2025 Bruins season grades

2025 Bruins season grades

lowquality fans of a high quality Bruins franchise. It’s the offseason franchise would be a normal statement to make right now. It has nothing to do with how dog water the team was this year. It still feels kind of surreal thinking about the season the Bruins had and just how bad it was. Like I I get having a down year. It was a bad year. God, what a bad year. But fun fact for all you Bruins fans out there, the Habs are eliminated from the playoffs. Got them. You love to see it. You love to see it. What a what a fun time it is. Hey, by the way, quick opinion early on. Comment early. I don’t know. But let me know uh your opinion on this because watching the playoffs and we’re watching a lot of them. I’m sure you are too. This has been a pretty good first round. There’s a lot to like about it. I know there’s all that talk about there’s not enough people watching and no game has hit a certain threshold and honestly they’ve still been awesome. So I don’t I don’t know. I’m not a big wig making big money in TV to figure all this stuff out, but I’ve been watching a lot of the games. I don’t know. Uh would the Bruins reasonably compete with any playoff team in the first round? Because even pre- deadline, no. They’re getting dog walked. Just absolutely demolished. I I don’t get eighth seed and everything. Like obviously the eight seed in the west is not a typical eight seed. Welcome to the Blues. But even Montreal in the East, I I think Montreal wipes us um right now. Like that’s how that’s how bad this year was. It doesn’t mean we can’t get back quickly. We’re going to have a lot of conversations about that during the summer. But yeah, not not a first round that made me go, “Oh, the Bruins belong as part of this. They they should have.” No, they should not have. I am so glad as time goes on that the Bruins decided to blow it up at the deadline. I really am. Now, we could talk about the effectiveness and how well that actually went and obviously it’ll be years down the road till we fully understand it. But it was the right choice. it was the right choice because even without the massive losing streak after the trade trade deadline and if they squeaked in to that eight seat, no, this team was not good enough in any way, shape, or form. Very happy with that decision. Anyway, we’re doing player grades in the season. I guess all this conversation does kind of bleed into what we’re actually talking about today. Likely a long video would be my expectation. Um, we are going to mention the mid-season grades that I did as well in January. It was January 12th when this video, the version of this video came out for the mid-season grades, which I find pretty interesting. But a couple quick things about it. First of all, the rules, how I do this. As usual, these are based off expectation. Pastnock and and peak aren’t graded on the same curve. A grade of C is you are meeting expectations exactly, not positional expectations, not contract expectations. realistic expectations that I’ve made made up by my mind. Which means I do have to explain my expectations before certain grades, which also means that if my expectation differs from yours, kind of just do the scale and figure out what grade you would give them based on this kind of setup. I’d love to hear your opinions below. If a fourth line guy is asked to play second line minutes, obviously he’s getting a boost to his grade, uh, even if he isn’t playing at a second line pace. So, a C is not a bad grade. That’s the what I really want to get across with this. Not a bad grade. It just means you are simply where we expected you to be. A B would be a positive impact just a bit above expectations and an A is you’re absolutely crushing it or something happened that made what you did far more impressive. D’s and Fs are basically exactly what you think they are. We are grading they’re on ice impact. Injuries should not be considered but it’s impossible to not speak of chronic stuff players are working out. So that will come up a little bit. There will certainly be some gray area for those who are dealing with that kind of stuff. This is my team. They are a team that I love and cherish and I know I am biased about all sorts of things and I’ve worked very hard to try to remove as much bias as possible. I try to be a very steady voice, very steady mind when it comes to the Bruins in general. I work really hard at that. Uh and sometimes it has me leaning on both sides of the fence. I understand that. But these are also real human beings. So, we can’t just default to an F for everyone who’s had struggles. And uh I am trying to find some positivity where I can. That being said, I know certain comments will likely contradict others depending on which player I’m talking about. I do understand that. It’s impossible to do a video like this without it. Each player is case by case. I tried to keep it as fair as I possibly could. There will be very few instances where off ice shenanigans come into play for the grade, but they will happen. There are a couple that that do change the grade a little bit. So, we will get there. Also, list of incomplete or ungraded players. Uh, basically, it’s just Hampus Lindome and Charlie Makavoy that didn’t get to play enough. Frankly, that that’s just I mean Makavoy at the mid-season grades had an F because his play was not good to start the year. Um but now it’s just an incomplete grade we’re not going to bother. Uh Hampus obviously played very little this year. And then anyone with less than 20 games played outside of special cases I didn’t really include. So there’s a few names that are like AHL tweeners that just aren’t going to be involved here. And for what it’s worth, Camp Hampus Lindholm was an A minus at the mid-season grades as he was our best player or second best player through the early portions of the season. I am going in order of grade. So, uh, we’re going to start with our A+es because I honestly think the failed grades, which there’s more of them, but I I think the negative grades are far more interesting, but we’re going to start with some of the easy ones, which are your A+es. And your first A+ should be very obvious for anyone who’s paid attention at all this season. David freaking Posternok. Now, David Posterno’s a fun one for me because at the mid-season he had a C minus. And what’s blowing my mind is I looked at this and I still have my notes up from the mid-season season grades. 45 points in 45 games played, 19 goals, 26 assists, led the team in points, obviously. In fact, he would be almost at the mid-season mark, clearing everyone else’s season totals. Um 82 points though was what he was on pace for, which would be his lowest pace since 2021. Uh I had a whole spiel about how the offense on the team is non-existent most nights. He’s getting no help, but this is well below his expected performance. Um so it still felt like he was just below average, a C minus. And I even said he’s still a superstar and if the Bruins can ever bring in another topline talent, he’ll push back to the 100 point plateau. That being said, it’s a pipe dream this year. Uh he finished the season with 106 points, 43 goals, 63 assists, and 82 games played. He tied for third in the NHL in points. He scored 61 points over his last 37 games. What the [ __ ] That is nothing short of miraculous. And not just because I mean 106 points is almost an expectation for him at this point to start the year. Like a C, right? You met expectations. No, no, no, no, no, no. As we continued to watch this team flounder, and I’m surprised I didn’t have more grace for him 45 games into the season. But the team was awful offensively without him on the ice. They were terrible. He fully carried the offense for months. He He finished third in the NHL in points on this team on one of the worst offensive teams both by money spent and performance in the league. And he finished with third in the NHL in points. What? It’s absurd. All right, I’m spending too long on this. You get it. He’s begging for a real 1C. He won’t get it next year, but he’s begging for it. He’s been such a great leader. As soon as the trade deadline happened, it’s like he found a new persona and just started being this rock solid great quotes telling everyone and showing everyone that the losing was unacceptable. I just A+. Sorry, did I not say the grade yet? A+ at the end of the year. His second half was that good. A plus for the leadership voice off the ice. I’m already breaking that rule. We were already doing off ice stuff. And for just the goddy point total when he had almost no help. And what won’t surprise you is the little help he did have is your only other A+. He might be actually our only other A. Yeah. Our only other A at all is Morgan Geeky. At the midseason mark, he actually had an A minus because he was on a a pace for a careerhigh. Uh he didn’t doesn’t take frequent penalties. He’s uh was scratched for a little while there, but this was after that scratching