Should Bruins Shut Down McAvoy? | The Skate Pod, Ep. 423
Discussing the Bruins’ final stretch, current draft position and the health of Charlie McAvoy. Plus, arguing both sides of the tanking debate.
Follow us on Twitter: @TheSkatePod | @smclaughlin9 | @briandefelice_ | @bridgetteproulx | Email us at skatepod@weei.com
Leave your questions in the comments and we will answer as many as we can!
Photo: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images
Follow The Skate Podcast on the Audacy App or wherever you get your podcasts: https://link.chtbl.com/TheSkatePodcast
Don’t forget to subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/weeivideo
📡 LISTEN LIVE ➡️ https://www.audacy.com/weei/listen
📺WATCH LIVE ➡️ http://weei.com/watch
💻WATCH LIVE ON TWITCH ➡️ http://twitch.tv/bostonweei
Download the Audacy App today and stream your WEEI wherever you are! ➡️
https://go.audacy.com/y-listen-live-weei
FOLLOW US:
TWITTER – https://twitter.com/WEEI
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/weeisports/
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/WEEI/
Thumbnail images courtesy of Getty Images/USA Today Network.
16 Comments
I have a perfect example of how Scott's viewpoint could potentially play out. The Patriots were playing to win last year, they won the last game and turned the #1 pick into #4. Some people are ok with it and some are not, that's just the way it is
Shut him down. No brainer
Knowing the Bruins, Ovi will get his 5 goals tomorrow night.
If McAvoy is healthy he is going to want to play
That’s a no-brainer what would be the point of bringing him back now?
Yes. Getting a center prospect like Hagens, Desnoyers, or Frondell should be this teams #1 priority. There’s nothing to ‘build’ anymore for this season
Guys can feel good or bad, but at the end of the day they’re in this position because they have no offense talent outside of Pasta
Keep McAvoy out for the rest of the season. Give his body an extended off season, even if he's ready to go. All those extra miles from play off runs add up. Just give him time and possibly improve your draft pick. Win, win. It isn't tanking, it's an opportunity to give Mac's body a proper rest, not just with the shoulder injury, but a maintenance stand point long term
Don't worry alex O swayman will let in atleat 4.
Seems like Scott went for the devil's advocate argument and ended up sticking w/ it out of ego maybe. It just feels extremely bad faith to argue there's something to be gained by building some sort of culture at this point when you can materially have a chance at vastly improving the team a la a better draft pick. It doesn't feel like a good faith argument. As someone who regularly drags his cohosts logical flaws I think it's important for him to just eat the L on this one and move on. Take the draft pick. Shut McAvoy down. Stop with the silly arguments that absolutely noone agrees with, probably even McAvoy himself. So stupid that we were all just subjected to that pov
Neely and Sweeney have been horrible with the draft. They are the reason the Bruins have nothing in the farm system. They have no idea how to scout talent.
Shut. Him. Down.
Well I guess the bottom line is, #4 pick should be better than #7, however it is still a crap shoot given Sweeney draft record. None of the draft picks the last 10 years have been a superstar. McAvoy is no Makar and please don't include Swayman in the conversation, even Korpisalo is playing better than Swayman this year.
Does a bear shit in the woods?
Here are the positives in terms of playing Charlie McAvoy again this year? NOTHING!!!
Here are the negatives in terms of playing McAvoy again this year?
The re-injury risk is higher AND he could help them win games which would only hurt the Bruins chances in terms of their overall draft position as well as their chances of moving up in the draft lottery
So to review? No positives, just negatives
However Don Sweeney has made a lot of terrible decisions this year so if McAvoy is allowed to play again, that would be right in line with Sweeney trying to secure this year's award for the NHL's worst GM of the year
And if there was an award for worst GM of the Year in the NHL… Don Sweeney would be the unrivaled winner this season!!!
