Why the Boston Bruins will be worse than the Buffalo Sabres in 2025-26

Why the Boston Bruins will be worse than the Buffalo Sabres in 2025-26

Breaking down the Atlantic division. Today we begin with the Boston Bruins. Coming up on the Lockdown Sabres podcast. You’re Locked on Sabres, your daily podcast on the Buffalo Sabres, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. What is up everybody and welcome in to this Monday edition of the Locked on Sabers podcast. Thanks for making us your first listen every day. We are free and available wherever you get your podcast. You could check us out on YouTube as well where you can watch the show. Hit the like and subscribe button if you would. Also, you could become a part of our Locked On Sabers text club as well. If you get any news like an Alex Tuck signing or a Bo Byum trade, should we get it, you can head over to joinsubtex.com/locked on sabers to sign up for that. Sneaky Joe Debiosi on today’s episode which is presented by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code locked on NHL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. Sneaky Jody Biosi into a new series here in the offseason. We are going to get into our Atlantic division breakdowns. We’re going to go team by team in this division that the Sabres have had a lot of trouble finishing in the top half of for the entirety of its existence, the entirety of this playoff drought. Today, we will begin way at the bottom, the Boston Bruins as they finished in last place last season. We did leave live long enough to see the day where Boston finished in last. We just have not lived long enough to see the Sabres finish anywhere near the top. So today we’ll get into Boston and we’ll slowly work our way up. Detroit next, then Montreal, Ottawa, Florida. I’ll do it in order of regular season standings. Obviously, Florida won the cup, but they did finish third in the division. And then Tampa, and then Toronto. So we’ll go through the Atlantic division, which hey, as we get into this, the Sabres have to be competitive in this division this season. They have to finish at least in the top four, I think, to meet their expectation. You can theoretically make the playoffs if you finish in fifth in your division, but for this team to achieve its goal of breaking the playoff drought, they more likely than not have to get in the in the top four. So, we’ll uh of course continue to keep you updated on any Saber news that we get along the way. Really, nothing brand new today. In fact, the only news item I really saw in the hockey world today that um it does actually kind of relate to the team we’re talking about today actually directly relates to them. from the team um or from a report about the team is that Casey Middlestat, former Saber, now Bruin, got traded there last season after it didn’t really work out for him in Colorado. The Bruins are already ready to move him. Like there are trade rumors like Boston’s done. They’re good. They’re going to move him. Um he’s got a couple of years left on that contract. Two more years at $5.75 million. And you know, we’ll get into more of the team overall here on today’s show, but quickly on Middlestat, cuz I got one text question today about whether or not it would be a good idea to bring Middle Stat back to Buffalo. I understand wanting that because when Middle was traded, he was playing really well for the Buffalo Sabres. He was putting up points. He was I mean I remember making memes about Middlestat with the you know the meme where like the it’s like the X-ray on the chest and there are dogs inside the chest. That was me making memes about Middlestat because he was a dog that last year for the Buffalo Sabres. He had gone from kind of amazingly one of the worst players I had ever seen at battling along the boards at the beginning of his career to a guy that at the end with the Sabres, you could not get him off the puck. It kind of made no sense because even by the end, he wasn’t like this physically imposing player. He definitely had become more built than he was at the beginning of his career, but he became an animal along those boards. You could not get him off the puck. was putting up points. 47 points in 62 games for the Sabres in that final year. And that was in a year where nobody was producing offensively. Everybody was regressing. The 2023 24 Saber season. You look at what guys did yeartoear. Alex Tuck, he goes down from a 80 a 79 point player to a 59 point player with the Buffalo Sabres from one year to the next. Paige goes from 94 points to 56 points. Giant regression from him. Dylan Cousins went from a 60 uh or yeah 68 point player to a 47 point player. Every Skinner right Skinner goes from 82 points to 46. Middlestat meanwhile Middlestat in a full year goes for 59 which is impressive. the following year he’s at 47 and 62. I mean, he was likely going to at least match what he did the year before, if not probably surpass it. Um, but he got traded. He got traded for Bo Byum. It’s a deal that I liked at the time. If I had to redo it right now, I wouldn’t. There was a time last year when I’m like two years ago when I might have done it. Um, Middlestat was playing well at the beginning for Colorado, but then it tapered off. At this point, I would not do that. I’m not the biggest Bo Byum fan. I’m also probably not the biggest Bo Byum hater. Some really