Boston Bruins: Concerning Roster Trend Similar To The Maple Leafs
By Luke Ryan
The Boston Bruins’ forward lines heading into this season’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, look concerningly like the Toronto Maple Leafs, who just got bumped from the competition.
Straight up, I know what you’re thinking. The Boston Bruins are far superior to the Toronto Maple Leafs and I’m crazy to suggest otherwise.
But scratch below the surface a little more, especially with the make-up of our forward group. Defense and goaltending-wise, we blow them out of the water, likewise the fact we’re doing it all comfortably within the salary cap.
In their play-in series against Columbus, the Maple Leafs rolled out a top line with their three best players, namely Auston Matthews, John Tavares and Mitch Marner. We, the Boston Bruins, roll out a top line with our three best players, namely Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak and Patrice Bergeron.
More from Causeway Crowd
- Harrison, Toporowski shine in Prospects Challenge
- Obscure former Boston Bruins: Steven Kampfer
- Bruins release Prospects Challenge roster, schedule Tuesday
- Bruins release full “Historic 100” list ahead of season
- McAvoy, Lucic named to “Historic 100” list over the weekend
Now, granted we have the superior players there evidenced by 100-point seasons and various other accolades, not least the fact our guys are far more experienced, especially in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Beyond that though, the lack of spark from the rest of the line-up is very much evident.
Looking at the Leafs, it was William Nylander and to some degree, Zach Hyman and maybe their rookie Nick Robertson that were the only ones showing real signs of life.
The Boston Bruins, at least in the round-robin tournament, were devoid of much offense anywhere. No Charlie Coyle, no David Krejci and very little from Jake DeBrusk either.
If the Boston Bruins, heck if any team is to progress in the play-offs, they need offense from their top line but they also need secondary offense.
The Bruins can’t rely on guys like Chris Wagner to be the secondary offensive threat. It’s great to have a fourth line that we can rely on, but scoring is a bonus from them and shouldn’t be an expectation.
Even the top line itself needs to be better; Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand both looked very much off their usual games in these four games prior to the real action. We need them to be firing all cylinders when it counts.
Bruins Have A Long List Of Injury Worries. dark. Next
It’s a real concern as we face the Carolina Hurricanes, but then again maybe this entire round-robin series was just pre-season for us and the guys lift their game for Game 1. Not long now until we find out.