By Antoine Mathieu, Staff Writer, All Habs Hockey Magazine
QUEBEC CITY, QC. — I continued my series ’30 NHL Teams in 30 Days’ on Sunday with a pretty shocking choice but I’m a bit more conservative with today’s pick. I predict that the Bruins will finish 3rd in the Eastern Conference.
2014-15 EASTERN CONFERENCE predicted standings
- Tampa Bay Lightning
- Columbus Blue Jackets
- Boston Bruins
2013-14 summary: Boston Bruins
Regular season record: 54 — 19 — 9, 117 points, 1st in East, eliminated in the second round of the playoffs in seven games.
There is no doubt that Boston is among the elite teams in the NHL, their consistent success in the regular season is a testament to their personnel and good management. But one has to wonder: will they win another Cup in the next five years? They came pretty damn close in the shortened season but the Blackhawks proved to be the better team. Even with an improved roster, the Bruins fell short against the Canadiens in the second round of this year’s playoffs (it will never get old to write that!) With a core consisting mainly of players in their mid or late 20s, is the Boston Bruins’ Cup window slowly closing?
With today’s salary cap, general manager Peter Chiarelli has had to make some tough decisions this summer and his job won’t get any easier in the future. We saw Jarome Iginla leave for Colorado due to lack of cap space and the likes of Torey Krug and Reilly Smith remain unsigned. Boston’s GM will have to play his cards right with these two because David Krejci, Johnny Boychuk and Carl Soderberg will be UFAs next summer. Those three should get a pretty substantial raise from their last contracts (Krejci: $5.25M, Boychuk: $3.367M and Soderberg: $1.08M.)
It will be interesting to see how Boston will get out of their cap troubles. Some social media rumors have circulated that the Bruins might trade Brad Marchand. Apparently fans are getting tired of his junior-hockey antics. For an organization that puts so much emphasis on being tough and not diving, Marchand is a walking contradiction of what they preach. He’s an antagonist and has built himself a reputation for being one of the league’s dirtiest players. After a disappointing performance in the playoffs, it’s not shocking that the fans have turned their backs on the Nova Scotian. He should start focusing on his career rather than finding ways to sucker punch players when the referee isn’t looking. In response, Chiarelli said, “I have had no discussions for Marchand and I have no plans to trade him.”
Will the rookies step up for the loss of Iginla? Will Smith and Soderberg keep progressing or did they peak? I expect a bigger role from Soderberg this year and it will be interesting to see how he responds. He was a key player for them in the playoffs and is a beast at protecting the puck. He’s also proven in the SHL that he’s not just some big guy without skills, he had 60 points in 54 games in his last season with the Linkopings HC. He was on pace for 50 points this season so I don’t think it’s crazy to think that he can hit that mark next season with more minutes.
One thing is certain, Loui Eriksson, who was considered the main piece in the Tyler Seguin deal, will have to play much better. If it hadn’t been for Smith’s out-of-the-blue emergence, this deal would be a disaster right now. The Swedish forward was on pace for less than 50 points which is well below his standard (three seasons with more than 70 points.) His two concussions suffered this season are definitely making it tough to predict a bounce back season from the 29 year-old.
Torey Krug and Dougie Hamilton both showed this season that they have the ability to become top defenders in the league. With a healthy Dennis Seidenberg and Adam McQuaid, they should have one of the best defense corps in the league. These two were badly missed in the series versus Montreal, Matt Bartkowski gave a lot grey hairs to Bruins fans with his stupid penalties and numerous turnovers. Add the two of them returning to action and this year’s Vezina winner, Tuukka Rask, and you have a pretty damn good recipe for success.
The fact that I have Boston third in the standings is in no shape or form a shot at them. As a Habs fan, it’s in my blood to despise them but I can still acknowledge that they’re a great team, I just think that Tampa Bay will have a better record than them this year. Chara has shown signs of slowing down (in both senses) in the last two seasons, considering he’s 37 years old, it’s not crazy to suggest that he’s going to start declining. The Blackhawks exploited his lack of foot speed last year and in the Boston/Montreal series, he didn’t look like himself. It might have had something to do with the fact that he was playing with a fractured finger but that doesn’t explain why he looked so hesitant out there. Another concern is who will replace Iginla’s production next season? His 30 goals and 61 points won’t be easy to replace.
Quick facts about Boston:
- They were 21st in the league for games lost to injury; obviously their defensive group took a hit this season considering the Bruins dressed 12 different defensemen during the regular season. Due to Claude Julien’s great system on defense and Rask’s prowess in net, I think it marginalized the loss of some of their quality defenders. On the other hand, Boston was relatively lucky as far as their forwards were concerned: Lucic, Marchand, Bergeron, Krejci, Smith and Iginla barely missed any games this season. I don’t think Lady Luck will spare the Bruins next season.
- Boston was 3rd in the league for goals for, can they repeat that feat without Iginla?
- The Bruins had the league’s 3rd best power-play, I’m curious as to what Claude Julien will do to compensate for Iginla’s absence.
- Their team was 2nd in goals against (talk about being dominant), I wouldn’t be surprised if they finish first in that category next year. They have the depth on defense and the goaltender to do so.
On Tuesday, I will reveal who I think will finish 4th in the East.
You can share your thoughts in the comment section below!
