They're without Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, but instead of spiraling into decline, the Boston Bruins could top the NHL standings once again. How did they do it?
The NHL’s Presidents’ Trophy is often looked upon as a playoff curse of sorts, and for good reason.
In the salary-cap era, just two teams have won the Stanley Cup after finishing the regular season as the No. 1 team. The 2008 Detroit Red Wings pulled off the double dip, and so did the 2013 Chicago Blackhawks — but that came at the end of a lockout-shortened 48-game season.
Over the last few years, it has actually been more common for an NHL team to win the Stanley Cup one year after it earns a regular-season title.
That happened with the Colorado Avalanche, which won the Presidents’ Trophy in 2021 and followed up with the Cup in ‘22. It happened to the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2019 and 2020. And it happened to the Washington Capitals, two-time Presidents’ Trophy winners in 2016 and 2017, which slipped back to sixth overall before they won their Cup in 2018.
That brings us to the 2023-24 Boston Bruins.
They’re no longer the same regular-season powerhouse that set a record with 135 points and an .823 points percentage last season, but Boston is once again very much in the Presidents' Trophy mix.
On Thursday, the Bruins suffered just their 15th regulation loss of the year against the New York Rangers. With 97 points in 71 games, they’re currently on pace for 112 points this season.
That would be on the low side for a Presidents’ Trophy winner, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility, even in the cap era. The 2012 Vancouver Canucks won with 111 points in 2012, and both the 2015 Rangers and the 2007 Buffalo Sabres had 113.
Last year, the Bruins finished with a goal differential of plus-128, nearly double the second-place Dallas Stars (plus-67). They also dominated the primary regular-season statistical categories. First in goals against per game (2.12), second in goals scored per game (3.67), second in faceoffs (54.5 percent), first on the penalty kill (87.3 percent) and 12th on the power play (22.2 percent). That earned Jim Montgomery the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year.
This season, Boston’s goal differential is plus-42 — still very respectable but just hovering within the top 10. And at 23.8 percent, their power play is actually a little better. But they’re giving up 2.73 goals a game while scoring 3.32 and now winning 49.4 percent of their draws. And their penalty kill is also worse, at 82.1 percent.
When Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci decided to hang up their skates after last season’s devastating first-round loss to the Florida Panthers, it looked like the Bruins were ready to spiral into decline. Last year’s squad was designed with a championship in mind, and GM Don Sweeney went all in at the trade deadline, acquiring rentals Tyler Bertuzzi, Garnet Hathaway and Dmitry Orlov to augment his roster.
No matter how good the players are, integrating deadline acquisitions while maintaining team chemistry is no small task. That may be part of what afflicted the Bruins last spring. They didn’t go through the process of learning through adversity much last season, either.
This year, Sweeney was forced to adjust when Bergeron and Krejci announced their retirement decisions.
He elected to fill his top two center spots from within, promoting Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha, and that has worked pretty well. Both are effectively playing increased minutes, and Coyle’s on track for a career-best season. So is 25-year-old depth center Morgan Geekie, who joined as a free agent after he didn’t receive a qualifying offer from the Seattle Kraken.
Sweeney also signed well-regarded veterans James van Riemsdyk and Kevin Shattenkirk and has allowed younger players like Jakub Lauko, Johnny Beecher and Mason Lohrei to play regular roles.
At the 2024 NHL trade deadline, he stayed conservative. His only additions were depth defenseman Andrew Peeke and Stanley Cup good luck charm Patrick Maroon, who had back surgery at the all-star break and is still listed as week-to-week.
So the group that has brought the Bruins back to the top of the standings is essentially the group that will do battle in the playoffs. And if you're looking for evidence of how much these players care about each other, look no further than the famous goalie hugs between Jeremy Swayman and Linus UIllmark — and the whispers that Ullmark elected to exercise his trade protection and remain with the Bruins rather than authorize a deadline deal to the Los Angeles Kings, even though his role in Boston has changed from his Vezina Trophy campaign one year ago.
With new captain Brad Marchand, ultra-consistent David Pastrnak and blueline stalwarts Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm playing big roles, it's easy to think that not much has changed in Boston. But Sweeney has done more than tweak around the edges over the past 12 months.
The Bruins remain among the NHL's top teams. And soon, it will be time to see if Montgomery's coaching prowess can help this group exorcise the demons of '23.