30 teams in 30 days: Boston Bruins
Finished: 1st eastern conference
Playoffs: Lost to Carolina in the semi-finals
Leading scorers: Marc Savard 88, David Krejci 73, Mark Recchi 61, Phil Kessel 60
Who did they add?: Steve Begin
Who did they lose?: Steve Montador, Shane Hnidy
Overview: The 2007 season saw the Boston Bruins sneak into the playoffs with a narrow 8th place finish and almost beat the #1 seeded Montreal Canadiens in the 1st round. The 2008 season saw the cinderella Bruins run away with the eastern conference, finishing #1 and obliterating the habs 4-0 in the first round. It’s hard to find something to complain about when you look at Boston’s season from last year. They had stellar production from their regular producers Marc Savard and Zdeno Chara and saw startling numbers from relative unknows David Krejci and Blake Wheeler. In my opinion, the Brew crew have all the right pieces necessary to succeed in the NHL. They have speed, skill, size and scoring on their first 2 lines and solid energy players and checkers on the bottom 2. Their defence corps is anchored by Norris Trophy winner Zdeno Chara, and features the likes of Dennis Wideman and rising star Matt Hunwick. The goaltending is in good shape with Tim Thomas, the reigning Vezina Trophy winner at the helm and Tuuka Rask backing up. All this being said, the Bruins still lost in the second round of the playoffs to the undersized Carolina Hurricanes, a clear disappointment because many were predicting the top-seeded Bruins to make a run for the cup. It remains to be seen if the Bruins can repeat the same success they had last year, or if they are a tired act. Because the team is relatively the exact same as last year, many would have them repeating their first place finish from last year, but if they don’t add extra talent throughout the season, look for the big bad Bruins to finish around 4th, 5th or 6th.
Winners or losers?: The Boston Bruins are losers this offseason. They lost two key pieces of their defense in Steven Montador and Shane Hnidy. Peter Chiarelli elected to keep the overall look of the Bruins the same for next season, but success one year doesn’t always translate into success the next year. More talent is needed for them to make a serious playoff push this season. Some of their players are bound to slip up a bit, right?
