Free washer | Consternation in Boston

A Boston columnist dared: the surprising elimination of the Bruins on Sunday night was the biggest disappointment in the history of this team.

Older generations will remind him that the Bruins were just over two minutes away from ending the Canadiens’ reign in the Stanley Cup semi-finals in 1979, before receiving a fatal penalty for having an extra player. on the ice, but we understand the current commotion in Boston.

Everything was in place for a scenario worthy of Walt Disney. To everyone’s surprise, the Bruins, with their record of 65-12-5, not only had just had the best season of their existence, but never had an NHL team been superior in the regular season.

Captain Patrice Bergeron was perhaps on his last lap, after a career crowned with glory, and whose entry into the Hockey Hall of Fame is assured.

They also faced in the first round a team, the Florida Panthers, excluded from the playoffs for most of the winter, and whose fans of the Canadian even dreamed of obtaining from them a choice in the top ten (in the Ben Chiarot transaction) by virtue of their position in the standings.

Under the circumstances, sacrificing first-round picks in 2023 and 2024 for rental players Dmitry Orlov and Tyler Bertuzzi was justified (Boston also gave up a fourth-round pick in 2025 for Bertuzzi and a second-round pick in 2025, third-round in 2024 and fifth round in 2023 for Orlov).

*Following their elimination on Sunday, the Bruins’ 2023 first-round pick traded for Orlov drops from 32^e at 28^e rank. That choice now belongs to the Maple Leafs. They got it from the Capitals for Rasmus Sandin.

But we must relegate the results of the regular season to oblivion once the playoffs have started. Those same Florida Panthers were knocked out in the second round last year after a 122-point season.

Since 2015, only the New York Rangers have made it past the second round after winning the President’s Trophy given to the regular-season champion. The Lightning were swept in four games by the Blue Jackets in the first round in 2019 after amassing 128 points, seven fewer than the Bruins this season.

Boston led this series 3-1. The Bruins were nine minutes away from eliminating the Panthers in Game 6. They had the lead with a minute to go in third Sunday. Florida had even removed its goalkeeper in desperation.

The Bruins looked worn at times in recent games. We often have the reflex to predict the outcome of a series according to the formations on paperas the infamous sports cliché goes.

But players are made of blood, flesh and bone and the Bruins entered the playoffs worn down. Bergeron even missed the first four games. The Bruins’ end-of-season record may tell us how much his body was mortgaged.

Boston lost three consecutive games following his return to play and the Quebecer was limited to one point, one goal, in the fifth game. The team’s second center, David Krejci, missed three games, the 3^e4^e and 5^e.

“We weren’t ready for the intensity of the playoffs,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery admitted with brutal frankness.

What will the Bruins look like?

The team’s immediate future is unclear. Patrice Bergeron gave a long hug to his accomplice Brad Marchand after the meeting, he greeted the crowd with his stick, but he did not want to comment on a possible retirement.

Marchand helped to further reinforce the retirement hypothesis for his old accomplice. “I had the privilege of playing with him for all these years. He’s an incredible individual, an incredible teammate and we’re lucky to have had him here for so long. He completely changed my approach to life, to sport. The decision is up to him. Whether he comes back or not, we’ve built an unbreakable bond for life. »

Bergeron, 38 in July, had contemplated retirement for the first time last summer, before changing his mind after a few weeks of reflection. Krejci turned 37 in April. Their departure would leave a gaping hole in the center. The end-of-season acquisitions, Bertuzzi and Orlov, will also be entitled to full autonomy.

The Bruins will still have good elements in place with David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm, Marchand, Pavel Zacha, Jake DeBrusk and solid guards.

But their boss Don Sweeney will have to use his creativity again to regenerate the center position if his old guns announce their retirement, without a choice in the first two rounds in 2023 and 2024 to serve as bait. Boston has always had the gift of surprising us…

* Even if the Panthers advance to the second round, the 2023 first-round pick the Canadiens obtained from Florida for Ben Chiarot still stands at 17^e rank. He will stay there if the Maple Leafs eliminate the Panthers in the next round, but will drop to 29^e rank if Florida beat Toronto.

Bjorkstrand brings down the champ

The Columbus Blue Jackets would have liked to keep winger Oliver Bjorkstrand. He had, after all, just had a career-best season with 57 points, including 28 goals.

But the payroll had to be freed up last summer with the hiring of Johnny Gaudreau on the free agent market and with an annual salary of 5.4 million for another four seasons, he became the lamb to sacrifice.

Obviously with some interesting payroll wiggle room in just its second year of existence, the Seattle Kraken received it for next to nothing: third- and fourth-round picks in 2023.

The 28-year-old Dane couldn’t have hoped for a better time to shine. He scored both of Seattle’s goals on Sunday and the Kraken took down the defending champion Colorado Avalanche.

Bjorkstrand is one of the elements that contributed to this thunderbolt, along with Yanni Gourde, Jaden Schwartz, Justin Schultz, Adam Larsson and goaltender Philipp Grubauer, a former Avalanche.

Seattle achieved the feat while scoring just 2.57 goals per game. Only the Islanders, Wild and Devils have done worse.