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Chapter Five- What Could Have Been (2019)

The Boston Bruins almost had back-to-back 50-win seasons under Bruce Cassidy if it weren’t for an all too familiar Atlantic Division foe.

In 2017-18, the Bruins racked up 50 wins as part of their 50-20-12 record overall. In 2018-19, Boston was sitting at 49 regular season victories when they entered their final game of the season against the Tampa Bay Lightning on April 6^th.

The Bolts beat the B’s, 6-3, and picked up their all-time record tying 62^nd win in the regular season— tying the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings for the most wins by any National Hockey League team in a season in the process. Boston finished 2^nd in the Atlantic Division with a 49-24-9 record and 107 points to Tampa’s 62-16-4 record and 128 points on route to winning the 2018-19 Presidents’ Trophy.

Detroit at least made the 1996 Western Conference Final before the Colorado Avalanche eliminated them in six games. Colorado then swept the Florida Panthers in the 1996 Stanley Cup Final for their first ring in franchise history.

The Lightning were swept by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2019 First Round in part because of the moves Blue Jackets General Manager, Jarmo Kekäläinen, made leading up to the 2019 trade deadline.

Whereas Kekäläinen bought in bulk for a last-ditch effort with pending-unrestricted free agents, Sergei Bobrovsky and Artemi Panarin to try to convince to stick around by making the franchise’s first deep playoff run a reality, Bruins General Manager, Don Sweeney, only made two moves prior to and including on Feb. 25, 2019.

Boston once again dismantled the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games in the 2019 First Round— this time completing a series comeback after the Maple Leafs led 3-2 entering Game 6.

Fun fact, Toronto actually led the series 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 before the Bruins won Games 2, 4, 6 and 7— topping the Leafs, 5-1, in what was Toronto’s least convincing Game 7 appearance in their three efforts against the Bruins in the 2010s (2013, 2018 and 2019).

The B’s had home ice in the First Round and secured home ice advantage for the rest of the playoffs thanks to the Blue Jackets eliminating Tampa and Colorado knocking out the Calgary Flames in five games that same round.

Columbus faced Boston in the 2019 Second Round, paving the way for the Bruins to end up in the 2019 Eastern Conference Final after eliminating the Blue Jackets in six games.

Of course, the Bruins then swept the Carolina Hurricanes and advanced to the 2019 Stanley Cup Final, where they then went all the way to a first of its kind at TD Garden— Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

It did not go as planned.

Boston’s depth scoring touch that they had found in the likes of Charlie Coyle and Marcus Johansson evaporated as did the Bruins’ top-six scoring production in the worst possible moment.

The St. Louis Blues skated off with the Stanley Cup in a, 4-1, Game 7 victory in Boston.

On April 15, 2015, the Bruins fired Peter Chiarelli four years after he put the finishing touches on the 2011 Stanley Cup winning roster at the first sign of cracks in the foundation when the team fell flat down the stretch in 2014-15 and missed the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

On May 20, 2015, Boston hired Sweeney and introduced him at a press conference in which he laid out a “three-year plan” back to Stanley Cup contention, but missed the postseason in his first year with the Bruins’ front office in 2015-16.

Boston made small steps in 2016-17, losing to the Ottawa Senators in six games in the 2017 First Round and losing every home playoff game in the series loss.

Sweeney chased a big deal at the trade deadline that looked like it could have finally given David Krejci a winger that he desperately needed to make the 2017-18 roster that much better, but the team went up against the Lightning in the 2018 Second Round and were ousted after five games.

Three years into Sweeney’s plan and the Bruins were yet to make it back to the Final. Until they did. In his fourth year as General Manager.

The only problem was that they didn’t win.

They won the 2019 trade deadline by far in return on investment when it mattered most, but they couldn’t fit the final piece of the puzzle where it needed to go in the 2019 Stanley Cup Final.

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Entering 2018-19, Sweeney had his work cut out for him.

His bottom-six forwards and influx of youth continued to gain experience and develop into the full-time NHL players that they had become— giving Sweeney the flexibility to let Riley Nash and Tim Schaller seek pay raises elsewhere.

Rick Nash was gone too, though the Bruins left the door open to a return if his health would allow. Post concussive symptoms haunted him for the 2018-19 NHL calendar and beyond, however, forcing him to retire on Jan. 11, 2019, rather than attempt a comeback.

Brian Gionta, Tommy Wingels, Nick Holden, Austin Czarnik, Paul Postma and Kenny Agostino went elsewhere too— whether it was to another team, Europe, the KHL or retirement.

Boston’s backup goaltender in 2017-18, Anton Khudobin, got a little pay raise with the Dallas Stars on a two-year deal worth $2.500 million on July 1, 2018. He signed an extension with the Stars for another three years on Oct. 9, 2020, carrying a $3.333 million cap hit in that span.

In his two stints with the B’s, Khudobin had a 1.00 goals-against average and a .978 save percentage in one game (1-0-0) in 2011-12, before debuting as a full-time NHL backup the following season in 2012-13, amassing a 9-4-1 record in 14 games played to go with one shutout, a 2.32 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage in that span.

After making his way around the Hurricanes and Anaheim Ducks from 2013-16, Khudobin landed back in Boston for 2016-18, putting up a 7-6-1 record with a 2.64 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage while battling injury in 16 games in 2016-17, then following things up with a solid 16-6-7 outing in 31 games, one shutout, a 2.56 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage in 2017-18.

Sweeney felt as though the Bruins could thrive with the services of another veteran goaltender that had a bit more of a successful track record as a starter turned backup than Khudobin over the years due to age and the ever-increasing competition for the position with the fewest jobs around the league.

His first big addition to the team for 2018-19, came in the crease by signing Jaroslav Halak to a two-year deal worth $2.750 million per season.

Halak made his league debut with the Montréal Canadiens in the 2006-07 season, then became the backup goaltender to Carey Price’s reign in 2008-09, before having his first shot at being an NHL starter in 2009-10.

He was later traded to the St. Louis Blues prior to the 2010-11 season, where he won his first William M. Jennings Trophy the following year in 2011-12, and wasn’t traded again until the Blues acquired Ryan Miller from the Buffalo Sabres in a package deal in the 2013-14 season.

Halak refused to play in Buffalo, so he was flipped to the Washington Capitals where he finished the season before signing as the starting goaltender for the New York Islanders on a four-year deal for 2014-15, and sticking around on Long Island until he joined the Bruins on July 1, 2018, after what was perhaps his worst effort as a netminder in the league.

In 2017-18, with New York, Halak had a 20-26-6 record in 54 games, one shutout, a 3.19 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage, but in a reduced role as Boston’s backup in 2018-19, Halak excelled in 40 games— amassing a 22-11-4 record, five shutouts, a 2.34 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage in that span.

He followed things up with an 18-6-6 record (2.39 goals-against average, .919 save percentage and three shutouts) in 31 games in 2019-20, won his second William M. Jennings Trophy— this time with Tuukka Rask— and earned a one-year extension for 2020-21.

In his final year in Boston, Halak had a 9-6-4 record in 19 games with two shutouts, a 2.53 goals-against average and a .905 save percentage before a young goaltender named, Jeremy Swayman, made his NHL debut and outplayed Halak for the backup role down the stretch and into the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

But back in 2018-19, signing Halak rather than extending Khudobin angered the fans.

They soon came around to No. 41 in black and gold, though.

Among Boston’s skaters, Danton Heinen and Jake DeBrusk were entering their sophomore seasons and remained track to being top-nine forwards at the worst and second line wingers alongside Krejci at best as was the plan for the very first game of the season in Washington, D.C.

Anders Bjork, meanwhile, would return from a shoulder injury that limited him to 4-8—12 totals in 30 games in 2017-18— if he could crack the lineup in the first place with Ryan Donato, Sean Kuraly, David Backes, Noel Acciari and newcomers Joakim Nordström and Chris Wagner ahead of him on the depth charts for the season opener.

Bjork would make his season debut on the fourth line in the second game of the 2018-19 calendar in Buffalo after the Bruins were shutout, 7-0, at Capital One Arena on Oct. 3, 2018.

After three seasons with the Carolina Hurricanes, Nordström brought his 2015 Stanley Cup winning pedigree to Boston’s fourth line while in a bit of a career decline.

He had 24 points (10 goals, 14 assists) in 71 games in his first full NHL season in 2015-16, which coincided with his first year in Carolina, then notched 12 points (seven goals, five assists) in 82 games in 2016-17, before falling to 2-5—7 totals in 75 games for the Hurricanes in 2017-18.

On July 1, 2018, Nordström signed a two-year contract with the Bruins worth $1.000 million per season.

He bounced back with 7-5—12 totals in 70 games and contributed a few clutch goals in the 2019 postseason—amassing eight points (three goals, five assists) in 23 playoff games as Boston ended up losing in the 2019 Stanley Cup Final.

The following season with the B’s he had 4-3—7 totals in 48 games before the COVID-19 pandemic cut the 2019-20 regular season short.

In 13 playoff games in 2020, Nordström had two assists.

