It’s time we accept the truth. The Bruins core we knew and loved is disintegrating.
Since the 2019 Stanley Cup Finals, the Boston Bruins are slowly letting go of their main core, while another takes its place. Obviously, as time passes and contracts run out, old players are traded and newer, faster, and better ones replace them. What once was will never be again, no matter how much we want it. With this shift, the Bruins dynamic changed dramatically over the last 3 seasons.
However, before we consider the newer core, we need to examine and appreciate the original Bruins core of the modern era. This could be defined as a group of five. Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand, combined with David Krejci, Zdeno Chara, and Tuukka Rask, who took over games and pushed the Bruins past their limits. This group was together for 11 seasons, from the time Marchand played his first 20 games in the NHL in 2009–2010, to the day Chara moved on from the Bruins after the 2019–2020 season. In those 11 seasons, the Bruins made three appearances in the Stanley Cup finals, winning the Cup in 2011. They also won two Presidents’ Trophies.
Without a doubt, they were one of the most successful core groups in Bruins history. It could also be considered whether this core should have won even more than they did. 2019 and 2020 stand out as missed opportunities, but for different reasons. In 2019, everything seemed to fall into place for the Bruins. Their top competition, the Tampa Bay Lightning, was swept in the first round in one of the most shocking sweeps in recent history by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Their next toughest opposition, the defending champion Washington Capitals, also were defeated in the first round by the Carolina Hurricanes, who went on to beat the New York Islanders. Following this, the Bruins went on to defeat the Maple Leafs and go against the Blue Jackets, while sweeping the Hurricanes. Waiting for them in the Cup Final was the St. Louis Blues, who, just months prior, had been last place in the entire NHL. It was almost a dream scenario for the Bruins. We could almost taste that second Stanley Cup of the decade.
But, the worst happened. The Bruins lost. The following year, the world shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Bruins were turned upside down. When play resumed, the team that seemed unstoppable before the pandemic was now stumbling. They looked shaky in the warm-up games, and despite getting through the Hurricanes again in five games, they were demolished by the Lightning in round two and haven’t looked like a legitimate threat since.
After David Krejci decided to return to Czechia to play in his home country, and Tuukka Rask retired earlier this season, what we knew for so long as the core of our Boston team is in shambles. Bergeron and Marchand are the only ones left, and not for long. So, if that core is gone, who is the new core?
To start, a new core would have to include new rising star defenseman Charlie McAvoy who is a joy to watch and single handedly reviving the Bruins’ rookie performance, and is a top personal Norris Trophy contender in my eyes. Rounding out the rest of the big three, in my opinion, are David Pastrnak and Brandon Carlo. One of the best scorers in the league and one of the best at home defensemen in the league, respectively; they will hopefully be in Boston for years to come and are young enough that their best years may still be ahead of them. Yet, with an impending Pastrnak trade decision with his approaching final season of his six-year, $40 million contract, the right wing will be free to sign an extension July 13 if he chooses to do so.
Next on my core picks would be new trade-in Hampus Lindholm who is just starting his 8 year contract with the Bruins, and is one of the Bruins’ best all-around defenseman. He is exactly what the Bruins needed to strengthen the defensive core and gives the Bruins one of the best top pairings in the league along with McAvoy. Goaltenders Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman, who should count as one unit, make what should be a shaky transition from a decade of stability much easier for the Bruins. The two goalies exude confidence between the pipes, and both of them could easily play the home nets at TD Garden for five years and potentially more for Swayman.
These players have learned from one of the best cores in the league and certainly have big shoes to fill, yet there is hope for the emergence of a new spectacular Bruins core in the near future.
