Speculation: Where do the Bruins Finish 2023-24?

[BruinsFan37]

Most likely a wild-card team, but with a bit of puck luck good or bad they could finish as high at 3rd, or just miss the playoffs.

 

[bruinsfan1968]

We now have some clarity with the Bergeron domino falling.

Things could theoretically change in the form of a trade.

However, as presently constituted, how do you see the Bruins finishing in 2023-24?

I'm sorry to break it to you, but poll is thrust upon this forum way too soon!
Everyone here, and the entire Bruin fan base is pretty raw from hearing the news about Bergeron's retirement.
Not to mention the Hockey world is dealing with it!.
It's just my opinion, but shelve this until the start of training camp. Let things settle down!.

 

[ON3M4N]

I'd love him to acquire a first or even a 2nd or a 3rd next year to find out. I mean if he keeps trading picks away why even have a scouting staff ? Give them a chance Donny !!!

Even if he had a 1st, 2nd or 3rd you likely wouldn't know for 5yrs if the pick was a good or not.

 

[The don godfather]

3rd .

 

[BradMarchandismydad]

3rd .

I think 2nd or 3rd in the Atlantic as well. Behind Toronto and one other team.

The division is well built for the future (I love the construction of Ottawa and Buffalo) but unless one of them finally breaks out in a major way they’ll all be fighting for the wild card and that last spot of 3. I’d guess something like

Toronto
Boston
Buffalo
Tampa

I think the back end and goaltending are too strong for the Bruins to not win a lot of regular season hockey.

Don’t think they’ll go deep in the playoffs unless we can get a 1C or we get something absolutely miraculous from the farm or Geekie—fat chance of that

 

[The don godfather]

I think 2nd or 3rd in the Atlantic as well. Behind Toronto and one other team.

The division is well built for the future (I love the construction of Ottawa and Buffalo) but unless one of them finally breaks out in a major way they’ll all be fighting for the wild card and that last spot of 3. I’d guess something like

Toronto
Boston
Buffalo
Tampa

I think the back end and goaltending are too strong for the Bruins to not win a lot of regular season hockey.

Don’t think they’ll go deep in the playoffs unless we can get a 1C or we get something absolutely miraculous from the farm or Geekie—fat chance of that

Our C strength at the moment is below average at best I agree. Hopefully DK returns.

 

[Bruinswillwin77]

Our C strength at the moment is below average at best I agree. Hopefully DK returns.

Time to move on.

I voted barely miss the playoffs.

 

[Dr Hook]

Nice kitty!

Thanks! His name is Otto and he watches Bruins games with us

 

[DarrenBanks56]

Tampa, Toronto, Buffalo, Carolina, Devils, Rangers are all slam dunk better, no contest. That's 6.

So we're gonna slug it out with the Pens, Sens, Panthers and probably a surprise team, give or take? I voted for us just outside there, but sure I could see WC2. At least they'd have no pressure there.

yup.
and we all know they suck under pressure.

 

[UncleRico]

If they are healthy I just can’t see them missing the playoffs. Still think they are a wild card team. Also think the conference is a little lighter than the past couple years. So that should benefit the Bs as well.

 

[KillerMillerTime]

If you take each players point totals from last year the difference between this team:

Zacha - Krejci - Pasta
Marchand - Bergeron - Debrusk
Hall - Coyle - Frederic
Foligno - Nosek - Smith
Greer

Gryz - McAvoy
Lindholm - Carlo
Forbort - Clifton
Zboril - Reilly


and this team

Marchand - Zacha - Pasta
JVR - Coyle - Debrusk
Lucic - Geekie - Boqvist
Lauko - Frederic - Brown
Greer

Gryz-McAvoy
Lindholm - Carlo
Forbort - Shattenkirk
Zboril - Mitchell

is roughly 70 points. Basically the equivalent of removing one top line player and replacing them with a zero-zone defensive forward with next-to-no offensive ability. I know it's not that simple, but just to illustrate a point. The gap between Forward group pre-deadline 2023 and the group expected to break camp in Oct isn't massive from an offensive standpoint.

