The Boston Bruins’ 2020-2021 season started out with a sour taste: Zdeno Chara, team captain and top-pairing defenseman since 2006, left Boston late in the offseason to sign a $795,000 contract with the Washington Capitals. Losing a beloved future Hall-of-Famer in addition to skilled defenseman Torey Krug earlier in the offseason was a heavy blow to a team that values defensive depth and character.
But while the Bruins lost depth at the blueline, they gained a small but important piece that has the potential to fix one of the team’s biggest problems. Craig Smith, a winger who had spent his entire career until now with the Nashville Predators, is one of the best in the league at even-strength scoring and high-volume shooting (in 2019-2020, his Wins Above Replacement per 60 minutes was 0.14, tied with David Pastrnak). This is precisely the problem that the Bruins have needed to fix for the past several seasons, with a major deficit at 5-on-5 scoring and especially their bottom-9 forwards. While the addition of a third-liner like Smith may seem small, the role that he is filling is one that has a real potential to take the team’s offense to a new level.
However, this is no ordinary season in 2021. A season that is normally 82 games has been shortened to 56, and the realignment of divisions has pitted the Bruins against some of the best teams in the league. The entire regular season will be divisional games with 8 games against each rival. This means that every individual game will matter even more, and every point lost in the standings will be doubly consequential. Additionally, Boston will be without their greatest offensive weapon, David Pastrnak, due to a hip surgery in the offseason; he is expected to be back sometime in February.
So far through the first 5 games of the season, the Bruins have been a mixed bag. They have earned 7 out of 10 possible points and started out looking relatively mediocre until their past two games, when they erupted for 11 total goals through four periods against the formidable Philadelphia Flyers. An untested defensive core, including a left-side that has been sorely depleted in just one offseason, has played surprisingly well with young players like Jakub Zboril and Jeremy Lauzon stepping up and playing smart, physical hockey. There have also been pleasant surprises on the offensive side. Anders Bjork, who has had several recent down-seasons, has now become difficult to play against and is visibly one of the most aggressive puck-hunters on the ice, even while he’s being rotated through all four forward lines throughout games. Rookie Jack Studnicka has more than met his high expectations, having already scored a goal and made an impact in every game he has played. But most notable is Nick Ritchie, who came to the Bruins in a trade for Danton Heinen last offseason and didn’t seem like much of an impact player at all — until now. The winger currently has 5 points and has made himself well known in every game, perhaps one of the Bruins’ best forwards (to the delight of many fans who didn’t expect it).
Following their 6-1 blowout of the Flyers on Saturday night, the Bruins now sit in second place in their division behind the Washington Capitals. This regular season will be a major test for the caliber of this Boston squad and their capability of making a deep postseason run. However, if the first five games have shown anything, it is that this team is starting to tap into their unused potential and has a great ability to overcome challenges — which will only get better with the addition of Pastrnak. If they are to move past their mistakes from previous postseasons and make it back to the Stanley Cup Final this year, they will need to keep their foot on the gas and prove that their current success is not smoke and mirrors.
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