NHL Notebook: Golden Knights or Panthers? Which Stanley Cup champion would be worse outcome for Bruins?

You could say the Florida Panthers continuing their march all the way to the Stanley Cup Final is the best outcome for the Bruins following their first-round collapse. You could also say it's the worst. 

You could say that Bruce Cassidy's Vegas Golden Knights making it to the final is the worst outcome for Boston. I'm not sure you could spin it as the best.

The Panthers mowing down the Eastern Conference en route to the finals and a possible title perhaps provides a little bit of solace to the B's. This team of destiny would not bow down to any opponent. 

Once the Cats smelled a hint of blood in the water with the Bruins in Games 5 and 6, you knew Boston was in trouble if it got to 7. It was almost as if Boston was trying to outrun the boulder in "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Florida made quick work of the Toronto Maple Leafs, spotting them a token Game 4 win only to rip the Leafs' hearts out on the road in a gentlemen's sweep. That series turned out to be what finally pushed the linchpin out of place in Toronto, upending the front office. But surely, the Carolina Hurricanes would stop the Panthers. Rod Brind'Amour's team has been right there for years, and it's their turn to break through, right? Well, Florida wanted no part of that, extending the Canes' conference final losing streak to three straight sweeps ever since their 2006 Cup run.  

No one has been able to outrun the boulder.

There just was no stopping them up to this point as the Panthers have fully committed to the bit of the 2012 Los Angeles Kings, the only other bottom seed to win the Cup. Those Kings cut through their playoff scheduling with ease as well, dispatching Vancouver in five games, St. Louis in four and Phoenix in five. The Devils managed to bring them to six in the final.

Maybe Vegas won't be able to stop the Panthers once the puck drops on Saturday night's Game 1, too. 

The storyline of being a bottom-seed, however, may be a bit of fool's gold. Brad Marchand knows as much.

"I still think that we had more, and we didn’t play our best, but unfortunately that’s just part of it. But at the same time, you have to give Florida credit. They were not an eighth seed team," Marchand said at breakup day last month. "They didn’t play to their potential throughout the year, they had a bunch of injuries that affected the way that they played, and they have a goalie that showed up when he got in and made some big saves at the right times and made the ones that he needed to, which he wasn’t really making earlier in the year. That’s how it goes in playoffs, you run into a hot goalie or you run into the wrong matchup and that’s why the Cup is so hard to win, because it’s not just the best teams that win, but every year those teams that you don’t match up as well against as other teams. 

"If you look at our record against Florida this year, it’s not like we dominated them throughout the season. It’s 2-1-1, you know, they’re a very competitive team. They were the President’s Trophy winner [last year], that and [adding] Matthew Tkachuk, they’re still a hell of a group. There’s so much competition in this league now, that just because of the season we had, we knew that we were still going to be in for a really tough run coming out of the East, and with all that being said we expected to go much further than we did. And we also expected to be the team to come out of the East but they played really well and they were determined, and they were living off the fact that they wanted to be the team to knock us off and end our season. When you have hope and you’re able to latch on to something like that, it can get dangerous, and it did."

The team of destiny finally playing up to its potential has been aided immensely by players of destiny like Tkachuk and Sergei Bobrovsky, who perhaps provided the biggest shoves to set the boulder in motion. 

On the flip side of all of it, though, is that the Bruins were one final blow from punching their ticket to the second round and outrunning the boulder. 

Marchand had the series on his stick in Game 5 with his breakaway at the end of regulation. The Bruins were a goal away in overtime of that game, but a Linus Ullmark turnover handed away the win. They had a chance to rid themselves of the rat problem in Game 6 with two third-period leads, but a cooked Ullmark and porous defensive zone play handed the game away. They had a lead with a minute to go in Game 7. They were a goal away in overtime of that game, too. 

One extra Bruins goal in either of the final three games of the first round likely means we're not sitting here talking about the Florida Panthers vying for their first Stanley Cup in franchise history in their second trip to the finals (after they also beat the Bruins in the 1996 first round).

It's hard not to wonder if we'd be talking about the Bruins vying for their seventh, especially considering how easy Florida made the path through the east look. If the Leafs and Canes were just going to roll over and die like that, it only adds to the 'what could have been' for Boston. 

"It should’ve been over long before that, you know what I mean? Yeah, we dropped the ball with a minute left in Game 7, but it should’ve been done in Game 5, and we had opportunities in Game 6 to close out and we had multiple leads," Marchand said. "Them tying it up in Game 7 with a minute left, yeah that sucks, but it’s the ones before that I kind of look at, and those are the ones that sting more.

"So many different things come into factor and into play, and it could change the course of a series. Again, we could’ve ended that thing in 5, and we probably should’ve. Otherwise, we would be in a much different spot right now, but that didn’t happen."

On the other side of the card is Cassidy and his Knights, preparing to take on the boulder in Game 1 just 361 days after the Bruins fired him. The B's are now spitefully looking on as their ex seems happier than ever with his rebound. 

Sure, his message had gone stale in Boston and change was needed. Just look at how the Bruins responded to Jim Montgomery in the regular season. 

Even if Boston made the move with conviction and are sticking by Montgomery (as they should) after his first season, there's no denying the optics of it all after he was scapegoated after last season –rightly or wrongly – especially when sports radio and the like only continue to fan the flames. It's easy to point and say, 'I told you so.' But what Montgomery got out of the Bruins can't simply be swept under the rug. 

