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Boston Bruins 2015-16 Division Rivalry: Detroit Red Wings

By Brandon Share-Cohen

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Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

With the 2015-16 season approaching, it seems fitting to touch-base and size up the Bruins in comparison to each of their division rivals. The Boston Bruins had a mixed result when playing within their division, and this series of stories will explain what the Bruins have to do, and have to avoid to succeed within the Atlantic in the 2015-16 season. The third team to be analyzed will be the Detroit Red Wings.

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The 2014-15 season was a rough one for the Boston Bruins, mixed with injuries, bad cap-management, and really just poor-effort almost all the way around, which led to the first missed playoffs since the 2006-07 season for the Bruins. The series between the Bruins and Red Wings was lopsided to say the least, as Boston took away four wins out of the five meetings between the two clubs in the 2014-15 season.

The Detroit Red Wings have consistently been one of the best teams in the league. Their 24 consecutive playoff appearances attest to the level of commitment the organization has to excellence and the amazing management that finds quality players time and time again. Over the years, players like Nicklas Lidstrom, Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, among others have set the tone for the Red Wings, while the young players learn and adapt. With the latter two players still on the roster, as well as young talented players like Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Tatar, the Red Wings will continue to perform at a high level in the 2014-15 season on offense. Boston will need to crack down on those players defensively while playing a very heavy forecheck game if they plan on succeeding again in the 2015-16 season.

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    • One of the Boston Bruins strengths over the years has been their forecheck. The Bruins lay out a consistent set of hits which eventually cause a lapse in judgement, a turnover, or simply a misplacement on the ice, and that is all it takes for Boston to take advantage of a game on the scoreboard. Players more-often-than-not will eventually fear the hit of a player like Chara, or McQuaid, and with Matt Beleskey now in the lineup, hopefully the loss of Milan Lucic won’t skew the hit count too drastically. Hitting isn’t everything though and the eastern conference is starting to lean more towards speed and skill.

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    Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

    Boston will need to learn to play a more skilled game during the 2015-16 season. Boston will hopefully  use players like David Pastrnak, Jimmy Hayes, Ryan Spooner, Brad Marchand, and potential Providence call-ups Seth Griffith and Alexander Khokhlachev to provide speed and skill in key situations this season. The Red Wings player a very motivated game for a full 60 minutes, and that should motivate Boston to play just as hard throughout their season series.

    The biggest obstacle in Boston’s way this season will be Claude Julien‘s line management. Julien has a history of playing more defensively gifted players who probably shouldn’t be on the ice during crunch time when Boston is trailing. If Claude Julien can learn to utilize the players he has in a correct way this season, Boston’s offense should pick-up in goals and return to the top of the league in that category. Detroit’s goaltending was an area of weakness last season, and Boston will need to do a better job at scoring if they plan on capitalizing on that. Boston’s failure to bury the puck was a result of bad luck, injuries, but more than that, simple lack of motivation, Love or hate the moves that General Manager Don Sweeney made, he retooled the offense to get new life into the system and only time will tell if it will work out.

    What do YOU think the Bruins will have to do to succeed against the Detroit Red Wings this season? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

    Find out how the Bruins can succeed against the Montreal Canadiens here and the Maple Leafs here!

    Next up: Buffalo Sabres


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