hate his game. Some love his game. I’m probably somewhere in the middle. I think he’s a fine defenseman. He is not a guy I want on my top pair, but with Rasmus Dene, I think that can work. Um, middle stat has become lost here. He really has fallen off and I don’t really know what it is. I’ve watched some of his game in Boston more so than what I don’t know what happened at the end in Colorado. reading a little bit about it, like the production kind of went away. Um, they asked him to be a second line center. He looked like that was too much for him. And remember, even when he was performing for the Sabres, he rarely was a top six center. He’d do it when Taige was hurt or somebody else, but like when the Sabres supposed to play by one point, he’s their third line center. He’s on the third line. So, I um I don’t think it’s a great idea unless you could get him dirt cheap. Maybe you could. Maybe you could get him dirt cheap. The Sabres need a top six forward. He’s played wing. He’s played center. Um versatility. The guys love him. I don’t know what it would say about, you know, it would say it would kind of look like you’re going backwards, which the the look of it wouldn’t be the greatest, but there’s some merit to adding him if you could on paper if he was going to be basically free. Like if they want to give him away for a fifth round pick, I’d be okay with the Sabres bringing him back. Anything of value, no. No thank you. I’m I’m good. I’m good. Last year for Boston, by the way, four goals, two assists in 18 games. It did not go well. So, as we get into the Bruins, looking at last season, which is a disaster for them, and then we will look at this off seasonason and then predictions for the upcoming year. They’re overunder as well. Last season, the Boston Bruins 33 39 and 10. That was good for 76 points with 76 points, which was dead last in the Atlantic division. They finished 23rd in the NHL in goal scoring. They finished 14th in goals against. Their deeper numbers show even 23rd and 14th, was arguably better than they probably should have finished. You look at the Bruins last year in shot attempts where they finish 27th shot attempt percentage. Shot share. What percentage of the shots in the game did you get? 28th in the NHL. Expected goals for 25th expected goals against 16th expected goals for by percentage then altogether 27th. Power play percentage last year 29th in the NHL. Penalty kill 24th and save percentage in net 27th. Bad year for Jeremy Swayman. David Posternok was the only thing worth watching in Boston last season. 43 goals, 63 points, 10 43 assists for 60. Let me try one more time. 43 goals, 63 assists for 106 points last year for David Posternok without really having a true number one center. Obviously, Patrice Berseron retires. Brad Marshand is traded at the deadline. Nobody, nobody else had more than 60. Posternok 106. No one else more than 60. 57th by 57 points by Morgan Geeki was second place for the Bruins. It was a one-man team last year. The Blue Line wasn’t giving them much help at all. Nikita Zidorov got thrust into a role that he’s really never played before, which was being the number one defenseman. But the story of last year for the Bruins was two things. the team getting a lot thinner than they had been in years prior. They were a lot leaner as a lineup. They really did not have near the level of depth that they have had in past years. And on top of that, they then dealt with injuries and especially on the blue line, huge injuries that they could not overcome. Charlie Makavoy and Hampus Lynholm, their best two defensemen, missed a combined 97 games last season. Now, had they been present, I still think the Bruins would have been a bad team. I think they would have been a low 80s point team probably. Um, but maybe there was more in there if they had just had their two defenseman healthy. But they missed almost a 100 games between the two of them. And I think that’s way too much to overcome for a team that is not really that well built right now. You don’t have the depth to sustain injuries like that if you are the Bruins. And listen, last year they tried to push guys into roles that they either, you know, passed their prime, Elias Lindholm playing a bigger role. They paid him big money to do it. He had done it in Calgary, but hey, the guy’s 30 now, and sometimes at 30, you’re not the same player. So, you know, Elias Lynholm at 27 was an 82-point player, but Elias Lynholm at 30 being a 47point player to me isn’t the biggest shock in the world when we’ already seen signs of him taking a step back. Um, Brad Marshon’s there a lot of the year, but at 36 years old, you know, he’s a guy that you’ve long wanted, needed to play 19 plus minutes a night, and last year he’s, you know, got to he can’t play that much. she can’t play as much, you know, about a minute less um maybe two minutes from like where he was at his peak. Nikita Zidorov’s going to step into a big role and listen, that’s a big physical defenseman and he led the league in penalty minutes. He’s a physically imposing guy. I’d love to have him on my team. I just don’t want him to be my number one defenseman and that’s what he was asked to do last season. Pavle Zaka playing in a top six center role for multiple years now for the Boston Bruins. just not a role that I would on a good team. He’s not your number one center or