night in and night out. If you look at shot attempts, which is just what it sounds like, getting the puck towards the net, the Bruins have a shot attempt differential at five on five of 47.75%. So, in all Bruins games at five on five, the opposition is getting the majority of the shot attempts. When it comes to actual shots on goal, the Bruins rank 17th. So, bit closer to middle of the pack with a differential of 49.25. So, pretty even when it comes to shots for and against at five on five. When it comes to scoring chances and high danger opportunities though, the Bruins back down near the bottom of the pack. In fact, they are bottom in the Atlantic, ranking 25th overall in terms of uh scoring chances for a 46.48% mark for the Bruins there. And then when it comes to high danger chances, it’s even worse. They are 27th in the NHL with only 44% of high danger chances generated in all their games going to them. 155 for 198 against. And therefore, when it comes to expected goals, which again is a look at the shot quality for and against, the Bruins are 28th in the NHL. Expected goals at five on five. They are um they have scored 41 goals. The expected goals for for the Bruins is around 37. So they’re actually a few goals scored more than their expected goals, which means things might fall back down to earth at some point. Their expected goal rate is 44.67, which again is 28th in the NHL. What does this all actually mean? Well, right now the Bruins again, they’re getting some goals, but they’re allowing slightly more than they are generating. And the numbers suggest that that could become a bigger problem as we go through the season. The Bruins are allowing more shot attempts than they are generating. They’re allowing more shots than they’re recording. They’re allowing more scoring chances and high danger scoring chances. And therefore, the opposition is more likely to score than the Bruins are in each game on average so far this season. Now, they’ve been getting pretty good goalending from uh Ununis Corbasalo and Jeremy Swayman, especially lately. And even at five on five, that rate could improve a little bit. So that’s keeping them them in games as is their special teams. Last season, the goalending wasn’t there. The special teams were terrible, and that’s why they tanked. This season, they’re getting special teams. They’re getting better goalending, especially over the course of this recent run of success, and that’s keeping them from having their real defensive issues exposed. And that’s a problem when Charlie Makavoy is out of the lineup and could be for quite some time. The Bruins have been very reluctant to offer uh an update on him as of yet. if he requires surgery, if he’s got a broken jaw, it could be, you know, several weeks before he’s able to come back into the lineup. Um, so you’ve got him out. if he’s out for a considerable amount of time. Don’t forget that’s why they were so bad last season. It’s because they were without Hampus Lindome for the majority of the season and uh Charlie Makavoy for the balance of the season after the four nations faceoff. So if they have to rely on Henrioki Haru, Jonathan Asparo in their top six, Michael Callahan was recalled, put him in. Uh it could be a tougher go for this team and it’s going to be difficult beginning tonight with this California road trip that begins in Anaheim. So, while the Bruins off to a great start, they are 24 points, 571 point percentage, uh they’re still, if you look at the Eastern Conference as a whole, 571 point percentage puts them outside the top eight. And there are very real questions about whether they can sustain this and whether or not things will fall off the rails even beginning tonight in Anaheim. That’s a game we’ll preview here as the podcast continues. The NBA is back and there’s no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Whether you are looking to track your favorite player, or want to ride the hot hand, check your fourth quarter comebacks, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to who’s going to win the game. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. Keeps every game exciting, especially when your team is making that late push. And it’s not just the NBA. You can get in on the action with the NFL and the NHL as well. Right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. Head to fanduel.com. Check the overunder for tonight’s Bruins Ducks game. Sign up, play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Get your coffee ready. Thank you for making Lockdown On Boston Bruins your first listen every day. We’re part of the Locked On podcast network, the number one sports podcast network. And it’s going to be a late night tonight, folks, because the Bruins play at 1000 p.m. Eastern time a game against the Anaheim Ducks. And the Ducks are very good this season. They’re 12, six, and one. And they’ve got weapons that can hurt you each shift. It seems like right now they are led in scoring by Leo Carlson 26 points in 19 games. Cutter Goautier has 22 points in 19 games. Troy Terry, Chris Krider, Becket Senica, Mason McTavish. These are all guys who can hurt you up front. On the back end, they’ve got Jacob Trouba locking things down like he used to do as captain of the New York Rangers and just leveling guys night in and night out. Now, Anaheim has lost three of their past four games. They’re coming off a win uh last night over the uh Mammoth or maybe that was two nights ago. Sorry. So they’re coming off a win over the Utah Mammoth and they have one of the better goalenders in the NHL backstopping them. Lucas Dostel 95 and one only a 9003 save percentage but he can shut it down on any given night. Our boy Jeremy Swayman has similar numbers eight and five with a 902 save percentage. Uh we’ll see if he’s in net or if they go back to Ununus Corposal because Swayman has started uh the past couple games for this team. Montreal Carolina, he might be due for a bit of a break, but if it were me, I would just ride him because he has been the better goalender so far this season. The Ducks again 126 and one. They are seven and three over their past 10. The Bruins are 8-2, but again, they’re very uh depleted right now when it comes to the lineup. Elias Lindholm is traveling with the team, but we’ll see if he’s able to get in on the action with his health. They’re without Charlie Makavoy. They’re without Casey Middlestat, without Victor Arvdson. So, losing three of your top six forwards and your top defenseman going on this tough California road trip, it could be uh it could be trouble for the Boston Bruins. Last five games, the Bruins are led in scoring by David Post. He’s got four goals, four assists. He’s going to need to be on point. Cutter Goautier leading the way with four points, three assists over the past five games for the Anaheim Ducks. They beat the Bruins 75 back on October 23rd. So, this is the second and final meeting between these two teams this season. Uh, a low moment in the season for the Boston Bruins. Just uh a pretty poor effort all around. The Ducks, when it comes to special teams, their power play could use some work, as could their penalty kill. The Bruins are much better than the Ducks in both respects. The Ducks rank 16th on the power play, 23rd on the penalty kill. The Bruins are sixth on the power play, and eighth on the penalty kill as discussed earlier. Faceoffs, Bruins much better. They rank fifth in the NHL. The Ducks are 27th, so that will be an important factor on the road. Get possession and run with it. The Ducks are the second best offensive team on average in the NHL this season, averaging 3.63 goals per game. The Bruins are 10th at 3.24. The Ducks are allowing 3.16, which is 21st. The Bruins 24th ranked 3.29, which is a real uh source of concern as we discussed earlier, especially based on their underlying numbers. It’s the first of four road games in a row for the Bruins. They will also go to uh LA. They’ll play the San Jose Sharks, who are pretty hot right now, led by one of the leading scorers in the NHL, Mlin Celibbrini. It’s going to be a tough go through California, whereas just a couple years ago was a nice maybe softer part of the schedule. get some sun, get some goals, come home with some wins. But, uh, this could be trouble for the Boston Bruins here over the next few nights. Hopefully, they’re able to withstand this kind of injury bug and they can generate some goals, shut things down, and come together on this road trip as can often happen. You get away from home, you get some time on the road with the boys, some team dinners, some hangs, maybe a golf round or two in between games, and uh they can really come together. Next man up mentality. The Bruins are going to need production from your Blue MLS, your Steves’s, uh, your Hudinos, and hopefully get sound enough defense to, uh, don’t forget like on the road, the home teams have last change. So, if you put Yoki, Haru, Asparo out there, then the home team can counter with Leo Carlson and Kar Goautier, and that could be a real problem. it’s easier to withstand these uh injuries at home because you have better chance of matching up more properly with the opposition. So, look for that to be a factor as well. All right, that’s it for today’s episode of Locked On Boston Bruins. Thank you so much for making Locked On Bruins your first listen today. For your second listen, check out the allnew Locked On NHL game night podcast. every game, every night until a Stanley Cup champion is crowned. Local analysis on a national scale. You can find it on the Locked On NHL YouTube channel or wherever you listen to podcasts. Thank you for subscribing to Locked On Boston Bruins. Please do so if you have not already. And take care of yourselves, take care of each other. We’ll talk to you again here tomorrow where we will recap the Ducks game and bring you all the latest on the black and gold here on Locked On Boston Bruins, part of the Locked On podcast network, now the number one sports podcast network.

