It’s not often that you read an apology of sorts on a blog and when it is done it seems that it’s of the type that’s short in the frame of “let’s pretend this didn’t happen”. Noted hockey scout for the Red Line Report, Kirk Luedeke wrote an apology on his own blog for suggesting that Tuukka be traded back in April when the 2015-2016 version of the Bruins collapsed in the last month of the season. While it seems the Bruins fanbase definitely has strong opinions either for or against Rask, it’s good to see someone who had expressed doubt about him can acknowledge his initial overreaction.
It seems that this season’s Bruins rely a lot on Rask, who may or may not be struggling through some sort of chronic injury. While the team is playing better around him, there are still times when goal support is lacking. Tuukka is having his best strongest start ever this season at 10-1; by comparison the other goaltenders are a combined 0-4. On this week’s podcast, we discussed the possibility that Tuukka, while needed, is playing too much this early in the season, especially when it comes to back-to-back games like this week. An overplayed, tired, and drained primary goalie will not help the team in April.
So, is he being played too much?
Just finished my on line test of NCAA rules. What a mind fuck! The NCAA rule book could make the hate read list – probably top it!
Bonne chance!
I got a 90. Yo would think that’s terrible for an open book test, but they quiz you on the most obscure rules and nuances it’s crazy. I will say, once you finish the test, you know the book. We get three shots at passing the test. 90 is the minimum score. Got it on the first attempt
Federation of High Schools test is next. It’s easier. The rules are less complicated. They are geared toward getting more participants in the game. NCAA is geared toward providing offensive opportunities.
Gratulálok!
That’s great. Does that mean you’re qualified to ref NCAA games now?
Dobby and Killer both on the ice for morning practice
At this time last year, nobody would have even considered putting a smiley face at the end of a post about Killer taking the ice. Oh, the times they are a-changin’!
Ha! That is true, but in the latter part of last season he looked to really raise his game IMHO, and a lot of people were still judging him on his admittedly terrible early-season performances. Infamous crab incident, for example …
as long as its quaid that sits im ok with his return.
He definitely got better as the season went on. I just find it amusing that last season it was all “Bench Killer, play Chiller” and now I think a lot of people would be OK with the opposite, especially after the own-goal.
Kevlar’s almost certainly taking Chiller’s spot.
I still wouldn’t. Even if he’s playing at his top level, it’s still not that good. I was not in favour of the term of the re-signing, still not.
Sadly, he’s better than McQuaid.
And I think that people who disapprove of Killer’s presence would be less upset if McQuaid wasn’t also still here.
I think people would be less upset about McQuaid if he was playing on the 3rd pair where he belongs. Unfortunately, that would involve acquiring a 2nd pair d-man.
So…er…uh…if the Bruins acquire a 2nd pair d-man, are they a contender?
Adding a legit 2nd pair blueliner would certainly improve their odds of contending.
Best available is probably Shattenkirk, who’s a UFA at the end of the season. The asking price will probably be the usual 1st rounder, an NHL player, and a prospect. Er, except that the Blues are a “win now” team.
If Arizona stays this bad I wonder (hope? dream? salivate?) if OEL could be on the market.
Ooh, now you’re talking!!
I think probably not, because of the cost of getting a 2nd pairing guy.
Might be able to get Wideman on the cheap from Calgary.
Heheheheh…maybe we can ask them to retain some of Dougie’s contract.
Would you really call Wides a top-4 Dman?
http://i63.tinypic.com/2ufpljq.png
In most respects, Killer looks like a better option.
How different do those numbers look if Wideman isn’t playing for Calgary? *shrug*
That’s always the question, isn’t it? How much of a players (non-)performance is the player himself & how much is the environment he’s playing in?
Calgary’s a real head-scratcher. Conventional wisdom is that a defense that starts with Brodie and Giordano should be really good. And yet, here we are.
As for Wideman and HERO charts…it’s odd that the picture you posted mentions Wideman as a “top pairing offensive Dman”. I have a really hard time believing that. Also, what’s the deployment? What competition are they facing?