happened and then he started to really take off and we were like, you know what, he’s playing way above his station in a topline role. So, yeah, we’re going to give him an A minus at the mid-season, right? It was only the first two months of the year that really we were really upset at Geeky. Just a total black hole. Couldn’t seem to do anything offensively, just struggling. But he turned it on. And then he turned it on for the rest of the year. He’ll finish the year with 33 goals, 24 assists for 57 points in 77 games played, second on the team in goals and points. A career year and then some. I’ve been consistent in insisting that when this team is built like a true contender, he’s a third line player who can jump in the lineup, jump up in the lineup in times of need. Well, he had to do that all year and turned in a goalcoring season that wouldn’t just match a firstline talent, but put him firmly as one of the better first liners in the league when it comes to putting the puck in the net. He ranked 30th in goals scored at season’s end in the NHL. That’s just flatout impressive for a guy that frankly I don’t see as that much of a talent when it comes to offensive production. They’ll resign him for sure. I I feel very confident about that. Hopefully staying away from the $7 million range because as likely as it is that he stays with David Posturdock next year, at least to start the year due to the chemistry they built, a repeat of this year which saw over one out of every five shots he got on net going in is unlikely to put it simply. 22% shooting percentage ranks second in the league among players with at least 35 games played. Geeki may be elite, but he is not dry cidle. If he falls back to his usual 11 to 12% shooting percentage, he will sit somewhere between 15 and 20 goals scored. That’s a range that you’re very happy with in your middle six. You you’d be happy with that. If if it’s on Post’s wing and he’s got 15 to 20, not as happy. And I I think you can be confident that he will keep his shooting percentage somewhere in the 15% range thanks to Pasta’s ability to find him with wide openen chances, back door net, things of that nature. But I really doubt we’re going to get another performance like this. This was I mean it’s a career year for a reason. A lot went right through the back half of the year for him. Again, that’s not taking anything away from him. His A+ is very welld deserved. It’s just I I I see a lot of people with geeky opinions that don’t take into account how absurd statistically this season really was for him. Um yeah, great great player. Really happy to have him. Just might need to ease on the brakes a little bit with with expectations for next year. 30 goals should not be the expectation. Even if he’s on Postra’s wing, that’s gonna be really hard to repeat. So, our next grade is a B+ at season season’s end for Justin Brazil. Uh, he would end the year sk scoring nearly half a point per game in the bottom six to the Bruins first 30 games. Felt like a real bright spot compared to the team’s performance in general. The 20 games before the deadline though saw him with only three points in an easily moved contract was what the conversation kind of became at that point. The great explanation is kind of simple. We traded him at the deadline, but before that, he was a very serviceable third line guy, bottom six guy that honestly had far more scoring potential than I gave him credit for going into the season. Uh because of his kind of lumbering process to get into the offensive zone, his forcheing isn’t great, but if he does get a guy on a wall, he does well. I love his netfront presence. the team didn’t do enough of getting into the offensive zone and setting up for him to actually be valued in that way for us. But also, he was kind of just a found commodity and then we were able to trade him for Jacob Loco, a 22-year-old who’s Nadinov and a sixrounder. That feels like excellent work by Sweeney. And maybe the B+ some of it is coming from the trade. But even with his struggles leading up to the deadline, I still think Brazil largely outplayed my expectations to the point where when we did mid-season uh grades, he was an A minus. He had 19 points in 43 games played. Like that was really, really good. And he was one of the only guys scoring on the power play. So, I don’t know, maybe I just didn’t feel like bumping him that far down. B+ feels a little generous, but he really did outplay what my expectations were. the long-term outlook for Brazil. He’s on the Wild now and he’s playing like eight minutes a night, which kind of sounds about right. Have fun. All right, our next grade goes to Mark Castellic. He has a C++ at the midyear mark, but he would actually get bumped up to a B minus by the end of the year. He finishes a year of five goals, nine assists, and 61 games played, 106 penalty minutes, which had he stayed healthy, likely he would have led the league there over his teammate. Anyway, his nasty but responsible bottom six play warranted a contract extension. He got three more years as the de facto line driver of the fourth line, which I’m very, very comfortable with. He became a fan favorite rather quickly for the Bruins, and he deserves it. The grade explanation is pretty simple to me. In all likelihood, the grade is a little higher if he stays healthy, which isn’t super fair, but he’s plays a play style that his norm is not going to be super healthy. He’s always going to be a little dinged up. He is a ferocious player. He takes way too many pimps, and I get that, but he stands up for his guys in every scenario. He has strong defensive play, not afraid to block shots. You love that from a fourthline pillar, and that’s what they extended him for, to be a fourthline pillar. His offense is limited, but he’s shown flashes of getting to the front of the net and finishing from distance in the right scenarios. And on top of that, offensively, it’s not like he had any help from his linemates outside of the just nuclear start to the year through the first 15 games. But other than that, it was really a slog to to get into the offensive zone for the fourth line, which is largely unplayable when he was out and then when he was in was unplayable other than him. It it was bad. That’s not fair. I like Kepky, too. We’ll talk about Kevin shortly, but he’s going to be a fixture on our fourth line. One that’s exciting to watch for the nastiness, but I’d expect him to be on and off the injured list fairly frequently with his style. Hopefully, he can stay healthy. But he definitely he went beyond my expectations. He became a real staple for that fourth line. And when he’s out there, I have faith that something positive will happen. Uh even if that’s not always the case. Our next grade. So, you were already down to the B minuses here. So, this will be another B minus. It’s Cole Kevky, who had a C++ again at the uh at the mid-season mark. And again, he gets bumped up a little bit. He finishes the year with 10 goals, seven assists, 17 points, and 73 games played. I think a lot of this grade comes from the fact that my expectations for Keepy were basically non-existent. Uh I expected him to be a tweener, to maybe get some NHL games, not to play 73 of them. But it feels like he really came in and grabbed that roster spot and held on and and held on pretty effectively. Uh he should be given the inside track to play the fourth line next year. I think I know that fourth line barely did anything offensively through the second half of the year, but who’s surprised by that? It’s a fourth line on a bad team like that’s not going to have a lot of freedom to do much. He is excellent defensively though. has a little scoring pop all once in a while and isn’t afraid of the front of the net. I’m not sure he blew me away, but I am genuinely impressed by what he brought this year and I think he fits the MO of a contending team’s fourth liner. Like he’ll be a 12th 13th forward, but I think he’s a good one at that. Um the long-term outlook is keeping him on that fourth left wing. Yeah, if he has to play higher in the lineup, which he had been asked to later in the season, I mean, he just he just can’t fit it. He he can’t can’t hack it out there, but that’s fine. He’s a fourthliner. I’m sure he’s happy to be a fourth liner as long as he’s in the league, right? Uh we’ll move on. We are coming out of the bees, unfortunately. And now we’re going to get to a player who was acquired at the deadline and won’t have any like mid-season grades or anything for him. But Morat, who’s Nadinov, is going to end the year with a C+. you three goals, two assists, and 18 games play played largely in the first few games were those points. But like all the trade deadline acquisitions, I think it’s important to bring up the whole new system, new team while the season is crumbling away and he gets gets iced with everybody and we’re mostly icing fourth liners and AHL guys at this point. So a lot of grace to be given here, but Husadino also had to deal with