Dissecting the Bruin's Disappointing Season
We are halfway through another disappointing Boston Bruins hockey season. The Bruins have missed the playoffs the past 2 seasons and if things don’t change it looks we will complete the Hat Trick. The Bruins currently are 23-21-6 while sitting at 3rd place in the Atlantic Division. Not to mention they are riding a 4 game losing streak and just got blown out by Pittsburgh 5-1 Sunday afternoon. Now who is to blame for this tough season? Is it the Head Coach Claude Julien? A man who has been on the hot seat with Bruins fans for numerous seasons? Could it be the disappointing defense this season? Also Tuukka Rask is the only goalie really producing for this team so far. Let’s take a deeper look into these three issues:
Claude Julien:
Ahead of last Friday’s game against Chicago, there were news reports suggesting that the Bruins may have been exploring options of firing their head coach. The Bruins would ultimately go on to lose that game to Chicago 1-0 with Marian Hossa scoring with under a minute to go. Claude would later go on to deny these reports publicly. A lot of fans have been calling for Claude Julien to be fired for the past 3 to 4 seasons now and to be honest I don’t know if I agree with those people. Julien became the Bruins coach prior to the 2007-2008 season and led the B’s to a 41-29-12 season. He is most noted for bringing the Stanley Cup trophy back to Boston in 2011. He would also lead the Bruins back to the Cup in 2013 but fell short to Chicago in 6 games. In Claude’s 10 seasons in Boston he has never had a losing season. A lot of people’s biggest complaint is that he is too defensive minded. The casual hockey fan loves to see the flashy, goal scoring part of hockey. But in reality, Defense is a huge part of the game. In Claude’s 10 years here, he has proven that he can take the Bruins far but to get there you have to experience some lows along the way. Yes, it can be frustrating but I don’t think these frustrations fall solely on Claude.
The Defense:
Claude Julien loves his defense. Slight problem being is his defense is nowhere to be found this season. Zdeno Chara is 39 and most likely nearing the end of his career. Adam Mcquaid seems to always be hurt and all these unproven talents on defense. I will say the one bright spot on defense this year has been 20-year-old Brandon Carlo. The kid has a lot of promise on this team and the Bruins have publicly said he’s not available for trade which I like. But back to the struggling defensive unit. Torey Krug, Colin Miller, Kevan Miller, and Joe Morrow are all minus this year which is terrible if you’re a defensive minded team like the Bruins. But don’t worry Bruins fans. We could see some change on defense due to amount of young talent the Bruins have on defense that are either in the AHL or the CHL still. Some of these young players include Matt Grzelcyk who plays for the Providence Bruins, Charlie McAvoy who is currently playing for the Boston University Terriers, Jakub Zboril who is with Saint John Sea Dogs in the QMJHL and Jeremy Lauzon who is with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies also in the QMJHL. So with those prospects coming up soon it should be an exciting time for Bruins hockey.
The Goaltender Situation:
At the beginning of the season the Bruins signed goalie Anton Khudobin to play the backup of starting goaltender Tuukka Rask. Khudobin had previously played for the Bruins from 2011-2013 until he signed with Carolina. A lot of fans including myself were excited to see Khudobin backing up Rask so we can finally take all the pressure of him. Well early on that signing blew up in our faces. Early on Khudobin struggled and once again it was all up to Rask to win games. For the early portion of the season, Rask was the only goalie on the team to pick up a win. The Bruins also experimented with Malcolm Subban, a former 1st round draft pick and younger brother of Nashville defensemen P.K. Subban. He has not produced like the Bruins wanted him to as he has even had struggles in the AHL as well. The other goalie this year has been Zane McIntyre. Zane has shown some good potential this season and the best part is that he is only 24 so he’s only going to get better with time. As for Khudobin, he was placed on waivers a couple of weeks and was the sent down to Providence so I think that’s where he should stay for now. It doesn’t hurt giving McIntyre some extra starts to get him NHL ready. I really do not have any complaints for Tuukka Rask this season. He has had a really bounce back season from last year and I would even say he’s Veznia Trophy worthy this year. I wouldn not say he’s carrying the team so much due to the breakout season of David Pastrnak and Patrice Bergeron and Marchand always produce but Rask is doing all he can to keep the Bruins in these games this season. My only problem is if the Bruins do somehow sneak into the playoffs how banged up and tired will Rask be from all his extra starts this season?
My Conclusion:
I think a lot of the struggles this season stem from the lack of production from the defensemen. If you have a coach that loves defense and half of your defense has minus rating for the season you are going to run into problems along the way. I really do think those prospects I named in the defense section of this article can really make a difference for this team. It’ll be interesting to see how this team adjusts after All-Star break in February and if they can make that final push for the playoffs in the second half of the season. We could be in for a bumpy ride Bruins fans.