Boston Bruins face fan backlash after losing first-round pick John Beecher to the Calgary Flames for nothing. Does prioritizing grit over asset management jeopardize the team’s future?

Ian McLaren breaks down the controversial Beecher waiver decision, dissecting head coach Marco Sturm’s candid assessment and GM Don Sweeney’s approach to roster construction. The show spotlights Jeffrey Viel’s unexpected rise, the short-term impact on the Bruins’ lineup, and possible long-term consequences for their depth and playoff chances.

Atlantic Division power rankings and advanced stat models paint a mixed picture for Boston, while injuries to Charlie McAvoy and other key players add to the uncertainty. As the Bruins prepare for a tough matchup against the Anaheim Ducks, their defensive woes, special teams resurgence, and point percentage become crucial talking points. Will Boston’s risk in roster management derail their strong start?

Episode Timestamps & Segments

0:00 – Beecher Waiver Decision
Discussion of the Boston Bruins’ decision to place John Beecher on waivers and asset mismanagement concerns, including head coach Marco Sturm’s assessment and the roster implications.

11:32 – Atlantic Division Power Rankings
Deep dive into the Atlantic Division standings, playoff models, and Bruins’ analytics with underlying concerns, including comparisons to other teams and expected goals analysis.

22:13 – Ducks Game Preview & Injury Impact
Comprehensive preview of tonight’s game vs. the Anaheim Ducks, analysis of the Ducks’ strengths and Bruins’ current injury challenges, plus road trip outlook.

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