Last Season: 107 Points, 2nd Conference Place Playoffs: Stanley Cup Final
Came: n. Brett Ritchie, n. Per Lindholm.
Gone: n. Markus Johansson, n. Noel Acchari.
So we got to the top of the rating and the first of the Stanley Cup finalists. But Boston, unlike one of the higher-ranking teams (spoiler alert), deserved to be at the very top, rather on a combination of factors, and not just because of its high final result last season.
As for me, it is Boston, and with a margin, that deserves the title of “the most stable NHL team”: confidently completed the regular season (2nd overall in the conference and the league), no less worthy performance in the playoffs, stopping only a step from the maximum and a truly “boring” offseason, in a good way, regarding all the possible twists and turns in the NHL!
The Bruins continue to prepare for the next season with the same experienced leaders in the squad, including 42-year-old captain Zdeno Hara, all with the same head coach Bruce Cassady, and for him this will be the third full season as the main one, under the control of the same GM Don Swinney, who received the League’s Leading General Manager award last season.
And over the past offseason, there have been fewer changes at the club than ever, but perhaps the Bostonians belong to that small list of teams that do not need any rearrangements to achieve their goals. After all, everything has worked fine so far, and last season is a clear confirmation of this.
It is not surprising that it is the Bruins who are now the oldest and most experienced team in the Eastern Conference (average 28 years old), there alone Khara is worth something and perfectly squanders these statistics for the whole team. By the way, the Slovak veteran signed a one-year contract and it is not yet clear whether the upcoming season will be his last in the league or not yet. Although, recalling the recent playoffs, where he was not stopped by all his injuries, including a broken jaw, there is no reason to doubt the readiness of the Bruins captain.
Seriously, I simply have nothing to criticize Boston for on the usual scale (no minor flaws). With the results, everything is clear, almost the highest score for the performance in the season, and the new one has everything in order to at least repeat. According to statistics, the Bruins did not fail either, with top 3 realization of the majority in the league (PP% 25.9) and averages for playing in the minority. Having conceded only 214 goals in a season, taking the overall 4th place in the league in terms of reliability.
What is there to argue, even if there were no serious complaints about the Boston goalkeeper brigade. Experienced Finn Tuukka Rask spent the regular season without failures and average statistics for himself, sharing the load with Yaroslav Galak, and in the playoffs he gave something indecent (2.02, .934%). Having played the first three series steadily and only occasionally turning off in the final itself, which can be attributed to the busy playoff schedule.