He left Boston for the Calgary Flames via free agency on Oct. 19, 2020, and had seven points in 44 games before joining a team in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) for 2021-22.

Wagner— a Walpole, Massachusetts native— joined the Bruins on July 1, 2018, signing a two-year deal worth $1.250 million per season and going on to establish a career-high in points (19) in 2018-19, having scored a career-high 12 goals and tallying seven assists in 76 games in his first year with Boston after 7-9—16 totals in 79 games between the Anaheim Ducks and New York Islanders the year prior.

Of course, after the 2019-20 season, Wagner was offered a three-year extension with a $1.350 million cap hit per season, though after 2-3—5 totals in 41 games in 2020-21, he began the 2021-22 season with the Providence Bruins (AHL).

Sweeney made one other significant signing on July 1, 2018, by locking up defender, John Moore, to a five-year contract worth $2.750 million per season through 2022-23.

In 2018-19, Moore was utilized as a top-six defender, amassing 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in 61 games from the blue line— missing about a quarter of the season due to injury after playing in 81 games for the New Jersey Devils in 2017-18, and recording 7-11—18 totals in that span.

In 2019-20, Moore was limited to just 24 games due to injuries and his diminished use as a seventh defender. He had two goals and one assist (three points) before appearing in five games the following season— notching two assists in 2020-21.

He’s been mired between the NHL and AHL in 2021-22— when he’s been healthy— having played in seven games for Boston (one assist) and only 11 games for Providence (one goal, five assists).

But Moore’s strongest performance in a Bruins uniform came when the Bruins needed him most while Zdeno Chara missed Game 4 of the 2019 Eastern Conference Final on the road at PNC Arena, in which Rask had a, 4-0, shutout to sweep Carolina and advance to the 2019 Stanley Cup Final.

Whereas Schaller and Nash had a combined $4.650 million cap hit elsewhere (in reality, only $1.900 million for Schaller in Vancouver and $2.750 million for Nash in Columbus), Sweeney saved a pretty penny on replacement level players in Nordström and Wagner at a combined $2.250 million cap hit.

Anytime you can save $2.400 million on fourth line forwards and penalty killers, you have to do it— then immediately cough up an additional $350,000 on a defender that’s played 97 games four years into his five-year contract with your team.

But this isn’t about all of Sweeney’s moves in free agency, really, if not just to point out how skilled the Bruins General Manager is at anything below, say, a $3.000 million cap hit usually.

This is the long winded way of saying that, despite all of their development at the NHL level from 2017-18 to 2018-19, Boston still needed a winger for Krejci, a legitimate third line center when Sean Kuraly performed better on the fourth line between Noel Acciari and Nordström or Wagner on any given night and, perhaps, one more additional forward to round out the top-nine.

After doing that, Sweeney could have something spectacular on his hands if Cassidy could guide the roster from behind the bench to be their very best on the ice and the team was starting to heat up as February arrived.

Earlier in the year, however, Sweeney— again— made a move that angered Bruins fans by trading fan favorite, veteran defender, Adam McQuaid to the New York Rangers for Steven Kampfer, a 2019 4^th round pick (99^th overall, later flipped to Minnesota, then Carolina— Cade Webber) and a conditional 2019 7^th round pick (192^nd overall, Jake Schmaltz).

McQuaid, of course, had become expendable as an overpaid seventh defender with the signing of Moore for the same bottom-pairing role as McQuaid when healthy and as long as Kevan Miller was out of the lineup instead of McQuaid due to injury.

No. 54 in black and gold appeared in less than half of the games in 2017-18, due to several injuries and only had 1-3—4 totals in 38 games as a result whereas he was normally good enough for about 10 points in at least 2/3 of a regular season.

McQuaid had to play in at least 25 games in 2018-19, or be traded by the Rangers at any point in the year for the B’s to receive the 2019 7^th round pick.

New York, of course, later sent McQuaid back to the team that originally drafted him in the 2nd round (55^th overall) of the 2005 NHL Draft— the Columbus Blue Jackets— at the 2019 trade deadline on Feb. 25th.

In return, the Rangers acquired Julius Bergman, a 2019 4^th round pick (112^th overall, Hunter Skinner) and a 2019 7^th round pick (205^th overall, Eric Ciccolini).

Back in Boston before the season began, however, Kampfer was settling into his second stint with the club and would be positioned as the first callup from Providence in the event that a Boston defender went down with an injury.

One trade down, three more to go for the 2018-19 calendar and only one them was actually at the 2019 trade deadline itself for Sweeney.

On Jan. 11, 2019, the Bruins made a minor trade with the Ottawa Senators, swapping Cody Goloubef for Paul Carey after Boston had initially signed Goloubef on July 1, 2018.

Carey played in two games as a utility forward in the event of injury or the last game of the season when the team could perform no better than 2^nd in the Atlantic Division, then played in one more game for Boston in 2019-20, in a similar nature.

As the calendar flipped to February, the trade calls began picking up.

Meanwhile, after amassing 5-4—9 totals in 12 games in 2017-18, Donato’s first full-time foray into the NHL was going a little bit sideways in his development.

The 22-year-old forward had six goals and three assists (nine points) for Boston in 34 games by Feb. 20^th and after turning heads in his three years at Harvard University, as well as due to his scoring prowess for Team USA in the 2018 Winter Games, Donato had become expendable if the Bruins could land the right piece and sell high on Donato’s potential.

Sweeney would have to live with the fact that they might be trading away an overnight sensation that Boston simply didn’t have the patience for or couldn’t develop, but he had to weigh the fact that the Bruins’ aging core meant they needed a reliable center to provide insurmountable depth on the third line as David Backes deteriorated and was better off as a winger on the fourth line or not in the lineup at all.

Despite this, Backes still provided value if anyone went down with an injury and contributed vital leadership skills in the dressing room as Boston combatted the grueling part of any regular season schedule— filled with fewer days off in-between and long, West Coast, road trips before the postseason.

The Minnesota Wild, meanwhile, were shopping Charlie Coyle and others as the team looking to overhaul their lineup while sitting well outside the wild card cutoff looking in.

Then-Wild General Manager, Paul Fenton, was looking to make a splash and ship out some veterans for youth, speed and skill.

Donato provided a perfect chance for Minnesota to utilize his skills as a spry forward barely entering his prime and give him the space to develop with more ice time and coaching that Boston couldn’t balance with so many others ahead or directly behind in the depth charts.

On Feb. 20, 2019, Sweeney pulled off a trade that altered the course of Boston’s franchise history— if only in a less earth-shattering way than, say, trading Phil Esposito to the Rangers in the 1970s.

The Bruins acquired Coyle for Donato and a conditional 2019 5^th round pick—swapping two Massachusetts natives for one another, while setting the framework for keeping Coyle in Boston long-term when the time would come for an extension after the 2019-20 season.

In short, Coyle’s presence in Boston solidified the emphasis on finding a true first and/or second line center when Patrice Bergeron and Krejci were out of the picture without sacrificing complete depth down the middle in the eventual transition years (you know, like right around present day).

The Bruins had lost Colby Cave via waivers to the Edmonton Oilers about a month before Coyle’s acquisition, making it all the more important to solidify your bottom-six centers in the event of an injury.

In the meantime, the conditional 5^th round pick sent to the Wild would upgrade to a 2019 4^th round pick (originally belonging to the Rangers, previously mentioned in the McQuaid trade) after the Bruins eliminated the Maple Leafs and advanced to the 2019 Second Round.

Sweeney’s fast thinking before the deadline took one of the top available names off the board and addressed a need in Boston’s lineup without breaking the bank.

In 60 games with the Wild before the trade, Coyle had 10-18—28 totals. In 21 games with Boston immediately after the deal, he had 2-4—6 totals, but it’s not about what he did for the remainder of the regular season as he adjusted to new schemes with his new team.

It’s about his playoff performance in 2019.

If “playoff Krejci” is a thing, then “playoff Coyle” was his understudy in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs as Coyle put up 16 points (nine goals, seven assists) in 24 games—including a game-winning overtime goal in Game 1 of Boston’s Second Round matchup against Columbus.

This is where it’s worth mentioning that in the leadup to the 2019 trade deadline and on Feb. 25, 2019, itself, the Blue Jackets stocked up on some of the other big names available that winter, including Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel in separate trades a day apart with the Senators on Feb. 22^nd and 23^rd, as well as Keith Kinkaid from New Jersey and McQuaid from the Rangers on the day of the deadline.

Sure, Derick Brassard was passed around from Pittsburgh to Florida to Colorado that month, Kevin Hayes went from the Rangers to Winnipeg, Gystav Nyquist went from Detroit to San Jose, Mats Zuccarello was sent to Dallas from the Rangers and Carl Hagelin went from Los Angeles to Washington that month or at the deadline, but nobody really remembers what happened outside of Columbus and Ottawa as the two teams were the most active.

