Bruins place Savard on LTIR with broken foot

The injuries just keep coming for the Boston Bruins...

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=295573

He's expected to be out 4-6 weeks.

No doubt. Lucic and Savard both gone for 4-6 weeks is a big hit to the B's. Thomas is going to have to play out of his mind the whole time.

oh wow things are just not going good for the Bruins at all, I hope the Sens don't take them lightly this weekend, need to kick them while they are down.

Dash wrote:Depends on how you look at things from the Bruins side... sure, winning the cup is a great feat, but its not like they were leading the charge there, nor considered favorites. But now they are possibly looking at two top 10 picks, possibly even the first overall pick? Talk about the rich getting richer. A great thing for the team considering how tight to the cap they are and that they have some sizable UFA's to try and retain.

If the B's get Taylor Hall and John McFarland or Kabanov I will lose it.

you can send the thank you note to Brian Burke along with 50,000 lbs of elephant $hit, what a freaking challenged of a GM he is.

Dash wrote:Don't tell him that, he still thinks he made off with a winner. He has the fans brainwashed in believing that too.

You mean to tell us BB that two potential top 5 picks, and the possibility of a steal with a 2nd, wouldn't get you the equivalent of one Kessel somewhere?

He has some fans brainwashed. But those fans are the same as Senators' fans who think Spezza is the best player in the league.

I don't think the B's are bottom 10 bad. Their offence is certainly less daunting though.

Guys like Bergeron, Krejci, Wheeler, Ryder, Sturm and Recchi are going to have to step it up.

Frankly, though, it's amazing that they could lose Savard, Kessel, Kobasew and Lucic and still put out a top-6 like that. And they've got Colborne, Marchand and a tonne of picks in the system.

SensFan71 wrote:oh wow things are just not going good for the Bruins at all, I hope the Sens don't take them lightly this weekend, need to kick them while they are down.

Exactly the point I was making in the "Clouston" blog comments. This game (Saturday) should be a gimme but we can't take anyone lightly. Good game for Kuba to draw back in. This is really a gift staring us int he face -- Nashville and then a depleted Boston squad. By all rights we should be 7-2 after Saturday night and sitting 2nd in the Conference.

But Buffalo is playing the two Florida teams so they might still be tagging along 1 point behind with a game in hand; and the Rangers are playing the Devils and the Smurfs. It's going to be really tight at the top of the Division and the Conference. Feels like March, doesn't it?

They are at 21 which is (barely) bottom-10. And they got there with Lucic and Savard still in the lineup. It's ludicrous to think that, losing two of their best players, they will suddenly turn around this (admittedly early-season) trend. So, although I can see how it can happen, at this point they are very much a bottom-10 team and there is little indication that that's going to change any time soon.

Hey, whaddayaknow, posts over in the blog area count toward your totals.

wprager wrote:They are at 21 which is (barely) bottom-10. And they got there with Lucic and Savard still in the lineup. It's ludicrous to think that, losing two of their best players, they will suddenly turn around this (admittedly early-season) trend. So, although I can see how it can happen, at this point they are very much a bottom-10 team and there is little indication that that's going to change any time soon.

True, but I mean a bottom 10 team over-all, not a bottom-10 team through the first couple months of the season.

It's largely useless IMO to extrapolate results so far over a whole season. The Leafs, for example, could get some bounces, go on a three-game win streak, while the Sens could be overconfident and lose three in a row. All of a sudden the Leafs are only three points behind us.

Plus, losing a key player can cause other players to bond together and step up: see the Leafs of a few years ago when Sundin went down.

Boston is a team featuring a Jack Adams coach, a Vezina goaltender (and one of the best-ranked goalie prospects in the league), a Norris defenceman (and some good defensive depth in Wideman, Morris, Stuart, Ference and Hunwick) and a still respectable forward group.

So, you shouldn't necessarily think they will reverse the trend sans Savard, but I don't think it's ludicrous to say they can.

