Internal improvement is best way for Bruins to turn season around originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The Boston Bruins are not as bad as their recent struggles would suggest. But if the Original Six franchise is going to turn its season around and start to look like a real contender in the Eastern Conference, that improvement needs to come from within.
In previous seasons, the Bruins have plugged roster holes by making moves before the NHL trade deadline. Don Sweeney has been one of the most aggressive general managers in terms of adding to his roster during the season. Sweeney acquired more than 15 players in pre-trade deadline deals over his first nine seasons as GM. Many of them turned out to be positive additions.
Making an impactful move could be much more difficult this season, though. For starters, the Bruins are right up against the salary cap, with just $1.23 million of room, per PuckPedia. This makes it tough for the B’s to take on a lot of salary via trade without sending a similar amount back. In fact, 21 of 32 teams have less than $5 million in cap space right now.
The Bruins are also without many Grade A trade assets. Boston’s prospect pool is arguably the worst in the league. A lot of the veterans on the team’s NHL roster are performing below expectations (more on that below), which doesn’t help their trade value.
And even if Sweeney really wanted to shake up his roster with a trade, pulling that off could be a challenge given how few teams are truly out of the playoff race right now. The Buffalo Sabres are the only team in the Eastern Conference that’s more than five points out of a playoff spot. In the Western Conference, only four teams are more than seven points away from a playoff berth.
It’s hard to make moves, especially blockbuster deals, when there aren’t a ton of sellers in the market. For these reasons, and others, it’s on the Bruins to find the answers to their problems themselves.
“It’s on us internally,” Bruins interim head coach Joe Sacco told reporters after last Friday’s practice. “It’s on us here. There’s no question. It’s on the staff. It’s on the players to make sure that we get ourselves out of this. We’re not looking for any help right now, any outside help. There’s a standard here that we try to uphold. We try to keep it up to a high level. Our players have to hold themselves accountable, just like we all do. The solutions, the answers, they’re right here. We need to get it out of them.”
Your best players have to be your best players. It sounds cliché, but that’s the easiest path to success. And for much of the season, the Bruins’ top players have underwhelmed.
David Pastrnak leads the team in scoring with 45 points in 45 games, but he hasn’t played at the MVP level we’ve seen in recent seasons. Charlie McAvoy is good enough to be a legit Norris Trophy contender every year, but Boston’s No. 1 defenseman is nowhere near that conversation right now based on his performance. Jeremy Swayman is the fifth-highest paid goalie in the league, but he has tallied a lackluster .895 save percentage in 32 starts.
If you go down the roster, it’s hard to find many guys who are meeting or exceeding expectations.
Saturday’s win over the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers was a step in the right direction for the Bruins. The 4-3 overtime victory ended the team’s six-game losing streak. More importantly, the Bruins’ best players — specifically Pastrnak, McAvoy and Swayman — led the way.
Pastrnak scored twice, including the game-winner in overtime thanks to a lucky deflection. The superstar right wing led the team with six shot attempts, four shots on net and four scoring chances. His speed and skill gave the Bruins a chance to win.
Swayman gave his best performance of the season. He made 40 saves on 43 shots for a .930 save percentage. The Panthers tallied an astounding 111 shot attempts. Swayman was under siege for nearly 65 minutes, and without his stellar play between the pipes, the score would have been lopsided in Florida’s favor.
McAvoy picked up an assist and tallied two shots, five hits and blocked four shots in 21:54 of ice time.
But the Bruins can’t just rely on these three stars to lead any sort of season turnaround. It has to be a group effort.
Elias Lindholm was the team’s marquee free agent addition last summer. He is being paid top-six center money ($7.75 million cap hit) but producing like a third-line center (21 points in 45 games). Charlie Coyle set career highs with 25 goals and 60 points last season. He’s on pace for 14 goals and 25 points this season. Pavel Zacha is on pace for 38 points after setting a career high with 59 last season. Trent Frederic’s scoring production has plummeted after setting career highs in points each of the last two years.
Morgan Geekie had a brutal start to the season and was even a healthy scratch at one point. But to his credit, he’s been one of the team’s best players of late with 11 points (six goals, five assists) in the last 14 games, including a goal in Saturday’s win down in Florida.
The Bruins rank 28th in shooting percentage (9.32) but eighth in expected goals scored (135.96). Translation: The Bruins have been victims of some bad luck offensively. Bad luck isn’t the only problem with the offense, but it certainly hasn’t helped. But don’t be surprised if, at some point, the Bruins start to score more goals, especially on the power play. There’s too much talent on this roster to rank 28th in goals scored per game and 30th in power-play percentage for the rest of the campaign.
The Bruins are not a lock to make the playoffs. They are technically in the first wild card spot as of Monday morning, but they are the 11th place team in the East based on points percentage.
The good news for the Bruins is 37 games remain. There’s still a lot of time left to turn things around and strengthen their position in the playoff race. And if the B’s do get into the postseason, it wouldn’t be shocking if they won a round, especially if they’re slotted in the Metropolitan Division side of the bracket. Swayman is capable of stealing a playoff series; just ask the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Maybe Sweeney will be able to pull off a trade that adds valuable depth to his roster for the playoff race, but the best way for the Bruins to get back on track would be the players already on the roster playing to the level expected of them on a consistent basis.
