Could Bruins Road Trip Be What the Team Needs? Billy Jaffe Weighs-In
On Thursday’s edition of Toucher and Hardy, Billy Jaffe who is a Bruins analyst for NESN, joins the show and explains how the Bruins can greatly benefit from going on their four-game roundtrip. This comes on the heels of the team being home for seven straight games following the All-Star break, which Jaffe explains could have played a factor in taking the players out of their routines.
But it gets you out of your routine…
Dan Roche: Their energy was tremendous coming out too. From that home stand it just looked like there was a whole better vibe to them.
Billy Jaffe: You need to get on the road. Sometimes you just need to get on the road.
Fred Toucher: That’s what Billy’s been saying this whole time.
Billy Jaffe: Get on the road and you get out of this routine. The holiday CBA break – all star break is great. It rejuvenates, refreshes. You get time with your family, or if you’re single, you get time with your whatever, you’re on the beach, etc. But it gets you out of your routine. Not bad, but okay. You can come back from that. But then you’re home for seven games, which I think it was 12 days. So next thing you know you’re out of this routine not for just eight days, but now you’re close to 3 weeks.
Dan Roche: And it look like it towards the end.
Billy Jaffe: Yeah. So they get on the road and now they had a kick ass game last night. Tonight’s going to be tough though, back to back.
Dan Roche: Yeah but you know what Billy? I said this to the guys earlier, this game for some reason they play a game like they did last night and everyone says back to back games, they’ll be gassed. And they play really well in these games.
Listen to the full segment here!
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With trade deadline approaching, Bruins make notable signing
Oct 2, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Boston Bruins left wing Justin Brazeau (55) against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center. (Eric Hartline/USA TODAY Sports)
When it comes to Brazeau, the first thing that pops off the page is his size.
Listed at 6-foot-5 and 245 pounds, Brazeau immediately becomes the biggest forward in the B’s organization.
Tied 2-2 on Brazeau’s 15th. #AHLBruins
— Ryan Ames (@_RyanAmes) February 17, 2024
pic.twitter.com/oPA2xhJB7cConsidered a project when the Bruins first signed him, ‘skating’ was the biggest knock on Brazeau, according to those I talked with regarding the intriguing prospect. But by now, it’s clear that the Bruins have seen enough progress in that department to feel that Brazeau could be an effective NHLer.
It’s only fair to assume that — even with those statistical improvements — they wouldn’t have converted his deal to a standard, NHL contract had they not been satisfied with those developments this season.
Sep 27, 2022; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins forward Justin Brazeau (55) passes the puck past New York Rangers center Gustav Rydahl (15) during the third period at TD Garden. (Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports)
It’ll also be interesting to see just how quickly the Bruins get the 26-year-old up to Boston for a look.
Unless the Bruins got word that another team was going to sign Brazeau to an NHL contract had the Bruins not done so first, it stands to reason that the Bruins signed Brazeau when they did so that they could get him up to Boston for an NHL run. Boston’s decision to put Oskar Steen on waivers on Sunday, especially with Jakub Lauko currently dealing with an upper-body injury and a questionable status for Monday, only adds to that belief.
Brazeau would also fit a potential (or glaring, depending on who you ask) need for a space-creating, big-bodied wing who throw his weight around and answer the bell in the Black and Gold’s bottom-six forward group.
This has been a need for the Bruins since they lost Milan Lucic to an injury and a domestic violence incident that will keep him away from the club for the rest of the season, really. And while Brazeau is not of the Lucic mold as a heavyweight fighter (Brazeau uses his frame and size as a physical threat more than his fists), he does allow the Bruins to go back to a fourth-line look that’s more speedster-speedster-bruiser, which was Jim Montgomery’s ideal mix when he created the effective Lucic-Beecher-Lauko line to start the 2023-24 season.