your number two center. Boston isn’t a well-built team right now. It’s caught up to them. All the aging process, the veterans are gone. Crone, Berseron’s gone, Marshon is gone, Ras is gone, Charara’s gone. Like the core group is all gone. And Posternok is the last man standing surrounded by this, you know, younger group. But that younger group isn’t that talented because they traded picks away for years and listen at some point the price the the bill the check comes and in this instance they didn’t have the prospects and the picks to to fill in for the guys that had retired. So right now they kind of look like a team that is postronox surrounded by just a bunch of guys. We’ll go through that a little bit. What did they do this off season? Not the most thrilling offseason for the Bruins. And that’ll lead us to uh looking at this season where I think they’re in store for another rough year. Also, we’ll get to Jack Eel and whether he is bound for Boston as he’s got one year left in his contract in Vegas. That’s all coming up here on Lockdown Sabers. Today’s episode of the Lockdown Savers podcast is presented by Monarch Money. Monarch Money. Most people can’t name all their financial accounts or even what they’re worth. Whether it’s 401ks, properties, investments, and when you don’t have the full picture, you can end up leaving money on the table. That’s why there is Monarch Money. It’s an all-in-one personal finance tool. Brings you entire your entire financial life together in one clean, easy to use interface on your laptop or on your phone. Monarch does the heavy lifting for you. You can link all your accounts in minutes. You can see clear data visuals, get smart categorization of your spending, and finally feel in control of your money without ever touching a spreadsheet. So, don’t let financial opportunities slip through the cracks. You can use code locked on NHL at monarchmoney.com in your browser for half off your first year. That’s 50% off your first year at monarchmoney.com code locked on NHL. Sneaky Jody Biosi back here on the Lockdown Sabres podcast. 59 days from the start of the Buffalo Sabres season where they will play the New York Rangers. A little over a month until the start of the preseason. Today we’re going starting our run through the division. The Boston Bruins first up, dead last in the division last season. And you might think Boston with all their history and how good they’ve been for so long and the way the GM speaks and ownership speaks about how unacceptable that season was. You might think Boston was in line for a big summer that they would go all in on the biggest names that they could get and they would not accept what’s happened and they would turn the ship around. The problem is they didn’t have a ton of money to do that. Now they had more money than they presently have. At the moment, Boston’s almost at the cap. They’re near the top of the league in money spent. $2.08 million under the salary cap. It’s not much space at all. But what they did in using that space really inefficient. And I’ll rewind this back to last season to the guy we already talked about, the Casey Middlestat trade. They bring in Casey Middlestat at $5.75 million. That’s a big chunk of change to prevent you from doing other things. They also, speaking of former Sabres, brought back Henry Yoki Haru this off season on a contract that is bewildering. Yoki Haru, you know, at times I liked him throughout his saber career, but there was really nothing much going on. By the end, I was calling him a default creative player on NHL cuz he just didn’t really give you anything special at all. Henry Oiharu, who could not crack the Sabres top six. He was a healthy scratch at times in each of the last two seasons. Boston gave him a three-year deal for $3 million, including a no trade list this season. What is that? What? I don’t dislike Yokiharu, but what has that guy done in his career to earn $3 million over the next three years? They also trade this off season for Victor Arvdson from Edmonton, who’s coming off a down year. Played for Edmonton, was a healthy scratch at times in the playoffs. Last season, Edmonton was 15 goals and 27 points. They went, “Oh, yeah. Let’s get that guy, too. He makes $4 million a year, only for one more year.” But between Arvdson and Middlestat and Yoki Haru, we’re talking about 13 million bucks they spent on three players that I don’t think anybody thinks they’re all that good. Maybe Middle Stack could bounce back, but Arvdson’s at an age, you know, he’s 32 years old. I’m not betting on him coming back. And I don’t know why you should think Yoki Haru is going to become some top four defenseman making three million bucks. So I I don’t I don’t like any of it for the Boston Bruins. I think that their off seasonason and that’s the extent of it. You might be waiting for me to drop the hammer on, but what they did do like no that was their off seasonason. They didn’t do much at all. They tinkered. They they poked around at it. But again, like those three signings in in middle set of trade going back to last year, those aid up their cap space and their ability. Hey, maybe you wanted to make a run at Nikolai Eers. Well, sorry kid, you don’t have the money to do that. Um, a lot of teams have space. You don’t. And I think it really has ended up costing them. You might be asking, where’s all their