The 2022-23 Boston Bruins did just about everything a team can do in the regular season. Then the playoffs arrived, and the whole thing came apart in a way that will hang over this fan base for a long time.
Boston put together a staggering 65-win, 135-point season, setting NHL records in both categories over an 82-game schedule. It was the kind of run that looked relentless from opening night to game No.
- The Bruins did it with Jim Montgomery in his first season behind the bench and with Linus Ullmark, who broke out and won the Vezina Trophy.
The numbers only made the fall harder to swallow. The Bruins opened with 14 straight home wins, became the fastest team in league history to 50 victories, and got a monster year from David Pastrnak, who finished with 61 goals and 113 points.
Don Sweeney also loaded up at the trade deadline, bringing in Garnet Hathaway and Dmitry Orlov from the Washington Capitals and Tyler Bertuzzi from the Detroit Red Wings. Boston looked built for a title run.
Instead, the playoffs delivered a nightmare. Drawn against the Florida Panthers, the last team into the field, the Bruins split the first two games at home and then went to South Florida and won both there to grab a 3-1 series lead. At that point, it felt like the path was opening up.
It never closed. Florida took Game 5 in overtime at TD Garden, then won Game 6 in a shootout at home to force Game 7 back in Boston.
In the finale, the Panthers tied it late in the third period, pushed the game to overtime and then won it there. A historic regular season ended with a historic collapse.
That loss cut even deeper because it was the final shot for the Bruins’ core. Patrice Bergeron retired after that summer, and David Krejci followed a month later. Boston had been one win away from sending both out as Stanley Cup champions.
Instead, the season became another painful what-if for Bruins fans. It landed just four years and one global pandemic after Boston lost Game 7 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final at home to the St. Louis Blues, and it left another scar that may not fade anytime soon.
In Other News...
Matthew Poitras Faces A Bruins Crossroads Fans Can't Ignore
Matthew Poitras is still waiting for his next contract, and with early August already here, the Bruins quiet offseason has only sharpened the focus on where the young center fits. A 2022 second-round pick, Poitras has been in the organization long enough for the intrigue to feel bigger than a typical unsigned restricted free agent, especially with Boston leaving plenty of room on the roster chart for players to seize jobs in camp.
Former Providence Bruins assistant Trent Whitfield liked what he saw from Poitras and believes the young forwards habits give him a real shot to make an impact if he gets his deal done. The Bruins are expected to give him an opportunity to win a spot this season, but until a contract is signed, the door stays open to other possibilities, including a trade if the path back to Boston does not come together. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Still Have One Roster Problem They Havent Solved
The Bruins search for a true first-line center has been one of the defining personnel issues of the post-Patrice Bergeron, post-David Krejci era. Team president Cam Neely and general manager Don Sweeney have both acknowledged as much, and the current setup has left Pavel Zacha in the role of a high-end second-line center rather than the kind of No. 1 pivot Boston has long been accustomed to having down the middle.
That concern showed up again in a recent ranking from Harman Dayal of The Athletic, which placed Bostons center group in a lower tier than the NHLs better teams. It is the kind of reminder that the Bruins top issue is not a short-term slump or a depth concern, but a structural hole that has lingered since two franchise pillars moved on. Until that changes, the middle of the ice remains the place where Boston looks most incomplete. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Fans May Owe Don Sweeney More Credit Than They Think
Don Sweeneys latest contract report card offers a more balanced view of the Bruins roster-building than the usual frustration around his name suggests. Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic gave Boston a B for contract efficiency, placing the team 18th in the NHL and a notable step up from 25th a year ago, which hints that the Bruins are getting more value out of their cap structure than many fans assume.
The bright spots matter here, especially with David Pastrnak and Jeremy Swayman viewed as bargains relative to market value and the salary cap. Not every deal has aged well, with Elias Lindholm among the contracts drawing less favorable review, but the larger takeaway is that Bostons cap picture is not nearly as bleak as it can feel from the outside, and Sweeney may deserve a little more credit for keeping the books in better shape than the narrative suggests. [Read more 🡒]