The Sens traded Mark Stone and Tobias Lindberg to the Vegas Golden Knights on Feb. 25^th for Oscar Lindberg, Erik Brännström and a 2020 2^nd round pick (originally belonging to Dallas, 61^st overall— Egor Sokolov) before Sweeney worked his one and only deadline deal that same day.

Sweeney traded a 2019 2^nd round pick (61^st overall, Nikita Okhotyuk) and a 2020 4^th round pick (120^th overall) to the Devils for Marcus Johansson.

New Jersey retained 40% (about $1.833 million) of Johansson’s salary, meaning that he only cost the Bruins $2.750 million against the salary cap as a pending-unrestricted free agent at season’s end.

Johansson’s career began as the 24^th overall pick of the Washington Capitals in the 2009 NHL Draft before making his league debut in the 2010-11 season.

Usually a 40-point scorer, Johansson had a career-year in 2016-17, with Washington, setting career-highs in goals (24), assists (34) and points (58) in 82 games before he was traded in the offseason as the Capitals couldn’t afford to him as a then-restricted free agent.

In parts of two seasons with New Jersey, Johansson had 17 goals and 24 assists (41 points) in 77 games from 2017-19, while battling injury.

He’d end up with another concussion after only a few games with Boston after the deadline and finished the 2018-19 regular season with 1-2—3 totals in 10 games for the Bruins down the stretch.

In the playoffs, however, Johansson bounced back with 4-7—11 totals in 22 games from a possession dominant third line with Coyle at center and Johansson and Heinen on the wings.

Unfortunately for Boston, Johnasson was still too good of a player to not make market value in the waters of free agency and signed a two-year deal worth $4.500 million per season with the Sabres on July 6, 2019, after the Bruins exhausted all options to cling to the only No. 90 uniform in franchise history.

After one season in Buffalo and a dismal 30 points (nine goals, 21 asissts) in 60 games, Johansson was traded to the Wild for Eric Staal on Sept. 16, 2020, where he went on to amass 6-8—14 totals in 36 games in the 56-game condensed 2020-21 regular season due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

More recently, on Aug. 6, 2021, Johansson agreed to a one-year deal worth $1.500 million with the Seattle Kraken, where, at the time of this writing, he has six goals and 17 assists (23 points) in 50 games.

While Boston’s first two lines encountered scoring problems in the majority of the 2019 Second Round matchup with Columbus, the Bruins’ third line and goaltender bailed the team out again and again.

The third line performed in Game 7 against Toronto, all throughout the Second Round against Columbus and came in handy during the 2019 Eastern Conference Final against Carolina.

Their success would be squandered in the 2019 Stanley Cup Final by the Blues as St. Louis added Michael Del Zotto to their defense at the 2019 trade deadline.

Though Coyle had a goal in Game 2 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final, for instance, Carl Gunnarsson’s overtime game-winning goal ended up tying the series 1-1 and giving St. Louis an edge in momentum on the road, where the Bruins would drop Games 2, 5 and 7 on home ice.

But had Sweeney not learned that he needed to stay aggressive leading up to the trade deadline and the arms race with the Blue Jackets that ensued and ultimately led to the surprise collapse of the Lightning in the First Round, Boston likely wouldn’t have even sniffed a 2019 Stanley Cup Final appearance.

Instead, it could’ve been history repeating itself in the Second Round against Tampa.

As history would have it anyway again in 2020, after a global pandemic shifted the entire paradigm for one odd shortened regular season and inflated postseason inside a bubble.

Indeed, there were dark times ahead for the world and the Bruins as the luster of the 2019 trade deadline began to wear off— coinciding with an aging core, though you might not have expected any signs of transitional trouble when Chara signed a one-year, $2.000 million extension on March 23, 2019, to remain in Boston for another season in 2019-20.

For now, though, we’re left to wonder what could have been in 2019.

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Go back and read Part 1

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Chapter Four- Warning Track (2018)

Nothing in sports is overnight— it’s usually drawn out over an offseason or over a year— maybe a few years.

It usually takes a few years of “serious contention” to win the Stanley Cup and by that point you’re either labelled as the favorite to win it entering October or people have given up on naming your team as the favorite because you haven’t won it yet until you finally do.

In 2007-08, the Boston Bruins rallied to a playoff berth for the first time since before the 2004-05 lockout canceled season. Though they lost in seven games to the Montréal Canadiens, they had emerged on the playoff contender scene and were a threat two years after drafting Phil Kessel 5^th overall in 2006.

Boston made some adjustments and became the top team in the Eastern Conference— nearly winning the Presidents’ Trophy in 2008-09— falling one point behind the San Jose Sharks in the overall league standings. The Bruins sat atop the East with 116 points, while San Jose led the West with 117 points.

Boston was 8^th in the Eastern Conference in 2007-08, with a minus-10 goal differential. They were 1^st in the Eastern Conference in 2008-09, and had a plus-78 goal differential to go with it.

Tim Thomas and Manny Fernandez shared the William M. Jennings Trophy, while Zdeno Chara won the James Norris Memorial Trophy, Claude Julien won the Jack Adams Award and Thomas took home his first of two Vezina Trophies in his career.

In the 2009 Eastern Conference Semifinal, they were beat by a rebound— one unlucky bounce the wrong way— as Scott Walker and the Carolina Hurricanes eliminated the Bruins in a Game 7 in Boston in overtime.

With the exception of the 1970, 1972 and 2011 Stanley Cup years, the Bruins are usually kicked to the curb in the playoffs, die a long, slow, grueling death in a seven-game series or somehow miraculously live to see another day that ultimately doesn’t end with drinking champagne from Lord Stanley’s chalice for the last 50 or so years.

Boston won three Cups in their first 17 years of existence (1929, 1939 and 1941). Since their third Cup ring in 1941, the Bruins have won three times in about 80 years and counting.

They’ve made the Stanley Cup Final 20 times in their nearly 100 years of existence as the National Hockey League’s first American expansion team.

The B’s reset for 2009-10, adding Steve Begin and Stephane Yelle to the fold among quality bottom-six forwards and penalty killers, while Thomas and Tuukka Rask competed for the starting job in net.

Dennis Wideman was coming off of a then-career-high 50 points in 79 games in 2008-09, but cooled down to 30 points in 76 games in 2009-10, while Zdeno Chara, Andrew Ference, Johnny Boychuk, Matt Hunwick, Derek Morris and Adam McQuaid shared duties on the blue line.

At the 2010 trade deadline on March 3^rd that season, Boston acquired Dennis Seidenberg and Matt Bartkowski from the Florida Panthers for Byron Bitz, Craig Weller and a 2010 2^nd round pick (36^th overall, originally belonging to the Tampa Bay Lightning— Florida drafted Alex Petrovic).

The Bruins dealt Morris to the Phoenix Coyotes for his second stint with that organization in exchange for a 2011 3^rd round pick (85^th overall, Anthony Camara).

One day prior, Boston acquired Steven Kampfer from the Anaheim Ducks for a 2010 4^th round pick (105^th overall, later traded to the Carolina Hurricanes, who drafted Justin Shugg).

Earlier in the season, the B’s acquired Daniel Paille from the Buffalo Sabres for a 2010 3^rd round pick on Oct. 20, 2009.

These were, of course, just a fraction of some of the transactions that year.

After eliminating Buffalo in six games in the 2010 Eastern Conference Quarterfinal, the Bruins had a 3-0 series lead over the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2010 Eastern Conference Semifinal.

They then became the third team in NHL history to lose the next four games and the Flyers advanced to the 2010 Eastern Conference Final before Philadelphia ultimately lost in six games to the disgraced 2010 Stanley Cup winning Chicago roster.

Boston went from almost winning the Presidents’ Trophy in their second consecutive playoff appearance in 2009, to experiencing their darkest hour in 2010.

They then, of course, won the Cup in 2011.

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Entering 2017-18, Bruins General Manager, Don Sweeney, knew he had to be bolder than ever.

The bill was soon due for his “three-year plan” back to Stanley Cup contention and with a core that would not get any younger in Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, David Krejci, Zdeno Chara, Tuukka Rask and more, Sweeney had to swing for the fences by the time the 2018 trade deadline rolled around.

In the offseason, Boston bought out Jimmy Hayes’ final year of his three-year contract with the Bruins on June 30, 2017, facing a $566,667 cap penalty in 2017-18, and an $866,667 penalty for 2018-19, in accordance with the league’s buyout rules.

The B’s opted not to extend a qualifying offer to Joe Morrow— the only other remaining piece of the Tyler Seguin trade remnants after Hayes was acquired from the Florida Panthers in exchange for Reilly Smith and Marc Savard’s contract on July 1, 2015— and let the then-24-year-old defender walk in free agency.

Hayes signed a one-year deal with the New Jersey Devils worth $700,000 on Oct. 1, 2017, and had 3-6—9 totals in 33 games with New Jersey in 2017-18, after finishing his Boston tenure with 2-3—5 totals in 58 games for the Bruins in 2016-17.

He was assigned to the Devils’ American Hockey League affiliate in Binghamton and appeared in three games before joining the Pittsburgh Penguins organization on a one-year deal for $650,000 for 2018-19, but Pittsburgh assigned him to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and never utilized him on their NHL roster.