What I mean is, don't go pencilling Fowler and Hall into the B's 2010 line-up yet. At worst, it's probably Fowler and Hishon. And then Adam Larsson in 2011.

Also, see the Sens of 2006-2007 losing Chara, Havlat and Hasek, starting out the season poorly, at one point losing Spezza, Fisher and Vermette (I'm pretty sure) and then going to the Finals.

Not necessarily going to happen, but not ludicrous to think about.

With Savard out he's not likely going to have enough time to impress Team Canada staff. Time for Spezza to turn it on. If he's playing well defensively, the points we all know will come, and if the team is actually leading the division -- that's sure to get him noticed. Still an extremely long shot, but it just got a tiniest bit longer.

Dash wrote:Don't tell him that, he still thinks he made off with a winner. He has the fans brainwashed in believing that too.

You mean to tell us BB that two potential top 5 picks, and the possibility of a steal with a 2nd, wouldn't get you the equivalent of one Kessel somewhere?

I know drafting is never a definite (see Alexandre Daigle), but with a top 10 pick this year, I am sure Burke could find one player that is a Kessel type, then he would have retained 2 draft picks.

Personally if you gave me the choice between having Kessel and Toronto's next 2 #1's and a #2. I would take the picks every time. This team is no where near competing despite Burke's delusions and his pressing will kill the future of a kid like Schenn.

But I hate the Leafs so press on Burkie, press on...

MurderOnIce wrote:Personally if you gave me the choice between having Kessel and Toronto's next 2 #1's and a #2. I would take the picks every time. This team is no where near competing despite Burke's delusions and his pressing will kill the future of a kid like Schenn.

But I hate the Leafs so press on Burkie, press on...

That's why this is amazing to me. The Leafs are in hardcore rebuild mode, and they give up 3 big picks? How does that make any sense? The Penguins were terrible until they drafted down the middle with Crosby and Malkin. If they had traded those picks away for a Kessel-type player, who thinks they'd be the reigning champs right now?

SpezDispenser wrote:

SensFan71 wrote:
I know drafting is never a definite (see Alexandre Daigle), but with a top 10 pick this year, I am sure Burke could find one player that is a Kessel type, then he would have retained 2 draft picks.

A Kessel type who'd be ready in 2 or 3 years though. This way, Kessel's ready in November of this year - and then for the next 4 years. No farming required, the Bs did all of that. That's the cost of farming a quality player and letting him loose before he hits contract 2, it's heavy no matter how you slice it.

well I hope no one is thinking that Kessel is going to come in and be a saviour to get the Leafs back to the promised land, the team isn't that good and a player ready in 2 to 3 years should be in their plans, they don't need immediate fixes, they need to start thinking mid to long term plan.

I meant that, of course it could happen, but it would be ludicrous to expect it to happen. Sure, the hardships could galvanize the team, but to expect it to happen, and to happen with such force as to overcome the losing trend, is what I meant to be ludicrous. I wasn't actually commenting on anyone's opinion. Just that they are at #21 and odds are they will get worse with the recent losses of Lucic and Savard.

asq2 wrote:

wprager wrote:They are at 21 which is (barely) bottom-10. And they got there with Lucic and Savard still in the lineup. It's ludicrous to think that, losing two of their best players, they will suddenly turn around this (admittedly early-season) trend. So, although I can see how it can happen, at this point they are very much a bottom-10 team and there is little indication that that's going to change any time soon.

True, but I mean a bottom 10 team over-all, not a bottom-10 team through the first couple months of the season.

It's largely useless IMO to extrapolate results so far over a whole season. The Leafs, for example, could get some bounces, go on a three-game win streak, while the Sens could be overconfident and lose three in a row. All of a sudden the Leafs are only three points behind us.

Plus, losing a key player can cause other players to bond together and step up: see the Leafs of a few years ago when Sundin went down.

Boston is a team featuring a Jack Adams coach, a Vezina goaltender (and one of the best-ranked goalie prospects in the league), a Norris defenceman (and some good defensive depth in Wideman, Morris, Stuart, Ference and Hunwick) and a still respectable forward group.

