The Bruins Made A Massive Mistake Letting Daniel Vladar Go
Don Sweeney strikes again! Sweeney, the Bruins General Manager, was gift wrapped an awesome core walking into the job. Sweeney has done nothing except botch move after move in Boston. The Daniel Vladar travesty will be another one added to his ugly resume. The Bruins made a MASSIVE mistake letting Daniel Vladar go.
Yesterday, the Bruins were shut out by the Calgary Flames 4-0. Vladar got the last laugh pitching a shut out against his former team. On the season, Vladar is 4-0-1 allowing 1.57 goals per game, and notching a save percentage of .945. Small sample size but Vladar looks like he’s figured it out and is more than just a flash in the pan. Boston gave that guy up for a third round pick. The same pick they pretty much threw in the toilet for Mike Reilly who is a healthy scratch every game.
Boston botched this. No other way to look at it. A year ago I advocated going cheap at goalie. The tandem should have been Vladar and Jeremy Swayman. Sure, going with two young goalies is risky but both of these guys are showing serious potential. Plus the prospect of Tuuka Rask coming back at some point also protects you in a way.
Going with that approach would have saved the Bruins a serious amount of money. Boston needs depth scoring in the worst way. Acquire more elite forwards and really create a scary offense beyond the perfection line. Instead, Sweeney threw his money away.
The jury is still out on Linus Ullmark but there was no reason to commit high dollars to him. None. Instead, the Bruins threw the bag at Ullmark and dumped money blindly into Nick Foligno, Erik Haula, and Derek Forbort.
Once again nothing has changed. If you don’t have the last name Marchand, Pastrnak, Bergeron, or McAvoy; you’re worthless. It’s why the Bruins are a good team instead of a great team. Foligno has one total point. Haula has three. Mike Reilly is a healthy scratch. There’s still no offense coming from anywhere beyond the first line. The only positive is that Charlie Coyle doesn’t totally suck right now.
How much different does the Bruins offseason look if they save heavy on goalies and wind up going more aggressive on real depth scoring. Boston couldn’t dip their toe in the Jack Eichel sweepstakes? Regardless, was it smart to invest this money into bums when Bergeron and Marchand need to be re-upped this upcoming offseason?
Even taking the roster construction off the table, dealing Vladar made no sense. His stat sheet didn’t look great as a rookie (.886 sv% & 3.40 goals allowed) but that doesn’t really tell the story. He had one game where he gave up eight goals to Washington which threw his stats totally out of wack. Otherwise, he was very good.
The Bruins also did this weird thing where they wanted the young guys to get time on the ice, while not giving up on Rask, while also making sure Jaro Halak got his minutes. The whole thing was a shit show. We all knew Rask wasn’t healthy and Halak is nothing more than a suitable back up. Boston gave up on Vladar for no reason other than sheer ignorance.
News flash; goalies have bad outings. Especially rookies… Vladar’s 6-foot-5 frame made him a really intriguing prospect. Why not hold onto Vladar instead of shipping him out of town for a third round pick that more often than not turns into nothing? I just can’t wrap my head around it.
The Calgary Flames are in a perfect spot with their goal-tending situation. They have Vladar on the cheap and a reliable veteran Jacob Markstrom. Instead, the Bruins head into another year where we don’t know what’s going on and Rask’s future hangs over the franchise. Aren’t they tired of this nonsense? How does anyone trust Don Sweeney?
