Boston Bruins: 3 Storylines From the 2021 Season

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To say that the 2020-21 Boston Bruins season had its up and downs would be an understatement.

Boston came out of the gate on fire starting the season 10-1-2, before cooling off and even falling into the danger zone when it came in regards to the Stanley Cup playoffs. Of course, the Bruins made the playoffs, beating the Washington Capitals in five games in a first-round series, before losing their second-round series to the New York Islanders in six games.

Despite it being an up and down season for the Black and Gold, here are three storylines that stick out as the 56-game season went along.

1. Bruins suffered many injuries on defense.

This ended up being one of the top stories on nearly a daily basis as to try to figure out who would play in the next game and who would miss it. Things got so bad for the Bruins that general manager Don Sweeney had to go to the waiver wire to get Jarred Tinordi from the Nashville Predators.

Brandon Carlo suffered the biggest injury when he took a nasty hit from the Capitals, Tom Wilson, on March 5, which required a hospital stay for the 6-foot-5 Boston blueliner. It caused him to miss almost a month and had Wilson suspended for seven games.

Matt Grzelcyk dealt with various injuries that caused him to miss 19 games, Charlie McAvoy missed five games in April with an injury and 24-year-old Jeremy Lauzon broke his hand in a game against the Philadelphia Flyers in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, which caused him to have surgery and miss nearly a dozen games. Kevan Miller made the Opening Night roster, but only played in 28 games in the regular season with injuries also.

Connor Clifton, Tinordi, rookie Jack Ahcan, Urho Vaakanainen, and John Moore all did not make the roster out of training camp, but filled in at different times during the season as needed.

When Torey Krug and Zdeno Chara left in free agency last offseason, the Bruins were betting on their young defense, but as the season and playoffs went along, they realized (at least we hope) that some of the young guys were not ready and their depth was not what they thought it was.

Apr 16, 2021; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman (1) handles the puck during the first period against the New York Islanders at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports /

2. Rookie goalie Jeremy Swayman burst onto the scene.

The defense was not the only position grouping that was hit hard by injuries and COVID-19 issues. Tuukka Rask went down in early March with an injury that forced him to miss a significant amount of time and Jaroslav Halak took over the role as the primary goalie.

In mid-March, Halak went through heath and safety protocols for COVID-19 which put him out of action, which opened the door for rookie netminder Jeremy Swayman and the former University of Maine standout took full advantage of his chance to show what he could do.

In 10 games, Swayman went 7-3 with two shutouts. He allowed just 15 goals on 271 shots, while sporting an impressive 1.50 goals against average (GAA) and a .945 save percentage (SV%). The 111th pick in the 2017 Entry Draft played the third period in Game 5 against the Islanders in a 5-4 loss on June 7, in which he took the loss after allowing one goal on three shots.

Regardless, with Rask and Halak free agents this summer, it will be interesting to see what direction the Bruins go in the net next season. Swayman got his chance to show what he could so and 22-year-old from Anchorage, Alaska made his case to be with the big club next season. It was an impressive 10 games for Sway.

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – APRIL 15: Taylor Hall #71 of the Boston Bruins looks on during the first period against the New York Islanders at TD Garden on April 15, 2021, in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /

3. Bruins make two trade deadline deals.

Just about one hour after his team was blasted embarrassingly at the TD Garden by the Capitals, 8-1, on April 11, Sweeney knew that if his team was going to finish in the top-four of the East Division, he needed to upgrade his roster. Upgrade his roster he did late on that Sunday night.

In the first move, Sweeney filled a hole on defense as the injuries were piling up when he acquired Mike Reilly from the Ottawa Senators for a draft pick. What a pick-up this turned out to be. In 15 games wearing the Spoked-B, Reilly, an offensive defenseman, had eight assists and played very well in his defensive end. Reilly is a free agent and the Bruins should be looking to bring him back next season.

That was just the beginning for Sweeney. A few minutes later, the Bruins GM acquired forwards Taylor Hall and Curtis Lazar from the Buffalo Sabres for a struggling Anders Bjork and a draft pick.

Hall, a free agent this summer, settled in on the second line with David Krejci and Craig Smith and that line supplied what the Black and Gold had been lacking behind their top-line, secondary scoring. In 16 games with Boston, Hall had eight goals and six assists, and a plus/minus of plus-15. What a turnaround from his stats with the Sabres, where he had two goals, 17 assists in 37 games, and minus-21. Yikes.

Lazar went down to the fourth line and revived it as Sean Kuraly and Chris Wagner played well with their new teammate and supplied energy and gave the team a jolt on most of their shifts. The good news is Lazar has one more year remaining on his contract and is a good piece to build the fourth line around for next season.

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There are other storylines this past season, but looking back at the big picture in the regular season, these are ones that stuck out. If you have one, leave a comment below.

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