Just over a week ago, the Bruins’ season came to an abrupt end at home in Game 6 against the Senators. Despite having an absolutely decimated defensemen corps from the very first puck drop and having to throw players out onto the ice for their first time in the National Hockey League, they played the best hockey that they could with the hapless cards they were dealt. Half of the games went to overtime, and each one of the six games played were decided by one goal.
While it certainly doesn’t look great on paper that they were a first-round exit after three years of missing the playoffs altogether, there were many bright spots throughout the season from October all the way to the end of April. This past season produced one of the grittier hockey clubs I’ve ever personally seen. Even when the Bruins were getting their asses handed to them, they would always find a way to crawl back into the game and give the opponent a serious run for their money. We saw this on display multiple times throughout the regular season and especially in the playoffs. While this team is overall pretty inexperienced and not the most talented group in the league, they never, ever gave up, and that’s what made watching them every other night so much fun. Even if they were down heading into the third period, you just felt that they were going to at least make it a game in the next twenty minutes. For example, they ended their season in overtime, to show just how gritty they really were.
That’s just one reason to be hopeful for the Bruins’ in both the short and long run. That kind of dedication doesn’t just disappear over the offseason, and the Bruins’ front office recently hinted that they expect a quiet free agency, so they intend to keep this current group together, and for good reason. Thank goodness, because their largest bright spot in the postseason were their younger players and, specifically Charlie McAvoy. Just weeks after finishing his sophomore season at Boston University, the Bruins called him up and immediately threw the 19-year old onto the ice, paired with Zdeno Chara. McAvoy logged over 24 minutes of ice time in his first game, Game 1 of the series, and did the same in nearly the remaining five games, averaging about 25 minutes of playing time. That’s unfathomable, considering that he had never suited up for a professional game before. Playoff hockey is light-years different on all levels from regular season hockey.
Not only did he get a lot of playing time, he looked phenomenal in nearly every minute, as well. What stuck out the most, to me anyways, was his pure hockey IQ, his calmness, his passes and his overall smooth skating. Nearly every single decision he made with the puck was a smart one; he’s obviously wise beyond his years on the ice. Put any other kid his age in his situation under those circumstances, and he’s most likely shaking in his skates. Not this kid. He was put into many high-pressure situations early on, and any other rookie would have turned the puck over, but McAvoy remained calm and made the right decision every time. We all knew coming into this that he was talented, but I don’t think anybody expected him to be this talented. I never thought we’d see such maturity from a kid whose first game was his team’s first playoff game in three years.
McAvoy wasn’t the only Bruins player to make his postseason debut this year. Among the long list of players who saw playoff action for the first time in their rather young careers were Colin Miller, Tommy Cross, Joe Morrow, Ryan Spooner, Riley Nash, David Pastrnak, Frank Vatrano, Tim Schaller and Sean Kuraly. The only way to get better at anything is having experience under your belt. These guys got six games, give or take, of a glimpse of what the real deal is like in hockey. This team is hungry for more postseason play in the near future, and giving those younger guys some experience so they know what to expect moving forward and allowing them to clean up any mistakes from now until next April (hopefully) will put this team in a legitimate winning position.
As for up-and-coming players who have yet to reach the NHL currently in the Bruins system, there are a lot. And I mean a lot. Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson, Matt Grzelcyk, Rob O’Gara, Zach Sneyshyn and Jake DeBrusk could all be competing for roles on this Bruins team this coming summer at camp. Guys who contributed to the Boston team this past season include Austin Czarnik, Sean Kuraly, Danton Heinen and Anton Blidh. One name to look out for is Anders Bjork, who could also seriously be donning the spoked B in a year or two.
The future talent that the Bruins have isn’t all. Another reason to feel good about the path that this team is taking is both David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand. The two of them have the chance to become the top Boston scorer, as they displayed this past season. Marchand is under contract through the 2024-2025 season and Pastrnak is expected to strike a new deal with the club this offseason, as he is a restricted free agent. These two could be in business in the Northeast for a while if everything plays out right.
Marchand scored 39 goals while Pastrnak scored 34 goals, both career-highs for each of them. Marchand tallied 85 points and Pastrnak recorded 70, first and second most on the Bruins. The two of them combined for 82 assists total. Marchand finished fourth in the league in goals scored while Pastrnak was tied for tenth in the league with Patrick Kane and Anders Lee. Like I previously mentioned, Marchand set a career-high in goals, as well as points and assists. In summary, things are only looking up in regards to these two elite NHL forwards. Boston will almost certainly build around these two guys in the coming years.
One last reason to be amped about the Bruins’ bright future, but not least, is new head coach Bruce Cassidy. After taking the place of the recently fired Claude Julien on February 7th, Cassidy led the team to an 18-8-1 record to finish off the regular season and eventually lead them to the postseason as the third seed with some incredibly clutch wins down the stretch. Cassidy brought a new spark to Boston’s locker room and made some much needed and far-too-late changes to the Bruins’ lineup on a nightly basis. In my opinion, the Bruins would not have made the playoffs if they hadn’t made the coaching change at all, or even any later than they did.
Cassidy didn’t necessarily make drastic changes, rather smaller ones with higher reward. He was comfortable with simply letting his guys play instead of looking too deep into things, and wasn’t afraid to take risks. The Bruins won their first 12 of 15 games with Cassidy behind the bench, showing that the move seriously paid off early on. The changes you saw in simply the first game under Cassidy was incredible. It was like watching a completely different team play, when all the head coach did was allow his players to skate. Players that Cassidy had worked with previously in Providence, like Ryan Spooner, Frank Vatrano and Brandon Carlo all looked immediately more comfortable on the ice under Cassidy.
Another change that we quickly saw out of this team was more blue line scoring and and a much, much better transition game. Cassidy shook up the lineup when he felt necessary throughout his first months with the team, and it showed quickly. Guys stepped up who needed to step up when they were given a bigger role on the team in a certain game, which was so awesome to see. Having a new voice definitely helped in general, but Cassidy has a much better feel for his players and the game overall compared to Julien and it’s quite blatant.
By far his best lineup-shake decision was sitting Ryan Spooner in Game 5 and starting Sean Kuraly instead, who went on to score two goals for the Bruins, one in double overtime to win the game and extend the Bruins’ season. A risky yet subtle move with an equal chance of either epically failing or totally succeeding, totally succeeded in the end, only further showing the feel that Cassidy has for his individual players. If not for that sneaky move, Boston’s season would have ended that night and would have made things look much worse than they already were to the public.
There is so much to look forward to with the Bruins now and later. They’re in the early stages of setting themselves up for success for multiple years, and things are only going to get better. Their franchise goalie showed that he has immense determination and heart, the younger players look like veterans, they’re one of the grittiest teams you’ll see in sports and they have a fresh, new head coach that perfectly fits their players, system and mindset. If you think this team is fun to watch now, just you wait. It’s only going to get better.
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