As of now the Bruins chances of making the playoffs are not looking great. They have not been playing well against other playoff teams and their scoring has been inconsistent. Last year the Bruins made the playoffs but were knocked out by the Panthers who went onto win the Stanley cup. This year they aren’t looking any closer to a Stanley cup. Could this be the fault of their newly signed goalie or the firing of their head coach?
In early October of this year the Bruins put Jeremy Swayman back on their team with a 66 million dollar eight year contract. He had just come off a previous one year contract with the team. He says he “couldn’t be happier” to be a permanent member of the team and that “all (he) cares about it being a bruin”. Earlier in the season Swayman was off to a rocky start. He missed training camp in August due to a contract dispute. The decline in his playing is evident through his record with a 28% decrease in his SV (the percentage of shots a goalie has saved) and his GAA (the amount of goals on average that a goalie lets in during a game) has increased by 0.63. Compared to his playing last year during the playoff games, this is a drastic decline in performance and could greatly affect the team’s overall performance in the playoffs.
The Bruins head coach, Jim Montgomery, was fired in late November due to the team’s poor performance in the start of the season. He coached the team last year when they made the playoffs. However, he was the first coach of the season to be fired. General manager Don Sweeney said, when asked about the firing of Montgomery, “Jim Montgomery is a very good NHL coach and an even better person. He has made a positive impact throughout the Bruins organization…”. Montgomery was replaced by Joe Sacco who was quoted by Sweeney to have “the coaching experience to bring the players and the team back”. It should be noted that the Bruins playing has improved since then although their improvement is in no way consistent enough for fans to rely on a smooth playoff.
The Bruins are currently fourth in the Atlantic Division standings with 17 wins and 13 losses. They’re scheduled to play the Sabers, seventh overall in the Atlantic Division standings, on Saturday at 7:00.
Image source: Bleacher Report