money? They’ve got all these no-names in the lineup right now. I’m looking at their their projected lineup for opening night. Elias Lynholm, David Posternok, Morgan Geeky. How’s that sound as a top line? Not my favorite. Middlestad, Zaka, and Arvdson. Line two. That stinks. That’s That line stinks. That’s a bad second line. Fraser Minton, who’s like a a mid-level prospect on the third line. He’s only played six games for Boston. Tanner Jano, they brought him in this summer. Like, I don’t know. John Beecher, Shawn Carelli. I there’s just nothing really here that excites me. But where’s all their money going? It’s going to Posternok at 11. It’s going to Lindholm at 7. Middlestad at 5.75, Makavoy at 9.5, Lindholm at 6.5, Nikita Zadorov at five, and of course the goalending between Jeremy Swayman and Yonas Corposalo, they’re spending 11.2 million on a goalie tandem that last year was 27th in the league in save percentage. Listen, the Boston Bruins need to take a long look in the mirror. They need to look at Don Sweeney. That’s who they need to be looking at. He has been their general manager for 10 years and for most of it yeah he’s done a great job but in building the next generation in Boston building the successors to Berseron Crara Tukarasque he’s done as bad a job as humanly possible this team stinks there’s nothing exciting about this team at all at Best what I can do for you about the Bruins is say if Makavoy and Lynholm stay healthy this year, that’s their top two defenseman. And maybe they could get away with that. Maybe they could go from a 76-point team to an 85 point team if their guys stay healthy. But that’s about the limit for me. I don’t like this team at all. I didn’t like their off seasonason. I don’t like that they retain Don Sweeney. He signed through 2028, by the way, um for potential future change there. I listen, head coach is another area where in that area, I have no criticism at all. They had Marco Sturm. Well, excuse me, that’s who they hired. They had Joe Sacko as the interim head coach, former Saber assistant coach, by the way. Not much of a resume to be a head coach in the NHL. They moved on from him from the interim tag. They add Marco Sturm. I don’t know how good Marco Sturm is going to be as a head coach. He’s never been a head coach in the NHL before. I do kind of like when teams go for fresh blood and not go for the same recycled coach over and over and over and over again. So, all right, Sterm, he’s been coaching in the American Hockey League um for a long time. Four years, five years, I believe. Um so, I’m I’m into it. I’m into Stern being the head coach, but I don’t have any idea if he’s actually gonna be good at it. And his team’s so bad in front of him. Like, good luck. I don’t know how how good you can be with that. How bad could it really be? And would Eel go there if the team’s going to stink? Explore that a little bit when we come back here on Lockdown Savers. 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Sneaky Jody Biosi here on the Lockdown Sabres podcast. Blasting the Bruins a little bit today, which uh hey, is it funny the Sabres finished above them last year? I don’t know if I told you the Sabres were going to be better than the Bruins. You might think they finally made the playoffs, but nope. I, you know, can’t take credit for it. I think I had been projecting for years on this show, every year at the start, for like five years. This is the year the Bruins are going to they’re here comes their demise. They’re finally going to fall off a cliff. I’ve been waiting for it for years. I thought that that was finally going to come. And I think last year I finally said, “I’m not betting against them anymore. I’ve looked dumb too many times. Maybe I should bet the LA Chargers this year. I’ve looked dumb too many times. I’m not betting against them again.” And then they finally stunk. The one year. So anyways, maybe I should give up on the Sabres being good and that’ll be the year that they actually get good. I don’t know. The Bruins are in trouble. Their overunder right now at FanDuel Sportsbook for the 202526 season is 80 and a half points. So here’s the thing I’ve said all show here. I think the Bruins stink. Could be one of the worst teams in the NHL. 80 and a half points is the same as the Buffalo Sabres overunder. I don’t know. I I don’t necessarily think the Sabres going to be very good either, but at the moment, I’d be more likely to take the over on the Buffalo Sabres. I would right now project the Sabres are a better team than Boston. The one kicker that has me not so confident about that, you made me pick. I’m going to pick the Sabres. The one thing that makes me not so confident is I like Jeremy Swayman a lot. goalender of the Boston Bruins, who I campaigned for the Sabres trading for this off seasonason before his no movement clause kicked in in July. It since has he’s immovable now. Jeremy Swayman’s coming off a bad bad bad bad year. He was not a good goalender last year and that was remember after all that drama with the Bruins wanting to get paid and holding out and back and forth with the agent. And I remember Cam Neely saying things at press conferences kind of blasting Jeremy Swayman and you know it just it wasn’t going well. He was an RFA so you know it was it was not going to result probably in a trade or anything but he um he was not to me a guy