Happy 2018 Bruins Fans! Dan Watkins gives his three New Years Resolutions for the Boston Bruins before their first game of 2018, coming Tuesday night in Brooklyn against the New York Islanders.
As the Calendar turns to January the Boston Bruins sit tied for second place in the Atlantic Division with three games in hand over the Toronto Maple Leafs. Before the team officially starts the 2018 portion of the season, lets talk about some New Years Resolutions for the Bruins.
# 1 Don’t make any rash decisions/bad trades come trade deadline time.
In the past, the Bruins have made some questionable trades come deadline time, the first season that comes to mind is 2015-16 when the team dealt a 2nd and a 4th round pick to New Jersey for Lee Stempniak and also a prospect, a 3rd and 5th round pick to Carolina for John-Michael Liles. Stempniak, ended up skating in 19 games for the Bruins, registering 10 points (3-7-10) and a plus 1 rating. Liles, a defenseman, skated in 17 games, registering 6 assists and a minus 7.
There was a lot of uproar around the city about the trades, dealing away a second round pick for Stempniak, who has only reached the 20 goal mark twice in his 12 year career, and giving up a 3rd round pick for the 35 year old Liles. The Bruins would up missing the playoffs. Stempniak walked in free agency, Liles appeared in 35 games last season as the 7th defenseman on the depth chart, neither player is in the league anymore.
Another example is the 2014-15 deadline where the team sent two 2nd round picks to Tampa Bay for the services of Brett Connolly. Connolly, the former 6th overall pick in the 2010 Draft, was hurt at the time of the deal only appeared in 5 games that season, then registered 25 points (9-16-25) in 71 games in 2015-16. The Bruins missed the playoffs both those years and Connolly left after that season and has been with the Washington Capitals since.
Last season was a bit better, the Bruins acquired Drew Stafford from the Winnipeg Jets for a conditional 6th round pick in the 2018 draft. Stafford, appeared in 18 regular season games, notched eight points (4-4-8) including two game winning goals and scored a pair of goals in the playoffs. If I’m Don Sweeney & Co, that’s the type of deal I would make, which brings us to my # 2 resolution.
#2 Stay the Course with the Youth Movement
In case you’ve been living under a rock, the Bruins youth movement is a full go and is reaping the benefits. Danton Heinen, Charlie McAvoy, Jake Debrusk and Anders Bjork are all in the Top 25 of NHL Rookie Scoring Leaders. Pair those guys with 21 year olds David Pastrnak and Brandon Carlo, and you’re building a great young core. Then you add in guys who will be making their debuts in the foreseeable future. Jakub Zboril, Zach Senyshyn, Trent Fredrick, Urho Vaakanainen and Ryan Lindgren just to name a few, along with the picks in the upcoming drafts, the Bruins are in as good of a position as anyone going forward.
What I’m saying is, don’t deal off any of these guys in a deal that might make the team better for this season, but not necessarily for future seasons. This team has shown that they are a lot of fun to watch, and can hang in there with the best in the league on any given night, but ultimately I think that most of you will agree with me that a Stanley Cup run might be a little out of reach at the moment. Getting these young players battle tested and possible playoff experience will be huge when the team is ready to make a real run and become serious contenders possibly as early as next season.
#3 Extend Charlie McAvoy ASAP
When the Bruins brought up Charlie McAvoy for last year’s playoffs, they knew the trade off. In doing so, they had to burn off a year of his rookie contract. McAvoy is in the second of his three year entry level contract. After the 2018-19 season he will be set to test free agency (as a restricted free agent, meaning the Bruins can match any deal he is offered). If I’m Don Sweeney, I am not allowing that to even become a possibility, and locking up the future franchise corner stone sooner rather than later.
McAvoy has shown so far that he is very much the real deal, and may be even better than expected. Much like they have done with Pastrnak, Brad Marchand, and even Tyler Seguin before they traded him, they have had success locking up their young stars. Doing so early may even get the team a bit of a discount to allow them to have the space to sign some of the other young guys I mentioned in resolution # 2.
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Those are my resolutions for the Bruins, what are yours?