Boston Bruins: 2020 was filled with its ups and downs for the Black and Gold

With 2020 ending and everyone turning the page to 2021 and the upcoming NHL season, let’s take a look back at the Bruins’ good and bad of 2020.

It’s safe to say that 2020 was unlike any other year. From the coronavirus pandemic to hockey over the summer to an October NHL Entry Draft and free agency. Some of it was good for the Boston Bruins and some of it is forgettable. With the new NHL season to begin in 12 days, 13 for the Bruins, let’s take look back at 2020 for the Black and Gold.

5. Failed trade deadline deals

At the trade deadline in 2019, Bruins general manager Don Sweeney hit it big in acquiring Charlie Coyle from the Minnesota Wild and  Marcus Johansson. Those two deals supplied Boston with depth on their third line in the playoffs which led to a run to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. We all remember what happened that June night at the TD Garden when the St. Louis Blues beat the Bruins, 4-1, to capture the Cup.

At the trade deadline last February, Sweeney was looking to add toughness and secondary scoring for what he hoped would be another long playoff run with an aging core group. Sweeney was able to work out two separate deals with the Anaheim Ducks.

The first deal acquired right wing Ondrej Kase for David Backes, prospect Axel Andersson, and the Bruins’ 2020 first-round pick. Sweeney and the rest of the front office were hoping that Kase would slide into the second line right wing spot to give center David Krejci and left wing Jake Debrusk a point-producing linemate.

No such luck as Kase struggled to find a rhythm with DeBrusk and Krejci as the season was shut down because of COVID. In the playoffs, Kase failed to score, but did have four assists.

The second deal brought in Nick Ritchie from the Ducks for Danton Heinen. Ritchie did have eight goals and 11 assists in 41 games in Anaheim, but he was never able to find his scoring touch in Boston in the regular season or the playoffs.

Kase and Ritchie were like other players that were traded around the league and stuck between a rock and a hard place with the shutdown shortly after being acquired. It will be interesting to see how both players come back this upcoming season and see if they can make a bigger impact with the Bruins.

3. Coronavirus shutdown

On March 12, the NHL and the rest of the sports world, along with normal everyday living, was stopped in it’s track by the coronavirus breakout world wide.

At the time of the season pause, there was no telling what was going to happen next in terms of finishing the regular season or even the playoffs. In May, the league announced that the regular-season was over and they were going to have two bubbles with the Qualifying Round series for seeds 5-12, while the top four teams in each conference would play three Round Robin games each for seeding purposes in the playoffs.

At the time of the pause, the Bruins were playing their best hockey of the season, on pace to win the Presidents’ Trophy and home-ice advantage throughout the postseason. Now, the home-ice advantage doesn’t mean much (look at Game 7 in 2019 against the Blues), but it’s hard to argue that the Bruins were heavy favorites and had plenty of steamrolling toward the playoffs.

Two days prior to the pause, the Bruins went to the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia and snapped the Flyers’ nine-game winning streak with a 2-0 shutout behind 36 saves from Tuukka Rask. Little did anyone know that would be the last time we would see the Bruins for four and half more months.

2. Playoff troubles

When the league announced that the Eastern Conference restart would take place in Toronto, there were a lot of questions surrounding if the Bruins could continue their play from March in their quest for a second Stanley Cup in nine years.

They faced issues right out of the gate. Pastrnak and Kase struggled to get on the ice Warrior Ice Arena in early July for training camp because of the COVID protocols.

Boston lost all three Round Robin games to the Philadelphia Flyers, Washington Capitals, and Tampa Bay Lightning. They had the fourth-seed and were matched up with the Carolina Hurricanes in the Quarterfinal Round.

The Bruins ended up beating the ‘Canes in five games, but it didn’t come easily. Hours before Game 3 of a 1-1 series, Rask announced that he was leaving the bubble to go home to deal with a family matter.

That left the netminding duties to Jaroslav Halak. He won the final three games of the Carolina series, but things came to a crashing halt against the Lightning in the next round when the Bruins were sent home in five games to the eventual Stanley Cup winners.

Goaltending wasn’t the only issue in the bubble. Aside from Brad Marchand scoring seven goals and dishing out five assists and David Krejci having four goals and eight assists, the Bruins offense struggled. Pastrnak missed games with an injury and Ritchie took some ill-advised penalties against the Lightning that cost the Bruins some power play goals.

It was an uphill climb from the moment the team stepped on the ice at Warrior Arena in July until they were bounced from Toronto at the end of August. One must think, what could have been in the playoffs if the season was not stopped in March?

1. Krug and Chara leave in free agency

When free agency began in early October, it was widely thought throughout the NHL that Torey Krug had played his last game in a Bruins uniform in their eliminating Game 5 loss to Tampa at the Toronto playoff bubble.

That became a reality on the first night of free agency when Krug agreed to a seven-year contract with the St. Louis Blues. Losing Krug is a blow to the defensive unit and he was the quarterback of the first power play unit with 26 assists last season.

Zdeno Chara was widely thought of returning to the Bruins, as the Bruins were told that the 43-year-old captain was waiting to see what the 2020-21 season was going to look like before he made a decision if he was going to return for a 15th season in Boston.

On Wednesday afternoon, in a shocking development to many, Chara agreed to a free-agent contract with the Capitals, ending his tenure in Boston. Why Chara left is the question. It was reported that the Bruins offered Big Z a contract, but in a lesser role on the ice, while the Caps could offer him more playing time and still a very legitimate shot at winning one more Stanley Cup before he hangs it up.

Whether the plan all along by the Bruins front office was to wait for his decision, it sounds like Sweeney and Neely helped him by saying they wanted to get a good look at their younger defensemen in a shortened 56-game season.

Whatever the case may be, the Bruins lost two defensemen heading into the new season and will roll out a young blue line with a lot of questions after the top three of Charlie McAvoy, Brandon Carlo, and Matt Grzelcyk.

With the calendar officially turning to January 2021 and 2020 is finally behind us, the Bruins season begins in 13 nights against the Devils in New Jersey. Hopefully, 2021 has more to offer the Boston Bruins than 2020 did.