new linemates consistently. I mean, he’s bouncing up and down the lineup when he comes in and not getting a ton of time to get familiar with his co-workers. He’s 22. He showed flashes of offensive pop and transition skill enough to get me just a little hopeful that he may be something. I find it interesting when people talk about who’s Ninov because I’ll hear them talk about his season, his expectations, things of that nature, and they act like their expectations were that he was going to be a scoring threat, third line, blah blah. No, no, no. Your expectations of him after 10 days of him being on the Bruins were for him to be that. Your expectations when we acquired him were probably one of three things. One, you were super familiar with the prospect for some reason and you had a real set of expectations for what his ceiling would be, which might be middle six guy. I don’t know. Two, you have no idea who the guy is. You couldn’t possibly have expectations. or three, you built expectations based off of what we had to give up to get them. Now, I was number three. Not super familiar with him, but I still form expectations too quickly to just be like, “Oh, I’ve got nothing here.” When we acquired him for Justin Brazil and we also got Lao and a sixthrounder back, my expectations were like, “Oh, this is a guy who might not be an NHLer, right?” Like that’s that’s what my expectations were. Very quickly I launched into oh my gosh, could this guy be a real thing? And then they they fell back down over the last 10 or so games where he disappeared for large stretches of them. Although still flashed some talent. So I think he exceeded my expectations a bit, but by the end of the year he was back down to fourth third line. Wasn’t getting a ton of ice time. There was there’s no like solid thing to lean on here for a high grade, right? He did exceed expectations by a small margin. He’s getting a C+. Awesome. Good for him. Uh the long-term outlook here is there’s no guarantee he makes the squad out of camp next year, but he’s got a shot and that’s I mean really all you can ask for, especially after having fallen out of favor in your previous team, which clearly he had. Justin Brazil isn’t some crazy talent. So, if you’re just chucking in a 22year-old prospect in that trade, the Wild weren’t going to do much with him. It would be really nice if he becomes a scoring threat in the third line. I am hoping that that’s what he can become. But that’s where I’m at. C++. Another C++. Parker Wtherspoon, who had a C+ at the midyear rank and he’ll have a C++ again at the end of the year. He had a goal and six assists in 55 games played with a minus 10 plus minus. Not that I really care about that stat all that much. The great explanation is fairly simple. a seventh defenseman who often times looks like a seventh defenseman who’s frequently being asked to move higher in the lineup out of necessity on that left side. Again, no reason to get complicated here. He’s been fine and he gets the plus for being asked to do more than he can really handle. Oh, wait. That’s exactly what I said at the mid-season point. Nothing changed. Honestly, no idea if he gets resigned or not. I’m praying Yoki Haru doesn’t. So, I’m guess I’m hoping Wther Spoon does, but we don’t have a lot of options on the back end. And before, well, before free agency, and we currently have four NHL defenseman under contract for next season. Lauri will be resigned, making it five. We don’t have a prospect that appears ready for the next step. We are very likely signing a defenseman this off season. So, if Wispin wants to stay, I’m guessing they’ll keep him for cheap. And if he finds a better option elsewhere, then so be it. The goal this off seasonason would be to make sure we don’t need him in our starting lineup, but he’s a good seventh defenseman and I’m very like happy with what he’s done. He’s been better than I expected by just a little bit and he’s also to play far more and far higher in the lineup at times than should have ever been expected from him. So, we need to make sure we don’t have to rely on him night in night out. But, I mean, definitely a guy who’s who’s been a good soldier for the team. A C++ feels really fair there. We’ve got a bunch of quick ones coming up here. Uh we’ve got a C++, a C, and another C. So Vinny Literary is our C++. Three goals, two assists in 26 games played. He gets a plus. And maybe this is over complimentary, but he was supposed to be really nothing in my mind, but when he played, he was very consistent. He was a bottom six guy who made things interesting at the net front. not a lot of like scoring upside, but just one of those guys that felt like he was in the right position, responsible, doing what he was supposed to be doing whenever he was in the lineup. He’s a 13th forward at best, but I see no reason why he would be a C or lower at that point. I mean, he did his job. He did his job well when he did get called upon. I 26 games played is way more than I expected from him. And yeah, there’s other other reasons for that, but I thought he was good. I really did. For what I expected from him, I thought he was good. Loco ends up being a C. We knew exactly what he was. He’s a high energy, fast skater, little scoring pop once in a while, but he’s ferocious on the boards. Isn’t a fan of backing down to anyone. I know a C sometimes sounds like a bad grade, but he’s just exactly what we know him to be. He’s a C. That’s it. My expectation long term is he should be another staple on that fourth line if he can stay healthy. It’ll be interesting to see if uh that group of Bruins fans that insisted he was better than a fourthline guy resurfaces. That’ll be neat. But no, for the most part, I mean, he should be a 13th forward. I I think that Keepy, Castellic, and Loco will be a likely lineup, but if there’s other guys that play there, they’re going to get called on when they’re banged up and just cycle through that. That’s just more normal LCO stuff. Our other C is Mark Mclofflin. Two goals in 12 games. He’s a 13th forward on the best nights. No reason to get all crazy here. He was a 13th forward with us. I just bring him up because people really love this kid. Uh I said at the mid-season probably doesn’t have a future with the team. Likely a tweener from AHL to NHL. I feel exactly the same right now. He’s also on the Devils now, so good for him. We’ll move on to another C. Wow, there’s a lot of C’s. Yiannis Corposalo ends the season with 27 games played, an 893 save percentage, and a 2.9 goals allowed average. I expected a subpar backup, and we got a subpar backup. But I don’t want to diminish a few stretches of the season where he was solid. Not only was he solid, but he was outperforming our starting goalender, which is damning by faint praise, but pretty much right in line with expectations. I Some will want the grade to be higher. I get that. But remember, if Swayman had played anywhere near expectations, games that Corbasal started would have felt far far far more frustrating. They would have or most of them. I don’t want to say all of them cuz he really did have some dandies in there. The long-term outlook here is actually kind of complicated because now there is supposed discourse about his playing time and he isn’t happy and no goalie is happy when they play less than 30 games. He was statistically one of the worst goalenders in the league in 2023. got traded with retainment and now after a season of sub 8.95 safe percentage play, he wants more action. I understand he’s competitive. I understand that he’s an athlete. I understand he’s a professional. He wants to play. I also understand that there are moments where he was the best goalender on the team. But brother, you are closer to falling out of the league than you are to successfully making demands. like I trading him is difficult with his performance and contract, but it’s certainly something being thrown around and I’m not if this is going to become some sort of circus with him being upset about his playing time while performing the way he is, uh, get him out. And honestly, if Swayman doesn’t have a much better year next year, this is going to be a similar conversation. No, I I do I I know that the goalending has been bad. I know that hit the starting goalender who had way too many games uh when he was performing so poorly. I get all of that, but I’m not ready to listen to either Corposalo or Swayman make any sort of demand after what we watched for a full season. The goalending was bad. The defense in front of him really bad, but the goalending was also bad. So, he gets a C because I expected him to not be good. He also wasn’t atrocious though. Like honestly, maybe he could have g been given a C++ cuz maybe I expected even worse. Maybe I did. We’re going to leave it where it’s at though. We’re fine. Uh we’re moving into the C minuses. We’re starting to get down there. Andrew Peak is our first C minus. One goal, 16 assists, and 76 games played in minus 10. The team was such a mess