The NHL regular season has ended and sixteen teams, including the Boston Bruins, are contending for the Stanley Cup. The Black and Gold have a different lineup now than when they started the season back in October. At the beginning of the season, the Bruins were led by Marc Savard, Zdeno Chara, and Tim Thomas. As they battle for the Cup, they are now relying on Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Chara, and Tuukka Rask. Let’s take a look at how the Bruins ended up with their postseason lineup, what players we lost along the way, and where they are now.
Before the season even started, the Bruins traded Phil Kessel for draft picks. Kessel left the Bruins with not much of a choice since he did not accept a “discount” salary. Trading Kessel certainly left an offensive hole in the lineup but a hole that could certainly be filled. Yes, the Bruins lost a 36-goal scorer but they also got rid of a player that just seemed to not get along or respect the team. He also played a one-way game: he liked scoring goals and that was about it. Kessel did score 30 goals for the Maple Leafs this season, but goals can carry a team only so far and that shows with where the Leafs finished this year. They finished dead-last in the Eastern Conference and the Bruins got the number two draft pick out of the deal. This deal has worked out for the Bruins so far and will hopefully pay off more in the future with Tyler Seguin or Taylor Hall who are both projected to be impact players.
Chuck Kobasew was traded way back in October to the Minnesota Wild. This trade shocked a lot of people and General Manger Peter Chiarelli explained that the team was too comfortable and that was why they were underperforming. Kobasew showed the style of hardnosed grit that Boston sought to put on the ice every night but somehow that was Chiarelli’s solution. If just squeaking into the playoffs was what Chiarelli had in mind then his trade worked. Kobasew only scored nine goals in 42 games with the Wild, but he still could have made an impact with the Bruins. He would have been grinding every game, a quality that was lacking many times this season for Boston.
When Michael Ryder was practically invisible on the ice at times, players like Kobasew and P.J. Axelsson always come to mind. These are two players who would battle every second of every game even if they could not score. They would hit, go after the puck, or work the penalty. Axelsson was a huge loss for the Bruins this season. He may be getting up there in age but it would have been like having two Recchis out there (minus all the tip-ins). Axelsson played this season for Frolunda HC in Sweden and tallied 10 goals in 47 games. He may not have filled the void left by Kessel in the scoring department, but Axelsson would have brought leadership and plenty of hip checks, the kinds of things that make a club better but do not show up in the box score.
Besides the trades and loss of free agents, the Bruins also faced injuries and a role reversal in net. Coming into the season, Tim Thomas was the number one goaltender with rookie Tuukka Rask as his backup. Thomas never seemed to have the consistency he had last year when he won the Vezina Trophy. He certainly showed flashes of brilliance but could not compete with Rask’s consistent and calm manner of play. Rask has shown that he is a number one goaltender in this league and will need to be the backbone for the Bruins in the postseason.
Throughout the season, Lucic, Stuart, Ference, and Savard all missed significant time due to injury. With all the lost players this year, none of them is more disappointing than Marc Savard because of the way the Black and Gold lost this star offensive player. Penguins’ defensemen and known troublemaker Matt Cooke ended Savard’s season with a blind-side elbow to Savvy’s head, leaving him with a severe concussion. The Bruins are also without Stuart for at least the first round of the playoffs and Seidenberg will be out for most if not all of the playoffs.
The Bruins current roster in the postseason is different from the team that lost to Carolina last year in the second round. These differences have added and taken away positives from the Black and Gold. With all this being said, the Bruins still have enough talent and depth to be a contender. Thanksto strong play from Providence call-ups like Boychuk, Sobotka, McQuaid, and Marchand, Boston is in a place to make some noise in the playoffs.
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