Bruins Year in Review: The Up & Downs of 2023

Bruins Year in Review: The Up & Downs of 2023

It was the best of times and it was the worst of times 2023 truly had some incredible ups and downs for the Boston Bruins and we’ll discuss the best the worst and the outlook for 2024 here on today’s episode of Locked on Boston Bruins you’re locked on Bruins your

Daily podcast on the Boston Bruins part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day Day what is up Bruins fans and welcome back to the locked on Boston Bruins podcast I’m your host Ian McLaren and this is a Daily Show where we discuss all things spoked be today is Wednesday December 27th and I want to thank you so much for making lock on Bruins part of

Your day in 2023 it’s free and available on your favorite podcast app and on YouTube part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day and today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your

First purchase our Bruins are back in Action tonight taking on the Buffalo Sabers we’ll briefly touch on that later on in the show quick uh quick reminder first of all that you can find the podcast at locked NHL Bruins on social media you can find me my dad jokes hogy thoughts

ATC McLaren I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season the world juniors are on NHL is back tonight I’ve spent the past few days streaming a lot of stuff with the family we’re in the midst of a Lord of the Rings rewatch I finally checked out the Beckham

Documentary on Netflix which is fantastic uh just a lot of quality time time waiting for the Bruins to get back on the ice and they will do so tonight on today’s show however we’re going to take a look back at the year that was uh a very Bittersweet year for the

Boston Bruins and their fans unparalleled regular season success jux deposed with a pretty epic collapse in the playoffs and the end of an era as Patrice Bergeron and David Cree both announced their retirements and looking back at the beginning of the year it kind of set the tone for what

Was to come the Winter Classic 2023 played by the Boston Bruins and the Pittsburgh Penguins January 2nd at Fenway Park and it was a 2-1 Victory by the Boston Bruins two goals scored in the third period by Jake debrusk his 15th and 16th goals of the Season which is

Quite a contrast to where he is right now just sitting on four goals now with that fantastic comeback win came the news that he had injured himself in that game and he would go on to miss several weeks of action so this incredible high of winning the win

Classic and then the disappointing news that Jake debrusk had been injured and would miss some time now yeah that kind of set the tone for the year and overall 2023 was indeed a very good year for the Boston Bruins let’s look at some of the stats as a team they’ve played 78

Regular season games there’s still a few to go here in 2023 but they have put up 119 points which is seven more than the Colorado Avalanche in three fewer games played a record of 56 15 and seven a point percentage of 763 only the Rangers are above 700 at

714 so record-wise in the regular season the Boston Bruins have been the best team in 2023 and why is that well a big reason is the goal tending you look at all goalies with at least 35 starts Jeremy Swan lenus alar are one and two in safe percentage in

2023 allmark played 42 games he’s got a record of 310 and two with a 928 save percentage Jeremy swan has played 39 games with a record of 26 five and five with a 930 save percentage just unreal numbers for the Bruins goenda year individually Boston has one of the top scorers in the

NHL over the past calendar year Davido has the most goals 56 in 78 games yes uh Austin Matthews has a better goal per game rate he’s got 50 goals in 67 games but overall Dave aasro has scored 56 he’s got 107 points and that ranks him fourth in the NHL among

All players uh which is which is fantastic and of course he was a finalist for the Hart Memorial trophy presented to the player judged to be the most valuable to his team lost out to Conor McDavid he was a finalist alongside Matthew kachuck but the Bruins did indeed bring home some

Hardware last uh last season the Jack Adams award was given to Jim Montgomery awarded to the coach judged to have contributed the most to his team’s success and they also took home the vzna trophy awarded of the galie judged to be the best at his position lead us Mark

Winning that you could argue that the Jack Adams and vzna trophy are kind of intertwined but the reality is Jim Montgomery ended up being the right coach for this team last season regular season wise at least you can argue about his playoff decisions well we’ll talk about that

More later on in the show the sky trophy awarded to the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game Patrice berson who increased his record number of wins with that Victory and then called it a day following that and then of course the Jennings

Trophy which is awarded to the best goalie Duo uh went to allar and uh Jeremy Swan and a bunch of Bruins were on the allstar teams as well end of season Allstar teams poock olar were on the first All-Star team uh hampis lindol was on the second All-Star

Team so so many positives for the Boston Bruins in 2023 David poock emerged as well he already was an elite player in the NHL but he further cemented his spot among the game’s very best and ear himself a nice contract extension the Bruins had a wildly successful regular season they went all