that Peak really didn’t come up as the issue all that often. And I actually want to compliment him with this this because I think that’s more because the issues were so glaring, but he’s really good defensively at five on five. He really is like five on five, even strength play, he was really solid. Um his breakouts aren’t very clean and there’s mistakes that get made, but as far as it goes as a third pairing defenseman, or ideally a third pairing defenseman, he was fine. But that’s it. the five on five defenses all were really getting there, which isn’t a bad thing for a third pairing defenseman, but it’s also not something that’s going to get you a great grade. He had a significantly negative impact on the penalty kill, and his breakouts and ability to help in transition are very limited. That’s what we watched all year. A lot of people, I feel like, really were happy with Peak’s whole performance this year because they really didn’t watch him much in games. In most games, there were bigger issues that people were focusing on. You wouldn’t walk out of a game being like, “God, Pink was a disaster.” He had a few of those, but not nearly as many as some of the other people on this list. So, I think he kind of hid in the shadow of a lot of people. But going back, I’ve watched a lot of his shifts again. I’ve watched a lot of his plays, and I just went, “Yeah, the guy’s not he definitely didn’t go above expectations. In fact, I think he’s just a little a little below them.” I originally put his grade in the D range, but I felt that wasn’t fair considering I gave other players bumps for playing higher in the lineup than they should be. So, I should also put him in that same category. He did have to play a lot of moments as a second pairing guy. And he was outmatched. He’s a replacement level defenseman. And though the contract isn’t his fault, Sweeney giving up a third round pick to get this guy remains one of the weirder trades of his tenure. That’s I really don’t super understand that. The long-term outlook here is I believe the Bruins are pushing hard for a second pairing right-handed defenseman. Obviously, with the loss of Carlo or the exit of Carlo, I should say, uh so that they could get him back in a third pairing shutdown role consistently, especially with Carlo gone. If he’s required to be a second pairing guy next year, he’s going to get talked about a lot a lot more, especially if the team’s other issues are being cleaned up. If he’s playing a sheltered third pairing role, then that’s fine. But anything more than that and his minutes are going to be noticeable. And I honestly would really prioritize getting him off of the penalty kill outside of like a third unit penalty kill or something like that because he’s not he’s just not effective at at clearing out the front of the net and his stick work isn’t good enough to prevent those intight chances. It’s I think he’s a big part of why why that penalty kill is as bad as it is. I think a lot of the players are part of it, especially the goalending. But yeah, I think a C minus works well for me for Peak. Um, he gets a little grace because he’s playing above his station, but I I I have a weird time accepting how many people really like Peak. I guess I’m a little negative there. I mean, this video is just going to get more and more negative with these grades, unfortunately. But this is just what comes from a bad season. Another C minus. Jordan Osterly. Now, this this is fine, right? He had six points in 22 games played. He was a minus three. In a year where the defense was ransacked from injuries, he was asked to play top four minutes early in the year. And honestly had some solid games and then some really not really not solid games. His season with the Bruins would end when he was waved and picked up by Nashville. I’m not going to dig him too much. He was asked to do something he wasn’t expected to. He was always going to be a seventh defenseman at best in my mind. Uh, and I mean, many of our defenseman had to play higher in the lineup than they were supposed to. But in a season that players got extended runs at higher positions because of how dire the roster situation was, he still couldn’t seem to hang and string together positive games. So, uh, C minus, not digging him that hard, but definitely not meeting expectations or above expectations. Good luck in Nashville, though. Casey Middlestat, another C minus. I um not a Milstack guy. Really really messed around with the idea of an F, but there was no reason to give him an F. Why why would I? That’d be ridiculous. He had four goals, two assists in 18 games played. He was a whopping minus7 plus minus in 18 games played with us. That’s actually kind of crazy. It’s pretty close to expectations though. Not the plus minus and it’s also a bad stat, so I’m leaving that alone. I’m not a huge middle stack guy, so I didn’t have high expectations and nothing from the end of the season really changed my mind on this. I think he can be a decent thirdline center, but it feels like we have a lot of options for that who cost a lot less than $5.75 million a year. The plus minus is gross, but I want to give some grace because I hate that stat. And also, he comes into a new team and a new system that is actively plummeting down the standings, blah blah blah. All the guys who came in at the deadline get the same kind of spiel. The long-term outlook is I assume he will look better next year when he has some time to learn the system, create chemistry, all that good stuff, but still not so much that I’m excited about his spot on the team. I wouldn’t hold on too much hope that he’s a long-term 2C option, though he likely starts there next year. I think they’re going to try to give him a run there. I think there’s a lot of fans that have a lot of hope about this this guy in his mid20s coming over. It’s kind of clear to me at this point that in the coil trade that saw get middle stat that SS get Will Zeers that S get a really good pick. I think Middle Stat had to come back. I mean, I haven’t looked at the cap, so there’s probably some cap reasons for that, too. But I think they also were like, “We don’t want to be tied into this contract anymore. We don’t like this player that much. Get him out of here.” and that was part of it and why we got a prospect who just I mean just one player of the year in his um league even though there’s there’s plenty of scouts that say oh he won’t be he won’t be translating that to the next level and all that whatever Willers still a name to watch for us but with that trade I think it I think the trade details got better by taking back middle staff fully um I’m just not a big middle stack guy and and I didn’t see anything that really changed my mind about that. But I also I can’t give him a D or an F because he’s coming into an absolute [ __ ] show when he comes in and he performed well enough. You know, he fought in a good fight. As we go further, we’re back to the C minus once again. Brandon Carlo, who actually at the mid-season mark had a D+, but I felt that through the remaining games he would play with the Bruins, he did improve. He really, really did improve. uh he was starting to rebound over this past couple of weeks into late December, early January. He had a couple stinkers again in January and then started to pick it back up and then the trade happens and everything like that. So he had one goal, eight assists, and 63 games played. He was a plus two. Was traded to Toronto for Frasier Mitten, a fourth and a first. His grade went up just a titch from the mid-season video. Uh but like many other players, not much changed from that point of the season on. He did improve defensively in my opinion, though still had some struggles. The fair way to talk about his season is he started his shifts in the defensive zone more than anywhere else on the ice and more than any other Bruin. He was consistently tasked with the harder matchups and had a rotating door for partners. He struggled. He struggled. He was part of the problem defensively on many nights and part of the problem on the penalty kill on many nights, but the upward trajectory was there as the season went on. He didn’t meet expectations, but he was closer than most on the B’s this year. He w he was working his way there. So, that’s why we get to the C minus rather than the D range. Uh long-term outlook, obviously in Toronto, he’ll be a scapegoat in Toronto when things go wrong. As we know, his mistakes are glaring and his successes are quiet, but I think he’s going to help them compete at a higher level. Um they’re about to get mowed down by a Panthers team that was even better than we thought going into the playoffs. So, have fun with that. Um, stay healthy, Carlo. We know, we flat out know that the Panthers are going to be head-h hunting, Carlo. They’re they’re going to be looking for another concussion. Like, that’s their mo there. But, uh, yeah, just stay healthy out there, bud. It’s a tough series to be a part of. I’m actually genuinely