Cuts official

So Hunwick, Thompson, Wheeler are the three rookies left. These last few cuts are going to be ugly on the forward end.

Alberts needs to go too. Keep Lashoff

They need to cut 4 guys. What's the roster look like right now?

So we're looking at the to-be-cut pool consisting of:

Hunwick, Thompson, Wheeler, Schaeffer, .......? I haven't been following the preseason nearly close enough to be able to make those predictions.

Hunwick,Thompson,Schaeffer and Reich should all go down. The latter two should be waived. Lashoff will be part of any trade package, should one be made, while he still has some value.

I think they'll cut 5 (1F & 1D in the press box)

Hunwick, Thompson, Schaeffer, Reich, Sobotka

Rask is cut, It is official; Chiarelli, you should be officially ashamed of yourself. Your Cap Management has been terrible, brutal, inexcusable. With the exception of Thomas and Axelsson, you've given almost everyone on this team too much money and now, those bad decisions have arrived. Not only do you not have money to over-lure some Free Agent at the Trade Deadline - You don't even have enough money to pay more-than-worthy Rookies from your own system!
$200,000.
if you'd paid Savard, Bergeron, Ryder, Sturm, Kobasew, Kessel, Schaefer, Chara, Wideman, Ward, Ference, Stuart, Aberts and Fernandez - if you'd paid these 14 guys just 200k less, You would have 2.8 million to play with right now.
(to be fair, Perhaps, i should recognize that without a state-o-the-art Training Facilty and with the general absense of any Owner-sponsored 'perks' or inducements to speak of, it probably costs that extra 200thou to get players to wanna play here. Call it the 'Jacobs Fee')
. But, as it stands now, at this important epoch in Bruins history, Pete you have failed in your duties. You have compromised the product and, worse, you have compromised the governing principle of the NHL ; That being, that the very best players in the world play in this League. The 'kids' in your organization are a talented and numerous bunch and they deserve better. We all do. One small small, small consolation in all this? Jacobs is getting exactly what he paid for with you.
I hope you gave Tuuka the best cliched breakup line there is; 'Tuuka it's not you.

bk Are you kidding? Did you watch Saturday's game? Lashoff gave the puck away twice behind the Bruins net that directly lead to the Capitals scoring 2 goals. All I've read about so far is how often he makes bad decisions with the puck. I don't think he's ready yet.

Bad camp for Matt L ... too bad, hopefully he can have a strong season in Providence - might not ever put it together well enough to be in the show.

Woah woah woah, Turk - simmer down. Rask is supposed to be the savior of the Bruins franchise once he's *ready*. Hannu Toivonen was supposed to be a tremendous goalie for us at some point, and take over the starting role... and he was, at first. He was pushed too far too early - before he was ready... and now he's hoping to regain his game outside of the NHL.

Goaltenders play one of the hardest positions in hockey. One that requires them to have very short memories, to shake off bad goals and games and continue to build their confidence. Once it's gone, no matter how much skill one has, they are going to underperform. I'd rather not break Rask into a high pressure NHL situation just now, where he's going to play backup (read: not playing often) after an especially underwhelming performance in the AHL playoffs last year. We all know he's an NHL caliber goaltender but another season (at most) in Providence is not going to kill him, or the Bruins.

Of course, I'm not the GM either, and don't profess to be. But I do feel you gotta just breathe in... hold it... and breathe out. There. Better?

In all seriousness though, I know where you're comin from, but at the moment we have a solid number 1 in Thomas and another "number one" in Fernandez (even though he still needs to prove that to us). Point is, while Manny is under us with his salary, Rask is going to have to wait. As sad as I am to admit this, this will probably be Thomas' last year with us to make room for Rask, and keep Manny... although presently, I hope it's the opposite (Manny leaving and keeping Timmy Beast).

For God's sake, Rask has just one year of AHL experience under his belt, he's just a kid, and he seriously needs to gain some weight. Sending him to Providence is the best thing for him (he needs to play, not sit on the bench) and for the Bruins long-term.

AL, don't condescend. You missed my point. This isn't about Rask. This is about Chiarelli. The honeymoon is over. The 'Trainee' badge is gone. No more wait n see for this guy. With Training Camp and the promise of a brand new season, his performance should be judged like everyone else. He has run out of money. He has put an exclamation point on his lack of decisiveness. He had a whole off-season to trim some payroll in anticipation of at least a couple of kids, legitimately, pushing for jobs. But he didn't , which actually has put him a weird position where he might actually, privately, be cheering against a Rask or a Wheeler ("Please, kid, be good, but don't be TOO good!!"). He is not prepared for the upcoming season. He is holding his own team back.

Turk,

You are a touch over the top.

The problems now are in part because of the problems last season. Sobotka, Krejci and Noke were all called up to fill the gaping hole left by Bergerons injury and Metro's lack of offense. These guys are now _proven_ NHL players. You can make little excuse for sending Sobotka or Noke down, none at all for Krejci.

None of the blue liners probably have "AHL" in their contract unless its accompanied by the word "no". Thomas _is_ a #1 goalie who plays best when he's played most. He's played what one game this preseason?

Manny was a just plain stupid trade, no question about it. A knee injury on a goalie needs to be history before a trade not current events.

Yes, one or two of the guys you list are over paid but not all. And given the market, if Wideman had gone elsewhere he'd probably get paid _more_, which is sad. And we'd still need to fill that slot with someone who would cost as much or more.

Schaeffer was also a bad deal. He was an even exchange in skill, with a higher salary than the player we shipped out.

And while Rask is unquestionably good, he has confidence issues. If he has two bad periods in a row it takes a week to get it back. He needs to get past that before he takes on more than an AHL role.

We will see Wheeler in an Bruins game this season, that's about 95% certain. When, well before christmas one way or another is my guess.

I stand by my assessment of Chiarelli. And, I'll go further. I'll call for his replacement.
Cam Neely.
There is no way Cam Neely could be any less fiscally judicious than Chiarelli and no area in which Cam Neely doesn't possess a higher hockey IQ than Chiarelli. And, maybe most importantly, there is no one in the game who hates to lose more than Cam Neely. I can almost predict what you apologists are going to say; "Uh.. Cam needs to develop in Providence."
Time for a real helmsman in Boston. One we can believe in. Vote for Cam.

GOD BLESS TURK!!!!

Cam Neely? You're joking. I love the guy, but if you've listened to any of his interviews in the past year, you know he's still figuring out his role on this club, and learning the ropes as he goes. He's no more ready to step in as an NHL GM than Tuuka Rask is ready to be a #1 NHL goalie. "Hating to lose" does not qualify as a reason to put someone in charge of a franchise. I'm sure Mike O'Connell hated to lose too.

And as for Chiarelli, anyone with half a brain HAS to realize it takes time to turn a franchise around. You don't suddenly stop on a dime and become a world-beater. Chiarelli's done the right thing by hiring a good coach who knows how to get the best out of his players, and working the youngsters into the system. Last year they lost their top all-around player and still finished 18 points better than the previous year, and came within a game of ousting Montreal, even though they were picked to lose in four, or, at best, five. Let the process continue.