The Boston Bruins front office spoke at their end of the season press conference and are excited about the future of the team.
The season may have just ended for the Boston Bruins, but their front office is already looking towards next season. At their end of the season presser Cam Neely, Jeremy Jacobs, and Charlie Jacobs sat down and gave their thoughts on the season and their expectations for the future.
The Boston Bruins season was surprisingly disappointing. At the beginning of the year they were looking to rebuild. The Bruins had so many young players and a ton of them hadn’t even played in the NHL. How could you expect them to make the playoffs?
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Then halfway through the season the Bruins had exploded. The expectations changed from just making the playoffs, to being the No.1 seed in the Eastern Conference. So when the Bruins ended up losing in the 2nd round of the playoffs it was kind of disappointing. This team just seemed so special entering the playoffs, but couldn’t get it done.
There were plenty of interesting soundbites that came out of the press conference that showed what the Bruins plans are as they enter free agency and what the Bruins will look like in the 2018-2019 season.
Boosting the defense
Entering free agency the Bruins have a glaring hole in their defense. The Bruins have plenty of great right-handed defenseman but are relatively weak on the left side. Zdeno Chara is really the only stereotypical left-handed defenseman on the roster.
It seems like the Bruins are going to try and fill this hole in the offseason.
"“As far as size goes, would it be nice to have a little bigger on the left side other than [Zdeno Chara]? Yes,” said Neely. “So that’s something, I think, Don was going to try and work on this offseason, but that’s not to take away from what the guys did for us that played on the left side this year. I thought they played very well for us.”"
The market for a quality left-handed defenseman is pretty slim. John Carlson is probably the best defenseman on the market, but he is a righty. The only prominent names are Calvin De Haan and Ian Cole. De Haan is a physical defender so he would fit into the Bruins well. Cole would be a good guy for his experience and would solidify the bottom of the Bruins defensive pairings.
There is another interesting opportunity that the Bruins might go after. The Carolina Hurricanes are in full sell mode. One name immediately comes to mind, Noah Hanifin. He grew up in Boston and is a big body who can also score some goals. If the Bruins could somehow take advantage of the Hurricanes situation and land Hanifin it would be a big move. It may mean the departure of Adam McQuaid or a young player in AHL, but it would mean that the Bruins defense would be one of the best in the league.
Who will be the backup?
The Boston Bruins are essentially without a backup goaltender at the moment. Anton Khudobin is an unrestricted free agent and will be in search of a nice payday this offseason. Khudobin is coming off of a great season where he saved the Bruins early on while Tuukka Rask was struggling.
It appears that the Bruins hope to bring the goaltender back, but they aren’t willing to overpay for a veteran goaltender.
"“I thought he had a great year for us,” said Neely. I think he stepped in when Tuukka was struggling a little bit and gave us an opportunity to win hockey games. If we didn’t have that, we certainly wouldn’t have had the year that we had. He’s well liked in the locker room. Starting last year, those two big games for us in Chicago and against the Islanders, and then he followed it up with a good start this year. Obviously it has to make sense for us. When someone has a really good year going into the UFA, sometimes they want to see what’s really out there and you can’t blame him for that.”"
Khudobin ended the season with a 16-6-7 record with a .913 save percentage. If a team is looking for a solid backup Khudobin could be the answer. I think if the Bruins get out in front of other teams and make him a priority “Dobby” will be coming back to Boston.
‘Expectations will be higher’
It seems that the Boston Bruins brass are going to expect to be in a similar situation like they were this postseason. As they should. The Bruins are filled with youth and now have experience playing in both the regular season and the postseason. Making the playoffs isn’t a question moving forward.
"“Coming off the season we had, we know the expectations are higher next year,” said Neely. “It’s not an easy league. You saw the teams that made the playoffs, how many points they got this year. If we can improve our club now, we’d like to do that."
This will be an interesting offseason for the Bruins. They have a decent amount of free agents and with that in mind may have a new look next season. I think if the Bruins are able to make some moves in the offseason such as obtaining a solid left shot defenseman they should be expected to be one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference once again.
Next: Making the case for Anton Khudobin
The season may have ended sooner than fans hoped, but the Bruins future is as bright as the sun and it seems like the Bruins front office agrees.