glad I don’t have to watch the Bruins play the Panthers anymore this year. Uh, the next C minus, again, a lot of C minuses, but this one’s weird. This one’s really weird. In fact, there are two C minuses in a row that I am shocked we got back to the C range for them. Elias Lindholm is our first one. At the mid-season point, he was a D and he was a D graciously, right? Graciously. Seven goals, 14 assists in 45 games played at the mid-season mark. a 38 point pace, tied for third in the team scoring at that point, which is rough. Uh he had a 54.6% faceoff win percentage of the mid-season and still even with that he was just abhorent. It was a disaster to start the year. So let’s get to year’s end here. He finishes the year with 17 goals, 30 assists, tied third on the team and scoring 55% from the dot. Really, really good. And the great explanation, my first statement was this is a tricky one, right? The first five months of the season were abysmal. He was winning faceoffs, but he was a defensive liability, which is not what his game was typically built off of. He had no offensive ability whatsoever. And whether he was placed with Posternok or Cole Key, Cole Keepy, he looked as lost as could be. My expectations for him were lower than maybe any other Bruins fan out there, and he still wasn’t meeting them. Here’s the good news. We find out at the end of the season that he had a back injury in August and he had been playing through that through the entirety of the year, which isn’t good news obviously, but it turns into good news because he was beginning to feel better towards the end of the year. And since March 1st, on a team that won six of their remaining 22 games, he had six goals, all even strength, 10 assists, eight of them even strength, zero penalty minutes, won over 57% of his faceoffs, and carried a reasonable 13.3% shooting percentage. That’s over seven weeks of play and a full season of that would have put him soundly as a second line center who has a frustrating matchup for top lines freeing postnox lineup to go against weaker competition. The injury mixed with the final two months of the year is enough for me to bump him up to the almost meeting expectations for me. The minus, the C minus, the minus is because I can’t fully ignore the first five months of the season where he was a huge part of the problem with this team. Now, again, new team, new system, takes time, but I needed a glimmer of hope that this contract wouldn’t be as bad as it looked because at the mid-season point, we were hoping that he could look like a third line center. That’s how bad it was. That’s not even like hyperbolic. That’s legitimately it was that bad that we thought he was a bad third C. Not okay. But he gave us hope. He had a really nice last two months of the season. One that could at least make us confident that no, he’s not the 1C. We knew he wasn’t the 1C. We knew the entire time he wasn’t the 1C for David Posterno. I Sweeney really tried to sell people on that and some people believed it, some people didn’t. but he’s not. But if he could be a really good 2C or just a good 2C, I’m super in. I would be just so happy with him as a player. I would adore it if next year Elias makes me look like an absolute donkey for hating that contract when it was signed. And if he looks excellent at 2C, oh, at least he gave us some hope. At least he did. So C minus way higher grade than I thought he would end up with. Um but genuinely that’s between the me giving him a little grace with the injury, little grace with a new team and having the last two months that he did. Yeah. Yeah. I mean he got close. And again a C for me going into going into the year a C would have been like he’s like a second between a second and third line center. So a C minus isn’t like oh man he’s almost a 2C, you know. So it’s still still not that that great. I know my expectations of him were rather low. And his partner in crime though, Nikita Zadorov, the other C minus. Now this one is for a lot of reasons though. Uh at the at the mid-season mark, I had him as a D minus. Two goals, eight assists in 45 games played, 18 point pace. Didn’t really care about that. Somehow a plus six in plus minus. he would continue to have a good plus minus through the season. He had 82 pms midway through the season. 82 penalty minutes. Woof. And at the time I wrote, I’ll just read it out to you. An absolute disaster of a contract. You know how I said the whole my expectations were low, but holy hell with Lindholm? My expectations for Zidorov were even lower. But holy hell, he takes a billion penalties, which we knew when we signed him. He’s not an effective defender despite his size and reach. He makes baffling decisions frequently using usually resulting in him coasting through the defensive zone while the opponent sets up for the easiest net front chance of their life. He actually starts in the offensive zone just about as often as he starts in the Dzone. So, it’s not like you can point to the difficulty of his matchups, which he’s usually not taking the more difficult difficult assignments. He skates well and has a nice shot. I have been told that he skates the puck out of danger well and is an effective puck clearer, but I haven’t seen that. My expectations were low. They should have been lower. Bad, right? Gosh, that’s bad. That’s really bad. But end of the year grade, C minus. He had four goals, 18 assists, and 81 games played. Led the league in penalty minutes. And no, not because he fights. He did catch Sam Bennett clean to the skull in a fight, though, so that’s an instant grade boost. That’s literally part of the grade boost. Like, that’s literally part of this boost. And I don’t think a single Bruins fan out there goes, “That’s ridiculous.” No, I think every single one of you agrees with me. But the great explanation is a lot that goes into it. The expectation for me was an overpriced third pairing defenseman. Through the first twothirds of the season, it looked way worse than that. It was a third pairing defenseman who granted was playing far above his station in the lineup, but who was an active liability on the ice. Don’t give me the plus minus nonsense either. The reason I hate that stat is because of how many variables go into it. And no Bruin benefited more from empty net points than Zidorov. And it’s by a huge margin. If you actually break down where all of his like plus minus came from, he was negative midway through the season, like at five on five. Uh it’s actually kind of interesting. Natural stat trick. You could kind of go page to page and look at the different areas of where his plus minus actually came from. Uh that being said, quick compliment to him. He he was something ridiculous like plus 14 or something like that uh on this team uh with an empty net situation. and the opponent having an empty net. As much as I’m like, you can’t use that and be like, look at his plus minus when he’s out there and players are getting empty net goals and he’s benefiting and plus minus from it, but it is a compliment because if he is the type of player that you can put out with a minute and a half left and in a a game that you’re up by one and he effectively helps kill that off and like keep the win, worth its weight in gold, right? Absolutely. I just think plus minus has way too many variables for you just to point at it, especially when I’ve watched every shift he took this year and was disappointed through 80% of them. He was an active liability. Constantly caught out of plays, behind in transition defense. The big hits were nice, but not when they gives up high danger chances against every single time. He was flat out objectively bad for 60 games with a couple bright spots in there of course, but for the the bulk of 60 games was bad. And then for about two months he wasn’t. In fact, he wasn’t decent. He wasn’t fine. He wasn’t okay. He was damn good. He was damn good for the last couple months while the team was losing a bunch of games. So, I don’t know how we take that into account, but he stopped chasing plays to the wall away from the net. He displayed stronger gap control on transition defense, no longer drifting to the strong side that he kept doing. His big hits and offensive pinches were both cleaner and better timed. the focused more on clearing out the net front and his outlet passes were tape to tape and effective all while the team around him was melting down. He became not only a bright spot on the ice but in the locker room as well actively pursuing conversations about leadership and not accepting losses as the norm vocally calling out the locker room as a whole to be better and even having a few controversial comments about the poor goalending which to his point was [ __ ] He quickly stepped in as a leader. I I mean really did a voice that wouldn’t believe defeat was the expected outcome and that’s what you need. You can’t let that seep in as like this is just another day, another loss. You can’t let that seep in. He also punched Sam Bennett in