However, I think there is a pretty big gap between the group's play without the puck. I think the 2022-23 pre-deadline forward group is much stronger in that regard.

Based on that, this team's GA should go up.

I think the D is a wash from one group to the next. I'm confident Shattenkirk will be at least as good as Clifton was here. Unlike Clifton, Shattenkirk can take some strain off McAvoy or Lindholm at the top of the umbrella of PP 1. Which should allow the coaches to get more out of McAvoy and Lindholm 5 on 5 and PK duty. Clifton couldn't do that. I still don't think this D is built for playoff success. But it should be more than fine during the regular season.

So forwards offensively - small downgrade. Defensively- big downgrade.

D-Corps - pretty much the same as last year defensively. Slight upgrade offensively.

What about the goalies?

Ullmark is expected to be solid again, even if his numbers come down a bit. The hope here is Swayman is a year older and is a better goaltender in 2023-24 than he was last year. The Bruins still have the regular season secret sauce of having two extremely capable goaltenders they can effectively rotate one game to the next, keeping both fresh.

Here's the thing....the Bruins had 135 points last year, largely on the back of the pre-deadline group. They don't need 135 pts. to get into the playoffs. Florida got in with just 92.

Despite the downgrade in the forward group, I have to think this team is still capable of 100 pts. and a playoff spot. And if you get in, who the heck knows anymore.

They finished 15-1 over the last 16 games so the post deadline group played an enormous part of the record. They paced for about 118 points without them, so your
statement isn't correct.

They started red hot but won't have 37,46, 71 and 17 to start the season so its perfectly reasonable to say the rosters of the beginning and ends of the season
will have huge drops in talent and points.

An injury to 1 Top 6 Forward or top 3 D absolutely will compromise them.

 

[Riverfront]

don't mind if they miss the playoffs for one year actually.
won't look good for lucic, who came back hoping to play with all his buddies.
however, lysall, beecher, merkulov, lohreii, should all make the opening day line-up
and sink or swim with the young guys to find out there real true worth, if you make
the playoffs with this young group, great you have plenty of cap room next season
to add your seasoned veteran good player at the position you want/ ( centre )
if you don't make the playoffs then you would have some idea at the trade deadline, then
you think of trading a few of your veteran forwards for the haul you really need to
re-load. ( i.e. marchand trade ) That is the way i would look at this season .

 

[BruinDust]

They finished 15-1 over the last 16 games so the post deadline group played an enormous part of the record. They paced for about 118 points without them, so your
statement isn't correct.

They started red hot but won't have 37,46, 71 and 17 to start the season so its perfectly reasonable to say the rosters of the beginning and ends of the season
will have huge drops in talent and points.

An injury to 1 Top 6 Forward or top 3 D absolutely will compromise them.

It's just to illustrate a point. Keeping in mind that the post-deadline group was constantly in flux. Hall was hurt. Krejci barely played down the stretch. Bergeron taking maintenance days. Foligno was out. Forbort was out. Hathaway wasn't doing jack and Bertuzzi took some time to find his footing here as well. Orlov was the only aquisition who hit the ground running.

They don't need 135 points again. Or 125. Or 105. Just get into the playoffs.

 

[KillerMillerTime]

It's just to illustrate a point. Keeping in mind that the post-deadline group was constantly in flux. Hall was hurt. Krejci barely played down the stretch. Bergeron taking maintenance days. Foligno was out. Forbort was out. Hathaway wasn't doing jack and Bertuzzi took some time to find his footing here as well. Orlov was the only aquisition who hit the ground running.

They don't need 135 points again. Or 125. Or 105. Just get into the playoffs.

Bertuzzi played well in that 15-1 stretch not just Orlov.

Hathaway had the game winner late in the 3rd at home vs Detroit and I believe the game winner against TB. He also had a great tip pass at Edmonton that set up I believe
Nosek, the game up that they won. So your Hathaway doing jack is another incorrect observation.

