Quoting: Birtle34
Fair enough, I don’t know the Bruins at all, I admitted that. Debrusk has 1 assist in first 5 games, Bruins aren’t cup contenders, they are too old and not skilled enough to pull it off. They seem to have there defensive game down and keeping the puck out of there own net. They may have the goalie steal one, they may win a special teams series, or a 5v5 battle, but the end of the day they don’t even win a physical series with Tb, let alone Vegas or colorado. The team needs a retool and it won’t happen til some of the past warriors retire. This trade starts the process but yes it would need more with debrusk value still being relatively high, but he needs a healthy offensive streak to keep it up high.
Not a cup contender? They made the SCF in 2019, were the president trophy winner in 2020. You want to talk about this season so far? Here's how they rank in some key metrics:
CF% - 4th
SF% - 2nd
GF% - 8th
xGF% - 5th
SCF% - 9th
That's all without having their leading goal scorer and with a defense that saw its elite PP QB leave to STL and their top shutdown guy (and captain) leave for WSH. Not only that but they currently have 4 rookies in the line-up.
Now lets move on to the "physical series" comment. How are you going to measure physical? by hits? great Boston outhit TBL last year in their playoff series. Now I know you had said you didn't know much about the Bruins so here are some guys that we didn't have last year that bring more physicality to the team:
Frederic - led the AHL in fights last year. Loves to play in your face and get under your skin just ask PK Subban and Mark Friedman. Started 4LW, but impressed the first 4 games and was bumped to 3LW w/ Coyle and Smith. That line terrorized PHI (specifically the Hayes line) last game.
Smith - Not your typical "physical" player that you think of. But his motor is always 100% and he's not a small guys (6'1/208lb). He's just hard along the boards, tough on his stick and just grinds people down. He's hitter in the sense like Frederic, but plays that same in your face game.
Zboril - Plays with a mean streak, doesn't pass up a chance to make a big hit
Lauzon - Played in the NHL towards the end of last year, but reminds me a lot of Dennis Seidenberg. Strong kid, not shy to mix it up and can play a physical style of defense.
Ritchie - played a few games the end of last year and looked like pure dog crap. Came into camp lighter and in better shape and has looked a lot better. volume hitter, can drop the gloves and has some offensive, but consistency is the question
Miller - aka Killer returns after missing a lot of time due to two broken knee caps. volume hitter, hell of a fighter and traditional enforcer.