the face. That’s just awesome. Yeah. Look, it’s not enough for me to give him a C and and say he met expectations this year because even though my expectations for him were so low and he did have two months where he did exceed them, um the season was basically over at that point. the season had been lost at that point. The first five months were brutal. They were brutal. They were so very bad. And so that’s why I think a C minus shows a great jump in his grade. Um and shows that I’m I’m really excited about the potential that he can keep this up. I really really am. That first four months, five months was so bad. If I was just great in the last two months, it’s probably a B a B+. And part of that is how low my expectations were and part of it is just how damn good he looked for a lot of it. And he punched Sam Bennett in the face. So the long-term outlook here, I’m genuinely genuinely and earnestly and honestly holding out hope that like Elias, he performs at a level next year that completely changes my tone about him. I am comfortable with an effective third pairing defenseman who is overpaid. The money’s already spent. the tears would be falling into the void to continue complaining about it. I’m gonna continue to complain about it, but I it’s fine. But if he can have the sort of impact we saw over the last month and a half, two months, then he becomes a player that I will really like having on this team, particularly off the ice. I’m not the kind of guy who wants to be right more than he wants to be honest. I hated that signing. I hated it with every depth of my being. I felt the hate in my cockals. But I would love to be the idiot here. I would love it. And I will absolutely admit it when the time comes because the last two months. Yeah. Lot to hope. A lot to hope about that. And that’s what we need for next season anyway, right? Is hope. Uh let’s move on. Charlie Coyle is our next grade. It’s not a C minus though. It’s a D+. The trade that he was involved in is an A+. But that’s a Sweeney grade, not a Coil grade. He had 15 goals, seven assists in 64 games played. Traded for Will Zeers, USHL player of the year, middle stat, and a second rounder. Do I give him credit for the trade? I mean, no, right? It’s an A+ trade. A younger prospect who, even though most scouts don’t think he’ll translate to higher levels, is the best player in his league. A young third line center who I don’t really love. And a pick, a second rounder. No, we don’t give him credit for anything like that, unfortunately. And honestly, shooting percentage aside, him being on pace for 20 goals while spending a t a ton of time with poor performing centers and wingers depending on how he was deployed could be worse. It could be worse. It could be worse. And it was enough to get us a return that we were happy with. But he was a liability defensively for much of the year, which feels unusual for him. And his possession game had completely disappeared this season. He was as much part of the problem early this season as basically anyone else. And I am a big Coyle defender. I’m patient with Coyle. I know his game is like that. The stretches where it’s just very almost invisible. And then he has some really great games. And we just weren’t getting we just weren’t getting the great games. And we spent way too much time talking about what’s wrong with Coyle for this to be a positive grade in any way. I’d ra Hey, look, long-term outlook. I’d rather be on Colorado, too, brother. Good for you. But just not a good season for him. Not a good season. I think he’d be the first one to admit that as well. So, we’ll move on from there. But D+ feels a little harsh, but also feels pretty accurate. Another D+, Fabian Lel, one goal, two assists in 12 games played. It’s tough grade. We did this with Potra. We’re getting to Potra, too. Unfortunately, we’re getting to Padra, too. This is a tough grade to give because I expected him to force his way into the lineup this year. But between injuries and the front office seemingly determined not to bring up any offensive help through the season, he only got a look late in the year when things were at their worst. His skating is beautiful. He averages over three shot attempts per game, but only about half of those are making it to the net. He was driving the center of the ice and was excellent in transition, both defensively and offensively. He didn’t meet expectations, though. Whether that’s his fault or not, he didn’t meet them. And optimism is there for a better season next year. But he couldn’t. I think the big part of this grade is he didn’t force his way into the lineup. He was given a look later in the season when the season was over. I do believe he should have made the team out of camp. I do believe there are pockets of the season where he should have been called up. It’s not an F. It’s not because I think there was some unfair play here. Not intentionally. Not intentionally. No one’s sabotaging the kid, but I kind of thought that he would force his way in. and it didn’t work out for a myriad of reasons. D plus the long-term outlook here is there are way too many attributes that he has that I love to think that he won’t pan out in the NHL in some way, right? That doesn’t mean he has to be a true top six scoring threat or facilitator or anything like that, but I just believe that there’s really something there. I really do. And I think he can be an effective second line winger. uh more of a facilitator, which is we have a lot of we have a lot of guys who are more of facilitators than goal scorers, which is starting to get a little scary there, but I uh I really like Lisel and next year is a huge year for him and he does need to make the team out of camp. He really does. Moving on, another D or actually this is just a D. This isn’t a D+. Brad Marshand. Now, we were at mid-season giving him a D+ and his grade went down coming off of three surgeries. How dare I? How dare I? But there’s a few things that that came into play here. So, at the season’s end for us, 21 goals, 26 assists in 61 games played. And it’s a really difficult grade to give because there are so many factors here. His on ice play was subpar for him, but it’s not like he had any consistent help. I didn’t like his leadership tactics. I didn’t think he played a large role in younger players not getting opportunities. He himself admitted he forgot what it was like to be the new guy on the team and maybe didn’t approach the free agents and prospects the right way. The team had huge stretches where they would flat out give up on games while he was, you know, acting captain. Uh, and again, there’s plenty of blame to go around all over there, but there is some some leadership stuff there. The trade trade deadline comes and there’s all this discourse about the trade, which again wasn’t a good one, but more and more it seems like the Bruins were doing him a favor after he declined what was a more than generous extension offer. Um, there are a lot of different reports about it. I’m not going to start listing them off because they’re all rumors. But if you buy into the smoke and fire idea that where there’s smoke, there must be fire, there’s a lot of talk about a extension in the $6 million range that he would not take. I don’t get it. I will always be a Marshian fan, but this season was a sour taste in a lot of ways when it comes to the Rat King. And just just like at the mid-season grade, he’s getting dinged for things that are beyond his play and maybe even not fully his fault, but that’s the life of a leader. There are going to be certain things like, “Hey, your team’s not performing well.” That falls on you. And I genuinely didn’t like a lot of his comments about the prospects. You got to earn it. You got to earn it. Especially after they’d have like a really good game or they’re doing well in the AHL and it’s seems like he’s always pushing back on the idea that they belong on the ice at the NHL level. And um there just wasn’t a lot of positives to go along with it. I don’t know, maybe I’m being unfair, but a D feels just about right. He definitely performed under expectations even with the surgeries, even with the health stuff. the whole team did, but the attitude of the team was piss poor for a lot of the season. The year starting with Makavoy talking about, well, you don’t win the cup in October. Yeah, you’re still going to win some games, man. Like, just a bad just a bad look in a lot of ways here. And again, that’s Makavoy’s comments, but just the mindset of the team seemed really bad for a lot of this. And and I’m I’m digging Marshand a little bit for it. I really am. The long-term outlook here is the Panthers look like a near lock to represent the East once again in the finals, and he’s been a a part of that. Bruins fans will hope they make it one more round for the conditional first round draft pick to come to fruition. But the fan base seems split on whether they want the Panthers to go all the way. Some are just like all pro Marartian, and some