The Bruins have a lot of questions to answer this offseason, but rebuilding will not be one of them.
Boston has made the Stanley Cup Final three times in the last 11 seasons, winning once in 2011 and coming within a game in 2019. But with needing help with the bottom six of the lineup, coupled with the core getting older, many have wondered if a rebuild will be the road the Bruins decide to go down.
If you ask CEO Charlie Jacobs, though, that will not be the case.
“There’s been a lot of theater around the NHL, this past week in particular at the draft, we saw some teams that I would call sellers, and I think that would be awfully difficult to sell in this market to our fanbase,” Jacobs told reporters Monday at Jim Montgomery’s introductory press conference, per the Bruins.
“I do foresee — and I don’t have a crystal ball — but there are going to be days, let’s be candid, if we’re up here long enough, there will be days where we don’t have the opportunity to talk about Patrice Bergeron coming back to be our captain and No. 1 center. Those are things we need to address every summer, whether it’s through the draft. Cam and Don have mentioned this already — but we’re a cap team, meaning that we’re going to spend to the max to deliver the best product we possibly can to our fans. That is not going to change. In that regard, I would hope that people could put that in their back pocket and understand we are committed to winning a Stanley Cup and we will do whatever it takes to get us to that threshold again.”
Owner Jeremy Jacobs called it an “annual situation.”
“I think you have to see where you are and where you’re going,” he told reporters, per the team. “I think Don (Sweeney) and Cam (Neely) visualize this team very well and understand what they have, and perhaps what they need.”
The Bruins will be without some core players to start the season in Brad Marchand, Charlie McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk, coupled with the decisions of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci. Even if Bergeron and Krejci do return (and signs point to that happening), it does address the need for a second line center, but the bottom six still remains a big question mark.
A full rebuild clearly isn’t in the Bruins’ immediate plans, and with players like David Pastrnak, Marchand, McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm part of the future, it’s probably best to build around them.
The B’s also have remained competitive of late. It’s not like they’ve missed the Stanley Cup playoffs for four straight seasons.
NHL free agency officially begins Wednesday at 12 p.m. ET, so we’re sure fans will be keeping a close eye on how the Bruins address their areas of need.