In at the trade deadline adding a bunch of players who became fan favorites Tyler bruzi Garnet hathway dimitry orav among them um and lo and behold despite some of the struggles they had in the spring and through the summer they came out flying here in 2023 24 and are among the NHL’s

Best teams so far this season they are currently fourth in the NHL in point percentage uh and fourth when it comes to overall points yes they had been first they’ve come down as I discussed yesterday because of a recent four game well they’re mired in a Four game losing

Streak they’ve lost five of their past six hopefully they can end 2023 on a bit of a stronger note with three games coming up before the calendar turns but big picture we’ve had a lot to celebrate here in 2023 now there were some disappointments of course and uh

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Channel now what I previously discussed were just some of the highest highs for the Bruins this year of course the emergence of Matt ptra also huge and uh he scored an empty net goal for Team Canada uh yesterday at the world juniors will continue to track his progress at

That major International Tournament uh I had YouTube commenter say nobody cares about Team Canada don’t talk about them I’m sorry Matt ptra is a top Bruins Prospect and he’s playing on one of the biggest hockey stages at the moment so obviously I’m G to talk about it now it

Wasn’t all great for the Boston Bruins this year let’s be honest and that was highlighted by the first round loss to the Florida Panthers they came in with the best regular season record of all time and we’re unable to get out of the first round that’s just deeply

Disappointing and up there with 2019 game seven and uh 2013 Stanley Cup finals loss as you know the most devastating for me personally um obviously 2019 is a bit worse getting to game seven of the Stanley Cup Final on home ice and not being able to close it out but losing to

The Panthers in the first round after being up 3-1 even now it’s it’s incomprehensible and you look back to game five Brad Marshon had the game on his stick could have buried the Panthers with a breakaway opportunity late in that game like red the buzzer what could have been if that

Puck had gun in we’ll never know and you know part of the reason they lost was some injuries to David Cree Patrice berser on both guys kind of showing their age later on in the season you can question whether or not jib Montgomery should have practiced a bit more of load

Management down the stretch you can question whether he should have separated Brad Marshon and Patrice Bergeron when Bergie was healthy and despite Marshon showing some chemistry with Charlie Coyle in that series uh you can certainly question the decision to put lenus allar back in for game six or not

Pulling him in game five going to Jeremy Swan too late again Jim Montgomery had an amazing regular season the Bruins roster kind of made it a bit easy on him and when it came down to crunch time he kind of showed his playoff inexperience there and hopefully this year he’s

Perhaps a bit more committed to the goalie rotation a bit more committed to his line combinations which we haven’t really seen here in the regular season still seeing a lot of line juggling and yeah some lessons learned from him as well now to add insult to injury not

Only did the Florida Panthers go to the Stanley Cup Final which kind of eases the burden in some ways you want the team that beats you to to make good in it and not just get swept in the next round round okay but they went to the Stanley Cup Final

Which shows that the path was there for Boston to get there but not only that they lose to the Vegas golden knights who are of Co of course coached by former Bruins bench boss Bruce Cassidy and we got to see him raise the cup which he was not able to accomplish

In Boston so good for him bitter sweet and uh definitely hard to watch still uh Bruce Cassidy being fired by the Bruins the next season he goes on to win the Stanley Cup that’s not to say it was the worst decision or didn’t pay off or Jim

Montgomery is not the right guy for this team uh just yeah kind of kicking us when we’re down then after that of course um Tyler berzi ends up signing with the Toronto Maple leafes Demetri orav goes off and signs with the Carolina Hurricanes gar Hathaway leaves signs with the

Philadelphia Flyers Taylor Hall and Nick Felino are traded to the Chicago Blackhawks David Cree announced his retirement as did Patrice berson going out kind of on top as a selky trophy winner still playing unreal hockey surely had one to see Seasons left in the tank but decided to go out and as

Much as we respect his decision and wish him continued success off the ice and all the happiness with his family you know it’s still it still hurts not to see Patrice berson in black and gold uh this season so those were yeah some of the lows and they were pretty low lows we

Celebrate berson and C’s careers but we still wish they were Boston Bruins or could have gone out on the highest of Team successes as well and I’ll never forget uh Marshon who ended up being team captain um hugging Patrice Bon at the end of the handshake line

Following game seven and just the tears in both of their eyes because of u a job not uh finished and business left incomplete so that was kind of the year in a nutshell for the Boston Bruins the highest of highs in the regular season epic collapse in the playoffs and