 

[BruinDust]

Bertuzzi played well in that 15-1 stretch not just Orlov.

Hathaway had the game winner late in the 3rd at home vs Detroit and I believe the game winner against TB. He also had a great tip pass at Edmonton that set up I believe
Nosek, the game up that they won. So your Hathaway doing jack is another incorrect observation.

A goal here or there. You are really nitpicking now.

At the end of the day, I think it's a complete waste of time to compare this upcoming camp's roster to the post-deadline roster we had here. I don't think it's consequential as we never saw it in peak form or even close. And for the record, I thought Hathaway sucked here. A 20 point 4th line winger who forgot the only reason he has a job in the NHL is because he's physical borderline dirty.

Let say they go 8-8 down the stretch. It's still a 120 point team in a league where you need about 95 to make the playoffs.

 

[KillerMillerTime]

A goal here or there. You are really nitpicking now.

At the end of the day, I think it's a complete waste of time to compare this upcoming camp's roster to the post-deadline roster we had here. I don't think it's consequential as we never saw it in peak form or even close. And for the record, I thought Hathaway sucked here. A 20 point 4th line winger who forgot the only reason he has a job in the NHL is because he's physical borderline dirty.

Let say they go 8-8 down the stretch. It's still a 120 point team in a league where you need about 95 to make the playoffs.

I'm not nitpicking at all. A 4th line player scored two game winners late in the 3rd period and made a quality play to tie the game up in a win on the road. You don't get to ignore that.

The facts are they were 15-1 down the stretch with those guys in the line-up and red hot at the start of the season with 37, 46, 71 and 17 (17 was very good first 20 games). Even Clifton elevated his game the first 20.

With the losses they have sustained they can just as easily get 92 points and miss.
This group as currently constructed has proven and achieved nothing right now.

 

[BruinDust]

I'm not nitpicking at all. A 4th line player scored two game winners late in the 3rd period and made a quality play to tie the game up in a win on the road. You don't get to ignore that.

The facts are they were 15-1 down the stretch with those guys in the line-up and red hot at the start of the season with 37, 46, 71 and 17 (17 was very good first 20 games). Even Clifton elevated his game the first 20.

With the losses they have sustained they can just as easily get 92 points and miss.
This group as currently constructed has proven and achieved nothing right now.

What exactly did that post-deadline team achieve?

So Hathaway had a couple good performances. What about the other 20 games or so where he did basically nothing.

Anyways I'm not on the doom-and-gloom bus that many seem to be on. Just get into the playoffs and get there relatively healthy. Other than that, I really don't care. I don't care what the team looks like on paper. I don't care how many points above 100 they get. Last year proved one thing to me, and that what this team looks like on paper don't mean shit. Hoepfully this year Sweeney has enough sense to just leave his team alone and forget this rental crap.

 

[whatsbruin]

The poll is flawed in my opinion, as they're not gonna remain as presently constituted.

The poster stated "However, as presently constituted, how do you see the Bruins finishing in 2023-24?"

 

[PlayMakers]

I think the hardest part of next year's team is going to be coming up with an identity and buying into it.

They're kind of built like those old NJ Devils teams with a strong D and strong G, and then opportunistic scoring. But can they be the best defensive team without Bergeron?

They're big, but not especially physical, even with Lucic. So I don't think they have the personnel to play the playground bully role.

They have some developing players in Zacha, Geekie, Frederic, Boqvist and a potential rookie, but even those guys are NHL players so it's not like they can consider themselves a "young up and coming" team...

 

[KillerMillerTime]

What exactly did that post-deadline team achieve?

So Hathaway had a couple good performances. What about the other 20 games or so where he did basically nothing.

Anyways I'm not on the doom-and-gloom bus that many seem to be on. Just get into the playoffs and get there relatively healthy. Other than that, I really don't care. I don't care what the team looks like on paper. I don't care how many points above 100 they get. Last year proved one thing to me, and that what this team looks like on paper don't mean shit. Hoepfully this year Sweeney has enough sense to just leave his team alone and forget this rental crap.

