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Are the Bruins still a playoff team?

October 6, 2015, 3:32 PM ET [113 Comments]
Ty Anderson
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • RSSArchiveCONTACT
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It’s funny when you ask around in regards to the Boston Bruins.

Most seem to believe that the Bruins took a step back. Some would say that it’s a major one, in fact. Out of the fold in Boston: Defenseman Dougie Hamilton, forwards Milan Lucic, Reilly Smith, and Carl Soderberg. The Bruins also moved on from bottom-six forwards Gregory Campbell and Danny Paille and d-man Matt Bartkowski.

Into the mix with the Black and Gold? Forwards Matt Beleskey, Massachusetts native Jimmy Hayes, Joonas Kemppainen, Zac Rinaldo, defensemen Matt Irwin and Colin Miller, along with veteran goaltender Jonas Gustavsson.

The Bruins lost a combined 66 goals with the departed seven players, and gained 50 last season goals between the incoming talents (both Kemppainen and Miller have yet to suit up for an NHL game).

So, quite literally, the Bruins took a step back in the sense that they are in a situation where they’ll have to make up for 16 goals lost from a top-four defenseman and top-six talents.

But what are the realistic expectations heading into the 2015-16 season?

“I don’t want to put any expectations. Our goal is to compete for Stanley Cups and you know we’ll see how the season plays out,” B’s president Cam Neely said last week. “We have some cap space which we haven’t had in awhile so we have opportunities down the road if there’s a situation that arises where you know [Bruins general manager] Don [Sweeney] feels like he can do something that can help us improve I really feel like we’ve got guys who want to compete for Stanley Cups on our roster.

“We brought in guys that do want to compete- they want to win. And you know we’ll see where things go throughout the season. But I like the fact that we have opportunities to improve if need be and that’s you know it’s a lot easier to do that when you can add without having to subtract.”

While Neely and the Bruins don’t want to put expectations on the club, the obvious goal is the playoffs. That’s a goal the Bruins failed to meet last season, and if they took a step back in terms of their roster’s overall talent as many pundits seem to believe, getting back there won’t be any easier in 2015-16.

But I don’t think there’s literally any way that the Bruins can be as bad as they were last year. And bad is probably the wrong word there, ‘cause the Bruins, for as flawed and straight-up uncaptivating as they were a year ago, still finished with the most points by any non-playoff team in NHL history.

And now, top-line center David Krejci is healthy. Boston captain Zdeno Chara, though currently limited by an upper-body injury, is no longer skating on a torn knee.

“I don’t have a crystal ball, but I feel our forward group is pretty deep. I think we’re going to get some more offense throughout all four lines. I think we’re going to be more consistent in that regard,” said Neely. “I think our goaltending situation should be better than last year. I think we can reduce the amount of games that Tuukka had to play from last year. And then from the back end I’m excited to see some of these guys develop, I really am. I think we know what they can do offensively.”

There’s excitement within the developments of players such as David Pastrnak and Ryan Spooner up front, along with a Colin Miller, Joe Morrow, and Zach Trotman. Their developments are a huge reason why the Black and Gold were comfortable enough to move on from the aforementioned players that found new homes this past summer to begin with.

“We’ve seen what they can do. Not all of them are the same but the kids that we brought in, they skated extremely well. And with Claude and his staff I think they can work with them on tightening things up on the defensive side,” Neely added. “I see us really improving throughout the course of the year. With the group that we have that’s new and the group that we have that’s returning I’m excited to see us get going in the season, I really believe that we’re going to improve as the season goes along.”

The Bruins are a weird mix, really. They’re a team that remains at a crossroads with a mix of win-now veterans and up-and-coming kids ready to take the next step at the NHL level. If it blends how the B’s front office projects it to, then they’ll be in contention for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Is this team good enough to win the Atlantic Division? Honestly, probably not.

But are they good enough to nail down a Top-3 spot in the division? If Rask’s workload isn’t so insane, if Chara’s healthy and the Bruins’ young defensive corp proves ready and consistent, if the Bruins find consistent scoring in Beleskey and Hayes to replace the loss of top-liner Milan Lucic, then absolutely. That’s an undeniably long list of if’s though, and a ‘perfect world’ scenario. At the very worst, this Bruins team still feels like it has enough raw talent and know-how to be a wild card team, you’d think.

Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, is a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com
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