The Bruins are in an interesting spot right now. With Bergeron coming back for another year, it’s given hope to fans that the B’s window still might be open. Despite some optimism, we have to start looking toward the future. Pasta doesn’t have a contract past this season, Marchand is creeping into his mid-30s, and this is most likely Bergeron’s last season. Don Sweeney recently signing a contract extension has most Bruins fans very upset and makes me wonder what they’re looking to accomplish this season.
They have a bunch of serious injuries that will keep some key players out until December. McAvoy, Gryzelcyk, and Mike Reilly all underwent surgeries, with only Reilly potentially being ready for the season start. Another massive loss is Brad Marchand, who underwent hip surgery and won’t be ready until some time after November. With these gaps in the lineup to start the year and the relatively tight cap situation they’re in, who knows what this season will hold. According to several sources, Bergeron and Sweeney believe they can ‘stay afloat’ until their wounded stars come back before Christmas. If Sweeney were smart, he would see the direction they were going and make the adjustments needed.
Most fan bases are afraid of the word “tank.” You can look at Buffalo in 2015 as a perfect example. Management was putting in AHLers, giving players the night off for no reason, and starting their backup tendy against top-five teams. All of this in a bid for the top prize at the draft, Connor McDavid. It’s hard to say what Buffalo would look like right now with McDavid, but their consolation prize of Jack Eichel was pretty darn good.
The 2023 draft is looking like it might be better than 2015. The perceived top three picks could all be superstars, highlighted, of course, by Connor Bedard. The other two are Matvei Michkov and Adam Fantilli, who are pretty incredible in their own right. Fantilli led the Chicago Steel in goals with 37 and was second on the team with 74 points in 54 games as a 17-year-old. Michkov lit up the world stage this season and put up a combined 21 goals and 32 points in just 14 games. The year before that, he put up a staggering 23 goals and 35 points in 8 games. You read that correctly, by the way. I’m not saying that the Bruins should tank for a top pick, as I think they’re too good, but they should look at bringing in picks and prospects instead of the usual trading first-rounders for rentals.
Pastrnak’s future is the deciding factor, in my opinion. Suppose he wants to re-sign and come back, fantastic. However, if he doesn’t want to, Sweeney can’t let him walk at the end of the year for nothing. In a previous article of mine, we talked about potential teams he could go to and what the return could be. I think two first-round picks and a high-quality prospect should be the minimum asking price. If the organization opts to move forward from Pasta, the smartest thing to do would be to trade him to a rebuilding team where he could be ‘the guy.’ A team like Seattle or the Devils could use the scoring touch and could leverage some picks and a young player or two.
The Bruins bringing in Jim Montgomery as coach adds an interesting wrinkle to this situation. All signs point to the B’s thinking that their window is still open and that they will try and make the playoffs in a stacked division. There is no chance that the Bruins finish the year in the top three, as Toronto, Tampa Bay, and Florida are all but locks for those spots. If they were healthy, at best, they could be the top wild card team, but with all of these injuries, it’s hard to see that happening.
The idea that the Bruins can compete for a Stanley Cup this coming season is unrealistic. If Don Sweeney wants to change the way Bruins fans think of him, he will have to start as soon as this offseason. In my opinion, the Bruins should take a step back this year and begin to build toward the future. I don’t think a complete rebuild is in the cards, but taking two to four years to retool, similar to the Rangers, could get them back into the hunt sooner rather than later. Hanging on to their current picks and trading DeBrusk and (maybe) Pastrnak could yield very high returns and set them up for a very successful 2023 draft. The Bruins organization has to commit to a retool at the very least and stop pretending like 2011 was two years ago. It hurts to think that a player of Bergeron’s caliber will finish his career with only one cup, but in my opinion, the future starts now, and they need to rip the bandaid off.
