Can the youngsters shine and spread the secondary scoring again?
The Boston Bruins top guns. Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Brad Marchand, Zdeno Chara, Torey Krug. If they deliver, everything seems easier. However, the same couldn’t have been said about the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons, when the Bruins missed the post-season.
Even though those top guys had terrific years, or at least didn’t experience a David Backes-like drop in performance, it was still not enough. The key was the depth and secondary scoring.
With the ever-present salary cap pressure and the Boston Bruins management not offering the helping hand in signing Backes or Matt Beleskey to terrible contracts, the Bruins had to find the way elsewhere.
In the past two seasons, which can be viewed very much as prosperous ones, the Boston Bruins brought a ton of young talent to their lineup. The youngsters helped to provide offense and served the top players to relieve the amount of pressure put on their shoulders.
Jake Debrusk‘s addition was a success so far. Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo lead the way on the right side of the defense. Connor Clifton, Matt Grzelcyk, Karson Kuhlman; all were brought in with exactly zero expectations and they impressed big-time.
The current winning formula in the NHL is more or less about how many good youngsters on cheap contracts you can insert into your lineup. The Boston Bruins have been following that rule during the past two years. However many of them, just like Carlo, McAvoy or Danton Heinen, are already past their entry-level deals magic.
It’s time to pay them, which is, once again very difficult. Nonetheless, there are other new prospects on the way. Might Jack Studnicka, Jakub Lauko or even Samuel Asselin get their chance to shine?
Well, almost certainly, they will get the chance at some point but the most important thing is to take advantage of it. Will Bruce Cassidy continue to succeed with another bit of what often looks like calculated improvisation?