What a long, strange trip it’s been.
It’s too bad this isn’t the good ol’ MySpace days, because we could have an acoustic version of “Good Riddance” by Green Day playing in the background while you scroll through.
Anyways, the season is over! It sure was…something.
The Bruins suffered through one of their worst seasons (statistically) of the 21st century, currently sitting at fourth-worst in the NHL.
The Flyers and Sabres play tonight, and if the Flyers lose that one in regulation, they’ll finish with the exact same record as the Bruins (33-39-10) but will have fewer regulation wins, so they’d slip below the Bruins in the standings.
Ultimately, when the dust settles Thursday night, the Bruins will either have the fourth or fifth worst record in the league, giving them a shot at a draft lottery win or, worst case, picking 7th overall (if they finish fifth worst, as you can only slide back a max of two places).
The take-home point: the Bruins will probably be making a top-five draft pick for the first time in quite a while, making this the first time in quite a while fans will want to pay attention to the first round of the draft.
Elsewhere, the B’s sent some reinforcements to Providence yesterday ahead of their playoff run, with Fabian Lysell, John Farinacci, Vinni Lettieri, Fraser Minten, and Frederic Brunet all optioned to the AHL; Ian Mitchell was sent down as well, but he’ll need to clear waivers.
The P-Bruins’ regular season wraps up on Friday.
Also, the Bruins will hold break-up day today at Warrior Arena, with Joe Sacco and some of the players speaking to the media.
The bigger availability will come next week, when Charlie Jacobs, Cam Neely, and Don Sweeney meet the media at TD Garden.
Lastly, we’ll being to shift into offseason mode here over the next few weeks. We’ll have some post-mortems on the season, I’m sure, but for now, we’ll keep you busy with Morning Skates and any big news.
Plus, I’m sure Sky, the king of draft profiles, will have us covered with the Bruins actually making a pretty high pick this year.
As a long, at times torturous, season comes to an end, I’d like to thank the folks who help keep this place running:
- Sky for being on top of just about everything, from previews and recaps to news and moderation, and for continuing to be the king of content.
- Angelina for covering all of this season’s home games (including preseason) in person from TD Garden’s press box, no small feat given how much of a slog this season was at times.
- Jake for helping us out with breaking news, the trade deadline, and other content.
- Nathan for continuing to provide great coverage of the Boston Fleet and women’s hockey.
I’d like to send a special thanks to the commenters as well.
We have a few stalwarts who really keep the conversations going, but I noticed a lot more new names join the mix this season, which is always encouraging to see.
Without the commenters and community here, it’s just us writers talking to ourselves, and nobody really wants that.
We’ll be here providing content until they shut the lights off in this place, which hopefully isn’t anytime soon.
If you have any requests for stuff you’d like to see done differently this offseason or ideas for how we can better engage with the community, send me an email at bruinshockeynow(at)gmail or leave a comment.
I’m especially curious about player ratings/season reviews — if that current setup of voting works or doesn’t work for you, let me know.
Other than that, what’s on tap for today?