What exactly did that post-deadline team achieve?

So Hathaway had a couple good performances. What about the other 20 games or so where he did basically nothing.

Anyways I'm not on the doom-and-gloom bus that many seem to be on. Just get into the playoffs and get there relatively healthy. Other than that, I really don't care. I don't care what the team looks like on paper. I don't care how many points above 100 they get. Last year proved one thing to me, and that what this team looks like on paper don't mean shit. Hoepfully this year Sweeney has enough sense to just leave his team alone and forget this rental crap.

Lol, come on man this is a poll that is talking about what are they going to do IN THE REGULAR SEASON as presently constituted. You're doing some of the worst goal post moving I have seen here. You are a really great poster and way better than this.

 

[BruinDust]

I think the hardest part of next year's team is going to be coming up with an identity and buying into it.

They're kind of built like those old NJ Devils teams with a strong D and strong G, and then opportunistic scoring. But can they be the best defensive team without Bergeron?

They're big, but not especially physical, even with Lucic. So I don't think they have the personnel to play the playground bully role.

They have some developing players in Zacha, Geekie, Frederic, Boqvist and a potential rookie, but even those guys are NHL players so it's not like they can consider themselves a "young up and coming" team...

Not just Bergeron. The biggest downgrade up front isn't in the offensive capability (although it is still a downgrade), but the defensively capability of the forward group IMO.

Neither Lucic nor JVR are good in their own end. Geekie remains to be seen. Boqvist wasn't brought here for his defensive chops.

Bergeron, Krejci, and even Nosek and Foligno. All good defensive players. Seems like a lot of good defensive forwards out, and a bunch of not-so-good-at-defending forwards brought in.

That's not a Jennings-winning forward group.

 

[BruinDust]

Lol, come on man this is a poll that is talking about what are they going to do IN THE REGULAR SEASON as presently constituted. You're doing some of the worst goal post moving I have seen here. You are a really great poster and way better than this.

I'm sorry but I just didn't like Hathaway here. I never saw every game but he was very underwhelming for me. As was Bertuzzi at the start.

I know it's hindsight but I feel like they had a pretty good thing going before the deadline. And despite the upgrade on paper, I don't think it translated on the ice from my observations. They only make the deal for Bertuzzi after Hall got hurt. We never really saw that full post-deadline team, even in the playoffs.

 

[DarrenBanks56]

I'm not nitpicking at all. A 4th line player scored two game winners late in the 3rd period and made a quality play to tie the game up in a win on the road. You don't get to ignore that.

The facts are they were 15-1 down the stretch with those guys in the line-up and red hot at the start of the season with 37, 46, 71 and 17 (17 was very good first 20 games). Even Clifton elevated his game the first 20.

With the losses they have sustained they can just as easily get 92 points and miss.
This group as currently constructed has proven and achieved nothing right now.

hathaway will be missed. he was the perfect 4th liner. he was smart and had good hockey iq.
i thought for sure he was staying here.
still pissed he wasnt on the ice instead of marchand or coyle for that final minute of game 7

 

[TCB]

 

[Kegs]

Not just Bergeron. The biggest downgrade up front isn't in the offensive capability (although it is still a downgrade), but the defensively capability of the forward group IMO.

Neither Lucic nor JVR are good in their own end. Geekie remains to be seen. Boqvist wasn't brought here for his defensive chops.

Bergeron, Krejci, and even Nosek and Foligno. All good defensive players. Seems like a lot of good defensive forwards out, and a bunch of not-so-good-at-defending forwards brought in.

That's not a Jennings-winning forward group.

Are you sure geekie and boqvist aren’t good defensively? They also added brown who is over 50.% at the dot. Losing Bergeron is the only real needle moving loss imo. And to be honest when he was out of the line up they still looked like an elite team.