Hayes retired from professional hockey shortly thereafter and was working his way into a second career as a media personality in hockey with his own podcast before his tragic death on Aug. 23, 2021.

Morrow signed a one-year deal with the Canadiens worth $650,000, which was then a league-minimum contract and $150,000 less than his cap hit in a Bruins uniform in 2016-17.

He’d hit a stride with Montréal in 38 games, amassing 5-6—11 totals from the blue line, but was traded to the Winnipeg Jets for a 2018 4^th round pick on Feb. 26, 2018, in a deadline deal as a depth piece for the eventual 2018 Western Conference Finalists.

Morrow played in 18 games with Winnipeg in 2017-18, and had five points (one goal, four assists). After 41 games with the Jets in 2018-19, and seven points (one goal, six assists), his NHL career came to a halt and he spent part of 2019-20 in the AHL as well as the Kontinental Hockey League before joining a team in the Finnish Liiga for 2020-21, prior to returning to the KHL in 2021-22.

Meanwhile, at the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft, the Vegas Golden Knights selected defender, Colin Miller, who, after amassing 16 points (three goals, 13 assists) in 42 games in his first NHL season in 2015-16, had 6-7—13 totals in 61 games with Boston in 2016-17.

Miller had a breakout year in his first season with Vegas, setting career-highs in goals (10), assists (31) and points (41) in 82 games before putting up 29 points (three goals, 26 assists) in 65 games the following season and being traded to the Buffalo Sabres on June 28, 2019, as a result.

Since then, he’s spent the last three seasons on the Sabres defense, but yet to once again reach the 20-point plateau as a defender.

A concussion ended John-Michael Liles’ brief tenure as Boston’s seventh defender— notching five assists in 36 games with the Bruins in 2016-17, before joining Altitude as a broadcaster and a Colorado Avalanche analyst. In 53 games with Boston from the 2016 trade deadline to the end of 2017, Liles had 11 points (all assists).

Sweeney watched as Dominic Moore went from centering the fourth line in 2016-17, to signing a one-year, $1.000 million deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs for 2017-18, where his production dropped from 25 points (11 goals, 14 assists) in 82 games with Boston to 12 points (six goals, six assists) in 50 games for the Leafs.

Moore appeared in two postseason games in Toronto’s 2018 First Round series against Boston, but failed to register a point in his final NHL season and playoffs.

Finally, 2017 trade deadline addition, Drew Stafford went from carrying a $4.350 million cap hit and 8-13—21 totals in 58 games between the Jets and Bruins in 2016-17, to signing a one-year deal with the Devils on Aug. 25, 2017, for $800,000, where he had 15 points (eight goals, seven assists) in 59 games in 2017-18.

He re-signed with New Jersey on another one-year contract on Oct. 5, 2018, for $810,000 and had 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in 57 games in 2018-19, before retiring at 33-years-old after he failed to make the Minnesota Wild after attending their training camp in Sept. 2019, on a player training operative (PTO).

Sweeney’s moves were deliberate and calculated as the Bruins were to develop from within—given Sean Kuraly’s rise on the depth charts to a fourth line role and more.

With Miller being claimed by the Golden Knights via expansion, Boston had a chance to see what they had in Matt Grzelcyk and Rob O’Gara while already planning on using Charlie McAvoy in their mix of defenders that included Chara, Brandon Carlo, Torey Krug, Kevan Miller and Adam McQuaid.

Sweeney quietly went about free agency on July 1, 2017, signing Kenny Agostino to a one-year deal worth $875,000, Paul Postma to a one-year deal worth $725,000 and Jordan Szwarz to a one-year, two-way deal worth $650,000.

Szwarz, Anton Blidh, Colby Cave, Peter Cehlárik and Austin Czarnik would be called up from the Providence Bruins (AHL) throughout the 2017-18 season due to injuries.

Szwarz stuck around on another one-year deal at $650,000 for 2018-19, but was never recalled from Providence, before signing a one-year deal worth $800,000 with the Ottawa Senators on July 1, 2019. He left for the KHL in 2020-21, and spent 2021-22 in Germany (DEL).

Agostino had one assist in five games with Boston before he was reassigned to Providence then bounced around with the Canadiens, Devils and Maple Leafs from 2018-21, prior to heading for the KHL in 2021-22, while Postma appeared in 14 games with the Bruins as a seventh defender and managed to record one assist before leaving for the KHL, National League and IceHL from 2018-22.

The 2017-18 roster gained valuable experience in both regular season games accrued as a unit, as well as due to the fact that the majority of players had been part of Boston’s 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs appearance.

With their meteoric rise in the standings from that of a waffling borderline playoff outsider to contender status from 2015-17, the Bruins had a chance at being the top team in the Atlantic Division as the 2017-18 season rolled along.

Even better, Boston looked like they could make a deep run to the Stanley Cup Final— coinciding with Sweeney’s masterplan of getting back into Cup contention in three years’ time from his hiring in May 2015.

They just needed to swing for the fences as the 2018 trade deadline approached and land one or two big pieces to get them over the hump against heavyweights like the Tampa Bay Lightning and Pittsburgh Penguins among potential Eastern Conference suitors and/or Nashville Predators, Winnipeg Jets and even those pesky “Golden Misfit” Vegas Golden Knights if Boston could reach the 2018 Stanley Cup Final.

In the leadup to the 2018 trade deadline, Sweeney added a defender from the New York Rangers, acquiring Nick Holden for O’Gara and a 2018 3^rd round pick (88^th overall, Joey Keane) on Feb. 20^th.

O’Gara had appeared in 11 games with Boston over parts of two seasons from 2016-18, and failed to record a point, while racking up a career minus-4 rating in a Bruins uniform.

In 22 games with the Rangers down the stretch, O’Gara recorded three assists.

He signed a one-year extension with New York for the 2018-19 season, but spent 2018-21 in the AHL among the Hartford Wolf Pack, San Antonio Rampage, Springfield Thunderbirds and Hershey Bears before retiring thereafter at 28-years-old.

Holden, meanwhile, had one goal and four assists (five points) in 18 games for Boston down the stretch and became a seventh defender thereafter— recording an assist in two postseason games in their 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs run.

With a cap hit of $1.650 million and an interest in maintaining his status as a top-six defender in the league, Holden signed a two-year contract worth $2.200 million per season with the Golden Knights on July 1, 2018, where he earned a two-year extension on Feb. 24, 2020, before Vegas packaged him with a 2022 3^rd round pick (originally belonging to Vancouver) in a trade with the Senators for Evgenii Dadonov.

As David Pastrnak continued to emerge as a star on Boston’s roster in 2017-18, let alone the entire league, the Bruins found out how dangerous a line comprised of Pastrnak and Marchand on the wings of Bergeron could be.

That, combined with Krejci and Jake DeBrusk formed a solid five out of their top-six forwards as DeBrusk wound up finishing his rookie season with 16-27—43 totals in 70 games played.

But an annual task remained for Sweeney— finding another winger for Krejci.

After 11 points (eight goals, three assists) in 39 games in 2015-16, and 18 points (10 goals, eight assists) in 44 games in 2016-17, Frank Vatrano’s development with Boston stalled in 25 games in 2017-18.

Vatrano had two goals in a trying time as his confidence (or lack thereof) clearly affected his play on the ice and with more younger players like Danton Heinen, Anders Bjork and Ryan Donato hot on his tail and climbing the depth charts, the Bruins were willing to make Vatrano expendable.

Sweeney jumped the gun and pulled the trigger on a one-for-one salary cap dump with the Florida Panthers, sending Vatrano to Sunrise in exchange for a 2018 3^rd round pick (77^th overall, Jakub Lauko) on Feb. 22, 2018, replenishing his draft stock after sending Boston’s own 3^rd round selection to the Rangers two days prior.

Vatrano’s $792,500 cap hit was off the books and his play picked up in Florida as a change of scenery was expected to help him right the ship. In 16 games with the Panthers for the rest of 2017-18, he had 5-3—8 totals and followed that up with 39 points (24 goals, 15 assists) in 81 games in his first full season with Florida in 2018-19.

In 2019-20, Vatrano had 16-18—34 totals in 69 games and was on pace for a career season when the COVID-19 pandemic shortened the regular season.

He had 18-8—26 totals in 56 games in the condensed 2020-21 regular season schedule and— at the time of this writing— has regressed a little bit in 2021-22, with 17 points (eight goals, nine assists) in 48 games for the Panthers.

But just as Blake Wheeler wasn’t going to pan out in Boston the way he did with the Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets prior to being traded with Mark Stuart for Rich Peverley and Boris Valabik on Feb. 18, 2011, Vatrano might not have gone on to grow into the player he is today if the Bruins held onto him.

In Boston’s 2018 and 2019 push for a deep playoff run, the emphasis wasn’t on developing players on the NHL roster all-around for future reference as much as it became executing the right plays at the right time, living in the moment and going “all-in” for one more shot at a Cup with their aging core.