At any rate, I put Wideman’s name out there as an acquisition possibility that wouldn’t (shouldn’t?) break the bank. Is he one of the better 2nd pair d-men out there? No. Can he serviceably play 2nd pair minutes? Sure. Can he take a 2nd pair spot from McQuaid? Hell yes.
Our d-corps could look like this:
Chara-Carlo
Krug-Wideman
Liles-K.Miller
Er…maybe not two “offensemen” on the second pair, so:
Chara-Carlo
Krug-K.Miller
Liles-Wideman
That’s assuming Kevlar’s late-season improvement is a continuing trend. Hey, maybe he really does improve. It’s also assuming the price for Wideman is reasonable – we have the cap space to add him, so we wouldn’t have to sweeten the deal to get Calgary to retain salary.
*shrug* Plenty of time between now and the trade deadline to figure out what our needs (and developing assets) are.
I suspect that Bruins Nation will be full of eyes watching Killer upon his return & scrutinizing his every move.
Going down the internet rabbit hole, I was researching my favorite narrative – the Dougie trade looking better and better – and looked up who the B’s got with the draft picks and then remembered that Donny drafted Senyshyn instead of Barzal and/or Connor and the mocking and ridiculing that resulted. So I figured I’d see how Barzal and Connor are doing, and Connor’s off to a slow start in Winnipeg while Barzal had 2 games with the Islanders before being sent back to juniors. The Connor situation’s tough ’cause he’s past the 10-game mark. There’s a lot of fretting on the Isle over how they’re handling young players such as Barzal and Ho-Sang, but here’s a really good and insightful article on why only having 2 games with the big kids is still a very important developmental step for a prospect:
http://www.msgnetworks.com/2016/11/09/barzals-time-with-islanders-will-only-benefit-youngster/
Coyotes to get new arena where their fanbase actually lives
http://www.thehockeynews.com/news/article/coyotes-new-arena-plan-mercifully-ends-glendale-boondoggle
Coyotes to get new arena where their fanbase actually lives
Hamilton?
Speaking of Hamilton, do you know why they can’t have an NHL team? Because then Toronto would want one, too.
I’ll be here all week!
ZING!
I was hoping the Markham area of Toronto would get a second team just so they could call the arena the Markham Asylum.
http://i.imgur.com/oEhVvjZ.jpg
I had been hoping they’d eventually relocate to Seattle. They’re officially on my shit-list now.
I think that if you build a team worth seeing, people will come. This sounds like the whole “LA needs an NFL Team” argument when the reality is they had two teams, neither was any good, and the fans felt that the product was not worth paying for or seeing, so they lost both teams. Now LA is going to have two crappy teams (b/c the Chargers are looking to move) and viewership will fall off. Putting a crappy Coyotes team in a new venue marginally closer to Phoenix (trust me, Glendale is not that far) isn’t going to improve anything other than the owners bottom line.
I’m being way to productive today and it’s scaring me.
I’ve been left alone today. So nice not to deal with the bull
Those are the best days.
When you take a look at the very cluttered schedule in which everything looks like March typically does, I worry for Tuukka and this pace. He does have some kind of injury that he said will take a couple of months to go through. Is he winning? Yes, and kind of exceedingly so. But, he’s going to come back down to Earth and I just worry about him being wasted on games that a backup could have handled. Basically, I like what I’m seeing from Tuukka but I also know that this won’t last.
Seriously, I hadn’t taken a real look at the schedule this season until the other day and even I feel like I need to take many days/ games/ weeks off to be able to last so I won’t be sick to death of it.
Huh, I’m the complete opposite. I find the hockey schedule a breeze to get through. Probably because when it’s hockey season I’m coming off baseball season so 82 games is a not as much of a chore as 162 games.
I got a little burnt out with that 5 in 7. I think it’s just too early in the season for a heavy schedule like that. I’m not 100% invested in the season with F1 still happening too though.
