The Boston Bruins had an ugly 5-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Monday, and after a trade deadline where they couldn’t make any big splashes due to salary cap constraints, many are wondering where this team stands as a Stanley Cup contender.
They’re fifth in the league in points percentage in a season where they’ve had to plug the holes left by Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci on the fly, so that in and of itself is impressive. But they’ve also benefitted a lot from overtime loss points, which doesn’t make them look quite as strong compared to other top teams.
Colby Cohen and Tyler Yaremchuk talked about if the Bruins are a Cup contender on Daily Faceoff Live.
Colby Cohen: So here’s what I would say. There’s a reason they tried to move Ullmark to bring in major forward help. I mean, it’s not a secret that Ullmark was offered to Los Angeles and Pierre-Luc Dubois was the piece coming back. Now, I do think they have goaltending as good as any team in the NHL. You look at this duo, it’s absolutely undeniable.
But, Derek Forbert was just announced to be out for the season, so I think Andrew Peeke is that replacement for him. Still a weird trade, but I know Don Sweeney likes to have eight NHL-capable defensemen on his roster, I lived that for a couple of years as a prospect in that organization.
Now, do I think this is a team that can go on a run? I don’t. I watch a lot of Boston Bruins hockey. I think they’ve got a lot of skill like Pastrnak. I think Charlie McAvoy’s easily one of the five best defensemen in the NHL, I think he’s a total gamer. But I think they’ve got holes, I think they’ve got depth issues, their bottom six is not completely figured out. It’s a constant rotation, which I think is a little bit unsettling going into the playoffs when you’ve got teams like Florida and you know you’ve got some of these other teams in the East that are pretty powerful teams.
But I will say this, if they end up in a first round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs, I think they could win a series. I really do, I think they could beat the Leafs. They play heavier than the Leafs, they play more structured than the Leafs, and they’ve got better goaltending than the Leafs. But I don’t foresee them being an Eastern Conference Final team this year.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Yeah, I think if they beat the Leafs, it’s more of a product of the Leafs also being a very subpar roster when you stack it up to other Cup contenders around the league, even just in the Eastern Conference. I think it’s clear cut in the East that it’s Florida, New York, Carolina as that top tier, and then there’s a gap to me, and the Bruins are below that gap in my opinion.
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