Felger: Without Chara & Krejci, Bruins An Average Team With Average Roster
BOSTON (CBS) - The sample is starting to grow on the 2014-15 Boston Bruins.
We're now past Thanksgiving, so they've crossed that threshold where if your team isn't in the playoff picture now then history shows it's unlikely you'll climb back in the race. If the season ended today the Bruins would be the eighth seed in the East.
They've played all sorts of teams in all sorts of different circumstances; good teams, bad teams, road teams, etc., and something is beginning to emerge for 98.5 The Sports Hub's Michael Felger.
"If I could just put it simply, they're not very good," Felger said of the Bruins (14-11-1). "They're not horrible. But what's starting to emerge is [general manager] Peter Chiarelli's roster."
With top line centerman David Krejci and top minutes-getter and captain Zdeno Chara sidelined with injury, the Bruins have done no more than tread water -- they've beaten the teams they should beat, and they've lost to the teams they should lose to.
But in the last five games (at L.A., at Anaheim, vs. Winnipeg, vs. Pittsburgh, vs. Montreal) the B's are just 1-4, and all five of those teams are playoff bound if the season ended today. Extrapolating that out, this season the Bruins have played 13 games against playoff teams and have just four wins.
Against the non-playoff teams? 10-3.
"The number of times I have 'the depth of the Boston Bruins' shoved down my throat by [Bruins media members], to me, doesn't this sort of prove what the roster is? The roster, when you get past the top of it, is okay. It's not special. It's not the worst, and I'm not saying it's horrible, but it's not special," said Felger. "It's not much different than other teams in the league. Take out Chara, you take out the number one offensive center and you're the eighth seed."
What really irks Felger, though, is how the Bruins brass had to trade a player like Johnny Boychuk because of cap issues, then turn around and reward players he deems nothing special.
"Are Loui Eriksson and Reilly Smith appreciably better than other depth pieces on other teams? It doesn't seem that way. Seems like they're purely middle of the road. So what's the obsession with keeping these middle-of-the-roster pieces, and signing them and overpaying them?"
Felger's rant didn't stop there.
"Patrice Bergeron in his last five games against good teams: 0-0-0 minus-2. I hate to say this, but Patrice Bergeron? He's a little overrated. You Bruins people wanted to make him league MVP, but you have to score to be a league MVP. Just because you're the best defensive forward doesn't mean you're the best all-around forward."
Listen below for the full discussion:
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