To many hockey fans, this is arguably the most shocking first round exit as the Boston Bruins are coming off a historic regular season, with a record of 65-12-5. What people often forget, aside from the fact that the playoffs are a different breed, is that the Florida Panthers were one of the few teams that were actually able to compete with the Bruins, beating them twice throughout the regular season. I made the mistake of going with logic in my official playoff preview but had the Panthers in seven in most of my other brackets so I’ll let you decide on whether or not I called it but regardless, the Bruins are hitting the links and the Panthers are off to Toronto. Don Sweeney and the Bruins organization are going to have a fascinating off-season filled with tough decisions, with some of which not entirely in their hands. That being said, let’s take a dive into what could possibly be next for this historic regular season team.
First, what exactly happened here? Did the Panthers get lucky? Did the Bruins choke? Did injuries get the best of everyone? Is Florida actually good? To put it simply, a combination of all those things led to the Panthers winning this series in seven. Obviously any time a series comes down to sudden death overtime, it’s more or less a crapshoot but it’s important to remember, you don’t get there by accident. The Florida Panthers are a good team despite barely making the playoffs. I’ve been saying this ever since the playoff matchups were set in stone, people forget the Panthers were the best team in the regular season last season. The Bruins may have been the heavy favorite but the Panthers were far from not belonging here. Now as far as Boston goes, injuries definitely played a role here. Patrice Bergeron was playing with a herniated disc, Linus Ullmark suffered an injury that apparently made moving laterally incredibly difficult, I’m sure there were others. At the same time, it’s playoff hockey, you have to prepare to deal with things like injuries and counting on depth to get by.
The Bruins were riding high after Game 4 when they took a 3-1 lead on the series but it was quickly followed with their low when they lost in overtime, forcing the series back to Florida. The game changing moment came in Game 6 when the Panthers forced seven and looking back on it, I’m wondering why the Bruins didn’t start Swayman then. If Ullmark was indeed playing through an injury that was hindering him so significantly, why not go with Swayman who has proven capable of being a fringe starter/back-up? Sure hindsight is 20/20 and it’s easy to suggest that after the Bruins allowed seven goals in Game 6, but it’s much more reasonable to ask your #2 goalie to get a win in Game 6 rather than Game 7. Again, one thing didn’t lead to Boston losing this series but these are all factors that came into play leading up to this series being decided in one hockey game.
Sure enough, Florida took a demanding 2-0 lead in the game and because Boston is the team they’ve been all season, they stuck around and were all of a sudden threatening to take the series. With just under a minute to go in the final minute of regulation, Brandon Montour who has been an absolute X-factor for the Panthers early on in these playoffs, tied the game for his second goal of the night to force overtime. Following a scramble behind the net in overtime, the puck landed on the stick of Carter Verhaeghe who let an absolute snipe of a shot ring past Swayman to take the series and eliminate the best regular season team in league history. That being said, the Bruins definitely underachieved and are going to look at this season as one of, if not their greatest failures of all time. (Aside from drafting Jakub Zboril, Jake DeBrusk and Zack Senyshyn over Kyle Connor, Thomas Chabot and Mathew Barzal, forever yikes)
So what now? All season long we heard about how this was going to be the last dance for the Bruins so the question now becomes, do they try and keep it going? Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci both signed arguably the team friendliest deals in league history and if I’m not mistaken, will still collect significant bonuses that count towards next year’s cap. First and foremost, do they want to keep it going or are they ready to officially retire? Secondly, is management even interested in running it back? I had a lot of these similar takes last season but the core of this team is no longer your Bergeron’s, Krejci’s and Marchand’s, it’s David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy and perhaps Pavel Zacha. Ironically enough, Zacha was drafted sixth overall by New Jersey the same year the Bruins passed up on all those future franchise players. Zacha hadn’t really found his footing in Jersey but has seemed to pick it up since being dealt to Boston, so much so it earned him a lengthy extension. Zacha’s always a player I liked and definitely has potential to be a significant piece for Boston but he will definitely have to prove this wasn’t a fluke season for him.
