There is never a good time to go through a losing streak in a season. In the 82-game grind that is the regular season that leads up to the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the NHL, teams are going to have their up and downs.
The 2022-23 Boston Bruins have certainly had more ups than downs through 54 games of the season, but for the first time, they are having a lot of downs. Losers of four of their last five games sandwiched around the All-Star Break, if there is a good time to go into a concerning slump, it’s a month before the trade deadline.
Related: Bruins Weekly: Injury Frustration, Trade Deadline Targets & More
There are still just over two weeks away until the March 3 deadline at 3 o’clock and things have already started heating up around the league. So far, Boston general manager (GM) Don Sweeney has been quiet, but that is not expected to last through the deadline. Why is it a good time for first-year coach Jim Montgomery and his team to go into a slide? Simply put, it gives Sweeney and the front office an opportunity to address any needs for the remainder of the season.
DeBrusk & Nosek Returning Will Not Be Enough
Just about everything that could have gone, did go right for the Bruins prior to their skid. They avoided long-term injuries and injuries they did suffer, they had enough depth pieces to survive. Since the calendar turned to 2023, they lost Jake DeBrusk to an injured thumb and a fractured foot on Jan. 2. Two weeks later, Tomas Nosek went down with a fractured foot and like DeBrusk, he recently had a setback in his recovery that will extend his stay out of the lineup longer.
Getting both players back will be a huge lift to the Bruins. DeBrusk was second on the team in goals with 16 after his two in the Winter Classic win over the Pittsburgh Penguins and he was well on his way to setting a new career-high from the 27 he scored in 2018-19. Missing DeBrusk the most are his two linemates, Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. Craig Smith has struggled on the right wing in DeBrusk’s absence and moving David Pastrnak up from the second line is less than ideal after the connection that he has formed on the second line with David Krejci and Pavel Zacha as they have combined to outscore opponents, 14-3, 5-on-5 since Christmas.
Yes, DeBrusk brings an element to the roster that is missing right now. He brings plenty of speed along with his relentless forecheck and play in all three zones, something Bergeron and Marchand, along with the rest of the team have been missing. He also brings a net-front presence to the first power play unit that it has been missing and is a big reason for their struggles. Nosek is very good at the faceoff dot, he is also a key penalty killer, and he is a left-shot faceoff option late in the game that Montgomery can use in certain situations. Both will be welcomed additions back into the lineup, however, the additions can’t stop there.
When fully healthy, the case could be made that there does not need to be additions to the roster, even just for depth, but some recent results should have raised a flag for Sweeney and to the front office as to just getting DeBrusk and Nosek back will not be enough. More reinforcements are needed.
Bruins Lack Toughness & Depth
If there is one thing about the playoffs that is true, it’s that the physicality takes a jump during each series. Last season the Bruins saw that firsthand when newly-acquired Hampus Lindholm was knocked out of the middle games of the first-round series against the Carolina Hurricanes after taking a big hit from Andrei Svechnikov. Add in the fact that Matt Grzelcyk is not built to withstand the physicality of the playoffs and Brandon Carlo tends to not play to his 6-foot-5 frame.
Going back to Carolina, in the Bruins’ 4-1 loss on Jan. 29, they once again were more physical and wore down the Black and Gold. Yes, the Bruins were on the second night of a back-to-back, playing their second game in less than 24 hours and their third game in four nights. Still, coach Rod Brind’Amour and his team played the same style on home ice that they did for four games in last season’s postseason. In the team’s first meeting on Nov. 25, the annual day after Thanksgiving matinee in Boston, the Hurricanes were shorthanded bodies-wise. Still, they took a fully-healthy Boston team to overtime before losing. If there is one thing that Carolina is not, they are not afraid of the Bruins, regardless of their record. It would be in the best interest of Boston to hold off the fast-charging Hurricanes for home-ice advantage in a potential series this spring. A Game 7 in Boston is better for Montgomery and his team than it would be in North Carolina.
Another area of concern for the Bruins in the next two weeks is looking to add scoring depth. They were getting contributions from not only the top nine, but also their bottom three, making them very tough to play against. There were nights when their top two struggled and their bottom six would pick them up. That has not been the case recently. Craig Smith has struggled all season, Trent Frederic is approaching career highs in goals and assist, but he has been absent from the scoresheet recently, and the most significant lack of production right now is they are getting nothing off the stick of Taylor Hall, who has just three goals in his last 22 games.
There is nowhere else to look at than the recent success and championships that the Tampa Bay Lightning had. Under coach Jon Cooper, they were three lines, sometimes four lines deep and that was a big key, along with a physical defense and Andrei Vasilevskiy in the net. They were built for the playoffs and it feels like the current Bruins are not, at least right now.
Bruins Need Reinforcements By March 3
A losing streak is never what a team wants, but in this case, it very well could be a good thing for the Bruins. It reinforces that help is needed, despite their record. You know that the Toronto Maple Leafs, Lightning, Hurricanes, and New Jersey Devils are also going to get better. The Rangers are already better with Tarasenko. Sweeney has had success at recent trade deadlines, but with his team in the best position to add and become better and deeper is an almost must in the next 15 days.