Who knows what 2024 has in store but we’ll take a look and kind of uh extrapolate here as the podcast continues now the weather is getting colder but the deals remain redh hot at FanDuel the official betting partner of locked on and the NFL right now new customers get

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FanDuel is the official partner of the NFL all right well who knows what is in store for the Boston Bruins here in 2024 they still do have three games on tap to end 2023 and they’re currently riding a four game losing streak dropping five of their

Past six overall and it’s not going to be an easy path into the new year they are on the road in Buffalo tonight to take on the Sabres on Saturday December 30th they will be uh hosting the New Jersey Devils and then to finish the year they’ll be in Detroit to take on

The Red Wings so you know 2023 still has the chance to end on a pretty down note the Bruins had been in first place they’re now down to Fourth and some expected regression is kicking in here here uh the goal tending still been strong as I mentioned yesterday there’s been

Some guys who have gone a little cold here Charlie Coyle Jake debrusk hus Lindholm Matt grizzli zeros over their last handful of games the Bruins are pretty topheavy when it comes to David poo and Brad Marshon leading the way and then after that you kind of got some

Fringe top six guys more middle six bottom six in the mix as well and um the one thing really carrying them this season all year long has been the goal tending lenus alar Jeremy San remain at the top of their games drik forbo still on long-term injured reserve when he

Comes back that might help stabilize the the defense a bit uh but yeah the Bruins I believe will be a playoff team I don’t think they’re going to fall all the way out of the playoff picture although there is only like 12 points separating uh where they are and the

Buffalo Sabers who are well down in the Eastern Conference standings Boston’s at 44 points Buffalo is at 32 uh Buffalo has played three more games however but still a lot of hockey yet to be played more than half the SE 50 games still on the table for the

Boston Bruins uh so they can’t afford to take too many dips like this down the stretch uh Matt potra I believe will be back with the Bruins following the break I joked on X yesterday that the Bruins are 0 two and one without him Canada’s 1 and0 obviously there’s no Direct correlation there

But removing a key player from the lineup uh has ramifications and right now the Bruins are feeling that loss despite the emergence of Morgan geki now there could be a bunch of turnover this upcoming off season Jake debrusk is an unrestricted free agent and he’s not really I mean he’s he’s playing well

Playing strong he’s not on the top power play unit he’s not not producing the offense we would like uh we’ll see if there is a contract extension in his future or if the Bruins decide to move on James Van rdik Danton Heinen Kevin shattenkirk are all unrestricted fre

Agents as is Derek forbort and Milan Luchi who I don’t expect to be back in 2024 as he’s facing an impending court date for a domestic incident that occurred earlier this season season Oscar steen’s a restrictive free agent as is Ian Mitchell the big one is Jeremy

Swan who they will have to resign and there could be some splitting of the goalie tandem here in the summer but there’s a big opportunity for the Bruins to make some Moves In The Summer with the bonus overages for KI and berson coming off the books grizzli forbort

Potentially coming off the books books uh they will have to pay 1.3 for Mike Riley’s bi out next season so that will be on it but the salary cap is expected to rise as well so there will be a lot of opportunity for Boston to make some improvements here

In uh the off season here in 2024 they will not have a first round pick uh most likely it’s top 10 protected they should finish outside that range but they don’t have a second they don’t have a third as well or a seventh so the draft right now

They might not be picking until uh round number four but first up is cementing a playoff spot they have the goal tending to steal some games series there we never know what’s going to happen once you get in the playoffs so just get there and then Don Sweeney yeah some decisions to make

As for the future of this team but with the goal tending TM they have a Norris Trophy level guy and Charlie makoy one of the best forwards in da aposto there’s a core there for them to continue to succeed and we all know that Boston is a destination for players who

Want to come here and carry the torch forward so that’s kind of the year in review and uh still three games on tap we’ll be back tomorrow to discuss whatever happens against the Sabers tonight and bring you all the latest here on the black and gold on the locked

On Boston ruins podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your favorite team every single day take care friends

It was the best and worst of times for the Boston Bruins in 2023. Unparalleled regular season success juxtaposed with a playoff collapse and a mass exodus of talent, including the retirements of franchise legends Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci.

Locked on Bruins host take3s a look back at the highs and lows, and how the 2023 Winter Classic kind of set the tone for the year.

Plus, what might 2024 have in store?

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