lomekian

Wow...Bruins finally got pinged for running the goalie...

This is exactly my point. People just want to crash and burn with him. Package him to a team with cap space, for the help on D we desperately need or gamble and keep him with a view to trading down the line. The discussion acts like he is utterly worthless. If he was shorter term or half the salary, everyone would be happy. He looks like a change of scenery may help, and another GM may agree. We need to stop thinking of him as a core part, and see him as the complementary player that he is. Thus tradeable, but not junk. People talk as if he is Sammy, Cleary mid-season Bert or Weiss. He still kept up his 0.65-0.7 PPG average....without 15m on Sammy, Cleary, Bert, Quncey & Weiss, We could have exactly the no 2 D and 1st line winger that this team needs.And Franzen could be the 2nd/3rd line support guy he should be.

I'm fine with UPGRADING. But people want to jettison him before upgrading, Rather than giving him away, I'd rather risk having him end up as an expensive third liner, particularly if we continue to pursue the youth movement.

Move tats up Move Legwand to 2nd, Play Alfie with Sheahan and Abs, Helm Glenny Miller on the 4th.

Some of the kids don't. Tats does but is playing on his own. Smith seems to get it. Others like Quincey, Kindl etc won't ever get it. Dats, Z & Alfie are too banged up to really make much happen. Miller's not very good. Franzen is, as we know, borderline schizo in his play, so god only knows.

Yup...shoot the puck and crash the net....been the secret to every good playoff run we've had. Sure its fine for D & Z to try to pull the skill, but when the other lines do the same, it doesn;t work.

Totally agree. No brainer for me.

And I also agree that this seasons roster is woefully imbalanced, that our best vets all playing injured (bar Kronwall) or missing (Ericsson) is a bridge too far for a team too reliant on kids who are being expected to player higher up the line up than they should be because of injuries or loss of form. Boston are considerably better balanced even when all are full strength, primarily because their D is so much better and their 4th line is much more effective than ours.

By the way my complaints about the officials don't change the fact that our special teams are just embarassing and the PP has been for much of the season.

Agreed. One thing Kindl is better at, despite a much weaker shot.

Apologies for not making it easier for you to understand. YES The Bruins are better. YES They deserve to be winning. YES The Playoffs are tougher. NO the refs have not been consistent with calls, meaning the bruins can hit late AND Dive almost with impunity. Though we are clearly the inferior team, better officiating has us win game 4, as 2 bruins goals were indirectly the result of either soft calls against us, or ignoring blatant trips, stick grabs etc by Boston. That's not to say it wouldn't have been a lucky win due to the bruins missing chances. I've nothing against hard hitting and letting things go, but the things the refs have been letting go have been either cynical cheating or attempts to hurt or injure away from the play. It is the one thing that continually pisses me off about the NHL. The standard of in game officiating (and the random plays where they can't use video reviews) is just not good enough considering the number of officials and the constant video coverage. You are relying on luck regarding what they do and don't see. While we all want some serious toughness to stand up to opposition cheap shots (and the bruins play just beyond the edge without gooning it up), but spearing, trips behind the play, running the 'tender are things that need to be called whether playoffs or not. Especially when the bruins are getting calls in their favour for all kinds of dives

I know.....but the officiating is making life easier for a superior opponent. Basically, when your team sucks balls on special teams, you don't need the refs being totally inconsistent in favour of the other team. When you are worse 5 on 5 (just), much worse on special teams, AND the refs are ass-******* you with their inconsistency 2 or 3 times a game, that faint whiff of hope gets blown away quicker. Bruins are better. But if the refs do their job, this series is 2-2 right now.

Losing the special teams battle, losing 5 on 5 and losing the battle of influencing the officials. Tough to deal with the latter when the former two are struggling.

And the goal. s*** call. s*** PK. Can''t tell whether the stripes or our D are worse. Poor from Gus again.

Dumb penalty. Soft call, but fair enough I guess. Considering Lucic gets a pass to do what the f*** he likes, I'm not happy.

The endless ragging on Franzen is dull and unproductive. We all know what he is...an inconsistent, floaty, 25 goal - 50-60 point winger who can play at centre if need be. Despite apocalyptic predictions, his PPG production hasn't dropped off much in the reg season, though he is struggling in the playoffs. He has been the same player for 4 years or so after that major knee injury slowed him a touch. His confidence/shyness issues have been hampering him on and off for his whole career. He was drafted as a 4th liner with upside, and his play alternates between the standard of all four lines. For 20 games a season he's a 3rd liner, for 35 he's a second liner, for 15 he's a first liner, and for the rest he's injured or invisible. He's always been super streaky. It all depends on when his streaks hit. In this series he's actually been getting chances and making some very good rushes, and with the level of finishing we've previously seen from him, he could easily have 3 or 4 goals, but he's been missing the net from decent situations. Admittedly this is mostly from the outside or hovering centrally out of traffic, but he has broken through multiple checks only to find himself isolated on occasions. I feel given his obvious flaws, he has been misused. You need him to be with someone who plays with high intensity in attack, and someone else defensively responsible enough for him to be freed up OR you play him with someone like Zetterburg who alternates between centre and wing, and thus encourages Franzen to do the same. Mule, apart from his 10 game bursts, can't anchor a line. but he's a defensively responsibly streaker points scorer, who is currently worth his contract, and whose less physically engaged style of play should lend him greater longevity than other comparative peers (and the lower intensity of his pre NHL career). I think by the time he no longer represents value, either the cap hit will be unimportant, or he'll be on LTIR. I wouldn't be upset if we trade him for decent value, but buying him out is a waste of resources in the short and medium term. At worst he'll be an over-priced top level third liner. I can live with that. There are certainly bigger fish to fry.

