B's Update: I'm Into This Team

The Bruins are approaching the quarter mark of the season and I am here to say I am into this team. Half the roster is still an AHL team, but I'm into the B's. 11-7 through 18 games and sitting in 3rd place in the Atlantic right now winning 5 of their last 7. Not too shabby for a squad that was written off by many before the season even began. Now i'm not gonna sit here and praise them and say we're gonna win the cup, no we have ways to go before I declare us cup contenders (which I promise I will at some point) but through almost 20 games I like where the boys are at. Much of this is due to a fantastic start to the season from Tuukka Rask. If you listened to the early podcasts of Keno Radio you know that I have been leading the trade Tuukka charge for years now, but he's starting to convince me otherwise now. He's lowkey 8-1 right now and already has 3 shut outs. If he manages to stay healthy, keep an eye on Tuukks to be in contention for the Vezina. The big thing with Tuukks however is how terrible our other goalies are. Malcolm Subban is the worst player to ever play in the National Hockey League. That is just a scientific fact. He literally has had the 2 worst starts of all time. Not only getting yanked in both, but just letting up horrible goals in each game. He supposedly plays pretty well in the A, so we need to use that leverage and ship him somewhere quick before teams realize that he is the worst player to ever play in the NHL. Zane isn't horrible, but he's not ready to be an NHL starter just yet. So at least when Tuukks is between the pipes you know the chances of grabbing the W are wayyyy better. WITH THAT SAID, until proven otherwise, Tuukka has boiling water in his veins. When it comes to crunch time, he has never proven himself to be a winner. 2010 Playoffs vs Philly, 2013 cup finals, 2014 Olympics, he chokes in big games. So until he proves he can win the big games, I'm not entirely sold on Tuukks. Helluva regular season tendy, not so much in the playoffs.

The D have been pretty solid as well, holding teams to 2 or fewer in their last 6 games since the Rangers route. Chara still looks old and should have been traded 3 years ago when he was actually worth something, but he's still managing to log big game minutes, while grooming Brendan Carlo, a young stud in the making. Carlo is showing flashes of a veryyyy promising young D man. Lotta poise with the puck, very mature for a 19 year old and is a great skater for how tall and lanky he is. Needs to bulk up a little though so he doesn't end up like my boy Adam McQuaid who loves his spot on the IR. Tough break for the Quaider a couple games ago vs Minnesota going down in pain then getting up and deflecting a back breaking game winner into his own net.

Forwards have been playing solid as well. Pasta is having himself a breakout year, keeping pace with some of the leagues best in goals. But he's also been fragile this year hopping off and on the IR. Need him to stay healthy and keep burying so he can notch 40 this year and we can trade him away this offseason because he's the latest pure goal scorer that "doesn't fit the season". Still not over Phil or Seguin. Love the addition of Backes, seems to have fit right into the system. I said it when we got him, he's just a perfect Bruin. Tough, gritty, can score the fancy goals and the dirty ones, and his solid defensively. The chem between Bergy and Marchy is just continuing to pick up steam, they're developing into one of the better 1-2 punches we've seen in a long time here in Boston and I LOVE it.

So like I said I am officially into this B's team, I like the way they're playing and I like the way that they're finding ways to win. They've always been a good November team though, so I can't wait to hop off the bandwagon once Christmas rolls around and declare them DEAD!

Also, I love Jimmy Hayes. Everyone rips on him and I don't get it. Just a real solid third liner. Shout out to Hayesy.