Gerry Cheevers believes the Boston Bruins’ bright present will reap future glory.
The Bruins predicted Thursday in a virtual town hall with season ticket holders the team would win the Stanley Cup Final in the near future.
“It’s obviously a great franchise,” Cheevers said, according to NHL.com’s Amalie Benjamin. “Just stick by them. They’re going to win the Cup soon.”
Cheevers based his prediction on the enduring quality of the Bruins’ front office and players.
“They’ve done a great job, that organization,” he said. “I don’t know what the format’s going to be or what’s going to happen. You (drafted) a guy like Patrice Bergeron (in 2003) — when I still worked for the Bruins (as a scout) … — and Zdeno Chara. I worked with Tuukka (Rask) a little bit. These are good people. The Bruins have done a good job in hiring and signing and recruiting classy players and certainly Patrice Bergeron is the A-1 example of that. And you like being associated with people like that.”
The Bruins rebounded from last season’s Stanley Cup Final heartbreak nicely in 2019-20. They were leading the NHL after 70 games with 100 points when the season paused in March. Cheevers seemingly has faith the high-performing group will recover their place atop the NHL heap when the players return from hiatus the coronavirus outbreak prompted.
And the Hockey Hall of Famer knows a thing or two about what makes a winning team. He played for the Bruins between 1967 and 1972 and between 1975 and 1980, winning two Stanley Cup Final with the big, bad B’s in the process.