Quite simply, if you weren’t getting better, you were getting left behind or traded for someone who was already capable of filling a much-needed role— like that of Krejci’s missing winger, a durable defender, etc.

Vatrano wasn’t the only player that had gone stale in Boston in 2017-18, however.

Ryan Spooner reached a pinnacle in 80 games with the Bruins in 2015-16. He had career-highs in goals (13), assists (36) and points (49) and looked like he could be a solution down the middle as Bergeron and Krejci would transition out of the game one day and— in the meantime— made himself comfy on a power play unit as a playmaker.

In 2016-17, Spooner’s stats stumbled to 11-28—39 totals in 78 games.

Through 39 games with the Bruins in 2017-18, he had nine goals and 16 assists (25 points) and took a considerable drop in power play production. He had 17 points on the power play in 2015-16, and 18 points in 2016-17, but just five points on the skater advantage in 2017-18.

The Rangers had been scouting Spooner as early as October 2017.

They had an interest in upgrading their center depth and liked what they saw on the power play the previous two seasons and— as the 2018 trade deadline approached— were willing to work with and adapt Spooner to their needs as an organization in planned transition.

Jeff Gorton was New York’s General Manager at the time and had been tasked with selling off the parts and pieces that couldn’t get it done in the 2014 Stanley Cup Final for a quick rebound and reentrance into the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the near future after their Second Round series loss to Ottawa in 2017, dropped morale from that of an Eastern Conference wild card team in 2016-17, to a bottom of the Metropolitan Division club in 2017-18.

Mika Zibanejad on the first line with Spooner as the second line center was a very attractive option for the Rangers in terms of finishing out the 2017-18 season with the goal of doing their best to win the Draft Lottery and work on finding the chemistry necessary to take a then-26-year-old Spooner and revitalize him into a future star on Broadway.

Sweeney had his eyes set on the Rangers all season long as well— as New York had become a hot ticket item in the 2018 trade deadline raffle.

Names like Rick Nash, J.T. Miller and Ryan McDonagh were flying around the rumor mill.

If you could land one you were lucky, but if you could land more, you were likely paying a premium to solidify yourself as a Cup contender.

How bad did you want to win?

The big deals were being made ahead of Feb. 26^th’s deadline itself.

Dion Phaneuf had been tossed in a package deal between the Los Angeles Kings and Ottawa on Feb. 14^th— heading out to Hollywood for a chance at NHL royalty as Los Angeles was in search of their third Cup title in seven seasons.

The Philadelphia Flyers acquired Petr Mrazek on Feb. 19^th from the Detroit Red Wings for a conditional 2018 4^th round pick (which became a 2018 3^rd round pick as the Flyers made the postseason) and a conditional 2019 3^rd round pick that Philadelphia only had to give Detroit if they re-signed Mrazek (they did not).

New York unloaded Michael Grabner on Feb. 22^nd in a trade with the Devils for Yegor Rykov and a 2018 2^nd round pick (48^th overall) that the Rangers later flipped to the Senators with a 2018 1^st round pick (originally belonging to Boston, 26^th overall) to move up in the draft with Ottawa’s 2018 1^st round pick (22^nd overall, K’Andre Miller).

There’s some foreshadowing there if you looked close enough.

Ottawa, Pittsburgh and Vegas arranged a three-team trade that saw the Golden Knights broker salary cap relief for the Penguins to acquire Derrick Brassard on Feb. 23^rd and that’s what likely sent the NHL into a frenzy.

General Managers were ringing the Rangers front office like there was no tomorrow.

Late on Feb. 25^th, the Bruins and Rangers had reached a deal.

Spooner, Matt Beleskey, Ryan Lindgren, Boston’s 2018 1^st round pick (26^th overall, later flipped to Ottawa— Jacob Bernard-Docker) and 2019 7^th round pick (216^th overall, later flipped to Carolina, Massimo Rizzo) were headed to New York for No. 61 himself.

Rick Nash was a pending-unrestricted free agent with a $7.800 million cap hit.

The Rangers agreed to retain 50% of his salary, so that a $3.900 million cap hit wouldn’t stress Boston as much while the Bruins also retained 50% of Beleskey’s salary ($1.900 million) in the deal and the 2002 1^st overall pick in Nash became Boston’s newest asset.

Nash reached the 40-goal plateau three times in his career— twice in Columbus, on route to sharing the 2003-04 Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy honors as the league’s top goal-scorer (41 goals) with Jarome Iginla and Ilya Kovalchuk, as well as 40 goals in 2008-09, with the Blue Jackets and one more in New York, when Nash had a career-high 42 goals with the Rangers in 2014-15.

Though his points declined from 42-27—69 totals in 79 games in 2014-15, to 15-21—36 totals in 60 games in 2015-16, followed by 38 points (23 goals, 15 assists) in 67 games in 2016-17, Nash was still Nash.

He was hard to move off the puck given his 6-foot-4, 211-pound frame and he had 28 points (18 goals, 10 assists) in 60 games with New York in 2017-18, prior to the trade.

A history of concussions was the only thing that could concern the Bruins as they had finally found someone that had a knack for scoring— whether it meant pocketing the puck himself or working the play over to a teammate and compiling assists in the meantime.

Nash could play with Krejci.

Spooner, meanwhile, finished the season with 16 points (four goals, 12 assists) in 20 games with the Rangers and recorded 1-1—2 totals in 16 games the following season before he was traded to the Edmonton Oilers for Ryan Strome as the two players struggled to get out of the gate in 2018-19.

Spooner for Strome ended up being a lopsided deal for the Rangers as the former recorded three points (two goals, one assist) in 25 games for the Oilers before he was traded again during the 2018-19 season— this time to the Canucks for Sam Gagner.

In Vancouver, Spooner had four assists in 11 games, then left for the KHL after the season.

Strome, meanwhile, had 33 points (18 goals, 15 assists) in 63 games in New York in 2018-19, followed by 59 points in 2019-20, 49 points in 2020-21, and 43 points in 55 games this season so far.

Anyway, Beleskey had no points in 14 games with the Bruins at the time of the trade on Feb. 25, 2018, and was in the minors with Providence. He’d appear in the last game of the regular season for New York before playing in four more games for the Rangers in 2018-19, recording one goal in five career games for the Blueshirts.

Beleskey spent parts of three seasons in Hartford before his NHL contract expired after 2019-20. These days he’s brewing craft beer as a co-owner of a brewery in Ontario.

Lindgren, meanwhile, remains the only component of the trade still with his respective club.

He made his NHL debut in 2018-19, with the Rangers and has 6-35—41 totals in 172 games since then at the time of this writing and was originally Boston’s 2^nd round pick (49^th overall) in 2016.

Earlier in the day on Feb. 25, 2018, the Bruins signed Brian Gionta to a one-year, $700,000 contract.

Gionta captained Team USA in the 2018 Winter Games, but failed to record a point in five games as the Americans failed to reach the medal round. He did, however, score a goal in his one and only game with the Rochester Americans that season.

In 20 games with Boston, Gionta had two goals and five assists for seven points and was a minus-one. It was a combination of age and being too far into the regular season already that ultimately did him in compared to his 15-20—35 totals in 82 games with the Sabres the prior year.

Nevertheless, Gionta appeared in one postseason game with Boston in 2018, as the Bruins tried to mix things up in Game 4 of their Second Round series with the Lightning, only to lose, 4-3, in overtime.

Ryan Donato, meanwhile, was Team USA’s leading scorer at the 2018 Olympic Games, notching 5-1—6 totals in five games after putting up 43 points (26 goals, 17 assists) in 29 games at Harvard University prior to PyeongChang.

Drafted by Boston in the 2014 2nd round (56^th overall), Donato ended his collegiate career early by signing a two-year entry-level contract worth $900,000 per season on March 18, 2018.

He scored in his NHL debut on home ice against the Columbus Blue Jackets in a, 5-4, overtime loss on March 19, 2018, and went on to amass 5-4—9 totals in 12 games down the stretch with Boston.

Donato appeared in three playoff games for the Bruins in 2018, but the main goal in mind on his development was to have him ready to make a full-time debut in 2018-19, as Boston had intended with McAvoy back in April 2017, with McAvoy’s expected full-time status anticipated for the 2017-18 season.

On the actual day of the 2018 trade deadline itself, Sweeney made one more minor move— acquiring Tommy Wingels from Chicago for a conditional 2019 5^th round pick, which would upgrade to a 2019 4^th round pick if Boston advanced to the Second Round of the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs or re-signed Wingels.

In 18 regular season games for Boston, Wingels had two goals and three assists (five points). In four playoff games, he failed to get on the scoresheet.

The Bruins came back to beat the Maple Leafs in Game 7 of their 2018 First Round series matchup, 7-4, after almost blowing a 3-1 series lead.

Though unlike when Boston trailed, 4-1, going into the third period in Game 7 of their 2013 Eastern Conference Quarterfinal against the Maple Leafs, the Bruins only trailed, 4-3, after the second period of their Game 7 matchup against Toronto in 2018.

