For the first time in close to three months, the ice at Warrior Ice Arena will be once again be sheared and etched by the skate blades of the Bruins — a small first step toward the team's ultimate goal of seeing the 2019-20 season through, and rewriting last year's disheartening result.
Although Boston and every other NHL club is still weeks away from full training-camp sessions, Monday marks the official start of Phase 2 of the NHL's "Return To Play" plan — allowing small groups to take part in informal, non-contact practices on the ice and resume off-ice workouts at the team's facilities.
For many NHLers, the transition to Phase 2 represents the end of the longest drought of on-ice work in their pro careers. Even during the offseason, many players often are only away from the ice for a month or two before slowing ramping up their conditioning once again.
Put 43-year-old Zdeno Chara in that boat, with the B's captain noting last week that he's usually back on the ice by July or August during the regular offseason slate. But even with this week signaling the resumption of on-ice activities, Chara was quick to note that the anticipation and excitement is certainly not going to take precedent over what is expected to be a slow, but steady, ramp up back to game action.
"If you are a runner and you haven't been running for two months, I don't think you're going to go for your first run and it's going to be a 20K run," Chara said. "It's going to be slowly getting into it."
The Bruins are no different from any other team in that regard, with the 24 clubs taking part in this expanded playoff format expected to shake off the rust by way of a camp that will run for weeks before game action commences. At this point, it's hard to identify potential benefits from this extended break. While many players have been able to recoup from the bumps, bruises and nagging ailments that come with a grueling NHL season, a three-month layoff likely does more harm than good in terms of keeping teams fresh — especially a veteran club like the Bruins.
Such was the sentiment that Brad Marchand shared last month, noting that returning from the pause might put older clubs behind the eight ball when it comes to gearing up for another extended playoff push.
"I don't think it's going to help anybody," Marchand said. "The only guys is going to help are teams that have had injuries, significant injuries, especially big players. You know, you look at (Steven) Stamkos who was hurt and, and guys like that. Now it's time to regroup and get back healthy again. But it's not going to help any team that was playing well at that time. Maybe a few days might have. But when you take a month or two months or three months or whatever it's gonna be, it's gonna hurt everyone. Especially the fact that we can't skate, we can't keep our conditioning level up or skills going, it's gonna hurt everybody in the league.
"Everybody's gonna be sloppy when they come back. And I honestly think that the teams that are going to come back and look good are the really young teams teams like Toronto, or Tampa — just really high-end, skilled teams —because they're going to have their legs and be able to get it back quick, but older teams are really going to struggle.”
If such a scenario does play out, that's not really good news for the Bruins, who have an average age of 27.9 on the current roster — which ranks seventh overall among the 24 teams in the playoff field.
Here's the full list — although granted, these totals will likely change come the postseason due to roster expansion and the return of players currently on IR.
Capitals - 29.9
Stars - 29.2
Golden Knights - 28.9
Predators - 28.8
Islanders - 28.6
Wild - 28.6
Bruins - 27.9
Penguins - 27.9
Blues - 27.8
Coyotes - 27.8
Canadiens - 27.8
Lightning - 27.8
Panthers - 27.6
Flyers - 27.5
Oilers - 27.5
Canucks - 27.2
Flames - 26.9
Avalanche - 26.8
Hurricanes - 26.6
Jets - 26.6
Maple Leafs - 26.2
Blue Jackets - 25.8
Rangers - 25.7
Blackhawks - 25.7
Indeed, the Bruins might not be as old as clubs such as Vegas or Dallas, but when it comes to top-tier talent, the Bruins rely heavily on a veteran core of Chara, Patrice Bergeron, Tuukka Rask, Brad Marchand and David Krejci — a group with an average age of 35.2.
Other elder statesman across the league such as Patrick Marleau (40, Penguins), Justin Williams (38, Hurricanes) and Andy Greene (37, Islanders) might serve crucial roles, but none are expected to log the amount of minutes and handled the assignments that Bruce Cassidy will likely bestow upon his old guard.
