Do's and Do Not's for the Bruins

Each teams goal is the stretch the season as long as possible so if I were the Boston Bruins, there would be some changes that need to be changed. Looking at the recent past, the Bruins haven’t made the playoffs the past two years, and they won the Stanley Cup in 2011 and went again in 2013. Each teams goal is the stretch the season as long as possible. So let’s take a dive into the Bruins organization and see what the Bruins need to do to make playoffs and what they don’t need to keep a strong future.

Do: Build a strong D-core

I have been saying since 2013 and that is the Bruins need more defense. With the departure of Dennis Seidenberg and Johnny Boychuck, the Bruins have had a hard time filling in that gap that is missing. Also with Zdeno Chara getting older, hes slowing down and is just too tall. His long arms can come in handy but his long legs are not keeping up with some of the younger, better players that get by a lot.

Don’t: Trade away the young defenseman

The Bruins need players like Torey Krug and Brendan Carlo. These young defensemen are going to reshape the defense for the team. Trading away Dougie Hamilton because of problems in the front office makes sense, but the Bruins needed a player out of the trade. The Bruins received 3 draft picks and when they put some of those picks to the test to make the team, the only person to make the tea, was Brandan Carlo who was a third round pick in the 2015 draft.

Do: Find a new backup goalie

Rask is having a pretty god year. It’s the backup goalies that are sub-par. The three backup goalies the Bruins have, Malcom Subban, Anton Khudobin and Zana McIntrye, their records all combined comes out to 3-10-2 which is not good because as a starter, you want to be able to get a night off. With the goaltending the Bruins have, whoever the starter is, in this case Rask, needs to be ill or injured. if I was Bruce Cassidy, I wouldn’t want to play any of my backups even if it was back to back nights with games.

Don’t: Add more forwards

Personally, the Bruins do not need any more forwards to this team. Under Cassidy, we are seeing a mix in lines and its working for the Bruins. If the Bruins add more players up front, then the Bruins are not going to have good chemistry because each player will want to fight for their spot and it will not look good. Players like Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron that play together on the Bruins and the World Cup of Hockey, they have a lot of chemistry and that’s what more of the Bruins need. So work with the forwards that are there now and build with those guys and not these older experienced guys.

Do: Scout better prospects

The Bruins have a few players in college right now that are going to be good assets to the team. But when three first round draft picks don’t make the team before camp starts, then who’s fault is that? The Bruins need to find better younger players that will not have a hard time playing professional hockey.

Something else that has already been done is the coaching. The Bruins fired Claude Julien and have Bruce Cassidy as the interim coach currently. Cassidy has picked up the tempo in practices and he doesn’t waste any time in between drills. Just the feeling of someone new in charge, can change the way someone plays. The players need to listen to Cassidy and continue to practice at a higher tempo and things will start the fall into place.