If there was one subtle, not-as-overt criticism of the Boston Bruins last season, particularly against good teams, it was that they could sometimes settle a little too easily into the trapping style of play at times.
It was perhaps most obvious in Game 1 of the first round playoff series against the Sabres when they settled into a protective neutral zone-clogging shell after building a 2-0 lead in the third period, and things went horribly wrong the rest of the way setting an unfortunate tone for the duration of the series. Some of that was likely an involuntary natural reaction by a team trying to protect a third period lead in the postseason, but some of it was also a passive mentality that sometimes crept into the team’s identity when it comes to forecheck and applying pressure as the trap become more heavily deployed.
Marco Sturm certainly had the belief, and very rightfully so, that it was a necessary three-zone defensive strategy last season with a roster that wasn’t going to win offensive shootouts with other teams. Instead, they were trained to have a mindset that winning games 3-2 or 2-1 was the goal because that was the most likely path to points in games last season.
It was very clear from the first playoff-ouster press conference with Bruins management last spring that they were looking for tweaks and adjustments to be made to that part of Boston’s team identity this coming season.
Last year was an adjustment to installing more neutral zone trap-style tactics, and this season sounds like it should be more about sprinkling in the attacking forecheck when called for.
“The neutral zone was an adjustment for our club as well, which at times, is really, really difficult to play against, and other times, it puts some pressure on your D to get back and make exits under some extreme pressure, especially against teams that really skate and forecheck well,” said Don Sweeney, way back in the beginning of May. “So we have to find a balance there. And now we've gone through the debrief of the tweaks that, the foundation I should say that Marco has put in place that he's very happy about how our players eventually got to a better place.
“Now, we have to find the tweaks to be able to say, ‘Okay, in the middle of the game, we might have to change the forecheck. We might have to counter-balance a little bit with the other team.’ But we're more comfortable in that regard. It is definitely an area that we have to continue to get better at. It's been a staple of our organization, and we had a big change, and now we have to continue to evolve, and hopefully our players continue to adapt to it.”
There will, of course, be other adaptations and tweaks introduced in the abbreviated NHL training camp with just four preseason games before opening night for the Black and Gold on Sept. 29. James Hagens will likely be introduced to the second PP unit where he will be a big offensive presence that Steve Spott can build around, and the Bruins should be even better at executing the hybrid man-to-man defense that they’re expecting to feature once again in the D-zone.
Something that’s going to go hand-in-hand with a more attacking forecheck style, employed situationally, for the B’s is an uptick in team speed that’s going to be required amongst their forward group. It’s why they grabbed speedy German forward Lukas Reichel midway through last season and re-signed him this summer, and it’s certainly connected to JJ Peterka and a full-time Hagens coming on board with the Black and Gold entering this season.
All three forwards feature the word “speed” heavily in their scouting reports and were part of a clear strategy by the B’s to play faster this year.
The Bruins will undoubtedly miss the interior presence of a guy like Viktor Arvidsson after he signed with Detroit in free agency, but there is zero doubt the team's speed and skating prowess have jumped a few notches this year. That should be reflected in how often they attack the puck, rather than sitting back and springing a trap on their opponents.
“Understanding, we played probably a little passively in the neutral zone [this season] in order to take away speed. We did not give up a long game, as you call it, and we did not give up odd-numbered rushes in [most situations],” said Sweeney. “[But] we do have to have the ability to say, ‘Okay, we're going to forecheck a little differently. We're going to throw a wrinkle at them.’ We do have to [do that]., That's part of the process of us continuing to deepen our roster, to add some speed to our roster, so that when Marco wants to flip the switch and change his systems, he feels more comfortable to do that [this season].”
The Bruins actually showed a little bit of this during that same playoff series against the Sabres when they changed things up a little in a Game 5 win after a disastrous Game 4 loss on home ice. But the expectation is this tweak into attack mode will be more noticeable at the outset of training camp, the preseason and then into an 84-game regular season campaign where expectations have been raised for the Bruins.
“There's a hybrid approach to things, the neutral zone and being able to probably flip it around as we did [in the playoffs] in Game 5 to have a little more of an attack mentality,” said Sweeney. “You just have to be built [as a team] to be able to do that, and we have to deepen our skill set and our speed to be able to allow a coach to do that.”
Bruins management held up their end of the bargain this summer and now it’s up to the players and coaches to diversify their plan of attack a little bit more in a pivotal upcoming season.