Thornton: Boston Bruins Fans ‘Should Be Excited’ About Team

Whereas many Boston Bruins followers are nonetheless hung up on the Bruce Cassidy firing or understandably grousing a couple of dysfunctional participant improvement system that’s missed on numerous draft picks during the last 5 plus years, it’s additionally at all times vital to gauge outdoors views on the subject of the Black and Gold.

The eagerness of the hockey fan can flip issues hyper-critical when it’s not at all times as dangerous because it appears, however that being stated the Boston Bruins are additionally coming off a season the place they have been first spherical playoff victims, even when they pushed a robust Carolina Hurricanes workforce to a Sport 7 state of affairs. There’s additionally the indisputable fact that the Bruins are up towards the wage cap ceiling with Boston Bruins GM Don Sweeney attempting to determine methods to maneuver out contracts like Mike Reilly and Nick Foligno that merely haven’t labored out the best way Boston hoped they might.

The underside line, although, with this Boston Bruins workforce is that they nonetheless appear like they are going to be playoff caliber in an improved Atlantic Division, and that Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci returning will make then an infinitely higher, extra entertaining hockey workforce able to a minimum of a shot at greatness eight months down the street.

Outdated buddy Shawn Thornton works for the Florida Panthers as Chief Income Officer nowadays, however even he acknowledged what Boston Bruins have staring proper in entrance of them because the final bastion of the 2011 Stanley Cup workforce gathers collectively for one final run.

“That core has been collectively for a very long time,” stated Thornton, whereas a visitor on with WEEI’s Gresh and Keefe throughout the WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon final week, “I feel this city has been fairly lucky about that core having the ability to keep collectively. They’ve introduced in some ancillary items round them, some actually good ones like Pasta [David Pastrnak] and another guys.”

“For them to come back again one other 12 months, the city ought to be excited. You don’t have that run endlessly. It doesn’t final for 20 or 30 years, so we must always most likely embrace what’s happening this 12 months. Who is aware of how lengthy they’re going to be round?”

So whereas Boston Bruins followers might be, maybe understandably, hung up on what they don’t have or anxiety-ridden about David Pastrnak’s future getting into the final 12 months of his present contract, maybe it’s time to take a breath and understand that longtime B’s mainstays like Bergeron, Krejci and Marchand aren’t going to be round endlessly, simply as we’ve seen with B’s pillars like Zdeno Chara, Kevan Miller and Tuukka Rask shifting on lately.

It might be rather a lot worse a few years down the street until the Boston Bruins start discovering younger replacements for these gamers which are gearing up once more this season and doing it at a decreased price to make sure the workforce is a aggressive one once more this season.