3 Offseason Changes To Get Boston Bruins Back In The Playoffs

The Boston Bruins had a disastrous season in which they finished right near the bottom of the league after making the playoffs for many years in a row and recently setting NHL records. Everything caught up with them at once, but they are not staying down. The team will very likely come back strong and will have to do a fair bit in the offseason to get the team to that place. These are three things that have to happen in order for the Bruins to get back into the playoffs.

Swap Korpisalo for Another Backup

Joonas Korpisalo isn't happy with his situation playing so few games, especially with how Jeremy Swayman struggled last season. That would be tough to watch bad game after bad game and not be given much of an opportunity to help out as the backup on the team the entire season. With the big contract Swayman is on, I don't see much more playing time coming for Korpisalo. The best thing to do is move off of someone who may cause more problems and get a different goalie to play behind Swayman that is going to relish the opportunity without saying anything about it.

Bolster Top-6

Going into the offseason, the Bruins' top-6 has David Pastrnak, Morgan Geekie, Elias Linholm, Pavel Zacha, Jakub Lauko, and Fabian Lysell. That isn't a top-6 that will help the Bruins do any better than they did this season, even with strong defense. At least one big name has to be added, but there is enough money to add a couple of pieces and push some players down the lineup. This will give Boston the scoring they lack outside of a select few and help with depth scoring as well.

Rebounds and Health

A lot of the Bruins' season was plagued by injuries and the overall performance of most of the players just wasn't up to par except for a couple (Pasrnak and Geekie). The hope is that it will just take some healthy players and some rebounds by players expected to play better to get the team right back into the playoffs like they are every year. Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm combined for 67 games while Jeremy Swayman and Lindholm need to be much better. Some extra depth wouldn't hurt if there are injuries and struggles.