The Boston Bruins are a unique phenomenon of analysis. Faced with their success, opposing organizations will no doubt want to imitate them… at their own risk!
This team recently became the second in history to reach the mark of 30 victories so quickly. The Bruins took only 38 games to do so. They thus matched the feat of the Canadian in 1944-1945, in the middle of World War II, with his formidable trio of Maurice Richard, Elmer Lach and Toe Blake!
But even the Rocket Richard and his band hadn’t managed to beat the record of 36 games set by… the Bruins in 1929-1930, and led by a certain Art Ross, whose name bears the trophy given to the counter par excellence.
The recipe for the Bruins, first overall with a 36-5-4 record, is unconventional. This team hasn’t drafted in the top 12 since Dougie Hamilton, the ninth overall pick, in 2011.
Their first two centers, Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, 37 and 36 respectively, receive a base salary of 2.5 million and 1 million (this amount will increase to 5 million and 3 million with bonuses). This is already a bargain because of their production. Krejci has 37 points in 40 games and Bergeron 36 points in 45 games.
David Pastrnak, 26, the team’s big offensive star with 63 points, including 35 goals, in 45 games, was drafted 25the rank only in 2014. Pastrnak, fourth scorer in the NHL this winter, is second in his class for career points behind Leon Draisaitl. Aaron Ekblad, Sam Reinhart, Draisaitl, Sam Bennett and Michael Dal Colle made up the top five picks that year.
Brad Marchand, 34, a lowly third-round pick in 2006, is likely headed for the Hall of Fame. At 27, he had never amassed more than 55 points in a season. He has 549 points in his last 457 meetings…
In defense, their best defender, Charlie McAvoy, 25, was drafted in 14e rank in 2016. He had been highly recommended by their personnel manager, John Ferguson Jr., because he had close ties to the McAvoy family. The young man’s grandfather did the plumbing work for Ferguson Jr.’s father. Ferguson managed to convince the Bruins to change tack the day before the draft. They were about to choose Dante Fabbro.
The Bruins’ other mainstay in defense, Hampus Lindholm, was acquired in exchange for promising young defenseman Urho Vaakanainen, a first-round pick and two second-round picks. You never sacrifice so much choice when your core is aging, but the Bruins can afford it, they walk on water…
In goal, many were startled when Don Sweeney awarded goaltender Linus Ullmark $20 million for four years in July 2021. Ullmark, 29, was however associated with the setbacks of the Buffalo Sabers between 2018 and 2021. There is no best goaltender in the NHL this year. Ullmark is 24-2-1 with a 1.88 GAA and .937 save percentage.
The Bruins achieved such a level of excellence even though they failed miserably in their 2015 reset attempt by successively drafting Jakub Zboril, Jake DeBrusk and Zachary Senyshyn between the 13e and the 15e rank, ahead of Mathew Barzal, Kyle Connor, Thomas Chabot, Joel Eriksson Ek, Brock Boeser and Sebastian Aho, among others.
Zboril and Senyshyn are the only players drafted in the top 25 that year who have not played at least 100 NHL games. The Bruins, whose draft was led at the time by Keith Gretzky, now in Edmonton, also had three second-round picks. They will have at least gotten their hands on Brandon Carlo.
President Cam Neely and his CEO Sweeney also manage the ceiling with tact. Only McAvoy (9.5 million) receives an annual salary of more than 6.6 million. Pastrnak, an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, will join him and probably even surpass him if he signs a contract extension…
New head coach Jim Montgomery got a second chance at Boston after being fired mid-season at Dallas in 2019 due to his alcohol addiction.
An organization may well try to imitate them, but one wonders how it would succeed. The management of the Bruins must take jealous care of its grimoire…
*All salaries were taken from capfriendly.com
Ivan Provorov wins fans
Days after being embroiled in controversy for refusing to participate in a warm-up session with a jersey in support of the LBGT community, defender Ivan Provorov has won some fans. His Flyers jersey is now out of stock on the internet, on the NHL website as on Fanatics, Mark Harris tells us. Only size XS would still be available.
Coach John Tortorella added to that on Thursday by once again defending Provorov, the most-used player that night.
However, he was not asked to dress up as a drag queen, only to wear a sweater made for an activity set up by his own teammates in order to sensitize the public to a group still too often denigrated. There is still a long way to go, we must believe, and not only in the locker room…