Now comes the time to reflect.
The Boston Bruins' season is over, thanks to their second-round Stanley Cup Playoff series loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Over the coming days, coaches, players and management all will speak, addressing the season as a whole, how things ended and, in some cases, what their futures hold.
Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy kicked things off Wednesday, holding his end-of-season media availability over Zoom.
While he talked about plenty, the first question he faced was about personnel. It's clear that the Bruins struggled matching the Bolts' physicality, and that allowed Tampa to establish a significantly stronger presence in front of the net.
That obviously is problematic for a number of reasons. Offensively, it doesn't allow Bruins forwards to get the position they need in order to create quality tip-in chances or, at the very least, generate worthwhile traffic in front of the goalie.
Defensively, the opponent can do, well, exactly what they just prevented you from doing: getting to the net, setting up shop and wreaking havoc, like Patrick Maroon did against Torey Krug on Victor Hedman's series clinching goal.
So, do the Bruins have the personnel to fix that in house, or will they have to go outside the organization to get that?
"Do we have enough? I feel we do, but I think we’re going to have to learn to finish better," Cassidy said. "And some of that is we’re going to have to do a better job at the o-zone blue line getting shots through.
" ... That’s an area of our game that has to improve with what we have now. Our ability to score off redirects and rebounds. And then obviously we have to look at our personnel, is that a strength of their game or is there better out there? Those are discussions we’ll have. To answer your question, yeah, we’re definitely capable of more. I’m not going to pass the buck and say we didn’t have the right people but we’re going to have to seriously look at how we’re going to create that offense and build that skillset into our D to find those shooting lanes better"
Here are some other notes from Cassidy's availability.
-- Literally as David Krejci scored the game-tying goal in Game 5, the NBC broadcast talked about how Zdeno Chara wasn't ready to go home yet. Then, during the handshakes, they launched into a soliloquy about Chara's career. In other words, there were undertones that this could be it for Chara.
Chara never has indicated that this was his swan song. Maybe it ultimately will prove to be, but that's not concrete right now, nor has he hinted at that.
But what resulted were discussions about if this is some semblance of the end of the road for the Bruins' longtime leadership core, which features Chara, Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, among others.
For their head coach, he's convinced they still have plenty more to give.
"I do. The reality is, as every team gets a year older, there is an effect on the team," Cassidy said. "And for us, I think every summer Donny (Sweeney) would tell you, when we sit down and go over our team, we’re always trying to get to be bigger, faster, stronger, better. That’s just the way it is. And does that mean moving out younger guys, older guys, middle of the road guys? There is always that discussion. So, we’ll have that again. And I’m not trying to evade your question. A couple of the older guys, a couple of the core guys are free agents. So, There’s a decision to be made by the player and by management
"It’s not only on management. How do you supplement a core that’s got another year on them? And I think we’ve done some good with that over the years obviously to stay very competitive and be one of the elite teams in the league. We are going to supplement more. We’re going to look at if they have the right pieces around them. Are we coaching them the right way? Do we need to change our systems now because of the way we’ve lost out in the playoffs? Those are all realistic questions. There is always going to be an immediate cry at the end when you lose about what happened. We just have to be careful. Sit back for a bit and see, ok, is the reason because we need to get younger. Have some of these guys aged out, did we put them in the right position to succeed? Is there a lot more to give? I think there is, personally. We’ll have those discussions."
-- Two out of the Bruins' last three seasons have ended with a Game 5 loss to the Lightning in the second round of the playoffs.
It wouldn't be totally unfair to say the Lightning are "ahead" of the Bruins, and Cassidy was asked for his assessment of that notion.
I think we feel we’re a really good team, too, and Tampa just happens to be right beside us in our division," Cassidy said. "If you look over the past three years of the last regular season teams that have had the most success, I’m sure we’re each in the top three. That’s a bit of tough luck being right beside them in the division but that’s the hand we’re dealt. ... Do we have to do things better? Yes. Obviously, they’ve had our number, that’s a fact. We can't hide that."
-- Over the season, we really saw Charlie McAvoy blossom into one of the game's better overall defensemen.
It's long been expected he would turn into a bonafide top-pairing blueliner, and it appears he's at that level now. That's promising for someone who doesn't turn 23-years-old until December.
And because of his youth, there might be another level he can reach.
"No, he’s got more. I think he’s 22. I don’t think anyone hits their ceiling at 22, to be honest with you. There’s a lot of growth left in this game," Cassidy said. " ... You want to make a difference every shift. I think that is where the difference between the elite defenseman that do it every night. They understand what nights they need to step up or what shifts, what periods, what time is in the game. We’re seeing a lot of that with Charlie. In fairness, I think there is some growth there on when to impact the game and when to sort of just do your job some nights when other guys are going. Obviously, I think the world of Charlie. He’s an elite defenseman who is only going to get better."
-- At the end of the season, there always are tons of injury updates from the playoffs.
Cassidy shared a list off the top of his head, ultimately providing some type of update on 10 different players. You can read all of those at the link below.