are like, “Ah, screw the Panthers.” Also, I’m going to say this once, I’ll probably repeat it a bunch of times, actually, but I don’t want Marshan to resign in the summer. I I know that’s nasty and and a bummer. I’m really ready to start focusing on a a non201 core. And Marshian was the last guy standing from that really. But I’m just ready to stop talking about it and look at the future. And I think Marshand kind of forces them to defer to him almost like he’s the guy in the room. He’s done it. He’s been there. I’m ju I’m just ready for the next wave of Bruins hockey. I think I am. And I know there’s pain coming with that. I know he would be a good addition to our team on ice and off ice, but I’m I’m ready to move on and I think that’s just where my heart sits at this point. Uh that was a long time on Marshant. That was a long time. Let’s talk another really easy one. Henry Yoki Haru. That’s another D for me. Four assists in 18 games played. There’s a million excuses. team was icing largely in the HL squad at this point. He’s new on a team, new systems, yada yada yada. I don’t like Yogi Haru. He’s not an effective defenseman. I’ve watched him for years and I am never impressed. Even in a third pairing sheltered role, he’s still a guy that makes you nervous, especially in a playoff series because every time he’s on the ice, they’re hunting him. Look, long-term outlook is we don’t have a lot of options on that right side. So maybe he gets resigned, but if it’s for anything above seventh defenseman money, it’s a bad idea. you can find a replacement level guy. Like, do not do this. Do not do this. Do not do this. He’s the He’s the guy you hunt in a playoff series. Don’t do this. I don’t know. I’m just I really didn’t like his play. I’m not a Yoki Haru fan. I don’t see the benefit of bringing him back. Let’s leave Let’s leave it where it is. We’ll move on. Matthew Padra, once again, a D. He was a D at mid-season. He’s a D now and largely for the same reasons. And a lot of people complained about this and I understand. I don’t even think those people are wrong. We just look at it in two different ways. Because this grade, frankly, not very fair. He had one goal, 10 assists, and 33 games played, which my expectations points scoring wise weren’t that high anyway. But I expected him to push for a lineup spot and stick most likely at 3C. That didn’t happen. He couldn’t stick. And whether that was his fault or not, that’s what happened. Eventually, they felt it was better to leave him in the AHL for growth. That’s classic not meeting expectation stuff right there. Now, the deeper you dig into it, the clearer it becomes that he was a snake bitten, like really snake snake bitten with a shooting percentage sub4%. And linemates who couldn’t finish a scoring chance for the life of him, so snake bitten both ways. B. He was genuinely affected by the weird approach coaching and front office was taking to this season as even when struggling, he was offering more on ice impact than players they were replacing him with. So, I mean, I I I think he was struggling to really get a mental look at at what he was and wasn’t supposed to be. Uh, a lot of mixed messages from coaching in front office, I felt. And C, he could really benefit from his time in the AHL. Of course, he could. He’s been crushing it down there for most of this season. His confidence should be really good. Uh him and Lelis have immediately created some nice chemistry, but he didn’t meet expectations. He’s 21 years old. His expectations are still fluctuating a lot. So, my expectations were a roster spot that he would stick in this year. He failed to meet those. If you want to say those expectations were too high, absolutely push your own grade down there. Totally get it. Personally, my expectation was him to come into a year where this team needed help and to just basically did what he did do what he did the year before, which is forced them to keep him in the lineup and he wasn’t able to do that. The long-term outlook here is he still projects as a really good 3C in my mind. He has some 2C upside. Anyone referring to a 21-year-old who has forced his way into the lineup multiple times without a first round pedigree as a bust is exposing themselves as a little silly. Right. Right. Plenty of things to be hopeful with with Potra. Very excited to see him play again, but it was a bad year. It was a bad year for him NHL-wise. Um, and I think his expectations were to play in the NHL the whole year and he didn’t get to do that. And again, maybe not fully his fault, but I mean, she’s part of the equation. So, I’m going with D. Another D grade is Pablo Zaka. I don’t know. This feels weird. 14 goals and 33 assists for 47 points. Tied for third on the team. No forward spent more time with Geeki and Posternok than Zaka. I know he isn’t a 1C, but he was given every opportunity to be an impactful player working with the best options the Bruins had, which granted Posterno obviously incredible, but clearly takes a specific type of player to play with him and be effective. Uh, not that he doesn’t elevate everyone around him, but like truly to hit that level with him, you got to be a special kind of guy. And Geeky, who is I mean, just depending on who you ask, elite or maybe not so elite. But he was given those opportunities with the 30 goal scorer in the 106 point getter and he was a ghost at five on five for huge stretches of the year. He was a prominent part of a terrible power play and a bad penalty kill. He’s far from our biggest issue this year and was asked to go against competition that was frankly above his station, a conversation we’ve had about many of these players. But simply he did not meet the moment and he did not meet expectations. Players like Zaka are the ones that make me second guess the grading though because if everyone’s been bad, shouldn’t there be more of a curve for these grades? But I mean, everyone being bad just means everyone gets bad grades. Like that’s where I’m at with this at this point. Great uh season for faceoffs though for him. He had 53% win rate. That’s really solid for him. Uh but yeah, just didn’t meet expectations. I expect him to be involved in a lot of trade rumors this summer, but I haven’t I I I have a hard time believing that they’re going to move off of him with the current state of our top six. I think they prefer to have the versatility that he brings and see how it goes from there. Uh our next grouping, oh my goodness, we have a whole grouping of Fs. I hate these grades. I hate these so much. But your first F is John Beecher who had a C minus at the mid-season point. At the mid-season, he had two goals, six assists through 43 games played, a 16-point pace, zero plus minus. Uh my expectations a little different, I think, than a lot of people because I’ve watched him for going on six years now, something like that. And I’ve watched him be ineffective offensively. Um, every stage of it, every stage of it. I’ve watched him fall down lineups where he’s played. I mean, he he typically athletically is so gifted that they put him on the second line. Um, and then he can’t can’t hack it and he gets pushed and gets pushed and he’s pushed and he gets pushed out of the lineup. And he would finish this year with three goals, eight assists, and 78 games played. And he would get scratched at the end of the year to give other guys a taste of the NHL. But it got bad. The expectations were low and it still got bad. He still wins more faceoffs than he loses. His defensive game is still okay, but I mean, there just isn’t enough there. To the to the point that when the trade deadline passes and there’s opportunity all over the lineup to move up and make an impact, he was offered less and less ice time until he was eventually scratched. This grade is as much about how the front office is looking at him as his on ice play. He couldn’t stay in the lineup. I mean, that’s just an absolute I know he only got scratched for a handful of games at the end of the year, but he was a ghost for most of the year. Most of the year, the line that he was on, no matter what line that was, was unplayable in games and would get caved in and he was a common denominator for that. Honestly, at this point, I’m questioning whether they qualify his RFA or not. Like, he might literally no longer be on the team next year, and he’s only 24. That’s how much he’s fallen out of favor with this franchise. Uh I I’m not I’m not sure where that ends, but this has just been his his reputation with the team has just continued to decline. And maybe that’s really where this f comes from is he’s just getting worse in the eyes of the front office. He needs a reset and I don’t know how he finds it, but not a good year for him. Another F very easy one here. Trent Frederick, just an abysmal season. eight goals, seven assists, and 57 games played. He got traded to Edmonton for a second, fourth, and Max Wayer. And look, it was an awful year no matter how you look at it. He stalled in every facet. His