After winning the Stanley Cup Championship in 2011, the Boston Bruins have remained as a title contender in the National Hockey League. And after losing the 2013 Stanley Cup Final to the Chicago Blackhawks, the Bruins were a team on a mission as they entered the 2014 playoffs winners of the Presidents’ Trophy with the best record in the NHL and it appeared that they were on a mission to once again claim the Stanley Cup Title. But in the second round, the Montreal Canadiens were too much for them as they lost in seven games. The Bruins headed into the 2014-2015 NHL season unable to shake off the effects of their elimination at the hands of the Canadiens and thus they missed the playoffs for the first time since 2007.
Don Sweeney
This resulted in wholesale changes for the Bruins as Peter Chiarelli was fired as the team’s general manager and replaced by Don Sweeney. Sweeney was extremely active leading up to the National Hockey League Draft last June as defenseman Dougie Hamilton was traded to the Calgary Flames in exchange for a first-round pick and a pair of second-round picks, while left winger Milan Lucic was sent to the Los Angeles Kings for goalie Martin Jones, defenseman Colin Miller, and a first-round pick.
In all, the Bruins would have three, first-round picks in the 2015 National Hockey League Draft, and they were all simultaneously in the middle of the first round. Whereas defenseman Jakub Zboril, left winger Jake DeBrusk, and right winger Zachary Senyshyn have yet to suit up for the Bruins, it was pretty clear that Sweeney was looking to get younger while shedding some salary to have more cap flexibility with his team as it appeared that they would be rebuilding.
Claude Julien
But under the guidance of head coach Claude Julien, the Bruins have hung in there all season long in the Eastern Conference. After the Bruins lost their first three games to begin the campaign, they would win six of their next seven contests to finish the month of October with a record of 6-3-1. Since Boston’s slow start at the beginning of the National Hockey League season, they have not been under .500. And with five weeks remaining in the regular season, Boston is in third place in the Atlantic Division as a trip to the playoffs that seemed far off in October is now a reality in Beantown.
In spite of the moves that were made by the Bruins, they still have veteran leadership in the form of centers Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, left wingers Brad Marchand and Loui Eriksson, defenseman Zdeno Chara, and goalie Tuukka Rask that have kept this team going. Bergeron is leading the Bruins in points with 53, while Marchand is the leading goal scorer with 32, and Krejci has 34 assists which is tops on the team. At 6’9″, 256 lbs., Chara is still one of the best defensemen in hockey as he’s an old-school enforcer. And once you factor in the ability of Rask between the pipes who can get hot for long stretches along with Julien’s leadership from the bench, the Bruins are still a very formidable team.
The Bruins finished the month of February with a record of 8-5-1, and even though that they missed an opportunity to take over second place in the Atlantic Division when they fell at home to the Tampa Bay Lightning last night, Boston is once again lurking as a contender.
The promotion of Sweeney to become the team’s general manager, along with missing the postseason has re-energized the Bruins, and once the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin in April, playoff seeding won’t be that important to a team that has a veteran core that knows what it takes to win it all.
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