A Bruins season beginning with a lot hope reached a merciful finish
Bruins
“Having the season be over now’s simply one thing that’s robust to course of.”
COMMENTARY
The Bruins’ “Shirts Off Our Backs” ceremony stands as a time-honored custom on the finish of an 82-game gauntlet.
Past its sentimentality, the sight of the Bruins doling out their sweat-soaked sweaters to their followers routinely served as the top of 1 chapter — and the beginning of a spring inundated with fan banners, elevated blood stress, and the candy sounds of Audioslave blaring over the TD Backyard audio system.
However six months after the Bruins opened a brand new marketing campaign in South Florida, a season that after began with a lot promise was maybe greatest encapsulated by Tuesday’s postgame ceremony on Causeway Road.
Whereas franchise fixtures like David Pastrnak have been available handy off their jerseys following Boston’s 5-4 additional time loss to the Devils, acquainted faces like captain Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle, Brandon Carlo, Trent Frederic, and others have been nowhere to be discovered.
One other key cog in Charlie McAvoy gave away one among his jerseys whereas sporting a swimsuit — a byproduct of his season getting minimize quick in February amid a yr rife with accidents and setbacks.
As Marchand and the remainder of that crop of commerce deadline cast-offs brace for Cup runs in pink, blue, white, and orange sweaters, the black-and-gold garb handed out to followers on Tuesday evening featured a mixture of new faces, AHL vets and prospects simply reducing their enamel at hockey’s highest degree.
Such is the state of a Bruins roster torn right down to the studs following a deadline sell-off. A roster that’s now bracing for an extended offseason after a season that went off the rails.
“Unhappy it’s over, clearly,” Pastrnak — he of 106 factors in an in any other case rudderless season — mentioned postgame. “That’s just about the one reply I may give you proper now. … It’s robust. You clearly need to preserve taking part in as a participant. Depart it at that, I assume.”
For the primary time in practically a decade, the Bruins are on the surface wanting on the Stanley Cup Playoffs — a situation that few anticipated, to say the least.
If something, the 2024-25 Bruins have been seemingly poised to construct off the expansion showcased final spring when a ragtag roster full of bargain-bin signings and veteran pickups overcame a Sport 7 thriller towards Toronto and pushed the Panthers to 6 video games within the subsequent spherical.
Recent off a stellar playoff run from Jeremy Swayman (.933 save share), the Bruins seemingly had their basis secured between Pastrnak, Swayman, and McAvoy.
A free-agent spending spree seemingly addressed the Bruins’ most urgent wants. In Elias Lindholm, Boston seemingly added the two-way, top-six pivot it desperately desired following the retirements of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci.
Bringing in a bruising blueliner in Nikita Zadorov gave the Bruins the sandpaper it thought it required for playoff motion after getting punched out by the Panthers throughout back-to-back playoff runs.
At the same time as contract talks stalled between Boston and Swayman’s camp this summer time, the Bruins believed that they had a franchise goalie in place able to run with a No. 1 function after buying and selling away Linus Ullmark in June — whereas the addition of Zadorov gave Boston a six-man D corps with a median profile of 6-foot-4 and 220 kilos.
“Nicely, Elias — I imply, his 200-foot recreation is exceptional. I don’t need to put him within the Patrice [Bergeron] class, however he’s Patrice-like,” Cam Neely mentioned in September. “And Zadorov, I imply, an enormous again finish like that, it simply solidifies our again finish.
“I imply, our again finish is massive, they usually acquired some beef to them, which I believe bodes nicely within the playoffs. I imply, you bought to get to the playoffs, however I believe we’re constructed just a little bit stronger for the playoffs.”
The vibes have been excessive in Boston. After which the hockey occurred.
It didn’t take lengthy for issues to snowball.
A disjointed coaching camp led to a number of lineup regulars taking part in catch-up, with the drama surrounding Swayman’s contract negotiations lingering over the staff by means of October.
