Why the Boston Bruins Won’t Make the Playoffs

      Here we go again, another season, another disappointing Bruins team to watch. The Bruins lost monday night to the New Jersey Devils 3-0 after another disappointing start in the first period. This is becoming a popular trend with this Bruins team, which is full of veterans as well as young kids who are still finding their place in the NHL. The way this Bruins team has been playing as of late shows they don’t have what it takes to make the playoffs.

      First of all, the Bruins lack physical presence. The “Big Bad Bruins” have turned into the New Born Cubs. They don’t play physical anymore and they’ve lost all their enforcers.  I know that the league is moving in the direction of speed over physicality, but this is the Bruins we are talking about! Teams used to hate seeing their name come up on the schedule. The old Bruins would leave teams bruised no matter what the score was, and they wanted you to know they were there and remember who they were. That is what I loved about the Bruins from a few years ago when they won The Cup in 2011. If someone came to close to Tuukka Rask or Tim Thomas, we would knock that skater on his ass and make sure he knew not to mess with us. With the departure of players like Milan Lucic, Nathan Horton, Shawn Thornton, Daniel Paille, Gregory Campbell, and Johnny Boychuk, we have lost that edge to our game where we could slow any team down by flattening them. I hate watching the Bruins play now.  They don’t hit, fight, or even leave their mark on their opponents. All they have left for real enforcers are Kevin Miller and Adam McQuaid. It’s time to look into the past and play Boston Bruins Hockey and play physical.  We were a much tougher team to play when we did so, now, with a less physical playing style, we are being manhandled by teams like Columbus, who have never been known as a physical team.

      Lacking key players in certain positions is another flaw the Bruins have shown this season. Let’s start off with the offense. The Bruins have a solid first line with Marchand – Bergeron – Pastrnak, but they don’t have a full second line. They have David Krejci, and David Backes, who is now out with a concussion. So Claude Julien will usually stick Spooner or Vatrano on that line to play on the wing. We need a real second line winger. We need a Lucic or Horton, even when Beleskey comes off of his injury.  Any of these players would be better off on that line that Ryan Spooner. I don’t hate Spooner or Vatrano, I just think they are more third line type of guys. The defense has no real number one or two defensemen. On our top defensive line we have Chara and rookie, Brandon Carlo. I personally love Carlo. In my opinion, he is doing a fantastic job. He is still a rookie and has to learn a lot, but he is playing great. Chara is getting old and is slowing down tremendously. The Bruins need to get a top defensemen, especially since Boston used to be the best defensive team in the NHL. We had so much depth is was hard to pick who was going to play on our third defensive pairings some nights. We also need a backup goalie who can give Rask a break. Rask has been very good this season, but looks tired as of late and that’s due to the fact that Khudobin, our backup, has been absolutely trash this year. He has played 8 games so far he has only won a single game. He has allowed 23 goals over these 8 games with a 3.06 Goals Against Average and an .885 Save Percentage*. That is just terrible. It’s time for him to go. Whether we trade him or send him to providence, it doesn’t matter. They should pull up Zane McIntyre to relieve Rask, because he will without a doubt be a better option than Khudobin.

      In my opinion, Claude Julien is another problem keeping the Bruins from the playoffs. Over 9 seasons of coaching Claude has pushed the bruins into the playoffs 7 times, making it to the Stanley Cup Finals twice and winning once. He is the winningest coach in Bruins franchise history, but the last two seasons the B’s haven’t made the playoffs. In 2014-15 they finished 5th in the Atlantic Division and did not qualify, and in the following year, they finished 4th and didn’t qualify as well. As a Bruins fan, I have a ton of respect for Julien.  He has helped change the Bruins from a non playoff team, to a team who can compete for the cup every year. He has been there for so many years and I think it’s a good time to switch it up. Look what happened to the Penguins last year, they were one of the worst teams in the NHL and a new coach boosted that team all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals and they won it all. Now, if we changed the front office, I would have no issue with keeping Claude. In fact, this might help the team overall and be the better solution for an off-the-ice change. I love Cam Neely as a Bruins player, and as Seabass in Dumb and Dumber, but he needs to find a General Manager who will bring in good players and will draft players who will develop in our system. Don Sweeney, another former Bruins player, is the current GM, and so far, he has done an ok job.  But in the 2015 draft we had three first round picks and none of the players we drafted have been able to handle the NHL level of play yet. I understand that it takes time to develop players, but Carlo was in the same draft and was taken in the second round and he is already playing in the NHL.  At least one of the three first round picks should be up and helping our team.  Not only this, but there are also a handful of 1st rounders who have entered the league since 2015 and have gone on to drastically help their organization.  Even if the Bruins were faced with a terrible draft class that only had a select amount of good talent available in the first round, they should’ve attempted to trade these picks away for other ways to improve the roster.  This lack of effort to capitalize on crucial offseason acquisitions could mean that it’s time for an internal change in the front office.

     The Bruins are currently in 3rd place in the Atlantic Division with 44 points behind Montreal and Ottawa. They are two points ahead of Tampa Bay, having played two more games than them. If the Bruins drop low enough in the standings and don’t make the playoffs, it is definitely time to switch things up.

Written by Chase Barnhart

*Stats from NHL.com