Finally, we’ve made it to the top five and it’s an unsurprising group of teams. It’s literally the exact same top five from last season’s previews: Boston, Colorado, Tampa Bay, Toronto and Vegas.
Boston was fifth among that contender pileup last year and I’m sure there are some that are surprised the Bruins even grade out as highly anymore. They had the 10th best record in the league last season and lost some pretty important players during the offseason. It stands to reason that Boston shouldn’t be expected to improve in the standings.
But that’s the difference between real results and projected ones as Boston’s 102 projected points is in fact a step down from last season’s 106-point pace. And 2019-20’s 117-point pace. This is probably a team in decline, though the Bruins are coming from such a high place that it’s still safer to expect they’ll hover around their usual locale.
The Projection
The Roster
In the end, the Bruins are who they usually are thanks to their collection of elite talent, but their season will be defined by how much they can get out of their new talent. It doesn’t look like much as the fresh faces look like they can plug holes in the lineup rather than meaningfully contribute in those roles. That means a likely step back for the team with a much heavier emphasis placed on the team’s top-end talent to carry them.
Those guys can do that though, much better than most team’s top-end talent can. Marchand, Bergeron, Pastrnak and McAvoy are the reason the Bruins rank so highly year after year and that should be the case again this season until proven otherwise. In Hall, Smith and Grzelcyk the team has some strong support behind them which should make up for the lack of depth otherwise.
Boston won’t have many more chances to contend for a Stanley Cup, but this season should still be a good one for it — even if it’s not as large of a chance as usual.
Boston was fifth among that contender pileup last year and I’m sure there are some that are surprised the Bruins even grade out as highly anymore. They had the 10th best record in the league last season and lost some pretty important players during the offseason. It stands to reason that Boston shouldn’t be expected to improve in the standings.
But that’s the difference between real results and projected ones as Boston’s 102 projected points is in fact a step down from last season’s 106-point pace. And 2019-20’s 117-point pace. This is probably a team in decline, though the Bruins are coming from such a high place that it’s still safer to expect they’ll hover around their usual locale.
The Projection
The Roster
In the end, the Bruins are who they usually are thanks to their collection of elite talent, but their season will be defined by how much they can get out of their new talent. It doesn’t look like much as the fresh faces look like they can plug holes in the lineup rather than meaningfully contribute in those roles. That means a likely step back for the team with a much heavier emphasis placed on the team’s top-end talent to carry them.
Those guys can do that though, much better than most team’s top-end talent can. Marchand, Bergeron, Pastrnak and McAvoy are the reason the Bruins rank so highly year after year and that should be the case again this season until proven otherwise. In Hall, Smith and Grzelcyk the team has some strong support behind them which should make up for the lack of depth otherwise.
Boston won’t have many more chances to contend for a Stanley Cup, but this season should still be a good one for it — even if it’s not as large of a chance as usual.
