With the Boston Bruins hitting their bye week and the All-Star break coming up, now is a good time to assess where they’re at.
At 31-9-9, 71 points, tied with the Canucks for the NHL’s best record, the B’s are defying expectations into the post-Bergeron era. They lack legitimate high-end center depth and secondary scoring, yet they continue to get excellent goaltending, their best scorers are playing like it, and a few key guys are having career years. So, here we are. Instead of merely contending for a playoff spot, the Bruins may very well win another Presidents’ Trophy.
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What does that mean for their realistic chances in the playoffs? The trade deadline? The individual players? Coaches? It’s fair to wonder. Few believed the Bruins would be this good at this stage of the season. So that means it’s possible we’re now viewing them differently.
Here are some Boston Bruins topics to ponder for the rest of the team’s bye week…
Forward Pairs
Nov 9, 2023; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins center Charlie Coyle (13) high-fives left wing Brad Marchand (63) after a game against the New York Islanders at the TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports
Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery loves to frequently mix up his forward lines, so he’s rarely stuck with much of anything for an extended period of time. But when it comes to the Bruins’ best forward pairs, he at least has one he knows is working wonders in Brad Marchand and Charlie Coyle.
The centerman, in particular, has been a godsend for a Bruins team that wasn’t sure how much they were going to get out of the position offensively. Coyle hit the bye week on pace for 30 goals and 70 points, both of which would easily be new career-highs. He’s also a regular on special teams who is depended on to shut down the other team in certain situations.
Marchand, meanwhile, is Marchand. Group them with David Pastrnak and you’ve got a dynamic scoring line. Put Trent Frederic in there and you’ve got a potential shutdown forward unit. In fact, Ty Anderson senses that is the line the Bruins are going to want and that they’re going to want them to be a shutdown line in the playoffs.
Jan 20, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins left wing Jake DeBrusk (74) celebrates with center Pavel Zacha (18) after scoring a goal against the Montreal Canadiens during the first period at the TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports
From there, they’d have to figure out another line that can score. That’s where they may have to turn to another forward pair that’s worked well recently: center Pavel Zacha and winger Jake DeBrusk.
The latter can play on either side, so he may work best as the second-line left wing next to Zacha and Pastrnak. DeBrusk and Zacha have generated 61.3 percent of high-danger chances at 5-on-5 when they’ve been on the ice together this season, according to Natural Stat Trick. The pair combined for four goals and eight points in five games together heading into the by week.
Montgomery may have a “top-4” of forward pairs that he may be able to keep together in Marchand-Coyle and DeBrusk-Zacha. It’s just a matter of figuring out how the rest of the pieces will best fit going forward.
Expectations
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – NOVEMBER 09: Charlie Coyle #13 of the Boston Bruins celebrates with David Pastrnak #88 and Brad Marchand #63 after scoring a hat trick during the third period against the New York Islanders at TD Garden on November 09, 2023 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Bruins defeat the Islanders 5-2. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
Going into the season, the post-Bergeron Bruins were generally expected to still be a good, playoff-caliber team that comfortably gets into the postseason. They were NOT expected to yet again be on top of the league. It’s a testament to how guys have stepped up and how Montgomery has kept their overall focus and competitiveness at a high level.
But have the expectations now changed? Should we now look at the Bruins that needs to make a deep Stanley Cup run? That’s especially worth wondering in light of the Eastern Conference as a whole, where there hasn’t been a true superpower to emerge from the pack – unless it’s the Bruins.
Ultimately, the Bruins should still be viewed as a “Could Surprise Some People” team heading into the playoffs. Although paradoxically, it might not be all that surprising if they win a round or two. But if they’re to be treated like a real, serious Cup contender…
Buyers Or Sellers
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – JUNE 29: Don Sweeney of the Boston Bruins attends the 2023 NHL Draft at the Bridgestone Arena on June 29, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
…Then what is Don Sweeney going to do? The Bruins may be looking at a quiet trade deadline across the league, anyway, so it’s possible that the market will dictate their actions (or non-action) in the first place. But it’s possible that Sweeney could buy at the deadline, for a team that could perhaps use some depth as they’ve dealt with numerous injuries at every position.
At the same time, the Bruins are replete with depth players. What they could really use is a legitimate upgrade in their top-6 forwards or top-4 defensemen. But are any teams selling pieces that big? Are the Bruins ready to part with what it might take to get such a player? They seem to be in a “Stand Pat” spot the more you look at them. But it’s an interesting debate as to what Sweeney should do at the deadline.
Montgomery’s Mean Streak
Jan 22, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery directs his players during the third period against the Winnipeg Jets at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports
What’s stood out about Montgomery in his second season as Bruins head coach is that he hasn’t been “Mr. Nice Guy” so much. Not that he’s morphed into John Tortorella. But Montgomery has been willing to call out his team when they’re playing substandard hockey. He conspicuously wouldn’t call out Hampus Lindholm by name when the defenseman’s blown coverage led directly to a game-losing goal late in regulation, but the fact he was willing to even go there is notable.
Montgomery may still be toeing some weird line when it comes to criticizing his players. But he seems to believe he wasn’t tough enough on the players when things went south in last year’s playoffs, so he’s trying a modified approach. It’ll be interesting to see how that goes into this year’s postseason.
Goalie Gamble
Oct 11, 2023; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark (35) and Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman (1) celebrates their win over the Chicago Blackhawks at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports
The Bruins are sticking with their high-end goalie tandem. Signs point to both Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman playing in the playoffs as part of some sort of platoon or rotation or “hot hand” situation. That’s inherently a gamble, because it’s relatively uncharted territory to deploy both as a deliberate strategy.
At the same time, the Bruins’ goaltending depth is perhaps their greatest strength, and other successful playoff teams have played more than one goaltender in their runs, if only out of necessity. That would include the team that beat the Bruins in the 2023 playoffs, the Florida Panthers. So, it’s a worthy gamble for the Bruins to lean on Ullmark and Swayman as a duo.