Pastrnak had a career-high six-points in Game 2 against the Leafs— recording a hat trick and three assists in a, 7-3, victory at TD Garden. Rick Nash even had a goal that night.

Boston ultimately outscored Toronto, 28-20, in the series and advanced to face the Lightning in the 2018 Second Round.

Tampa had some familiar names to go along with their stars in Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman and Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Remember how Miller and McDonagh were available in New York at the trade deadline? Yeah. Tampa got them.

Then-Lightning General Manager, Steve Yzerman, sent Vladislav Namestnikov, Brett Howden, Libor Hájek, a 2018 1^st round pick (28^th overall, Nils Lundqvist) and a conditional 2019 2^nd round pick (58^th overall, Karl Henriksson) to the Rangers for Miller and McDonagh.

If the Bolts won the Cup in 2018 or 2019, they’d owe New York a 2019 1^st round pick instead of a 2019 2^nd round pick.

Unfortunately for the Rangers, the Lightning did not make it out of the 2018 Eastern Conference Final and were swept by the Blue Jackets in the 2019 First Round in one of the biggest upsets of the last 20 years after compiling 62 wins in the 2018-19 regular season.

Not too many people think about those years these days, however, as Tampa went on to win back-to-back Cups in 2020 and 2021— and could be making a run at a three-peat in 2022.

Back in 2018, however, McDonagh was coming off 6-36—42 totals in 77 games for New York in 2016-17, and cruising along with 26 points (two goals, 24 assists) in 49 games at the time of the trade to Tampa.

Down the stretch with the Lightning, he had three points (two goals, one assist) in 14 games.

McDonagh has been an integral part of Tampa’s defense ever since. Even if he is only on the third pairing on the Bolts, he’d be a top-four defender anywhere else.

Miller, meanwhile, had 56 points (22 goals, 34 assists) in 82 games with the Rangers in 2016-17, and put up 40 points (13 goals, 27 assists) in 63 games in 2017-18, before the trade.

He went on to finish the season with 58 points in 82 games as he amassed 10-8—18 totals in 19 games with the Lightning leading up to the postseason.

Miller spent all of 2018-19 with Tampa before the Bolts traded him to the Canucks in the offseason to clear cap space as they signed Brayden Point to an extension that gave the young forward about a $6.000 million pay raise.

As a result, Ryan Callahan’s contract was cleared from the books in a separate trade with Ottawa, but this isn’t about the Lightning and their roster turnover.

Boston didn’t get McDonagh or Miller from the Rangers and that cost them dearly when they met the duo in the Second Round of the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs and proceeded to be eliminated in five games.

Tampa outscored Boston, 17-13, in the series and Nash had two goals in Game 1 (a, 6-2, victory)— bringing him to 3-2—5 totals in all 12 of the Bruins’ playoff games that spring after missing the second half of March due to what would ultimately become a career-ending concussion and post concussive symptoms.

McDonagh had five assists and Miller had 2-6—8 totals in the Lightning’s 17-game run to a Game 7 loss in the 2018 Eastern Conference Final against the eventual 2018 Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals.

Paul Stastny, Tomáš Plekanec, Pat Maroon and Evander Kane were other big names that got dealt at the 2018 trade deadline to Winnipeg, Toronto, New Jersey and San Jose, respectively.

Only Maroon and his $1.500 million cap hit would’ve been attractive for Boston. Instead, he made a 2018 First Round exit with New Jersey in five games against Tampa in the Devils’ most recent playoff appearance.

Gionta, Nash, Wingels and Holden carried a combined cap hit of $7.000 million on Boston’s books.

McDonagh and Miller carried a combined $7.450 million cap hit, while the Lightning went on to the Eastern Conference Final for the third time in four years.

One (McDonagh or Miller) or the other would’ve been fine if Nash was still acquired or not even mentioned in a conversation with Boston at all.

In any case, trying for McDonagh or Miller from the Rangers meant that more had to be included in any hypothetical deal, but what would that have required? Trading Carlo or some other NHL roster component?

Moving Carlo at the 2018 trade deadline was a non-starter for Sweeney.

If it meant beating the Lightning in the 2018 Second Round and at least appearing in the 2018 Eastern Conference Final, would you have done it? Especially if it only further strengthened your roster for a 2019 Stanley Cup Final run?

But then you’d be messing with the space-time continuum and that might change how the 2019 trade deadline played out, which would— in effect— also yield a different result in the 2019 postseason, potentially.

Just like in 2008-09, Boston was in the midst of a Presidents’ Trophy race in 2017-18, that ultimately came down to four teams— two in each Conference.

The Nashville Predators finished atop the NHL with 117 points on the season and a 53-18-11 record as the defending Clarence S. Campbell Bowl winners as the league’s 2017 Western Conference champions.

The Jets had the next highest points total in the overall standings with 114 points and a 52-20-10 record.

By season’s end the Bruins battled the Lightning for Eastern Conference supremacy— let alone the Atlantic Division regular season title.

A dismal 1-3-1 record in April— including a, 4-0, loss in Tampa— left the Bruins one point behind the Lightning in the Eastern Conference standings. The Bolts went 54-23-5 on the season for 113 points, while Boston finished 50-20-12 overall with 112 points.

Then the Bruins beat Toronto in the First Round in seven games and lost to Tampa in five games in the Second Round.

For now, Sweeney learned his lesson.

Never settle for second-best and wondering what could have been.

He had to win the deadline.

---

Go back and read Part 1

Part Two

Part Three

Chapter Three- Change Takes Time (2017)

On Feb. 4, 2017, the Boston Bruins lost, 6-5, to the Toronto Maple Leafs on home ice at TD Garden.

Head coach, Claude Julien, did his postgame interview with NESN in the third-floor studio at ice level— exiting with a polite smile despite the gravity of the situation after likely being a bit surprised to find a remote broadcast intern waiting outside to collect some gear that needed to go back to the production truck parked outdoors.

He must have known.

He had been around the league long enough and went through it before with the Montréal Canadiens in Jan. 2006, as well as the New Jersey Devils the following season— despite New Jersey leading their division and maintaining the second-best record in the Eastern Conference at the time.

He was nearly fired from the Bruins if Game 7 of the 2011 Eastern Conference Quarterfinal had been won by Montréal.

Luckily for Julien, Nathan Horton scored a series clinching overtime goal and the B’s went on afterwards to defeat the Philadelphia Flyers in four games, Tampa Bay Lightning in seven games and Vancouver Canucks in seven games to capture the Stanley Cup that spring.

But after losing to Toronto on Feb. 4, 2017, something in the air signaled that a change was about to be made and the last of Julien behind the bench in Boston had just been seen.

The Bruins trailed, 4-1, midway through the second period before David Pastrnak and Torey Krug scored a pair of goals to go into the second intermission trailing, 4-3.

Ryan Spooner opened scoring in the third period— tying the game, 4-4, with Boston’s third unanswered goal at 10:06, but about five minutes later the Maple Leafs went ahead again, 5-4.

In the dying minutes of the action, Patrice Bergeron made it, 5-5, at 17:06, but about a minute later James van Riemsdyk put the icing on the cake for Toronto, 6-5, at 18:24.

The Bruins outshot Toronto, 41-26, and dominated faceoff win percentage, 60-40. The Maple Leafs went 1/2 on the power play to Boston’s 2/5 success rate.

It was the second straight loss in which the B’s gave up five or more goals in a season that looked like it was destined to repeat the recent history of 2015 and 2016— close, but just on the outside looking in when the playoffs would begin in April.

The Bruins were willing to do whatever it’d take to avoid missing the playoffs for three years in a row.

Apparently, management felt that the players had stopped listening to their old coach and would respond better with a shakeup behind the bench— even more so after Spooner and Frank Vatrano expressed similar statements that “the old coach didn’t really like me” in the immediate aftermath and once each player eventually was traded out of Boston.

Milt Schmidt was the last head coach in Boston to miss three consecutive postseasons before he was replaced by Harry Sinden after the 1965-66 season. The Bruins would not let Julien—their winningest head coach in franchise history— become the first behind the bench to do so since Schmidt.

On Feb. 7, 2017, while the New England Patriots were parading their fifth Vince Lombardi Trophy around the City of Boston, Bruins beat reporters scrambled through the crowds to get to TD Garden, Warrior Ice Arena or wherever the Bruins were that morning for the firing of Julien and subsequent press conference for then-interim head coach, Bruce Cassidy.

The Bruins were in 3^rd place in the Atlantic Division at the time of Julien’s firing.

That was good enough to earn a divisional playoff berth in accordance with the National Hockey League’s playoff format, but Boston had let the last two seasons slip away by mingling with the bubble and the Ottawa Senators and Maple Leafs were in the hunt for home ice if any of them could somehow finish at least second place in the Atlantic Division.

Boston’s 2016-17 roster marked a crossroads for the organization as less and less of the 2011 Stanley Cup winning core remained on the team.

