The Boston Bruins suffered a humiliating 5-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Monday, and many are questioning where this team stands as a Stanley Cup contender after a trade deadline in which they were unable to make any significant acquisitions because of salary cap restrictions.
In a season where they had to fill in for Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci on short notice, they are fifth in the league in terms of points percentage, which is noteworthy in and of itself. They have, however, also benefited greatly from overtime defeat points, thus they don’t appear to be as formidable as other elite teams.
On Daily Faceoff Live, Colby Cohen and Tyler Yaremchuk discussed whether the Bruins are a Cup contender.
Colby Cohen: This is what I would say, then. They attempted to shift Ullmark for a purposeāto bring in significant forward assistance. Well, it’s no secret that Pierre-Luc Dubois was the piece that returned when Ullmark was given to Los Angeles. They do, in my opinion, have goaltending on par with any NHL club right now. You just have to look at these pair to see it for yourself.
However, because Derek Forbert’s season-long absence was recently announced, I believe Andrew Peeke will take his position. Although it’s still an odd move, I am aware that Don Sweeney prefers to have eight defensemen that can play in the NHL on his team; being a prospect in their organization, I experienced this for a few years.
Do I now believe that this is a team capable of going on a run? I’m not. I enjoy watching Boston Bruins hockey a lot. They seem to have similar skill to Pastrnak. Charlie McAvoy is a complete player, and I believe he is among the top five defensemen in the NHL. However, I believe they lack depth, have flaws in them, and their bottom six needs more work. It’s a never-ending cycle, which is, in my opinion, a little scary as the playoffs approach and teams like Florida and other extremely strong East teams are involved.