-Traded Ullmark for a lousy return
-Lost all leverage with Swayman when he traded Ullmark before signing him
-Gave out probably the two worst UFA contracts of the year that didn't make the team better
-Failed to address the Bruins 1C or secondary scoring problems, AGAIN
-Had to fire his 2nd coach in three years and it'll be 3 in 4 when Sacco gets fired soon
-Continued to try to build an old NHL, big slow physical team when the league moved to speed and skill about 5+ years ago
-Failed to develop prospects. Poitras didn't get better. Merkulov and Lysell didn't add anything to the big club. Lohrei looks like the NHL's worst defender in his own zone and they have next to nothing in PVD beyond Mitten and Poitras that will help them next season
-Traded Marchand for an underwhelming return because he failed to address Marchand's contract situation appropriately. Another contract F-UP to go with the Swayman debacle
-Their Farm System is bottom 5 in the NHL and the big club roster has less overall talent on it than it has had at any point in Don Sweeney's tenure going back to 2015 when he took the job
-After this season Don Sweeney's Bruins would have failed to win more than 1 playoff round 9 of 10 years
– 54 draft picks in 10 years and only 6 of those guys play for Boston today and 2 of the 6 are 4th line throw aways. 4 real NHL guys in 54 draft picks across a decade of drafting
Beecher Lauko Poitras Lohrei Swayman McAvoy, that's it
-Beecher and Lauko are 4th line, easily replaceable guys.
-Poitras is a middle six playmaker at his ceiling in the NHL, not some top line, high point producing center
-Lohrei can't play defense despite being good offensively
-Swayman had the NHL's worst year in goal
-McAvoy got hurt AGAIN and is the NHL's most overrated player
But sure, lets allow Don Sweeney to make some more bad decisions in letting Charlie McAvoy playing
Makes ZERO SENSE, BEYOND DUMB
Whether Scott is anti-tank or not, the team needs to do what's right for the team and losing is the right thing for the team right now.
Who cares what Charlie McAvoy wants or what he think about it?
Scott talking about culture and its level of importance being the reason to bring McAvoy back is again, dumb
Again, who cares what McAvoy thinks. Again, who cares what the players think, half of which won't even be on the team next year. And who cares what the coaches think, as all of them are getting fired soon except goalie Bob
The points, like not getting any more of them, far outweigh whatever non-tangible things Scott believes matters in terms of brining Charlie McAvoy back
Here's what matters. The Bruins don't have a 1C. You rarely can trade for or sign a 1C as a UFA. The path to a 1C is almost always the draft
The Bruins having a shot at a Top 5 pick and a chance to secure a 1C is far more important to both their short and long term future than McAvoy playing even a single more shift whether McAvoy is 1,000% healthy or not, whether McAvoy wants to play or not or whether or not the other players (half of which won't be here next year) care about it
It's time to care about building the team appropriately and putting themselves in the best position to do it
In this case, securing a better draft position and a better chance at winding up in the Top 3
It's not the time to appease McAvoy or his teammates. Appease them by getting better next year and beyond
Shut him down. It doesn't make sense to let him play.
Bruins do NOT know how to draft.. This is WELL KNOWN. Every Bruins 1st rd pick = trash. McAvoy is awful without Grzelcyk. Look at the numbers. Put him in ASAP to assess how bad this team actually is
We know he's not looking for a direct raise in salary, as he's already way overpaid as surely as he's been arrows down 3 years in a row. (Go check his stats.) However, once they get the money guaranteed for a long period, then they want awards and such. He's probably looking to become captain. Of course, next step is a championship, however, he was very quick to be the highest paid Bruin early on with his current contract…no hometown discounts anymore and screw what everyone else is making as that ole culture goes to bloody hell. Yeah, he and Pastrnak will get frustrated eventually with a lot made up of $1M or less guys who were all they could afford. The rest is just getting paid through the cycles of it all. How fulfilling! 🙄Of course, my observations and presentation do not align with Cam Neely's…as I don not believe he's the next Orr or Bourque- not even close! And when you're out there trying to lay the big hit on someone for some big props, it's probably just a matter of time before someone else takes objection and initiative. If McAvoy is their next captain, it will be fun routing against them. 😝