This is an article I’ve wanted to write for a while, and the All-Star break seems like a great time for reflection. The Boston Bruins really turned around the franchise with the hiring of Claude Julien for the 07/08 season. Since then, the Bruins have only finished below 3rd place once and that was last year.
One of the first big moves of the franchise during the Julien era was trading Phil Kessel after the 08/09 season. The deal at the time had people up in arms about losing a scorer who had the potential of scoring 30 goals every season. He’s gone on to do just that, except for last season where he had 25. However, the return was two first round picks and that appeased most people. Luckily for Bruins fans, Toronto stayed at the bottom of the standings while Boston used their cap space, the development of David Krejci, Milan Lucic, Brad Marchand and veterans Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron to skyrocket to the top of the league and win the Stanley Cup in 10/11.
The Bruins seemed poised to be an organization to be reckoned with for a long time coming. They were able to use one of the Phil Kessel picks to grab Tyler Seguin, who was selected #2 overall behind Taylor Hall. Seguin was thought to be a sure thing NHL talent. A center who was a playmaker and could score. Most people thought the Bruins lucky that Seguin fell to #2 in the draft. Seguin didn’t come into the league soaring his first year with the Bruins, but he was able to play a part in the Bruins winning the Stanley Cup that year. In the playoffs against Tampa Bay, Patrice Bergeron went down to injury and this forced Seguin into the spotlight. In two games against Tampa, Seguin scored 3 goals and had 6 total points. He quickly came back to life only scoring one more point the rest of the post season, but it was a real glimpse of what the then 19 year old could be. The following season he scored 67 points on 29 goals and 38 assists. The season after that was a lockout shortened one where he had 16 goals and 16 assists and really didn’t produce well in the playoffs.
The second of the Kessel picks was Dougie Hamilton. A big young defender who at the time people thought could grow into a Zdeno Chara type. It’s a long held thought that it takes more time for NHL defensemen to develop, yet Dougie made the team as a 19 year old, averaging just over 17 minutes a game. He’d go on to average just over 19 and then over 21 minutes the next two seasons. His scoring started to develop to an NHL level in the 14/15 season and things looked great for going forward for the young defenseman.
But… something happened with each of these young promising talents. As illustrated on the NESN program “Behind The B” the Bruins front office was very upset with Tyler Seguin’s showing in the 12/13 Stanley Cup Finals when he only had 4 points, all assists. People forget how close of a series this was. The Bruins lost two of the first 4 games in overtime and could have swept the series had a few pucks bounced different ways. Following the Bruins second OT loss, Chicago seemingly realized how lucky they were to be tied 2-2 in the series and shut the Bruins down the final two games. Tyler Seguin looked over matched and could not skate with the Blackhawks top lines. It was remarked that if Seguin gave the Bruins half of what Patrick Kane gave the Blackhawks that they would’ve won the Cup. Easy to say that, as Kane is an All-Star caliber player who is in the hunt for the Hart Trophy every year. There were also rumors of Tyler Seguin’s extracurricular activities being a problem for the Bruins coaching staff and other players. Either way, it was clear the front office wanted to move on. They did so by surprising everyone on Independence Day 2013 and trading him and Rich Peverley for Loui Eriksson, Joe Morrow, Reilly Smith, and Matt Fraser. Loui Eriksson has been a serviceable 2nd and 3rd liner for the Bruins, but seems to have been more a replacement to Peverley than to Seguin. Matt Fraser and Reilly Smith are no longer on the team and Joe Morrow has yet to live up to the lofty expectations he had as a prospect. He’s only averaging around 16 minutes a game and isn’t getting any consistent play time.
Dougie Hamilton seemed to be a case quite opposite of Seguin. He apparently wasn’t pleased with the Bruins system, whether it was the coaches, his teammates, or even the front office, hasn’t really been explored, but he was not happy in Boston. Dougie’s ceiling seemed to be very high and everyone had penciled him in as a top pair defensemen for the foreseeable future. Then the Bruins traded him to Calgary for a first round pick in 2015 and two second round picks. Many people were furious with that “haul” for a top pair defenseman in his early 20’s.
Since Seguin was traded the big concern with Bruins fans was Boston losing a top tier scorer. Surprisingly enough, in the 13/14 season the Bruins were 3rd in scoring and this season they’re currently 3rd as well. To help the naysayers, in 14/15 the Bruins were a lowly 22nd GFA. It seems as though scoring isn’t as big of an issue as expected, but it’s hard to imagine that the Bruins wouldn’t benefit from a player like Seguin who is now one of the most prolific scorers in the league.
Defense is a far more severe problem for the Bruins. In 13/14 they had the second lowest GAA and were a premier defense. Last season they fell a bit but still were 8th in GAA securely in the top third. Now, this season, with the aging of Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg, and the absence of Dougie Hamilton, the Bruins are 18th in the league. Nice for some teams, but when you have one of the best goalies in the world in Tuukka Rask, it’s unacceptable to allow so many goals.
The Bruins had three first round picks this year, we don’t know how any of the players are going to turn out yet, but already it feels like the picks were grossly mismanaged. It wasn’t a necessarily strong draft class this past year after McDavid and Eichel and the rest of the top five. It seems as though the Bruins would have been better off packaging picks to either try and move up in the draft or get 1st round picks for 2016. Instead, the Bruins picked 13,14, and 15 in a row with Jakub Zboril, Jake DeBrusk, and Zachary Senyshyn. Zboril only has 10 points in 28 games for the St John Sea Dogs in the QMJHL, which is down from last year. Hopefully he’s focusing more on the defensive side of the puck. DeBrusk has cooled down this year after scoring 42 goals in the WHL last year, so far he has just 14 goals in 38 games for the Red Deer Rebels. Senyshyn is having a solid year in the OHL, with 29 goals through 44 games which leads his team. He’s also 4th in the OHL in goals.
There’s clear potential in those players, but by the time they’re ready to compete at the NHL level, the window will be closing on Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, and Tuukka Rask and it will be firmly closed on Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg. The Bruins have players entering their prime in Brad Marchand, Matt Beleskey, and Jimmy Hayes, as well as young players who have shown glimpses of promise in David Pastrnak and Ryan Spooner. On defense it’s arguable that there isn’t a single top pair combo that can compete for a Stanley Cup. Zdeno Chara after 17 years is no longer dominant and has been having real problems moving the puck out of his own end. Torey Krug has not developed as much as expected. Dennis Seidenberg has yet to score a goal in 2015/16 and at times has been disastrous in the neutral zone. Colin Miller and Zach Trotman have shown quick glimpses of potential, but nothing long enough to warrant anything beyond cautious optimism. Adam McQuaid and Kevan Miller both seem to always be dealing with injuries.
It leads one to wonder, what exactly are the Bruins doing? At one point they had a potential franchise offensive player and top pairing defensive player both in their early 20’s. Now they have neither and are fighting for their playoff lives every night. The Bruins were a premier franchise for four or five years and they had the potential to win the Stanley Cup any of those years. Now, fans would be happy with a playoff appearance. The core of the team hasn’t changed, but the front office and coaching staff is having a very difficult time phasing in younger players and using players from trade or free agency effectively like the Chicago Blackhawks have done.
The Bruins need to focus on the development of Ryan Spooner and David Pastrnak as well as their three first round picks and hope to trade or acquire a top tier defenseman from outside the organization if they want to turn the ship around. The front office has already admitted they probably mishandled Tyler Seguin, let’s hope they’re not saying the same thing about Dougie Hamilton in three years.
-Josh