Welcome to a new week, folks!
We’ve reached the middle of August, that time of year where the creeping dread caused by the end of summer starts to rear its ugly head. Eat at Arby’s.
Things remain pretty quiet around the NHL these days, which is almost a relief given the frenetic pace of moves and news earlier in the summer.
As we move toward the middle/end of the month, we’ll try to have some more robust content on what to look for this season, is the team any better, etc.
For now, catch up on some quick hits below.
More NHL rankings to argue about!
As promised, the NHL Network released another list of online arguments player rankings yesterday, this time ranking the 20 best defensemen in the league at present.
The Bruins had representation on this list as well, with dental legend Charlie McAvoy named the 11th-best defenseman in the league.
At first glance, that number seems a little low (with hometown bias obviously taken into consideration).
The top three of Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes, and Zach Werenski are pretty much set in stone, but other names ahead of McAvoy include Jake Sanderson and Evan Bouchard.
Neither is a bad player, but I think you could make an argument for McAvoy being ahead of them.
Regardless, these rankings are made to be argued about, so I guess that’s the point.
Here’s to hoping for another season of growth and far, far less time in the dentist’s chair for McAvoy.
New numbers for new (and returning) players
In what qualifies as news during August, the B’s revealed jersey numbers for some of their new offseason acquisitions, plus a change for an existing player.
In case you can’t see that graphic for whatever reason, we have:
- JJ Peterka wearing #10
- Will Borgen wearing #17
- Ivan Ivan wearing #49
- Connor Clifton re-wearing #75
- Lukas Reichel switching to #76
Reichel wore #75 for the B’s last season, so I’m guessing Clifton had to bribe him with something significant ($20 Dunkin’ gift card?) to get him to switch.
Peterka will have big #10 shoes to fill as he looks to honor the legacies of Alexei Zhamnov (who with his flaming red hair has the nickname “Archie”), Brandon Bochenski, and Anders Bjork.
(Please tell me I’m not so old that no one remembers the Zhamnov reference.)
Reichel, meanwhile, will be just the fourth Bruin to wear #76 per Hockey Reference, following in the footsteps of Alexander Khohlachev, Kris Veransky, and Dennis Bonvie.
What else is on tap for today?