By the point Swayman inked a hefty new take care of Boston, the Bruins have been already set to fly right down to Florida — the place an ill-prepared staff was promptly popped within the mouth by the Panthers once more by the use of a 6-4 loss.
It was an indication of issues to come back. With Swayman struggling to seek out his recreation (.892 save share) and Boston’s defensive construction splintering, the Bruins coughed up six or extra objectives a whopping 15 instances this season.
Boston’s decline on protection and in internet was not anticipated. Their incapacity to place pucks into twine was a forecasted flaw that turned deadly in file time.
Past failing to account for the free-agency exit of Jake DeBrusk, the Bruins have been carried out in by a number of gamers like Coyle and Frederic regressed from their career-high scoring outputs from 2023-24.
Elias Lindholm struggled to seek out chemistry with Pastrnak till the ultimate weeks of the common season, with Boston’s high free-agent pickup spending a lot of the yr mired in a middle-six no man’s land.
Past Pastrnak’s playmaking brilliance and a 33-goal breakout marketing campaign from Morgan Geekie, Boston’s offense was largely listless all season.
The Bruins closed out the yr twenty seventh within the league in objectives per recreation (2.71), whereas their energy play operated at a 15.2 p.c clip (twenty ninth total).
That incapacity to attain supplied little respiratory room for Swayman and a Bruins protection that shortly took on water — beginning when Hampus Lindholm suffered a fractured patella on Nov. 12, ending his season after simply 17 video games.
Only a week later, the Bruins fired head coach Jim Montgomery amid an uninspired begin.
A mid-season jolt following Joe Sacco’s appointment as interim head coach ultimately flatlined as Boston’s in depth flaws as soon as once more took maintain on the ice.
By the point McAvoy went down with each an AC joint harm and an an infection in his shoulder in the course of the 4 Nations Face-Off, the dam had lastly burst.
Don Sweeney and the Bruins lastly waved the white flag on the commerce deadline — ushering in a depressing remaining stretch that included a 10-game dropping streak from March 13 to April 3.
Sweeney’s determination to tear the Band-Assist off along with his early March hearth sale might need put Boston able to land a top-five decide within the 2025 NHL Draft.
However the street traveled to safe that coveted draft capital was an arduous one for an overhauled locker room — and a fanbase that after hoped this staff can be taking part in hockey into Could.
“Having the season be over now’s simply one thing that’s robust to course of,” Geekie famous. “And also you see groups that — we’ve competed with good groups all yr, and to see it now pan out the way in which and simply the consistency we didn’t have, it sucks.”
As ugly as this season was, there may be optimism drawn out of this current stretch of distress.
Boston’s deadline offers added a haul of draft picks, in addition to youthful gamers like Fraser Minten. Over a month of consequence-free hockey allowed prospects like Minten, Fabian Lysell (three factors in his remaining 4 video games) and others to construct some momentum earlier than vying for extra outstanding roles within the fall.
A surging wage cap ought to profit the Bruins transferring ahead — particularly after already signing gamers like Pastrnak and McAvoy to long-term offers.
Boston at the moment has over $26 million in cap area this summer time so as to add one other scoring expertise, whereas a top-five decide might land them a promising pivot for the longer term like Anton Frondell, James Hagens, or Caleb Desnoyers.
A bounce-back season from Swayman shall be vital, whereas a clear invoice of well being for each McAvoy and Lindholm shall be welcomed as soon as camp opens in Brighton in September. And if this season is any indication, Pastrnak’s offensive skills will solely proceed to develop as extra expertise as added to this roster.
“I’m happy with the blokes,” Sacco mentioned. “I do know there’s been numerous transferring elements this yr, they usually by no means give up — proper to the top.”
After making a gift of their jerseys and saluting the followers remaining of their barn, a patchwork Bruins staff made their method off the ice for the ultimate time in 2024-25.
A busy offseason awaits. A really totally different roster will probably take to the frozen sheet on Causeway in just some months.
Issues can change in a rush within the recreation of hockey.
Bruins followers don’t must look very far to unearth such sentiment.
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