offensive game was non-existent. He wasn’t being physical. He didn’t find space at the net front. He wasn’t responsible defensively. Just or he was okay defensively, I should say, but nothing impressive. The path had one clear conclusion. It was a change of scenery. I mean, good luck in Edmonton. Really rooting for you. liked the guy. Really hope the player succeeds, but I I don’t see how you give Trent Frederick anything but an F. An awful year for him. Just an awful year. Didn’t even look like he wanted to be there most of the time at a certain point. Our next F, unfortunately, is Mason Laurai, which seems so unbelievably harsh, man. So harsh. It’s technically his rookie season. Five goals, 28 assists, and 77 games played. That’s good. I I mean I’ll I’ll certainly take that. League low minus 43 plus minus. Now I don’t like the plus minus stat. Being the worst in the league though is a little bad. Is a little bad. Um oh my note is read previous grade explanation. All right. Let’s see what I said at the mid-season mark. At the mid-season he had two goals, 17 assists in 40 games played. Second lean scoreer for our defenseman. A team worst minus5 goal differential. The great explanation at the time was so a lot going into this one. He’s got a nice point total. That’s good, but he’s fallen short in way too many other areas. Remember, I’m grading on this season not his potential, which I still believe is very high. He’s been an abject disaster defensively. He’s on the ice for a ton of goals against and is all too commonly putting his deep hair in poor situations. There’s a huge opportunity when Hampus went down to play higher in the lineup. He hasn’t played well enough to stick, oftentimes muting Makavoy’s game as he tries to cover for Lurai when they are paired. He also had the opportunity to jump on the top power play unit. But again, his situational awareness and attempts at doing too much backfired too often to give him the role. I am very high on Lorai and think he’s going to be an excellent defenseman. But in a season where he has been given the opportunity to succeed in several areas, he has fallen well short. Yeah. Yeah. I think that pretty much sums it up. Yeah. A lot of a lot of one step forward, two steps back for Lauri this year. It’s been a tough one. Uh, and the long-term outlook is still I’m very high on him. Look at his disaster of a year, but I still feel his ceiling is exciting. Um, there needs to be a lot of growth defensively. You can be a subpar defenseman who is excellent offensively, but right now he’s a terrible defensive and who is good offensively. Lots of growth to be done. I do have faith he’s flashed those talents before. the Bruins are in desperate need of him improving because the defensive core is so bleak. But yeah, I’m going to have faith. But uh look, just because you fail once doesn’t mean you fail forever, but this is a failed season. This is a failed season. And then the big one, the final one, the Mac Daddy F. The I want to set the goalending market. The I’m holding out because I know what I’m worth. Look, I’m a Jeremy Swayman fan. I want to say that right now. Right now, I want to say I’m a Jeremy Swayman fan. And I believe that contract’s going to work out just fine. Just fine. I think it’s gonna be good. I really do. I really do believe that. Well, at the end of the year, he had an 892 save percentage, 3.11 goals allowed average in 58 games played. Uh, this one also asked me to read the grade explanation from mid-season, and that says, “How can the grade be anything else? The last few starts have been far better. He did have a little stretch there where he was improving. And I don’t expect this grade to stick at season’s end. The grade was an F then as well. He ranks near the bottom in pretty much every statistic for starting goalenders. Not only has this season been far below his standard, but far below his contract standard. When he talked about setting the market, I don’t think he meant to set it back 10 years. Aren’t I so fun? Gosh, aren’t I fun? Uh, well, the grade stocks. The grades stuck till the seasons end. Just an awful year for the young net minder. So bad, in fact, that the rumors of teams trying to buy low on him are surfacing, trying to pry him away from Boston. So bad that the front office at the end of the year repeatedly spoke of how bad the goalending was after it was expected to be one of our strengths. It was so bad that he ranks fourth to last in save percentage among goalenders who started at least half of their team’s games. so bad that this will become a cautionary tale for signing young promising goalenders with limited experience to massive contract extensions. It was bad. It was a bad year. And there’s no one on this planet who can look me in the eye and tell me this was a good year for Swayman or even a decent year for Swayman or that he was anywhere close to meeting his expectations. You can tell me that the team in front sucked that a lot of the goals against him were not his fault. a lot. You can’t say majority. You can say a lot. You can tell me about all of the turmoil and ridiculousness and the bad defense and whatever. You’re right about all of it. It doesn’t change the fact that he to his standard like just didn’t meet it this year anywhere close to it at all. at all to the point where the season’s ending with free agents who just came in and have only played one year in Boston and have been part of the problem as well and they’re standing in front of a camera saying everything goes in. Every chance against us goes in. That’s what Zidorov said and I liked it. I like that comment. I mean look, I also think that at the time I was like Zidorov, shut up. You’re part of that. But also, yeah, the losing should not be the norm. we should be comfortable with this type of performance, right? Like that’s not what you want your team to be about. You want your team to be desperate to win. And I I appreciate the fact that Zidorov among and Swayman and many others are pointing out that like just hasn’t been good enough. That’s what I need to hear right now. I still have faith that he’ll be he will be a great Bruin and will recover from a brutal year for himself, but it needs it it needs to start next year. I we can’t we can’t do this for like three years running around or something like that. Um he he needs to be ready next year immediately. We’ll see. We’ll see. We’ll see. We’ll see. Uh but that actually concludes our grades. I I’ll do timestamps below so that you can just skip around to whatever player you want to hear me chat about. Um this is a nice casual hourong video that we’re just hanging out chatting. Grades. Isn’t it fun? Oh, the off seasonason. We will be doing season previews, season series previews for the second round as well. Uh I’m going to lose my voice here pretty soon. I’ve been talking a lot lately, but uh so we’ll we still have some more videos to do for sure. Uh along with a couple offseason things that I’m working on. So we’ll see how all that goes. But as usual, go Bees. Go Bees. And of course, here at the end of the video, I love to give some shoutouts to the fantastic, highquality inspectors who help support the channel and keep this running. I super appreciate every single one of you from the role player tier, the topline tier, and of course, the all-star tier. Uh, we are going to do our shoutouts for this topline tier. Thank you so much to Sean Krider, Michael Chimera, Chris and Erica, Kevin Temperly, Quacken, Platypus, JM, Smoke Channels, Shaggy, Adam, Ella, Albert, Waldron, Ngev 79, Lola, Caddingsworth, EKM Productions, Moonlighter TV, Big Bad Breuan, The Bug Man, Jeff with a G, Tommy Braa, Roland 22, GD Viperworks, Len Cruz, Brock Nope, Hans Slobo, Coach D, the Atomic Lizard, Bradley Johnson, Brett Arie, Pincent, and Nick Zatrulo. Thank you so much each and every one of you, your topline material. But now we got to move on to our Allstar tier members, the absolute legends. We have Jacob Pratt, Jake Brower, Dampen, JG’s 12, Mark S, Anne Hustus, Tim R, Lorenzo Wood, Penny Pasta, Levi Catalani, Boston Stringler, Bagel, Nightmare, Eco, John Kirk, Joel, Stealthy Potato, Hy E, Coyote, Darren Woodbury, Abraion, Wolf Warrior, Vinnie, Adrien Winter, Tupton, D, It brewing smash da kingy the only nudes a tasty snack dudes 42 and Jeremy. Thank you all for all of the support and love that you are all giving. I appreciate each and every one of you. And as always, go

00:00 Intro
02:45 How the grades work
06:06 D. Pastrnak
09:21 M. Geekie
12:19 J. Brazeau
14:09 M. Kastelic
16:10 C. Koepke
17:40 M. Khusnutdinov
20:53 P. Wotherspoon
22:30 V. Lettieri
23:24 J. Lauko
24:11 M. Mclaughlin
24:34 J. Korpisalo
26:59 A. Peeke
30:21 J. Oesterle
31:15 C. Mittelstadt
33:42 B. Carlo
35:41 E. Lindholm
40:01 N. Zadorov
46:34 C. Coyle
48:12 F. Lysell
50:21 B Marchand
54:41 H. Jokiharju
55:42 M. Poitras
58:34 P. Zacha
1:00:30 J. Beecher
1:02:40 T. Frederic
1:03:24 M. Lohrei
1:05:45 J. Swayman

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