T The series has also highlighted a number of things we all knew. This team is too small. This is a roster in transition, trying not to waste the final years of D & Z, but has too many rookies and vets and not enough at their peak. Howard is a good no 1 goalie, but will never be a great one. The monster is a decent back-up but plays a scary style. If tootoo's offence hadn't vanished, he'd be a valuable playoff man in the east. Legwand hasn't really worked, but has shown more then Weiss did. We still desperately need a no 1 D. Too many we have have strengths matched by weakeness. Ericsson has no offence and goes on bad runs of form. Smith, though improved, still takes far too many risks. Lashoff is a career no 7 at best, as he doesn't move the puck well enough. Kindl has all the tools to be a good 2nd pairing man, but lacks the aggression and courage under pressure. DD is a solid 2nd pairing guy, who occasionally makes rookie mistakes, and hasn't much offensive upside. Quincey is better than most think he is, but is a 3rd pairing 2 way d-man trying to learn how to be an anchor.... Up front we have more balance with helm back, but desperately need guys who can finish. Franzen, for all the criticism, is getting chances, making decent rushes and being defensively responsible, but is on one of his increasingly regular dry spells where he can't finish. As someone said, he's a 3 rd line forward who will occasionally be unstoppable for a month. He also plays a LOT better with Zetts than any one else at Centre, so if he's being second line, it needs to be with z and nyquist for speed. Otherwise 3rd line for the mule except when he heats up. He's still just about worth his salary, but remains frustrating as hell. Other than that Alfie has a great shot, but most of them are pass first guys who can finish. But we've been crying out for a goal scorer for YEARS. The positive is, some of the solutions to some of these problems are in the system. Mrazek could be Hasek lite, but either way will push jimmy more than gus, being someway between the two. Sproul will hel our PP no end, and has great size. While we wait for him to tune his defence,Almquist could be a PP stop gap. A slower Rafalski... Marchenko and Oulette have shown they can contribute safely enough, so it's safe that at Least one will surpass kindl and Lasshoff. AA - Greek lightning - Brings blazing speed and decent size. And a lot of skill. Mantha has the potential to be 1 year away from the guy Pav has been waiting for since Hossa. Best prospect we've had since zetterburg. Callahan can bring some more sandpaper with a hint of goal sniffing Jurco uses his size well despite being a skill guy. Others show possibilities but are harder to pick confidently. Still not enough size...... Not sure how we fix that, as trades and FAs are not holland's strong point it seems

Well it's good I'm getting to keep the tradition of disagreeing with almost every post on every subject that I've ever reed of yours in many years of lurking! Opposites attract?! ;-) Boston are slightly superior in almost every department and have a lot more seriously big guys, where as we have our stars playing injured, our biggest D man injured, our veteran sniper injured, our pre-season #2 center still injured, Legwand who hasn't fit the system yet and half a line up with about 40 playoff games between them. Toss in having to play our 3rd hanger on th top line due a lack of size on the roster and we need to play to the max just to stay level. It doesn't help that the refs are letting stuff go that has nothing to do with playing hard - spearing, interference cross-checks to the head, cross-checks after the whistle Etc. We'd love to see a Probert or McCarty out there returning the favour, but given the bruin's shameless diving and the stripes indulgence of it, I'm not sure it would help. Of course, as we all know, this is making the Legwand trade look worse by the day....

Why they don't play smith on the second unit is a mystery.

And to be fair, for all the fellating of the bruins...its Rask who's been the difference in this series so far,

The Bruins keep going after people nowhere near the puck. So many so the refs are even calling a few. If the stripes do their job this s*** doesn't happen, regardless of enforcer.

Almost worth signing up some 7 foot monster goon to break some faces for 1 day. Oh and there's a goal following the cheating Chara dive. f*** me

Oh for Marchand to block a shot with his face...what a ******* dive from Chara....6 foot 9 but oh so delicate. Just a bunch of cheats, pure and simple

First wings infraction - PP Bruins. f***wits in black in white. Every ******* game in the NHL the officials are so inconsistent. What's the point....seriously.

If the officials had any courage it would be one long power play for the wings in this series.