The Boston Bruins Might Actually Be A Bad Team

The Boston Bruins have emptied out their offensive cupboard just one too many times

Every power ranking and playoff prediction in the NHL still has the Boston Bruins making a run for the cup, but it might be time to face reality; the Boston Bruins are mediocre at best right now.

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As I write that, I’m busy wiping tears off my face with the sleeve of my 2011 playoffs Brad Marchand t-shirt — so this isn’t coming from a disgruntled Toronto fan or a smug Montreal reporter. Even I’ve noticed though; while Boston isn’t collapsing as quickly as the Philadelphia Flyers have, it’s still hard to ignore the fact that they no longer look like a real playoff team.

The biggest argument for why the Bruins are 0-3 in California is the injury list — with both top-line center David Krejci and team captain Zdeno Chara out on injured reserve, the easiest excuse to make is that the team is too battered to compete right now.

Ignoring the assumption that Krejci’s numbers are almost certainly underreporting his true team value, though, it’s hard to ignore the lack of scoring on the Original Six franchise’s current roster.

Leading the team in goals scored is left wing Brad Marchand; arguably one of the most underrated players in the league, but far from a league goal leader…. he only has six goals on the season.

The team’s scoring leaders aren’t much to write home about, either — Carl Soderberg is tied with alternate captain Patrice Bergeron at eighteen points apiece.

To put this in perspective, the Bruins’ Saturday matchup team is the Arizona Coyotes, who have gone over 150 game minutes since last scoring a goal. They’ve been criticized all season for their lack of scoring ability… yet their lead scorer (Keith Yandle) is tied with Bergeron and Soderberg. They’ve also got two guys with more goals than Marchand [Mikkel Boedker (8), Shane Doan (7)]… and they’re in the bottom third of the league.

It’s easy to keep saying that the Bruins will ‘catch back up’, but it might be time to face the hard truth — this team might have traded one too many scoring leaders for mid-line forwards in an effort to enforce the team’s purported group mentality.

The Phil Kessel trade would have been justified had the team stopped there; Dougie Hamilton, who was selected by Boston using an acquired pick snagged in the deal, is well on his way to becoming a league-leading defenseman, and the team’s other gained pick was used to select Tyler Seguin.

Whatever offense the team gained in the trade by selecting Seguin, though, was lost in the Dallas trade; Reilly Smith may be good for twenty-plus goals a season, but Loui Eriksson is nowhere near the player Boston needs him to be. He doesn’t fit in with the Boston play model, and it’s hurting the franchise overall.

The Bruins could very well be one of the next teams to make a big roster change — but short of that, I doubt you’ll see me cheering for the hometown team at any playoff games this spring.

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