that I saw a season like that coming. I didn’t think he’d have a year where he was one of the worst goalenders in hockey. If you look at goals saved above expected last year, trying to find it per 60 because I always like to do it by the amount of ice time the guys play. Uh Jeremy Swayman last year. Here’s the problem though. I don’t want goalies that played one game. So, let me fix something real quick. And here we go. Goal saved above expected last season for Jeremy Swayman. He was 52nd out of 71 goalenders in the NHL. He had a 892 save percentage, which is 20 percentage points lower than his career average. Previous seasons, 945, 914, 920, 916, and then 892. It was a bad year for Swayman. And I will bet he progresses. I will bet that he bounces back. He led the NHL in goals allowed last year. I don’t see that happening again. I think that a goalie that was really strong for three full seasons before last year will go back to what he was in those three seasons as opposed to what he was last year. Not could could go the other way. The Bruins aren’t the same defensive structure as they once were. Different coaching, different players. Last year could have been in part due to injuries as well. He’s the one that makes me think they could be better than the Sabres because if he has a great year and he does what he’s capable of, which was I mean Vzna votes two years ago, then they could be a better team than the Sabres pretty easily. The Sabres I think have a better forward group than Boston. Um I think the Sabres have a better blue line than Boston, but again I like the Bruins goending situation better. So if they get the goalending, I could see Boston being better. If they don’t, the Sabres absolutely should be a better team than the Boston Bruins this year. If they don’t get elite goalending from Jeremy Swayman, Sabres should be better than Boston. So, 80 and a half points for Boston. I would take the under. I do not believe they will make the playoffs. I do not believe they will be in the playoff hunt. I think they’ll be one of the worst teams in the league. And here’s the thing I wanted to get to pertaining to them and Jack Eel. Jack Eel has one year left in his contract at $10 million. I’ve wondered, others have wondered, hey, is this when he goes to Boston? Is this when he goes home? Does he want to go home? I think there’s a there’s a chance of that, but I am skeptical that he sees Boston at the moment as a realistic landing spot when they’re as bad as they are. I don’t believe Jack Eel would go to the Boston Bruins if they are a dumpster fire. He was here losing for so long that sure it’s home, but if home is in 30th or 29th or 28th, I don’t think he wants to go back to that. I think he would trust the environment he’s in knowing he’ll be a winner there. I’m sure it’s great living in Las Vegas. Um, at the moment, I don’t expect Eel to go home. I think the Bruins are in tough shape. And actually, it kind of sounds to me like Eel will potentially resign in Vegas and not even test free agency. I mean, that shouldn’t be that surprising, right? Vegas is a constant winner. They’re obsessed with winning. Vegas is a great city to play in. I’m sure it’s a fun city to play in. There are no taxes there. Like, they check every box. There’s a reason everybody wants to go there. Guys don’t leave Vegas. They go to Vegas. So, Eel leaving Vegas, you know, I thought maybe there was a chance home could sway him, but at this point, I think that seems pretty unlikely. So, if you were worried about him coming back to the division, I don’t really think you have to be worried about it. The Boston Bruins, I would pick them to finish eighth dead last in the Atlantic division for the second consecutive year in 202526. Next time we’ll talk Detroit, the Red Wings. Can they have a drought of their own going after that long playoff streak? Haven’t made it in a long time. We’ll talk about the Red Wings, what they’ve done this off seasonason. Will they stay above the Sabres this year? Will they break the drought, their drought before the Sabres break their drought? We’ll get into all of it on the Red Wings when we talk next, which will be on Wednesday. So, we’ll talk to you then on the Lockdown Sabres podcast. If you enjoyed the show, hit the like and subscribe button. You want more of it, go to the text club, join sububtex.com/lockedons. And if you want some more hockey talk, check out Locked on NHL. Available wherever you get your podcast. And we’ll talk to you on Wednesday. You’re the Locked On Sabers podcast, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day.

Last season, the Boston Bruins finished dead last in the Atlantic Division, behind even the Buffalo Sabres for the first time since 2010. Was this just a fluke year for Boston, or is this a sign of an era of bad Bruins hockey? Sneaky Joe believes the latter is more likely. A look into a thin roster, a GM that has been unable to replace Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara, and David Krejci, and a goalie coming off a horrible year makes it seem that the Bruins are just a flawed hockey team.

Plus, the Bruins are looking to move Casey Mittelstadt, should the Sabres look for a reunion? And why Jeremy Swayman, Charlie McAvoy, and Hampus Lindholm are the keys to Boston not being terrible this season.

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