16 games separate the Bruins from the end of the 2019-20 regular season and the start of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Unless the Bruins go on a wild losing streak and an epic collapse follows,—think Boston Red Sox, chicken and beer—playoff hockey in Boston is on the horizon.

Despite neither mathematically clinching a playoff berth, nor securing the division title or Presidents’ trophy, head coach Bruce Cassidy admitted Saturday that the Bruins are already thinking postseason

They’ve been thinking postseason for weeks now.

“I think coming out of the deadline, you’re integrating a few new bodies. With our position we are thinking postseason. We started that even a little while ago,” Cassidy said prior to Saturday’s 4-0 shutout of the New York Islanders.

“Our game needed to get closer to that better checking, puck management type of games you’re going to see down the road. I don’t know, personally I don’t believe there is a switch you just turn on a week before, it takes a little longer. Even with a veteran group that’s been there, that’s just my opinion on that.”

The Bruins enter Sunday seven points up on the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Atlantic division and six points up on the St. Louis Blues for the Presidents’ Trophy.

After going on an 11-game win streak to start February, the Lightning followed the win streak up with four straight losses before getting back into the win column Saturday in Calgary. But things got worse for Tampa Bay on Sunday as the team announced that Steven Stamkos will miss 6-8 weeks due to surgery to fix a core muscle injury.

His recovery time has him returning right around what would be the end of the First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, or start of the Second Round should the Lightning advance.

The Lightning do have one game in hand on the Bruins, and the two teams meet twice next week with the first contest in Tampa Bay Tuesday, the second Saturday night in Boston.

So now, with the division race not as tight as it was two weeks ago, the Bruins have some breathing room once again in the Atlantic divison.

It’s a luxury that has a domino effect on Cassidy’s roster.

“The luxury is that we can put people in and out of the lineup, and now look at different line combos. We’ve got two players acquired from Anaheim,” said Cassidy. “It’s not a pressure situation every night. I, as a coach feel it is to win and play well. But, at the end of the day if you lose a couple like we did, it’s not the same pressure as maybe Edmonton is now getting, or whoever. So we do have that luxury to tinker a little bit.”

The trade deadline additions of Ondrej Kase and Nick Ritchie have provided the Bruins with some forward depth, and has given Cassidy more options as he searches for four consistent forward lines.

In the two games both Kase and Ritchie have been in the lineup since the trade deadline, we’ve seen a few different line combinations from Cassidy such as Ritchie, David Krejci and Ondrej Kase, Jake DeBrusk, Charlie Coyle and Karson Kuhlman and Sean Kuraly, Par Lindholm and Chris Wagner.

But the biggest luxury the Bruins cushion in the division has earned them is the ability to rest players as needed, should they go that route.

Rest may not be the worst thing for the Bruins. But as Cassidy and company decide who and when to rest players, weighing the impact of players being out of the lineup is an important task for management.

“As for the time management for players, I think that’s a little bit down the road, but it is a luxury that we may take advantage of simply because we can. If we leave a few points on the table in the process of doing that and still reach our goals, well that’s a credit to the guys early in the year accumulating those points. That’s the advantage of that,” said Cassidy.

“Again, what’s the trade off at the end of the year? Rest versus do you lose first place? Do you lose home ice advantage? So you’re always balancing that, and I think there are merits to both arguments.”

Cassidy doesn’t sound like someone who is afraid of leaving points on the table in exchange for giving rest to some of his players.

The Bruins took a different approach in the early stages of training camp and the preseason, opting to give some veterans more time off after their run to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

With the regular season winding down it sounds like it might be more than veterans like Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara that could be getting some rest.

“The Bergy’s (Bergeron), the Z’s (Chara), even a [Charlie] McAvoy that has played a lot of minutes, maybe he needs a day off somewhere down the road. Krech (Krejci), Marchy (Brad Marchand), even Pasta (David Pastrnak), he’s a young guy, but a lot goes into it,” said Cassidy.

“It’s just who and when, and what’s the cost. Hopefully we play well enough that the last 10 games we’re able to do that. I think every team would like to be in that position.”

A lot could change for the Bruins in the next six games or so, especially with those two key games against the Lightning coming up.

Another factor to consider here are the players themselves. As much as management may advocate for rest for certain guys, not everyone may opt for it.

“Some players don’t want the time off, others need it. Whether they want it or not, I just think it’s a good. I don’t know if there is a great answer, if you win in the end, you’ve done everything right. If you don’t, you’re probably checking back and saying ‘where can we correct, or what can we do better?’” said Cassidy. “So I don’t know sometimes, it’s just get out and play, sometimes I will let the players decide. ‘Do you think you need a rest? Be honest, or are you better off being sharp?’ They’ll usually give the right answer.”

After sweeping the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Finals last May, the Bruins had 10 days off between Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals and Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Trying to balance too much time off and trying to simulate game action as much as they could, the Bruins held an internal scrimmage, a scrimmage that came with much debate outside the Bruins organization at the time.

“We went through with that scrimmage last year if you remember in the playoffs,” said Cassidy. “There was a lot of conversation about that, now no one remembers it, whether we did it or not and how it affected us.”

Even if the Lightning are able to cut the gap between them and the Bruins, I would still advocate for some rest down the stretch.

Sure, home-ice advantage is nice for a Bruins team who have lost a league best three times in regulation on home ice.

But is the Presidents’ Trophy a blessing? Or a curse?

Of the last ten teams to win the Presidents’ Trophy, (most regular season points) only the 2012-13 Chicago Blackhawks have won the Stanley Cup. The 2010-11 Vancouver Canucks—you may remember that one—are the only other Presidents’ Trophy winners to reach the Stanley Cup Final.

Of the other eight winners in the last 10 seasons, three have been knocked out in the first round, four in the second round, and one in the Conference Finals.

And if the Lightning do manage to pass the Bruins in the Atlantic division, a series with the Lightning would most likely be the lone series where the Bruins wouldn’t have home-ice advantage in the series.

A lot can happen in the final month of the regular season, but regardless, the Bruins have put themselves in a great position.

They’ve put themselves in a position where they can both rest their players, and maintain their leads on the Lightning and Blues in the process.

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