So what should the response be if Vanek miracle heals and the Bruins start to get creative with him?

My take:
Put McCormick, Mair, Gaustad, Rivet and Lydman on the ice and go after Recchi, Chara, Ryder and Rask a la the 07 senators brawl. Make sure the straps to Chara's cage mysteriously come off and whatever happens, happens.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

McCormick is a fucking hothead, I love it. Anyone tries to start shit with him on the ice, he'll be the first guy to jump in... then we'll start to see our bigger guys like Mair and Gaustad and Rivet and Montador start jumping in as well. Guys like him can be catalysts.

That said, I hope Vanek or not, we cripple some Bruins this series. It just got interesting.

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That would mean Miller fights Rask, then Mccormick steps in and beats on Rask....this could be fun!

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I am, you know I am. I am Canadian.
#1 Hockey Nation.

I sure as heck don't want Miller risking an injury in a goalie brawl but I would love to see some of the Bruins get an old fashioned smack down

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I think if the Bruins show they want to win this series by knocking our guys out of the lineup, we fight fire with fire.

And I mean we take their candlelight and come back with a blowtorch and a flamethrower.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

the problem with that is that we just don't have the type of muscle they have. I mean McCormick isn't a force like Lucic or Chara are. Sucks but it's da truth

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Bench clearing brawl, we put Miller safe in the locker room, Lindy takes a baseball bat to Julien's head.

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"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.

Muscle can be repalced by rampant unapologetic dirtiness.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

It's not even that, Lucic and Chara use size to their advantage, but they don't know HOW to start swinging, kind of like those karate movies where the short skinny dude flips a big buff freak of nature. It's all in the wrists.

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"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.

Huh? Lucic and Chara are known pretty widely as good fighters, and their size makes them even that much more dangerous. Just saying.

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I'd pay to watch that.

At the risk of sounding like a bad Anime cartoon, we have the muscle, and we have the ability to play rough and tumble, but for some reason guys like Gaustad, Rivet, Mair, Lydman, and even Myers refuse to take their games to that level.

It's a gut check, and it starts with accountability. Lindy takes too much responsibility for these guys. He's too concerned about hurting their feelings in my opinion. I would just love it if he came out and said "Rivet, Goose, Mair, Lydman, Myers, and the rest of the team need to take off their skirts, and start fucking these people up!"

Lets face it; these guys have all shown flashes of great grit and power, but it only comes in flashes. For guys like Rivet and Lydman and even possibly Mair it's too late to change their games. But Gaustad could go back to the guy we saw 2 years ago, Myers could develop that mean streak. Goose tried to become a skill player, and he's simply not. He's got great faceoff skill, but after that he's an inadequate passer, and isn't a strong shooter. He's got that big body, and can really lay the lumber. His speed is something to be desired, but he's still a big body who used to love to hit. Where is that player?


How about Myers? All I hear about him is how physical he was in junior, where's that guy? He's great at passing and moves the puck well. Does everything offensively he's asked. Very good defensively, but for some reason, he's not tossing his big body around either.

I guess what I'm saying is, these guys need to stop pretending that they are different players, and trying to fit a "mold" for a "system" and be the players they are supposed to be. Big, tough, physical, guys. Thats why Mair, Goose, Rivet, and others are on this roster. As for Myers, it's probably another within the system thing. But he's got to push people around, and start man handling people like Chara does. Myers is far and away more offensively gifted than Chara, but right now, I still take Chara as my franchise player; and will until Myers proves to me he's willing to do WHATEVER it takes to win. Chara has done that in Ottawa, Boston, and even while he was with the Islanders.

That's the difference between Boston and Buffalo right now. The Willingness to do whatever it takes to win.

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"She's like plan C after an 18 pack"

Squanto 7/27/2010

If so many guys have changed their game - become less physical- since they've been in Buffalo, who do you think is the cause? I keep coming back to the coaching. If the coaches keep putting the brakes on their physical play then they will change the way they play. If Coach says "jump" then the smart player says "how high?"

I LOVE Lindy, but who else can you pin this on?

As a counterpoint, you could point out plenty of other things that Lindy has told them to do, and they DON'T do. So, how can you reasonably say they listen to Lindy completely when it comes to physicality, and ignore him completely with other things?

Well unfortunately what the problem in the NHL is, goal scorers get horrifically overpriced contracts. So these players are working more on their skill game, to get paid. I don't care what anyone says, every big guy like Goose wants Getzlaf money, and every forward wants Crosby/Ovechkin money. Every defensive man wants puck moving defensive man money, ala Brian Campbell, and every tough guy in the league collects a less than 1 million dollar contract.

Now yeah, it sounds like a ton of money to you and I, but let me put it like this. If all you had to do was sharpen your knowledge and skills at work, and collect 3x your current salary wouldn't you?

That's the issue, and until the owners are willing to pay big time money, for big time toughness you're going to see the size and talent in this league, try to become more skilled, and more skilled players don't necessarily take risks like fighting, and flying into the boards to finish checks. I dont know why, but they just dont.

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"She's like plan C after an 18 pack"

Squanto 7/27/2010

I love Lindy, but I do have an issue when players (seem to at least) blow him off when he tells them how to play. That shows me that he's ineffective and the even the best coaches are useless if they can't get the players to listen to them. So is the solution to fire all of the players? Well of course not, but a coaching change could be effective. Not saying it's what I want necessarily but Lindy has been here FOREVER with nothing to show for it. A coaching change may not solve anything, but really what would we be losing? Keeping him in my opinion is more about the warm fuzzy he gives us rather than what he's producing here. That being said...someone convince the right people to change the ownership or get a new GM in here to change things up and we might see a big difference. Then again I'm just a couch coach here...lol!

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Hey if we need a new GM I'm available for about 1/25th of what Darcy is making...Just saying Mr. Galisano and Mr. Quinn

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"She's like plan C after an 18 pack"

Squanto 7/27/2010

Need an assistant? I'll take 1/25th as well....um....and a Miller jersey please.

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