There is no doubt that the Boston Bruins have some holes to fill in their lineup. Center, left-shot defense, and wing can all be upgraded this offseason with the right moves. Questions remain for the Bruins, including whether the team will re-sign 19-goal scorer Jake Debrusk. Will the team trade one of their top available assets in goalie Linus Ullmark? Who will the club target in free agency? Each decision will affect the roster next season.
Offensively, leading scorer David Pastrnak needs some help. The 47-goal scorer totaled 43 more points than the next teammate on the list. Even without a true number-one center, Pastrnak has remained one of the league leaders in goal-scoring. In the postseason, however, Boston was outshot and out-chanced by a large margin by the Florida Panthers, and five-on-five scoring chances were a weakness. The philosophy of the coaching staff is quality over quantity when it comes to shot attempts, but is that the correct way to approach the game with a lack of playmaking centers?
With this in mind, does Head Coach Jim Montgomery need to change his way of coaching? Montgomery faced scrutiny for constantly changing lines and making roster adjustments last season while ahead three games to one in a first-round series against the Panthers. In this season’s second round, Montgomery continued to make changes to the lineup and replaced the team’s best faceoff center to that point, John Beecher, even though the Panthers were dominating at the dot.
Some would say that Montgomery did a fine job coaching a team that some felt might not make the playoffs. Instead, the team missed winning an Atlantic Division title by one point and reached the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. In that case, the team overachieved, right? Well, maybe not. The Bruins took Game 1 in Florida and looked poised to avenge last year’s upset loss. However, the offense failed the team repeatedly, and Montgomery did not seem to have many answers or adjustments to implement.
The Bruins need a couple of key pieces to be considered a Stanley Cup contender, and it is up to management to find those players. However, Montgomery is heading into the last year of his three-year contract without an extension and will need to prove that he is the right man for the job.