So, you shouldn't necessarily think they will reverse the trend sans Savard, but I don't think it's ludicrous to say they can.

What I mean is, don't go pencilling Fowler and Hall into the B's 2010 line-up yet. At worst, it's probably Fowler and Hishon. And then Adam Larsson in 2011.

Yeah, that's fair.

Speaking of Rask, my God does he ever look like Frankenstein.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/teams/players/bio/?id=4958

wprager wrote:They are at 21 which is (barely) bottom-10. And they got there with Lucic and Savard still in the lineup. It's ludicrous to think that, losing two of their best players, they will suddenly turn around this (admittedly early-season) trend. So, although I can see how it can happen, at this point they are very much a bottom-10 team and there is little indication that that's going to change any time soon.

You can't seriously think the B's we've seen so far are the "real" B's? They're gonna get it together.

Losing their top line will hurt for sure - Kessel gone, Lucic and Savard out for a while. But they'll be back. For sure.

SpezDispenser wrote:

MurderOnIce wrote:Personally if you gave me the choice between having Kessel and Toronto's next 2 #1's and a #2. I would take the picks every time. This team is no where near competing despite Burke's delusions and his pressing will kill the future of a kid like Schenn.

But I hate the Leafs so press on Burkie, press on...

Wilson is starting to hurt Schenn as well. He had him pinned to the bench for the entire third period of last game - and he was apparently quite distraught about it.

He's been playing Schenn on his wrong side, too.

How to make your young players lose confidence 101.

But, we have to give him credit for what he did with Schenn last season.

asq2 wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:

MurderOnIce wrote:Personally if you gave me the choice between having Kessel and Toronto's next 2 #1's and a #2. I would take the picks every time. This team is no where near competing despite Burke's delusions and his pressing will kill the future of a kid like Schenn.

But I hate the Leafs so press on Burkie, press on...

Wilson is starting to hurt Schenn as well. He had him pinned to the bench for the entire third period of last game - and he was apparently quite distraught about it.

He's been playing Schenn on his wrong side, too.

How to make your young players lose confidence 101.

But, we have to give him credit for what he did with Schenn last season.

but if he goes and dismantles what positives he instilled in Schenn last year, he is definitely not doing that young man any good, another young player bound to be ruined by the Leafs.

shabbs wrote:

wprager wrote:They are at 21 which is (barely) bottom-10. And they got there with Lucic and Savard still in the lineup. It's ludicrous to think that, losing two of their best players, they will suddenly turn around this (admittedly early-season) trend. So, although I can see how it can happen, at this point they are very much a bottom-10 team and there is little indication that that's going to change any time soon.

You can't seriously think the B's we've seen so far are the "real" B's? They're gonna get it together.

Losing their top line will hurt for sure - Kessel gone, Lucic and Savard out for a while. But they'll be back. For sure.

At this point in time they are bottom-10 team. The recent injuries have made them weaker (on paper, admittedly). We have no idea what's going to happen the rest of the season. What if the recent spate of injuries isn't a blip but a trend? What if Thomas or Chara are lost long-term? They lost a significant amount of scoring depth in Kessel and Kobasew, and last year they didn't make it out of the East. A loss of two top-nine players can be the difference of winning on most nights and being middle-of-the-pack. Middle-of-the-pack in this division means you don't make the playoffs. It *can* happen. Do I think it will happen? Of course not.

Oh, by the way, remember that I've never been entirely sold on Tim Thomas. He's got his big contract now and his SV% is below .900. Why? The defense is the same in front of him. Did something happen? Did the horseshoe finally fall out? Is he getting older? Did he relax after getting the big money?

Without Kessel's production and Tim Thomas's heroics, do the Bruins have what it takes to recover? We shall wait to find out.

Fleury went #1 overall, so he must have had some pedigree. Thomas struggled as a backup for a long time before sticking around. Abd he still looks horribly out of position on many of his saves. For a goalie that has to do acrobatics in order to make a save, a little age is not going to be very kind.