Boston Bruins, 31-9-9, 1st Atlantic Divison
written by: #theullmanbrosband
As we sit here, and patiently await the All-Star Weekend in the NHL, let’s take a look at how the Boston Bruins have performed in the first “half” of the season versus our expected performance.
Losing Patrice Bergeron and David Krecji to well earned retirements, losing Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno to the trade market, and losing a few players to free agency, (Tyler Bertuzzi, and Dmitri Orlov) the Bruins, began this season looking vastly different. After being knocked out of the Stanley Cup playoffs last season, by the eventual Eastern Conference Champion Florida Panthers, everyone guessed that this coming season would be a very rough one for the Bruins. There was a threat of losing goaltender, and half of the Jennings Trophy winning duo, Jeremy Swayman in the off-season. Thankfully, after arbitration Sway and the team were able to agree to a 1-year deal worth $3.475 million. In a surprising move, GM Don Sweeney decided to fill in the wholes with a lot of smaller, short contracts, rather than signing a big name to a long-term deal. Brad Marchand was named the 27th Captain.
One of the main questions going into the 2023-2024 season was whether this hodge-podge team could see the same on-ice results that last year’s squad did. Entering the All-Star break the Centennial Team has gone 7-1-2 in their last 10 games, totaling a 31-9-9 record for 71 points. They are sitting 1st in the Atlantic Division by 5 points, over the Florida Panthers. They are also tied with the Vancouver Canucks for the President’s Trophy.
Here is a break down of their stats, thus far this season:
Goals For: 171 (6th)
Goals Against: 127 (7th)
Assists: 282 (6th)
Power Play: 26.0% (5th)
Penalty Kill: 82.8% (7th)
David Pastrnak leads the team in goals, assists and total points with 33-39-72. He is 3rd in the NHL in Goals, and Points.
Captain Brad Marchand leads the team in game winning goals with 5.
Now for my opinion that no one asked for:
This Centennial Team has something special going on this season. They continue to shock the league with their play and all-around tenacity. They have had a handful of games slip away from them that they probably should have won, but all in all, I am happy with the way they have played. I see the potential for a Stanley Cup final if the goalie tandem continues doing their thing. I can see Swayman winning the Vezina this season if he keeps playing lights out. Boston has the 2nd toughest remaining strength of schedule with 33 games remaining. Only 5 of those games are against Atlantic rivals, 2 against Ottawa, 2 against Florida and 1 against Montreal. If the Bruins can run the gauntlet of the second half of the season, they are poised to be back-to-back President Trophy Winners. The league hasn’t seen back-to-back President Trophies since the Capitals did it in 15-16;16-17 season. It will be interesting to see what kind of moves this team makes at the trade deadline to beef up for the inevitable playoff run!
David Pastrnak (4) and Jeremy Swayman (1) will be Boston Bruins representatives at the 2024 All-Star Game.
Season Outlook: 9/10 Better than expected by most “experts”
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