They’re on again and off again.
The Boston Bruins just captured five out of six possible points on their Western Canada road trip, beating the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames, but losing to a team they should not have in the Vancouver Canucks.
 Linus Ullmark has come through of late, going 4-1 while stopping 160 of 170 shots (.941 save percentage). The team got a big goal from Matt Grzelcyk late in a tie with Edmonton to grab two points, and contributions from the lower portion of the Boston roster secured victory in Calgary. The team is now 14-8-2, and has a share of the playoff position in the Eastern Conference for the first time this season.
However, doubts continue to swirl around the team, and it isn't so much about what the Bruins are doing in 2021-22, but what to expect in the coming season that is fueling the debate.
Expectations are always high, especially in a city used to championships, and now watching a one-year transformation of the New England Patriots from having dirty shoveled on a dynasty’s grave, to Lazarus himself rising up on the shoulders of Mac Jones, Matt Judon and a revamped roster that stumbled out of the gate, but is now resembling Pats powerhouses of old. For the Bruins, their near-.500 record and inability to find an identity and string together meaningful wins has created a tension around the team not seen in some time.
Where does it go from here? If that were an easy question to answer, we’d all know it by now.
The quest for identity starts at the top
It started with the agonizing seven-game loss to the St. Louis Blues in 2019. To come so far, and get so close, only to come up three periods short of what should have been a championship season and might have eased the sting of watching Boston’s golden core gradually age and dissipate.
David Krejci’s summer departure at age 35 at a time when he had posted on of his most productive regular seasons in several years, grabbed reality by the throat. His decision to sign in Europe over the NHL revealed the stark reality that players who were a part of the winning formula for so long were starting to make personal choices to move on. If Krejci’s return home to the Czech Republic was an opening salvo of what is to come, it certainly won’t be the final shots fired in what could be a gradual decline, or a team that is facing a grim possibility of falling off a cliff in the next year or two.
This is the challenge staring the organization and its leadership in the face if they aren’t able to leverage their resources, experience and maybe some good old-fashioned luck to avert what appears to be a runaway train screaming down the track.
Several years of unproductive drafts, an aging group of top players and the simple fact that the other teams around the league are improving as their own drafted youth movements are growing into prime roles all adds up to some lean years ahead.
Time to protect Bergeron
It’s been a topic growing in fervor, especially in light of recent games, but why hasn’t the team done more to respond to opponents who appear to be targeting captain Patrice Bergeron for singular (and physical) attention in games?
Bergeron is a veteran of more than 1,000 physical wars, but those years have taken their toll. 14 years ago, his Hall of Fame career almost wasn't, and could've been ended by a hit from behind. In the 2013 Stanley Cup final series against Chicago, he played Game 6 with a separated shoulder, cracked rib, torn rib cartilage and a punctured lung. That’s the tip of the iceberg(eron) when it comes to injuries, but the B’s captain is clearly a player whose toughness has always been measured in his insane threshold for pain as opposed to being someone known for leveling punishing hits or dropping his gloves regularly, as others tend to define the term.
No, Bergeron has weathered myriad wounds, hurts and serious, even life-threatening injuries to keep playing hockey and give the Bruins his best, even if he were reduced to trying to skate on one leg. He’s certainly done the one arm thing. If there is a player who has earned a fanatical zeal to protect his physical person if not honor, it is No. 37.
So, why is it then, that as he’s taken punishing hits or even gratuitous knocks. Bergeron is wearing a full face shield/bubble for the next few weeks, a product of a broken nose repair in another incident that occurred in Nashville when Filip Forsberg took a run at him and connected.  Against Vancouver earlier this week, fringe defenseman Kyle Burroughs got into it with Bergeron and appeared to raise his stick as if to try and cross check Bergeron in the face. Nothing came of it, but that’s precisely the point. If a low-end player like Burroughs can even appear to consider taking liberties without drawing a swift reaction, then what’s to stop anyone else around the league from doing the same?
One can’t help but wonder, though: how much more willing is Bergeron going to be to sign on and come back to the NHL in coming seasons for more punishment?
He raised eyebrows before the 2021-22 training camp opened by refusing to discuss a future in Boston beyond this one, so based on the way things are going, is it time to wonder if he might be thinking twice about returning to the NHL at age 37 and beyond?
The B’s team identity has always been to play tough and not tolerate liberties against anyone in the Black and Gold, especially not the face of the franchise. Brad Marchand may be Boston’s MVP and franchise cornerstone, but make no mistake: Bergeron is the B’s face. He is the team’s heart and soul.
