The Boston Bruins didn’t have a good locker room dynamic last season. Certain players didn’t seem to fit into the family-mindset that the Bruins hope to employ year-in and year-out. Certain Bruins have acknowledged that the locker room dynamic makes an impact on their playing, whether it be individually, or as a team. “I think we struggled (as a team) getting over the Johnny trade,” Former-Bruin forward Milan Lucic told CSNNE writer Joe Hagerty last season. “I know I did personally because he was a really good friend of mine. What I learned the most… is that I can’t rely too much on other guys.” Although Lucic acknowledged that players should expect this kind of business, and usually players will say something along the lines of “that’s just the business we’re in”, it’s usually not always that easy.
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Brad Marchand recently spoke in an interview, discussing the fact that the Bruins locker room didn’t feel the way it had in the past. “In the past years, we were family, but for some reason this past year we were definitely a little bit divided, and had different cliques,” The first problem with the Bruins season was that locker room division. As bad as injuries are, teams deal with them. Dealing with a divided team however, isn’t always as easy. Marchand went on to give his thoughts on why the locker room was a bit divided: “It could’ve been because we had a lot of guys coming up in different times from Providence; they felt a lot more together, and it seemed like the older guys didn’t do a good job at integrating other guys.” Players like Ryan Spooner, Alexander Khokhlachev, Seth Griffith, Joe Morrow, Zach Trotman, and David Warsofsky all played at different times in Boston last season, among others.
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“It was really tough,” Marchand said. “In our group, with the team we have in this organization, we expect guys to come in every night and be prepared to lay their bodies on the line. The majority of the guys wanted nothing more (than) to be in the playoffs last year and even if you have one passenger, that’s enough to ruin your chances.” Marchand seemingly believed that not every player was dialed in to the Bruins game plan last season, which as mentioned, can certainly hurt a team’s playoff chances.
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In the offseason, newly-appointed general manager Don Sweeney made some drastic changes to the locker room. In different transactions, he traded away Dougie Hamilton, Milan Lucic, Reilly Smith, and to a further degree, Marc Savard. To “fill” the roles, Sweeney used a high amount of draft picks last season to re-stock the farm system, and signed, extended, or traded for: Adam McQuaid, Matt Beleskey, Zac Rinaldo, Jimmy Hayes, Colin Miller, among other players and prospects. The locker room shakeup seemed to be insane to most at first (and even now, to some) but it also seemed necessary. The Bruins were skating by with what they had, and the changes are clearly in hopes of sparking new life into a new-look Bruin team.
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