Boston Bruins: Time for Change, More Offensive Direction

As the Boston Bruins teeter on the brink of missing the playoffs for the second straight year having lost 8 of 10, a change in direction and philosophy may be in order for next season to breathe new life into a team that has become predictable and often boring to watch as younger, faster and more skilled squads sail past them.

Even Carolina, which had already been eliminated from the playoffs, looked more dynamic and dangerous than the B’s in their 2-1 shootout victory Tuesday in a game Boston desperately needed to win with homecrowd fans shouting “We want the playoffs!” but the Bruins looked harmless throughout. Such emerging Hurricanes as Sergey Tolchinsky, who had an electric rush where he blew by three Bruins to get a shot on net, and local product Noah Hanifan stickhandling in and lifting a nifty top-shelf backhander to win the game with the lone shootout goal provided the most thrilling moments of the game.

Local media poured criticism on Bruins coach Claude Julien for running out seemingly every B’s shooter (5) except top scorer Brad Marchand in the shootout, and Boston promptly followed that up by recalling defensive veteran center Max Talbot from Providence instead of speedy high-scoring Baby B’s rookie Austin Czarnik or other offensive options to cover for Jimmy Hayes who went down with an apparent injury.

But these are just cherries on a cake that Julien has prepared, baked and eaten all season. More glaring questions arise when you look at some of his conservative lineup choices throughout the year, such as sitting quicker and younger D-men for slower veteran low-possession guys, or his insistence to separate Ryan Spooner and David Pastrnak all season when they were Boston’s two hottest and most dynamic forwards on a line together in the homestretch last year and have obvious chemistry with their speed and skillets.

"I like offensive players. I know you need a balance to win games, but it’s nice to see guys out there making plays, finding chemistry."    

 - Providence Bruins Coach Bruce Cassidy

At the beginning of the year in a charge led by GM Don Sweeney, Julien and company announced the Bruins were going to change their game and push a quicker pace with blueliners carrying the puck further up ice and passing it with more urgency to forwards into the neutral zone and then closely trail the play to shift the focus of the game out of the defensive end into offense. The Bruins have actually done well when they have successfully employed the strategy.

It pushes teams back, adopts well to the NHL’s new trend to a faster, more offensive possession and skilled game, and keeps the Bruins from struggling to get out of their own end. The best defense is the best offense, as the B’s Bobby Orr-led teams of the ‘70s might say.

But Boston more often has fared poorly and several times been blown out of the building by the league’s elite, skilled teams when they have strayed from that strategy and reverted back to the old, defensive-minded stay back and ‘take care of your own end’ first approach waiting for the counterattack that often has characterized Julien’s teams. Some of it is Boston's aging D just isn't what it used to be or the B's simply not having enough dynamic players, and although Julien has had his successes over the years a fresh approach might help amid changing personnel and times. Against Carolina, for example, they were caught standing around or having too many guys following the puck carrier and leaving players open for quality scoring chances.

The B’s powerplay also went from overdrive and being among the sharpest and best in the NHL the first half of the year to less aggressive, sloppy, lackluster performances that have plummeted their man advantage rankings in the second half.

With NHL rule changes since the ’04-’05 lockout, such as elimination of two-line offside and implementation of obstruction penalties, shootouts and now 3-on-3 OT periods, the league is encouraging offense, speed and skill and the Bruins need to become more dynamic and adjust further to it.

They should go all in and get a more offensive-minded coach, for one. Providence Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy would be a great fit. He’s developed Providence’s young guns along very well, and has them flying in 3^rd place with the best powerplay in the AHL.

At one point early in the season, Providence had a dominant offensive line of Czarnik, Frank Vatrano and Alexander Khokhlachev. The trio didn’t bring a lot of size, but had a ton of firepower. “I like it. I like offensive players,” Cassidy said on the Bruins website at the time. “I know you need a balance to win games, but it’s nice to see guys out there making plays, finding chemistry.”

Cassidy would work well with Spooner, Pastrnak and Vatrano, as well as other B’s on the way like Czarnik, OHL 45-goal scorer Zach Senyshyn, University of Denver standout Danton Heinen, and upcoming blueliners Matt Grzelcyk, Jeremy Lauzon, Brandon Carlo and Rob O’Gara.

It’s also becoming painfully obvious that Sweeney needs to land a gamebreaking elite-level star prospect, whether it’s Jimmy Vesey in free agency or with the two first round picks the Bruins have in the June draft. Boston needs a fast highly skilled star finisher who can change the outcome of games on the ice and bring some excitement to Garden crowds again.