The Boston Bruins have been one of the most successful North American professional sports franchises of the last 56 seasons. Starting with the 1967-68 season — coinciding with Bobby Orr’s second year on the team — the Bruins have made the Stanley Cup playoffs 49 times and only failed to make the postseason tournament seven times.
The Bruins could add an eighth season to the negative side of the ledger this season. They have been teetering on the edge of the playoff structure all season, and recent losses to the Buffalo Sabres and the Winnipeg Jets have the Bruins on the outside looking in.
The Bruins have a 25-22-6 record going into their Feb. 1 home game against the New York Rangers and interim head coach Joe Sacco’s team still has 29 games to turn their season around. However, the Bruins have not been a team that has had its usual level of clutch scoring combined with hard-nosed defense and resolute toughness this season.
Consistency has clearly been one of the hallmarks of the team, but that is no longer the case. General manager Don Sweeney and team president Cam Neely clearly understand that the team is lacking in multiple areas. Those two have to decide if the team is going to be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline.
Since the Bruins have been to the playoffs more times than any other team in the sport for multiple decades, it appears that it’s much more likely that the Bruins will make a last-ditch attempt to return to the postseason.
Bruins have multiple issues that need to improve
The teams still has number of key weapons. Right wing David Pastrnak is the team’s best player and leading scorer. Pastrnak suffered through a cold spell earlier in the year, but he has been hot in January and has 24 goals and 37 assists this season.
Captain Brad Marchand has been an overachiever throughout his career, but it appears he has started to slow down at the age of 36. Nevertheless, he is second on the team in scoring with 19 goals and 21 assists.
Charlie McAvoy is the team’s best defenseman. He excels at delivering hard-hitting body checks and carrying the puck and passing it to teammates, but he needs to do more from an offensive perspective. McAvoy has 5 goals and 15 assists in 46 games and that’s simply not enough. He has the talent to rank with the elite players at his position, but he has not played to that level this season.
Hampus Lindholm is another outstanding defender, but he has been out since November due to an injury. He is expected back shortly.
If the Bruins are going to return to the playoffs, they need to upgrade their scoring, tighten up their defense and goaltender Jeremy Swayman has to play to his previous levels. The Bruins have been giving up multiple high-danger chances and Swayman has also been surrendering goals on shots that appear to be routine.
Lack of scoring is the team’s biggest flaw
While the Bruins would benefit with multiple additions, their lack of scoring has been the source of a slew of problems this year.
The Bruins have scored 143 goals this season and given up 172 for a minus-29 goal differential. They are sitting in fifth place in the Atlantic Division, one point behind the fourth place Tampa Bay Lightning.
While that differential is small, the Lightning would appear to be a stronger and more consistent team since they have a plus-35 goal differential. The Lightning has scored 175 goals, 32 more than the Bruins.
Overall, the Bruins are averaging 2.70 goals per game, and that ranks 27th in the NHL. A year ago, the Bruins averaged 3.21 goals per game and that ranked 13th in the league. The downturn has been dramatic.
The Bruins’ lack of scoring is exacerbated by the team’s performance on the defensive end of the ice this season. The Bruins rank 25th as they are allowing 3.23 goals per night. A year ago, they ranked 5th in that category, allowing just 2.70 goals per game.
Adding a key scorer or two would not only help the team’s offense, it would almost certainly help them on the defensive end as well. Increased scoring almost always means increased puck possession, and when they possess the puck, the opponent is not going to get the same number of scoring chances that has become an issue this season.
The Bruins have several flaws this season, but a lack of offense is their fatal flaw in 2024-25.
