What's the Bruins off-season plan? Top leaders speak
Wednesday night, the Florida Panthers were set to take on the New York Rangers in Game 1 of the NHL's Eastern Conference Finals.
Hours earlier, the top brass of the Boston Bruins talked about the end of their season, and where they go from here.
The takeaway? They are going to run it back with much of their core intact and an emphasis on adding some speed and scoring this off-season.
Remember, this is a team that has made the playoffs for eight straight seasons but also one that has failed to advance past the second round for five seasons in a row.
Bruins CEO Charlie Jacobs, president Cam Neely, general manager Don Sweeney and head coach Jim Montgomery all took questions on Wednesday.
All will return for the 2024-2025 season with the confidence of ownership.
As for the team, there are decisions to be made on a few key players, most notably on Jake DeBrusk, who Sweeney said elevated his game in the playoffs but described the negotiations as a two-way street.
No deal is done, so reading the tea leaves, it's hard to see him returning.
He did say, securing goalie Jeremy Swayman is a top priority in the off-season, he is arbitration eligible, but expect a big new deal instead.
So, what to do about Linus Ullmark?
"We're very happy to sign Linus, and in a perfect world, we would keep the tandem because I think it's damn good," Sweeney said. "But we're going to explore opportunities. My phone's going to ring. I'm going to make calls."
"We need to get a little faster, and we got to. I'd like to see a little bit more 50/50 puck battle wins," Bruins president Cam Neely said. "That's an area where it's just, you know, you have to want the puck more than the other team."
Another big conversation point Wednesday was about captain Brad Marchand who will be back for his second year as the leader of this team and 16th year overall.
He only has one year left on his deal and Sweeney said they would like to extend him to make him a Bruin for his whole career.
That seems to make sense, but to advance beyond Round 2 and win another Stanley Cup for the first time since 2011, there need to be changes to get there.