Boston Bruins: Players On The Road; Front Office Looks Ahead
The Boston Bruins are hanging in the playoff hunt at this point in the season. As the Bruins continue on their road trip, they know they’ve got a lot of people in the rear view mirror, and it won’t take much for them to fall out of the standings in the playoff race. So, the Bruins need to hunker down and play the same game they played against Winnipeg Jets (with a few less defensive breakdowns).
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The Bruins are currently tied for second in the Atlantic Division with 64 points. They’re also holding on to the fifth spot in the Eastern Conference. If they want to keep their playoff spot, they’ll have to play solid three-zone two-way hockey for the remainder of the season (and not have a repeat of that embarrassing 9-2 performance against the Los Angeles Kings).
“It’s a crucial road trip for us,” said Bruins defenseman Torey Krug of the Bruins current road stretch. “And everybody knows it. It’s a focused group, and moving forward we’ll see the determination in that. We’ll take it one step at a time and keep it going.”
While the Bruins players are focusing on the road trip ahead of them, the front office team is focusing on the upcoming trade deadline. The Bruins team knows they’ve got to find an additional top four defenseman. The trick is to find the right player at the right price that fits the bill without compromising the Bruins offense.
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The Bruins will still have to figure out where Loui Eriksson stands in the mix. If the B’s decide to move him, they’ll need to make sure that their defenseman is capable of secondary scoring. If they don’t, they’ll need to find a blueliner who can fill in top four minutes, and not be too expensive to retain.
“We still would like to improve our club, but we also want to keep the picture on what we want to do, not only this year but moving forward,” said Bruins President Cam Neely. “We’re going to make a good deal that’s going to help us for today, and for tomorrow.
“You have to focus on the now [with the team]. We have to focus on ‘How do we keep improving the younger players that we have in our lineup?’ and ‘How do we keep teaching them and help keep getting them better?’ What are we going to do to help our club moving forward? Whether something shakes free at the deadline or in the offseason, or maybe somebody pops over the next year that we’ve drafted recently…it’s all of those things.”
There could be some pops in the mix for Boston. Young defensemen like Zach Trotman and Joe Morrow could see themselves following fellow P-Bruins vet Ryan Spooner into full-time work with the Black and Gold. If Malcolm Subban can make a quick bounce back from his throat surgery, that would also put another name in the mix when it comes to trades or team progression. Hopefully Don Sweeney and company will find the right balance to help the team now, and in the immediate future.