Dennis Seidenberg’s final two years of his contract with the Bruins were bought out prior to the season as John-Michael Liles was re-signed and the B’s had a plethora of bottom-pairing defenders in the likes of Liles, Adam McQuaid, Colin Miller, Kevan Miller and Joe Morrow all vying for basically the same job or two.

In addition, the Bruins considered Matt Grzelcyk and Rob O’Gara for roles down the road as the two defenders made their league debuts that season.

Charlie McAvoy ended his collegiate career by signing a professional entry-level contract with Boston near the end of the 2016-17 regular season with the expectation that he’d play for the B’s in 2017-18— finishing off the year with Boston’s American Hockey League affiliate in Providence to get his first taste of professional hockey.

Except the Bruins faced a ton of injuries down the stretch that meant McAvoy had to become part of the equation almost overnight in the middle of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.

Among their forwards, General Manager, Don Sweeney had brought in Dominic Moore for a fourth line center role in place of Maxime Talbot or Chris Kelly on any given night.

The former left for the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia for 2016-17, while the latter suffered a season ending injury after fracturing his left femur on Nov. 3, 2015, in a game against the Dallas Stars—limiting Kelly’s 2015-16 campaign to just 11 games and two goals in the process.

Despite amassing 7-21—28 totals in 80 games in 2014-15, there were no guarantees Kelly would return to his former self given his age (35) in 2015-16, and the extent of his injury.

Besides, Sweeney really needed to spend the $3.000 million cap hit that Kelly’s contract carried until it expired after the 2015-16 season elsewhere in the organization.

Tim Schaller and Riley Nash were a pair of replacement level bottom-six forwards that Sweeney added to his forward group while players like Danton Heinen, Sean Kuraly, Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson, Austin Czarnik, Peter Cehlárik and Anton Blidh would get their first taste of NHL action while guys like Spooner and Vatrano sorted themselves out among recent newcomers, David Backes and Matt Beleskey, somewhere in the top-nine forward group.

That’s right, 2016-17 marked the first season of Backes’ five-year, $30.000 million contract that he signed with Boston on July 1, 2016.

He would go on to play in 74 games that season and yield 38 points (17 goals, 21 assists) in his most productive season in a Bruins uniform as Backes’ career decline only furthered from year-to-year thereafter.

Though for one season, Backes was a welcome addition in helping guys like Kuraly learn how to carve out their own full-time spot on the roster and give Boston further depth in the bottom-six— specifically where Backes often impacted the third line.

Kuraly’s unrelenting performance in the 2017 First Round landed him a favorable role for 2017-18 and beyond in Boston, meanwhile, Backes’ entrance from the beginning of the 2016-17 season timed out well with Beleskey’s decline.

In 2015-16, Beleskey had a career-high 37 points (15 goals, 22 assists) in 80 games in his first season with Boston in the first year of a five-year deal worth $3.800 million per season.

Though he fell short of his career-high 22 goals in 65 games with the Anaheim Ducks the season prior, Beleskey’s stock remained stable given his surprise rise in notoriety courtesy of his eight-goal performance in 16 playoff games in 2015, as the Ducks went all the way to a Game 7 loss on home ice in the 2015 Western Conference Final to Chicago.

Boston, of course, missed the playoffs in 2016, so Beleskey would get another chance at postseason fame and glory the following year in 2017, when— after 49 regular season games— he was limited to eight points (three goals, five assists) due to injuries that led to a disjointed 2016-17 campaign.

In three postseason games with Boston in 2017, Beleskey was a minus-two. He had no points.

Backes, on the other hand, managed to score a goal and record three assists for four points in all six games of the series loss against Ottawa.

Meanwhile, Moore, Schaller and Nash each looked comfortable in their regular season appearances with Boston.

Moore only played one year in a Bruins uniform before moving on to Toronto for 2017-18, but in all 82 games with the B’s in 2016-17, he had 11-14—25 totals.

After making $900,000 on his one-year contract with Boston, Moore was able to earn himself a $100,000 raise and make a cool $1.000 million on a one-year deal with the Leafs for 2017-18.

Schaller likely wasn’t destined for much of an NHL career before signing a one-year, $600,000 contract with Boston on July 1, 2016.

It was a low-risk, high-reward sort of deal— if there was any reward to be had at all stemming from an undrafted player out of New Hampshire (the state, not the university as Schaller went to Providence College) who, in 35 games with the Buffalo Sabres over two seasons from 2014-16, had only had two goals and three assists (five points) in that span.

In his first year with Boston, Schaller amassed 7-7—14 totals in 59 games played and earned another one-year deal to stick around in a Bruins jersey—this time at a $775,000 cap hit on July 5, 2017.

In six games in the 2017 playoffs, Schaller had one goal and followed that up with two assists in 11 postseason games the following year in 2018, after amassing a career-high 22 points (12 goals, 10 assists) in 82 regular seasons with Boston in 2017-18.

He then cashed in on a two-year deal worth $1.900 million per season with the Vancouver Canucks on July 1, 2018, only to score 16 points (eight goals, eight assists) in 100 games with the Canucks and Los Angeles Kings by the time the contract expired after 2019-20.

Nash, meanwhile, was originally drafted 21^st overall by the Edmonton Oilers way back in 2007, but didn’t suit up for an NHL team until the 2011-12 season, when— by that time— he was a member of the Carolina Hurricanes after the Oilers traded him to Carolina for a 2010 2^nd round pick (previously acquired from Ottawa, Edmonton selected Martin Marincin) on June 26, 2010.

He never had more than 25 points in a season and made his way into being a full-time bottom-six forward by 2013-14, with the Hurricanes.

After parts of five seasons with Carolina and 81 points in 242 games, Nash signed a two-year deal with the Bruins on July 1, 2016, worth $900,000 per season— a quarter-million dollars less than what his cap hit was with the Canes in 2015-16.

In 81 games with the B’s in 2016-17, Nash had 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists) for respectable numbers in his role among the bottom-six and as a penalty killing forward.

Then, in 76 games with Boston as a 27-year-old in 2017-18, Nash broke out with a career-year setting career-highs in goals (15), assists (26) and points (41) in 81 games before cashing in on a three-year contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets worth $2.750 million per season on July 1, 2018.

The thing to notice here is that Sweeney had begun to develop a trend in Boston.

His larger acquisitions in free agency were rather shortsighted, while his replacement level deals were rather tremendous in extending the value of a dollar.

If only he could find the right way to negotiate a trade to emphasize proper value in the addition of a rental or a more long-term player at the trade deadline— or avoid making the mistake of being bogged down by eventual albatross contracts like Backes and Beleskey in the first place.

Regarding Spooner and Vatrano, the two players were quickly reaching their final chance at making a lasting impression in Boston.

Spooner was Boston’s 2^nd round pick (45^th overall) in 2010— drafted with the Bruins’ own 2^nd  round pick in the first of two draft years where they benefited from selections acquired from Toronto in exchange for Phil Kessel.

Whereas Boston packaged Tyler Seguin in a seven-player deal with the Dallas Stars on July 4, 2013, and Jared Knight didn’t pan out despite being drafted 13 spots ahead of Spooner (Knight ended up being traded to the Minnesota Wild on March 2, 2015), Spooner was held to a higher standard of making a good impression in the eyes of both Boston’s coaching staff and fans— even though Seguin, Knight and Dougie Hamilton (the 2011 1st round pick acquired in the Kessel trade) were the actual results of sending Kessel to Toronto.

Hamilton was jettisoned to the Calgary Flames for draft picks on June 26, 2015, in one of Sweeney’s first moves.

Spooner fell victim to the notion that anyone from the 2010 draft should already be a full-time NHLer by the time the immediate products of the Kessel trade tree were flipped.

The Bruins were in transition and it was time to show up or be shipped out.

Spooner made his league debut in 2012-13, but didn’t crack the roster for a full season until 2015-16, when he amassed 13-36—49 totals in 80 games as a promising candidate for Boston’s future center depth in the post-Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci era someday.

In 2016-17, Spooner’s stats slipped to 39 points (11 goals, 28 assists) in 78 games.

The following season, he had 9-16—25 totals in 39 games and was included in a larger deal leading up to the 2018 trade deadline with the New York Rangers (this is what we refer to as foreshadowing for Part Four, fun fact).

Vatrano, meanwhile, was the last piece of the puzzle that previous General Manager, Peter Chiarelli, had his hands on in Boston—signing the undrafted forward from University of Massachusetts to a three-year entry-level contract on March 15, 2015, and making his NHL debut the following season.

He amassed 11 points (eight goals, three assists) in 39 games while David Pastrnak turned more heads with 15-11—26 totals in 51 games with Boston in 2015-16, after recording 27 points (10 goals, 17 assists) in 46 games the previous season despite Pastrnak being drafted earlier that summer (25^th overall in 2014).

A precedent was set—that in the long-term Boston might not be able to sustain Vatrano and Pastrnak and that they would need to choose between one of the two players.

That if, for example, Vatrano was a late bloomer the Bruins would not be able to be patient enough with Sweeney’s three-year plan to get back to Stanley Cup contention, while Pastrnak had shown flashes of potentially franchise changing play.

