The Bruins left Toronto glad to have their winless three-game road trip as well as a tumultuous first half of the 2024-25 season behind them.
Boston ended its 41st of 82 games in position to make the playoffs, but just barely. Holding on to that spot in the second half will probably require better play than they’ve exhibited to this point. The Bruins, who have coasted into the postseason in recent years, are in for a battle. It’s unclear whether they’re ready enough or good enough to win it.
The Bruins left Toronto in third place in the Atlantic Division, but that’s misleading. They’ve played more games than anyone which is falsely inflating their total points. They’ve played five more games than the Lightning, who are just two points behind them.
A more accurate depiction of the standings right now is points percentage (percentage of points a team has earned of points they could have earned). Using that as the measuring stick, the Bruins would be fourth in the Atlantic Division (.537) or the first wild card, just ahead of the Ottawa Senators (.526) with three teams looming not far back at .500.
The Bruins have been better (12-8-1) with Joe Sacco as the interim coach, but the initial surge after Jim Montgomery’s firing (when they were 8-9-3) has slowed. Their defensive structure is better but still inconsistent. Their offense is spotty and their goaltending is, at best, slightly better than average. They’ve played like a fringe playoff team.
There are some pretty clear reasons to be hopeful as well as reason to be concerned:
Reasons for hope
David Pastrnak — Pastrnak had two goals against the Leafs, which was encouraging, but they’ll need him to be the guy they’re paying $11.25 million a year to in the second half of the year. He’s struggling to score and so are the Bruins. Pastrnak getting going would be a huge lift. He’s too talented not to get some kind of lift and perhaps getting two weeks off in February could rejuvenate him.
Jeremy Swayman — Swayman hasn’t been nearly as good as he was last year when he was an All-Star and not close to his playoff effort. The Bruins need him to be good enough to steal a win here and there. He should get better. If he does, the Bruins will follow.
Hampus Lindholm — The Bruins were about to shift Hampus Lindholm to the No. 1 power play in the midst of a strong season when he went down with an injury. If he’s anywhere close to his baseline when he returns, he’d give a lift to the Boston defense, which hasn’t gotten much from Jordan Oesterle or Parker Wotherspoon.
Matt Poitras — At some point, the Bruins figure to summon Poitras back from the AHL. For a Boston team that needs scoring help, his offensive ceiling is definitely higher than several players who are currently skating on the varsity. He’s got 18 points in 19 games.
The trade deadline? — It’s going to be interesting heading toward the March 7 trade deadline. Ownership wants to be in the playoffs. With few prospects in the system. How willing is Don Sweeney and the front office to invest in getting better for this season? Could they move enough money around to add someone who could add some secondary scoring?
What’s still concerning
Trent Frederic — Frederic looks miscast as a center and hasn’t been effective offensively in any role this year. He’s picked a bad year to have a bad year as with free agency looming. Whether that’s a coincidence or part of the problem, the Bruins need more from him and there aren’t signs that it’s coming.
Elias Lindholm — Elias Lindholm has been good on faceoffs and reliable defensively. But he hasn’t done enough offensively to be what the Bruins need from a top-six center they’re paying a lot of money to. The hope had been that his offensive drop-off in Vancouver was temporary, but he looks more like the player who struggled last year than the one who scored 42 goals in 2021-22 or 22 in goals in 2022-23.
Will Korpisalo keep it up? — Joonas Korpisalo has put up better numbers this year than in any year this decade. Has he turned a corner mechanically with Bob Essensa or is he a risk to backslide? The Bruins will need him to stay solid with Swayman carrying a bigger workload than ever before in the regular season, plus the NHL 4 National Face-Off.
Teams outside wildcard sports are surging — Montreal is 7-2 in its last nine after beating Colorado. Columbus is 5-2-1 in their last seven. The Bruins can’t count on the bottom half of the Eastern Conference to stay weak.
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