The big group!
We started our ratings yesterday with the smallest group (well, tied for the smallest, at least).
Today, we’ll head to the opposite end of the spectrum and rate the biggest group: the forwards!
We saw a variety of performances from the guys up front this season, from the “ho, hum” continued greatness of David Pastrnak to the breakout surprise of Justin Brazeau.
As a brief reminder, here’s how things shook out with the forwards this season:
2024 goals leaders among forwards – regular season
- Pastrnak – 47
- Brad Marchand – 29
- Charlie Coyle – 21
- Pavel Zacha – 20
- Jake DeBrusk – 19
2024 assists leaders among forwards – regular season
- Pastrnak – 63
- Marchand – 38
- Zacha – 38
- Coyle – 35
- James van Riemsdyk – 27
2024 goals leaders among forwards – playoffs
- DeBrusk – 5
- Pastrnak – 4
- Geekie – 4
- Marchand – 3
- Frederic – 3
2024 assists leaders among forwards – playoffs
- Marchand – 7
- DeBrusk – 6
- Zacha – 5
- Pastrnak, Coyle, van Riemsdyk – 4
- Frederic – 2
(Side note: don’t try to collect these stats from the Bruins’ team website. After initially going through there, I thought “huh, I didn’t realize van Riemsdyk didn’t play a single playoff game….turns out the team site has already removed anyone no longer on the roster, which makes thins extremely confusing.)
We had a few forwards make their Bruins debuts this season (Geekie, Brazeau, van Riemsdyk, etc.) and a few others play their final seasons in black and gold (DeBrusk, Jakub Lauko, Danton Heinen for now).
On the standout side, you can’t help but continue to be impressed by Pastrnak, who nearly hit 50 goals again, Brazeau, who came out of nowhere, and John Beecher, who had a solid first campaign.
Frederic stood out as another guy who exceeded expectations, as did Heinen.
Then we have the guys at the other end of the spectrum — we all would have liked to see more production out of guys like Lauko and Oskar Steen, who are now plying their trade elsewhere.
(To show that I rarely stick to my guns, I added Steen back into the ratings because it seemed silly to leave him out but include someone like Brazeau, who played fewer games. I am a true flip-flopper, I guess.)
Anyways, that’s enough from me. Have your say!