But that isn't necessarily a cause for concern for Cassidy.
While that grouping might need some added time to get their legs back under them, all are still playing at a very high level — with Rask all but a lock for a Vezina finalist nod and both Marchand and Bergeron on pace for career highs in points (102) and goals (37) ahead of the COVID-19 stoppage. Add in the experience and leadership that the authorities in Boston's dressing room possess, and Cassidy believes that the Bruins might even have a leg up on other clubs during a playoff gauntlet that will be anything put ordinary.
"I think their experience will help us more than their age will work against us, to be honest," Cassidy said during an interview with 98.5 The Sports Hub's Toucher & Rich last month. "Those guys are true professionals. They've been there, they know how to prepare."
And even in the off chance that Boston's older skaters are slow out the gate, Cassidy added that youngsters such as Charlie McAvoy, David Pastrnak and many others should be ready to hit the ground (or ice, rather) running as soon as games commence once again.
So, what should we make of this break and the impact it will have on these Bruins? Considering all parties involved in this new format will begin at the same starting position, perhaps the true value does indeed lie more in what's between the ears, rather than how much tread is left on the tires.
"We have enough young legs early on to carry us if those guys aren't recovering quick enough," Cassidy said. "We have (Jake) DeBrusk who's young, McAvoy's young, (Matt) Grzelcyk, (Brandon) Carlo, (Jeremy) Lauzon, who now we put in our lineup — so the majority of our defenseman are under 25 years old and Torey (Krug), obviously is a little older and then you've got Zee – but there's still three, four or five guys that are young.
"You've got (Sean) Kuraly who's got good legs, (Joakim) Nordstrom's got good legs, Pastrnak, you know, good legs, is a young guy. Charlie Coyle, he'll be fine. So I think we have enough youth in our lineup that we could push through 'till those guys find their legs. So I'm not worried about that. I think it's an advantage. I think that the toughest team, mentally, will win the Stanley Cup if it is in fact played this year because of all the hurdles they're gonna have to go through and I like that in our group. I really do, so I think it's an advantage for us."
NHL announces additional details regarding re-seeding, playoff series length
As NHL clubs prepare to get back on the ice as part of Phase 2 of the NHL’s “Return To Play” plan, the league announced a number of additional details for an expanded and overhauled playoff format.
While we already know plenty of key details of this new 24-team Stanley Cup Playoff tournament, the NHL shed some light on facets of the format that were not expanded upon when the overall plan was first unveiled, including:
- While the “play-in” opening round will remain in an abbreviated best-of-five format, every other round will adhere to the regular best-of-seven format. When the “Return To Play” plan was first announced, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman noted that there was a chance the following two rounds would also be best-of-five matchups in order to trim some of the time needed to close out this 2019-20 campaign.
- The NHL will reseed after the completion of each playoff round — breaking from the usual bracket format that has often drawn the ire of many over the past couple of seasons. For this postseason, the No. 1 seed coming out of the round-robin tournament will play the lowest remaining seed following the “play-in” round, with the No. 2 seed taking on the second-lowest seed left and so on.
- Ties in the round-robin tournament — featuring the top four teams from each conference — will be broken by regular season points percentage. The seeding order for these teams then will remain the same throughout the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs. As such, the Bruins should have an edge over the rest of the field thanks to their standing as the top team in the NHL in terms of points percentage.
- In the Qualifying Round, the higher-seeded team will be tabbed as the home team in Games 1, 2 and 5. The lower-seeded team will be designated as the home team in Games 3 and 4.
- In the First Round, Second Round and Conference Finals, the higher-seeded team will be designated as the home team in Games 1, 2, 5 and 7. The lower-seeded team will be designated as the home team in Games 3, 4 and 6.
- In the Stanley Cup Final, the team with the higher regular season points percentage will be designated as the home team in Games 1, 2, 5 and 7. The team with the lower regular season points percentage will be designated as the home team in Games 3, 4 and 6.