It's also not exactly like Cassidy took an inferior team to the Stanley Cup Final, though. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Vegas might not have set records, but it was still one of the league's very best, finishing atop the Western Conference in the regular season. The Golden Knights already boasted the likes of Jack Eichel, Shea Theodore, Alex Pietrangelo, Mark Stone and so on. He inherited a great team with lofty expectations to match his own. The only question mark was in net with Robin Lehner's injury and Logan Thompson's inexperience (and eventually injuries). But Adin Hill has morphed into that player of destiny, like Tkachuk and Bobrovsky, as has Eichel and others. 

Vegas also wanted a fresh voice in place of Pete DeBoer, and Cassidy has provided that spark. 

Even with all of that, it still is a bit of a tough look for the Bruins. 

Of a silver lining to glean from Cassidy potentially hoisting the Cup, it's that it's clear proof that he has learned from his own shortcomings, especially in the 2019 failed Stanley Cup run. It shows that Montgomery can and should do the same. 

“I hope I learned something. I’d be an idiot if I didn’t,” Cassidy told reporters of using his experience from 2019. "Yes, you learn how to manage your time. You learn the ups and downs, the demands of a Final. Everybody’s there, and it’s outside influences, as well as the hockey people. And I think those are the things you have to manage when you get to the Final. ... So you’re learning to enjoy the moment. Off days, you’re allowed to think of the big picture of what’s at stake and then get down into the details. And I think that’s what I learned, is to use those days appropriately. They’re mentally refreshing."

Either way, Bruins fans are in for another tough blow. It's just a matter of if they'd rather fall to the sword or be crushed by the boulder.

B's open among the favorites for 2024 Stanley Cup

It appears sportsbooks are buying into the reclamation story the Panthers are riding in these playoffs, and they may be hoping the Bruins follow the same script next season.

The Bruins opened with the third-highest odds among East teams to win the Cup in 2024 on FanDuel:

Colorado Avalanche +800
Toronto Maple Leafs +1100
Edmonton Oilers +1100
New Jersey Devils +1300
Boston Bruins +1300
Carolina Hurricanes +1300
Vegas Golden Knights +1300
Tampa Bay Lightning +1300
New York Rangers +1500
Dallas Stars +1700

Last year's President's Trophy flameouts have had that 'it' factor somehow, someway after a tumultuous offseason and start to the year, but the Cats got hot and have stayed hot.

Maybe the Bruins have the same sort of franchise-altering move up their sleeve like the Panthers did with the Tkachuk trade. Maybe they don't. What we do know is that the B's will likely look different next season, no matter what. 

So now the oddsmakers must be asking, 'If Florida can bounce back like this, why can't Boston?' The Bruins were also the outright favorites elsewhere.

Bruins appear to part ways with a pair of prospects

Providence Bruins defenseman Kai Wissmann is headed back to the German DEL league after just one season in North America after the B's inked him to a two-way deal last summer. Wissmann, already 26, mustered just a goal and eight assists in 31 AHL games this season (he matched that exact output in 10 games for Germany in the World Championships last month). 

Not a total loss, at all really. Boston took a flier on him, and he wanted to go back home to play professionally. It will be his 10th season affiliated with Eisbären Berlin between juniors and professional hockey.

A bigger loss might be Matias Mäntykivi. The Bruins had until 5 p.m. on Thursday to sign the 2019 sixth-round pick (185th overall) or lose his exclusive signing rights. The deadline came and went without an announcement of a signing. 

For a sixth-round pick, it might not be much of a loss, like Wissmann. But Mäntykivi has at least shown some decent potential while playing overseas in Liiga, Finland's top pro league. The 21-year-old has had back-to-back seasons with 12 goals and at least 30 points, finishing this season with 33. The center led Ilves with 12 points (3g, 9a) in 12 playoff contests. His last two seasons saw him combine for 64 points in 111 games.

Not a generational talent by any means, but hey, maybe there's something there. Perhaps Mäntykivi didn't want to sign. He plays a big role for Ilves. Would he really want to come trudge through the grind of the AHL and a lesser role in hopes of a shot at the NHL? Probably not. 

But if the Bruins let him slip away on their own and he turns out to offer a return at the NHL level down the line, that would be tough for a team that's been much maligned in terms of drafting and developing young, skilled players. It's especially tough considering Boston's lack of draft capital and overall weak prospect pool. They've got to be able to cash in on these sorts of under-the-radar players, whether it's in later rounds or on the undrafted free agent market. 

Leafs and Penguins get their guys

Fenway Sports Group got its man in Kyle Dubas, now President of Hockey Ops for the Penguins, perhaps their Theo Epstein on the hockey side of things. Dubas gets a different challenge than he would have had in Toronto as well as complete autonomy over the decision-making process, something he sought in Toronto, which ultimately led to the messy breakup between he and the Leafs a few short weeks ago. 

Instead of trying to concoct new ways to try to reach the second round with the Leafs, Dubas now has to salvage whatever is left of the Penguins' contention window with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang. That probably starts with the goaltending situation and adding (much) more speed into the lineup. Fortunately for Pittsburgh, Dubas had been able to identify those depth foot soldiers in Toronto. The biggest hurdle, however, may be trying to beef up one of the league's worst prospect pools. 

Meanwhile, Toronto found arguably the best replacement it could have gotten for Dubas in Brad Treliving after it initially appeared the Flames wouldn't let teams speak with their former GM earlier in the spring. Not a bad outcome for the man who initiated his own somber breakup in Calgary. 

Treliving pulled off some savvy bits of business when he was with the Flames, namely acquiring Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin as well as the Tyler Toffoli deal. Some others didn't go as well in recent years for the flames, like last year's hellish offseason, losing Johnny Gaudreau for nothing and (at least in the short-term) the Matthew Tkachuk trade. Still, Treliving, a bit of a gun-slinger, now has infinite resources at his proposal, and they'll be needed as extending Auston Matthews is of the utmost importance.