Where as I’m GIVE ME ALL THE GAMES!!
I’m with Sis on this one, although strangely the time difference makes the games a very convenient time for me.
Midnight starts (7pm Eastern) mean I can catch the first two periods live at a time I wouldn’t be able to do anything more productive. Then I watch the third period over breakfast the next morning before leaving for work.
If they started at 7pm local for me, it would be far less convenient and a bigger commitment!
I love breakfast sports.
I just can’t. The last few seasons I probably watched upwards of 70 games, maybe more, and I felt tired and burned, especially with the end result.
The last few seasons have been hard to watch. I think we all would have watched 1,001 games if the seasons were like 2011!
This just confirmed that coming in late (2 seasons after winning the Cup), I’m doing it wrong.
Good morning, friends.
I don’t have much commentary. So, good morning, coffee is good, and whee.
How about this for logic, when schedule is tighter divisional games = rask, McIntyre = non-divisional. Its Slightly obvious that Rask is playing through something, i don’t mind him not getting every start right now. That said, when your team is feeling it and on a points streak don’t mess with it too much.
also, any updates on Doby?
He’s been skating with the team last I heard.
Sounds like he could be close to returning:
https://www.nhl.com/bruins/news/khudobin-on-the-mend/c-283719118
So weird how we got so injury plagued so quickly, huh?
Also weird how we’re doing pretty OK, too.
Yeah, the start of the season was one nut punch after another. Glad things are settling down.
I think the problem with this is that games occur in bursts due to travel schedules – so one gets all of western Canada one week, then all eastern seaboard the next. I think you want to alternate goaltending when possible, and I suspect that that is more important than total number of games played per season.
Good Morning All!
Single game tonight. I need a sharpening!
We were going to go to Newport for Thanksgiving, but I decided to simplify. We’ll take Jo’s mom to a movie and dinner. Maybe head to Newport Saturday after to see Mom. I can only take so much of my family…. wonderful people (from a distance).
Rainy days aren’t great for working outdoors. Working on my rules exams.
Coffee, bourbon…. not necessarily in that order.
Buongiorno friends
We’re doing our annual PR stunt of donating a bunch of food to a local food pantry this morning.Despite being the least paid group, production for the 3rd year running donated the most. I love that we do this in terms of the actual food drive. If people don’t donate food they can donate cash which our production manager matches up to $500 out of his pocket, but what I hate is how we make it a spectacle. We print out this huge banner, take a bunch of photos, & take out an ad in the paper, there’s no need for that, just donate it gracefully. with a note with who it’s from.
Like that we have this break from hockey for a few days. Although I’ll be having withdrawals by Thursday at 11:00.
Really hope Rask can stay this good all year (he can)
Unwanted grandstanding or no, good on you!
His charity work is fantastic
auto-recch
Well done.
Nobody can do anything nice without publicity anymore. At least they’re doing it, I guess.
Yeah. It doesn’t help that I’m as disgruntled as I am either I suppose. I do love that we do this twice though. Once now, and the other on the first of December
There does appear to be a trend in our society to value being seen doing something good over just plain doing something good. So much for “virtue is its own reward”!
Doing good deeds doesn’t count if no one knows about it.
And that’s why society is falling apart – because maintaining the appearance of being a good person has become more important than actually being a good person.
(Well, that’s one reason why society’s falling apart.)
It goes with the “pics or it didn’t happen” mentality that people have.
There are good things that I do/ have done that I almost never talk about. Why? Because I don’t want to be an asshole. Quietly doing good things for others is a great thing.
However, I will take credit for this website because I am that kind of jerk.
Bingo. Social media has helped enable the “look at me!” mindset.
And you should take credit for the site.
While at the same time making people less social.
And that’s how we get an antisocial narcissist elected President.
If this wasn’t an actual real thing that happened, I’d say it was an episode of Black Mirror.
If my screen didn’t have today’s date in the corner & everyone around me wasn’t speaking English, I’d say it was 1933 Germany.