As the NHL Entry Draft and free agency approach, the Boston Bruins are at a crossroads with their roster after a shocking first-round playoff exit and very little room to maneuver within a salary cap that might not move more than $1 million for the 2023-24 season. General Manager spoke of “roster changes likely coming” during his postseason press conference with the media. Since then, rumors persisted surrounding players that could be moved this offseason. Goaltender Linus Ullmark and defenseman Matt Grzelcyk are two names that are prominently mentioned in trade talks. The Bruins also have several unrestricted free agents, and young goaltender Jeremy Swayman is also due for a raise. Salary cap gymnastics will be the theme this summer for Sweeney.
Aside from determining who to move on from, the Bruins will be looking to add pieces to a team that won 65 games in the regular season but fell to an eight-seed that came back from a three-games-to-one deficit and essentially exposed an ongoing problem with the Bruins when it comes to postseason hockey. This is a need that has prohibited Boston from winning their second Stanley Cup with this core group.
The Bruins probably need a center if Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci retire. They probably need to decide which goaltender to retain for the foreseeable future. And Boston will have to see which young prospects can fill voids in the lineup as soon as this upcoming season. But one glaring absence from the Bruins that stood out in a 2019 Stanley Cup Finals loss to St. Louis and in the first round to the Florida Panthers in May of this year is the presence of a little nastiness. The Bruins have lacked players who will push the boundary levels at times.
In the 2011 Stanley Cup run, the Bruins had players who were hard to play against and would play physically and engage in scrums after the whistle, particularly on defense. The defensive corps of Zdeno Chara, Dennis Seidenberg, Adam McQuaid, Andrew Ference, and Johnny Boychuk would all defend their net and get a little nasty at times. In fact, the Bruins’ willingness to play on the edge at times was a big factor in defeating the Vancouver Canucks for the title.
The current defense led by Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm does not quite play with the same kind of aggression and toughness. McAvoy plays a physical game, but Lindholm and Matt Grzelcyk are puck movers. Brandon Carlo is a big steady defenseman, but being an agitator is not in his DNA. Last season, former Bruins Head Coach Bruce Cassidy even mentioned that the Bruins need to “play like pricks.” With Grzelcyk in trade talks, the time might be now to add a defenseman on two who will change the makeup of the defense.
In the first-round loss to Florida, the Panthers had several players who would test the line when it comes to clean play. Radko Gudas would tackle Bruins forwards around the net, Sam Bennett would take a liberty or two, and Ryan Lomberg played the instigator role well until his injury. Matthew Tkachuk scored big goals in the series but also played with an edge that helped the Panthers pull off three series upsets in these playoffs. The Bruins were a talented team that lacked some feistiness, and it cost them.
Whether it is a culture thing or a team philosophy, the Bruins should look at the 2011 model and acquire a villain or two for their next playoff run, which hopefully will be next season.