Bergeron has nearly decades of serious wear and tear on his body. His teammates should be protecting him like the precious commodity he is. Instead, he’s had to stand up for himself for the most part, the insidious result being the message sent to opponents that you can target the captain and the team won’t do a thing about it.
There’s not a lot Bruin in Providence
After attending a recent Providence Bruins game at the Dunkin Donuts Center, only the most ardent optimist would believe that multiple difference-making prospects that every NHL team counts on to come out of their farm system are on the way from this current club.
The Baby B’s lost 4-1 to the Belleville Senators, Ottawa’s AHL affiliate, and it sure looks like the recent last-place finishes in Canada’s capital have at least given the Senators organization some intriguing young talent that will soon skate in the NHL and likely develop into impact performers. Egor Sokolov, Roby Jarventie, Mads Sogaard are just a few names of the standouts, but they look like they have a strong NHL future if things at the top in Ottawa can get sorted out.
To be fair, the Providence team that fell Friday night was severely undermanned. Leading scorer Oskar Steen had been returned in a transaction that day, but was not in the lineup. Top defensemen Jack Ahcan (in Boston) and Urho Vaakanainen (injured) didn’t play. Nor did young prospect Brady Lyle (also injured). Jack Studnicka did play, and he scored Providence’s only goal on the night- tallied on a breakaway off a bullet shot from the slot that beat goaltender Kevin Mandolese cleanly.
Studnicka, at one time Boston’s top prospect after being a second-round selection in 2017 and the closest to a sure thing the B’s had produced in several years of drafting, has taken steps backwards since he didn’t make the NHL roster to start the season. He doesn’t seem to click with head coach Bruce Cassidy.  His four goals and 7 points in 12 games is pedestrian, and quite frankly- he’s capable of producing much more than that. Can he get his confidence back and one day be the player that he looked to be on the verge of becoming after a 36-goal, 83-point OHL season followed by his first few games of NHL action in 2018-19?
Jakub Lauko, a third-round selection in 2018 is a blazing fast skater to be sure, but he hasn’t been a consistent offensive presence with three goals and nine points in 19 games. He will flash potential on a shift here and there, but the anticipated and expected big step forward in his third AHL season has not come together.
Boston’s more productive prospects aren’t in Providence, but in major junior and college: Fabian Lysell (28 points in 22 WHL games), Brett Harrison (13 goals, 22 points in 20 OHL games), Mason Lohrei (13 points in 15 games as a freshman defenseman in the NCAA). 2019 first-rounder John Beecher is not among the producers, having gone pointless in his last seven games after beginning the year with four in his first four games.
The B’s have some decent pieces in their organization to be sure. But how close they are to the NHL and how much they can help their club keep pace in the NHL’s arms race is anyone’s guess at this point.
A challenging outlook
In the immediate, the Bruins need more.
They need more from Taylor Hall, more from Erik Haula, more from Nick Foligno, more from Mike Reilly. Jake DeBrusk wants out, but he’s also played some of his best hockey since his desire to be traded got aired out in public.
There appears to be nothing imminent on the trade front for him, but he’s got as many goals as Hall does (five) in one fewer game. Hall’s lack of finish has been a major sore spot for the team that invested heavily into him. Granted, you can say Charlie Coyle isn’t a true No. 2 center and not be wrong, but the 2010 first overall pick can create offense on his own, and isn’t doing it. The team needs more. Across the board.
Years of finishing near the top of the standings has taken a toll on the team’s performance at the draft table, as have the trades to deal draft picks for short-term veteran adds at the deadline. In terms of pick position and volume, the B’s have not had much to work with, and that cycle is starting to manifest today, with tomorrow sure to follow suit.
Boston’s biggest need is a top center. It will be tough for anyone to fill Bergeron's skates, but Studnicka is not going to be that guy. Harrison probably won’t be either, though both could be 2/3 options. At some point, the B’s brain trust will either need to find one via trade or hope they can get lucky again at the draft and grab a player who unexpectedly falls into their lap.
There are no quick fixes. As well as the B’s did in the 2021 draft to infuse some skill and talent, those players aren’t ready and won’t be for some time yet. The lack of impact performers from the 2017-19 drafts are the bills that are becoming due for the direction of the Bruins. Other NHL teams pulled in the top players, and those are the ones that will soon form the core components of those teams on the rise, while Boston struggles to surround its own declining core with a good enough supporting cast to stay competitive.
For a team that came so close in 2019, and what might have been in the couple of years since, it’s a far cry from what has become the high bar in Boston.