In all, the Bruins struggled with a constant state of being in-between.

They were neither a true contender, but they also weren’t likely to fall out of playoff contention and could benefit greatly from— even if it was ultimately all too brief— an appearance in the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

After all, Boston lost to a team that ended up one goal away in double overtime in Game 7 of the 2017 Eastern Conference Final from defeating the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins and advancing to their first Stanley Cup Final since 2007, but fate would not have it in the cards for the Senators as it were.

So why did the Bruins fire Julien and slide Cassidy into the interim head coaching job in Feb. 2017?

Because it did two things.

First, it woke up a team that had begun to over rely on bad habits and/or outdated systems. Whether it was veteran complacency and meritocracy not giving the younger players a fair shake or simply Julien’s time to go as Boston’s opponents began to really figure out and foil his plans, it didn’t matter too much.

The team looked to be barely above or just below .500 on any given night in 2016-17, from the eye test to all the data in the world.

Second, it set Sweeney’s plan fully in motion.

Whether the Bruins made significant forward progress to close out the 2016-17 calendar, Boston would continue overhaul roster components and player development with an added emphasis on getting youth into the lineup and seeing what they really had in an alignment with Cassidy’s full-throttle ideas.

Sometimes you play a younger player not with the goal in mind of keeping that player forever, but marketing what that player could be for another team and in trying to acquire the right piece for your team in the present—this would be the key to Sweeney’s trade deadline moves in 2018 and 2019— coinciding with his overarching three-year plan at getting another chance in the Cup Final (albeit a year behind schedule if it came down to 2019, technically).

With moves made behind the bench less than a month from the 2017 trade deadline, what was going to be available that year anyway?

Boston encountered numerous injuries as they went down the stretch into the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but no one could’ve predicted that they’d be forced to rely on McAvoy well ahead of schedule.

Still, how might have the Bruins roster looked different if they were the ones instead of the Flames trading for Michael Stone on Feb. 20, 2017? The Arizona Coyotes received a 2017 3^rd round pick (78^th overall, later traded to Edmonton, which the Oilers used to select Stuart Skinner) and a conditional 2018 5^th round pick if Stone re-signed (he did, so Arizona got the pick, but later flipped it to the New Jersey Devils for Scott Wedgewood).

Stone would have at least provided Boston with a top-four defender for the time being, but Sweeney’s three-year plan wasn’t set on handing out draft picks unless the player in return was a top-notch rental or a surefire long-term roster component.

There was too great of a chance for Stone to fall short or somewhere in-between.

Anyway, Patrick Eaves was traded by Dallas to Anaheim for a conditional 2017 1^st round pick on Feb. 24, 2017. The Stars received the pick (29^th overall), but flipped it to Chicago to move up in the draft and take Jake Oettinger 26^th overall instead that June, while Chicago settled on Henri Jokiharju.

Eaves, meanwhile, went all the way to the 2017 Western Conference Final with the Ducks before losing to the Nashville Predators in six games.

Ben Bishop and a 2017 5^th round pick went to the Los Angeles Kings from the Tampa Bay Lightning for Peter Budaj, Erik Cernak, a 2017 7^th round pick and a conditional 2017 draft pick on Feb. 26, 2017.

Bishop had a cup of coffee with the Kings before signing with the Stars that summer, while Cernak, of course, became a pesky part of the Lightning and has two Stanley Cup rings since the deal in 2020 and 2021. More on him and the Bolts later, though, as they relate to the Bruins (more foreshadowing for Part Four!).

That same day Martin Hanzal and Ryan White became members of the Minnesota Wild in a trade with Arizona, while a day later the Maple Leafs acquired Brian Boyle from the Lightning for a prospect and a 2017 2^nd round pick.

Also on Feb. 27, 2017, Boston University product, Kevin Shattenkirk didn’t get a homecoming to his college town in Boston, as he was packaged with Pheonix Copley from the St. Louis Blues to the Washington Capitals for Brad Malone, Zach Sanford (a name that would become familiar to Bruins fans for the wrong reasons in 2019), a 2017 1^st round pick (27^th overall later flipped to Philadelphia, where the Flyers selected Morgan Frost) and a conditional 2019 2^nd round pick if Shattenkirk re-signed in Washington (he didn’t).

In lieu of missing out on Shattenkirk, the following day the New York Rangers acquired Brendan Smith from the Detroit Red Wings for a 2017 3^rd round pick and a 2018 2^nd round pick on Feb. 28^th— the same day Chicago reunited with Johnny Oduya in a deal with Dallas— sending Mark McNeil and a conditional 2018 4^th round pick to the Stars in return.

Prior to the actual 2017 trade deadline on March 1^st, Sweeney held a makeshift pre-trade deadline press conference in a copy room the size of about a closet in the press box of TD Garden.

He didn’t say much other than that the Bruins likely weren’t going to make that big of a deal as the market wasn’t there. If anything, his primary objective was to add without subtracting and maybe do so by bringing in a forward, but he wasn’t exactly sold on making a trade in the first place.

On March 1^st, the Red Wings sent Thomas Vanek to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Dylan McIlrath and a conditional 2017 3^rd round pick, where after amassing 38 points in 45 games with Detroit, Vanek had just 10 points in 20 games with Florida and missed the playoffs.

Dwight King was shipped out of Los Angeles for Montréal in exchange for a conditional 2018 4^th round pick. King had 15 points in 67 games with the Kings before the trade and only had one more point (a goal) in 17 games with the Canadiens afterward, then left for Europe that summer.

The Kings dealt King to make room for Jarome Iginla at a retained price from the Colorado Avalanche for a conditional 2018 4^th round pick if Iginla re-signed with Los Angeles.

Los Angeles missed the postseason and with his gradual decline in production, Iginla waited until July 30, 2018, to formally announce his retirement— going the entire 2017-18 season without a contract.

P.A. Parenteau and Kyle Quincey weren’t names that stuck out to Sweeney’s desires, while Valtteri Filppula and Mark Streit required just a touch of too much brokerage to fit in fair trade value or cap hit against the ceiling.

Instead, Drew Stafford’s $4.350 million salary would do from the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for a conditional 2018 6^th round pick that’d upgrade to a 2018 5^th round pick if Boston made the playoffs and a 4^th round selection if they managed to make it to the Second Round with Stafford playing in 50% of the games in the process.

Stafford brought his 4-9—13 totals in 40 games with the Jets to the Bruins and amassed eight more points (four goals, four assists) in 18 games with Boston down the stretch— contributing two goals in six games in their First Round loss to Ottawa as well, thus surrendering a 2018 5^th round pick to the Jets.

Winnipeg drafted Declan Chisholm 150^th overall in 2018, and signed him to a three-year entry-level contract on May 31, 2020— making his league debut in 2021-22 with the Jets.

Could the Bruins have realistically tried to get elite-level talent at the deadline or at the very least a top-six forward? No, but they could try to get someone and maybe sneak out of the First Round.

That someone was Stafford and the Bruins didn’t make it past the Senators in the First Round.

His return on investment, thus, didn’t amount to much and Boston let him walk in free agency, but the B’s weren’t good enough to reach the Final in 2017, anyway.

Sweeney knew the answer wouldn’t come from relying on what was familiar by reacquiring someone like Iginla in the final year of his career, but rather that Boston required a multi-faceted approach from the time he was hired that he had to navigate in what he thought he knew (replacement level signings like Moore, Nash and Schaller) and what he was willing to learn (stemming from the influx of in-house youth and overhauls in McAvoy, Grzelcyk, Kuraly, Noel Acciari, Vatrano, Pastrnak, et al) down the line.

At some point he would have to sell off bits and pieces that would either become too expensive to fit in with what Boston was already operating with or simply couldn’t cut out a role in a Bruins uniform.

A younger player could make their own spot as part of Boston’s long-term core or serve as an understudy for long enough to replace someone else.

If neither looked like an option, that player became expendable.

Sweeney would also have to confront his mistakes and shortcomings (namely, Backes and Beleskey), but be willing to adapt on the fly and work to flip those players a la Jim Rutherford’s longtime style as a General Manager in Carolina and Pittsburgh— especially in his days with the latter that kept the Penguins as a competitive team from year-to-year.

It was all part of the plan.

After all, it took Chiarelli a few years of tinkering as the Bruins reignited the fiery passion of a hockey town in 2008’s seven-game series loss to the Canadiens in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal to winning the Cup in 2011.

For now, the emphasis was more on getting Boston’s system updated to Cassidy’s standards on the ice after the team wobbled around about an 86-point pace at the time of Julien’s firing back on Feb. 7, 2017, to making the playoffs as the 3^rd seed in the Atlantic Division with a 44-31-7 record and 95 points— beating the Leafs by virtue of a tiebreaker, given that Boston had 42 regulation-plus overtime wins to Toronto’s 39.

Cassidy’s crew was about to become very familiar with the Maple Leafs after losing in the 2017 First Round to Ottawa, while Sweeney had more work cut out for him for 2017-18.

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Go back and read Part 1

Part Two