Perhaps we should have seen this coming.
Jim Montgomery’s firing? No, not that, though coaching changes should never surprise anyone in hockey.
No, I’m talking about the events that led to his firing – the one-sided losses, the putrid special teams play, the ineffectual goaltending, the need to constantly shuffle line combinations.
All of it. All of the factors that have combined to make the Bruins one of the worst teams in the NHL through the first quarter of the season. That’s not hyperbolic, either. The Bruins rank among the bottom handful of teams when it comes to a number of metrics: goals scored, goals allowed, goal differential as well as the power play and penalty killing.
This isn’t a team in the midst of a challenging stretch. This isn’t a slow start. No, this is who the Bruins are.
The run that began in 2016-17 and resulted in eight straight trips to the playoffs, two President’s Cup trophies and one visit to the Stanley Cup Final is likely over. And the sooner Bruins’ ownership and managements recognizes this, the better off the franchise will be.
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That doesn’t mean that this Bruins team can’t rally over the next 62 games and secure a spot in the playoffs. In fact, it’s quite likely. The team still boasts some elite talent and that alone should allow the Bruins to play above the median in a league in which the top half of teams are rewarded with postseason appearances. Moreover, teams responding positively to a change behind the bench is practically an annual rite of passage in the NHL.
But make no mistake: the days of the Bruins being viewed as legitimate Stanley Cup contenders is over. They aren’t deserving of being grouped with Dallas, Florida, Edmonton or the New York Rangers. And if you watched their two losses to Dallas and two to Florida among the first 20 games, you’ll have noticed that they don’t belong on the same sheet of ice with those teams.
The Bruins had a good run, even if it didn’t result in a Cup or too frequently underachieved in the playoffs. Only two seasons ago, they enjoyed the best regular season in league history. And if you want to start the odometer back further, they won a Cup and came up just shy of another with yet another President’s Trophy not that long ago. Do you have any idea what fans in, say, Toronto would pay for one Stanley Cup and two other trips to the Finals in the span of nine seasons?
All good things, however, must come to an end. The wonder is the Bruins made the era last as long as they did. It didn’t end with the loss of Zdeno Chara, or the retirement of Tuukka Rask, or Patrice Bergeron or David Krejci. Season after season, the B’s remained very much in the mix.
Now the end is near. That’s what happens when you draft as poorly as the Bruins have. In the last 10 years, the Bruins have selected David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy and Jeremy Swayman….and no other elite players.
As a consequence, they’ve been forced into a vicious circle of trading draft picks away at the trade deadline to address short-term needs. The following year, having forfeited many of their high picks, they don’t restock the system and find themselves back in the same spiral in March, hoping against hope that Taylor Hall or Ondrej Kase or Nick Ritchie would be difference-makers. They were not.
To their credit, the Bruins have, in sharp contrast to their business practices of two decades ago, put their money where their mouth is, landing free agents Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov last summer for a collective $82.5 million. One small problem: Lindholm and Zadorov have been busts — and expensive ones at that — to date.
It’s likely that Lindholm and Zadarov, along with Pastrnak, McAvoy and Swayman, will almost certainly produce more for interim coach Joe Sacco than they did for Montgomery — not because Sacco has all the answers, but because the players almost couldn’t play worse. They can only improve.
That, in turn, could be enough to keep the playoff streak alive for nine seasons and counting. but surely, another early-round exit awaits them. If the Bruins couldn’t get out of the first round two springs ago with a team that had earned 135 points, what chance does this iteration have?
Playoffs or no, the smart thing would be to sell at the deadline. Rather than clawing to be the eighth seed in the East, the Bruins would be better off getting a head start on the future. Listen on everyone, make no one — except maybe Pastrnak — unavailable. It’s like some no-movement clauses will interfere with some deals, but there are ways around some of those obstacles.
In the meantime, get a better look at Matt Poitras, Mason Lohrei, Fabian Lysell and see if any of them can be considered future building blocks.
The Bruins’ window of contention stayed open longer than could have reasonably expected. They didn’t suffer any bottoming-out the way other Cup winners (Chicago, Los Angeles) were forced to endure. But if they don’t want the window to remain shut for a long time, they’re better off admitting they missed their opportunity and need to begin plotting for their next one.
