It is no secret that one of the keys to success for the Boston Bruins franchise for much of the last 15 years is a strong culture that has permeated throughout the organization from top to bottom.
Even as the team’s veteran core gets older and another championship window is narrowing, the challenge for Don Sweeney and Bruce Cassidy has and will be to keep identifying players who embody the attributes the organization prizes.
From fast, powerful scoring winger in Taylor Hall, to heavy puck possession center in Charlie Coyle (East Weymouth, Mass.), the transition was a seamless one when they arrived from Buffalo and Minnesota. Whether it’s the mobile, defense-first rearguard in Derek Forbort or even a veteran Swiss Army knife-type, versatile forward in Nick Foligno, the Bruins brain trust is banking on players who arrive from outside of the Boston organization to quickly adapt and embrace the club’s values.
“I remember before I even played here, what it was like to hear stories of the leaders here,” Coyle said. “How they just lead and the little things they do within that. It trickles down, it does. I’m sure a part of that is how you see that and how you’re supposed to act and how they set the standard and the culture. You kind of get roped into that, and that’s what you become (as a player).”
Even the best culture, however, will not directly translate into results without the talent and production to carry a team far as the rest of the NHL evolves and integrates younger, star-studded casts who play the game faster and with more skills than ever before. In Boston, there is still much to be said about playing in structure and getting the most out of the players here, even if the top-end portion of the roster is mostly on the wrong side of 30.
With other clubs in the division, conference and around the league are narrowing the experience gap while stockpiling picks and impressive talent, Boston’s culture will be more important than ever in 2021-22.
Why culture is important to the team
In an age of advanced statistics and a highlight-driven social media-fueled frenzy of nonstop analysis, the building blocks of how an organization builds cohesion and maintains a healthy atmosphere to get the most from its athletes often gets the short shrift.
The discussion is often more about who is producing the goals, the wins in net, or making the critical mistake that costs the team a point or two on any given night. The debates and arguments often focus on the salary cap hit and who is either a bargain who eventually could price himself off the team, or a player whose higher number and lower production is a drag on the team.
You can’t quantify culture. The concept of team unity and harmony is something that isn’t a hard number or formula you can generate through a shot counter somewhere, so the natural tendency is to recoil from it or at the very least, dismiss its importance.
For a team like the Bruins, the culture in the room is important. It is what allows the team to function as a cohesive unit and get the very best from the individual, disparate parts that form the whole.
“I’ve said it for years around here- we’re blessed to have guys who have left recently and guys who have stayed like (Patrice Bergeron), (Brad Marchand),” Cassidy said. “Those guys are passing the torch to the (Charlie) McAvoys and the (Brandon) Carlos who came in here and didn’t know any better. I’d put (Grzelcyk) in that category. Marchand years ago learned that, so he’s passing it on to the next wave of forwards. (David) Pastrnak has learned from the best.”
That culture manifests in the way the B’s have been a playoff team every year since Cassidy took over in early 2017, but went all the way to the Stanley Cup final in 2019, falling one agonizing game short of the franchise’s second NHL title since 2011. It also shows in the way most of the club’s most important players have eschewed taking big dollars to test the open market and play elsewhere. Or hold the GM over a barrel in negotiations to extract the most amount possible, knowing that down the line, a cap-strapped team won’t be able to have the kind of quality supporting cast to contend for a championship.
It also allows a team like Boston to attract quality players to the organization from the outside, individuals who will turn down more lucrative offers elsewhere to be a part of something they observed from afar when they wore another team’s colors.
Foligno was the latest example of that, opting for Boston after weighing his options and taking a personal call from the captain lobbying him to hitch his wagon to the Spoked B. The B’s cultural lure proved more powerful than Foligno’s own flesh and blood, turning down the opportunity to play with younger brother Marcus on the Minnesota Wild.
Boston’s contract offer played a much bigger role in the signing than Bergeron’s call, but the little things add up.
“You just know what he brings,” Coyle said when asked about Foligno. “He brings a little of everything to be honest, and I think we all know that. And another veteran guy who can only add to what we have here and can play many different positions, too.”
Cassidy added that the positive culture has not only benefited the younger players in Boston’s room, but that veterans like Hall have been able to quickly adapt and learn. Foligno might be a new face, but he is “like a Bruin” in Cassidy’s own words, and is already lifting the team up with his presence.
How a strong culture lifts all
“It’s a great group of guys,” Forbort said. “In free agency, I was kind of thinking where to go and Karson Kuhlman told me how good it was here and how good the leadership was and that made it an easy decision.”
Forbort is not a flashy, high-end defenseman who is going to score a lot of points. He was a top-15 selection in 2010 because of his size, mobility and a possible untapped two-way upside coming out of the U.S. National Program as he headed to the University of North Dakota. As a collegian and pro, however, that offensive potential never materialized. Having said that, he’s partnered with top defensemen throughout his career like Drew Doughty in Los Angeles and more recently with Winnipeg rising star Neal Pionk.
For now, Forbort has been skating with Charlie McAvoy in Boston. Developing strong chemistry with the B’s clear No. 1 blue liner on the top pairing will be important to the team’s hopes going forward. Forbort is not a classic first pair-type of defenseman, but with his size, strength and mobility, he has the tools to complement McAvoy’s higher-end skill set.
“He’s been going a good job of helping me out with new terminology and kind of d-zone style,” said Forbort. “It’s a little different than what I played before, but it’s been good. He does a good job of communicating, and he’s such a good player that he’s pretty easy to play with.”
McAvoy isn’t seen as one of the core leaders in Boston, but make no mistake- now entering his fifth full season in the NHL, he is emerging as an experienced, confident voice in the room. Against the New York Rangers at home in the preseason in a 4-3 OT loss Sat., McAvoy wore an assistant captain’s A on his jersey.
That serves as a reminder that as the years go on and leaders who helped build the team’s current culture like Zdeno Chara and David Krejci move on from Boston, the team will continue to promote players from within.
Whether you’re talking about the Bergerons or Marchands, or fledgling leaders like McAvoy or even a newcomer like Foligno, who was captain of his former team in Columbus, the culture is what makes the B’s click and have a chance to jell and execute at a high level right from the start of a new season.