The Bruins have a lot of guys on expiring contracts. Aside from Bergeron and Krejci, they have Tyler Bertuzzi, Nick Foligno, Tomas Nosek, Garnet Hathaway, Dmitri Orlov and Connor Clifton all set to become UFA’s with Trent Frederic, Jakob Lauko and Jeremy Swayman restricted free agents. Off all those pending free agents, you have to think that Tyler Bertuzzi is a guy worth exploring a contract extension, especially with how well he played for them in the postseason. Everything about Bertuzzi and his style of play screams Boston Bruin which would make bringing him back long term worth serious consideration. Similarly, if they can work out a reasonable extension with Garnet Hathaway, it wouldn’t be a bad decision to keep him around in a bottom six role but for Nosek, Foligno, Orlov and Clifton, you have to think they’ll explore the open market. Another question mark is going to revolve around Jake DeBrusk who will be entering the final year of his two year bridge deal. DeBrusk not too long ago wanted out of Boston but has since rescinded his trade request following a resurgence in his game. You have to wonder what the plan is now with him. Do they want to keep him around for what’s next or are they going to consider trading him as they start to build the next chapter?
Last big question mark in terms of contracts and long term plans is Jeremy Swayman who will be a restricted free agent this summer. It’s no secret Swayman enjoys being a Bruin and has a very close relationship with his goalie partner Linus Ullmark. However there comes a time in every young goalies life where you outgrow the opposing side of the practice arena and need to be in the starters net to fully flourish. Is it that time for Swayman or could he benefit from a one to two year bridge deal and continue developing under Ullmark and Boston’s goalie coach, Bob Essensa? Considering he’s a RFA now, it would likely be wise for the Bruins to go with the second option then look to trade him at some point in the next 1-2 years, unless both parties are willing to ride it out until Ullmark begins to decline. There’s no question Ullmark is a Vezina favorite after the year he’s had but similarly to Pavel Zacha, is he going to be able to follow that up?
As I mentioned earlier, the Bruins have a lot of incredibly difficult decisions to make and it’s easy for someone like me who isn’t a fan of them to say it’s time to move on and look toward the future. If Bergeron and Krejci want another go at it, I’m sure management will let it happen as long as they stay on those team friendly types of deals. When it comes to planning though, you have to look at the big picture and assess all possibilities. If Bergeron and Krejci are done, you now have two gaping holes in the middle of your lineup. Pavel Zacha, who can play pretty much any forward position may have to slot in more permanently at center if this ends up being the case but even then, is he ready to be a full time number one center?. Without Bergeron and Krejci, you’re looking at something along the lines of:
Marchand - Zacha - Pastrnak
Hall - Coyle - DeBrusk
[ ] - [ ] - [ ]
Greer - Frederic - [ ]
Lindholm - McAvoy
Grzelyck - Carlo
Forbort - Zboril
The back end is fine but regarding your forwards, you’re essentially missing an entire line and parts of your fourth line/extras. They have some young guys in the system like Fabian Lysell that could look to take the next steps but from looking at it in this perspective, you have to think they’ll at least hope to extend Bertuzzi and Hathaway as even with that they’ll still have work to do. At the end of the day, I’m sure Boston is still going to be a competitive team next season and will look to be right back in the playoff picture but it’s worth considering how difficult their division is becoming. The Leafs are good, the Lightning are in a bit of a similar situation as Boston, The Panthers are clearly good, the Sabres are right there, the Senators are close, the Montreal Canadiens are one Conor Bedard away from being a threat. It’s not going to get any easier in Beantown next season and if they don’t keep up with the Joneses of the Atlantic Division, they could start to decline. A lot depends on the futures of 37 and 46 but the days of buying at the trade deadline and going all in for playoff runs could very much be over.
Chris Feldman
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