Author Writes About Greatness Of Boston Bruins In Hopes Of Getting More Readers

There are quite a few teams in the NHL this season that have demonstrated worthiness of the Cup early on. The Nashville Predators have yet to lose a game in regulation, and have proven that scoring depth means nothing when you play great defense in front of a strong crease. LA has also demonstrated a strong opening effort, even without star defenseman Drew Doughty. Nevertheless, overall there has been an absence of truly dominating teams early on in the season. The Caps have three losses, the Penguins have four, and the Flyers have five. The Devils are frickin' 2-6-1. As it turns out, the best team in the Eastern Conference right now is in fact the Boston Bruins.

Obviously the Bruins were predicted to be a defensively sound team. Even with the departure of Denis Wideman, there was no way that this team was going to be anything other than a defensive powerhouse with Zdeno Chara on the ice and Claude Julien behind the bench. Yet who saw Tim Thomas coming back this season with the same kind of form that won him the Vezina two years ago?
Between Thomas and Rask (who has been disappointing this season with a 3.54 GAA and a .894 save percentage), the B's now have what could potentially be the best goaltending tandem in the NHL.

The offense has been surprisingly productive as well. With Savard and Sturm out, it was expected that the Bruins would continue the mediocre offensive play that they displayed for most of last year's regular season. Yet their goal differential is tied with Pittsburgh's as the NHL's best at +6. Additionally, they're averaging 3 goals a game, a rate that is surpassed only in the East by The Lightning, The Islanders, and The Caps, and is tied with the Pens' average. Nathan Horton has been a revelation, and David Krejci has done an excellent job filling in the for injured Marc Savard. The presence of Milan Lucic on the top line also adds an element of toughness to the team that convinces me that they can rough it through the playoffs. Players like Lucic, Wheeler, and Thornton are important complements to the more offensively oriented players. The offense is deep too. Between Seguin, Recchi, Bergeron, Sturm, Savard, Krejci, Lucic, Horton, and Wheeler, the Bruins have a deep corps of forwards that are all capable of chipping in their 20.

Yet not all is well in Bruin Land. Once Savard and Sturm come back from the long term IR, their cap hits will restart counting on the team's payroll. If Seguin then reaches his bonus incentives, the Bruins would be over the cap...by a lot. Even if he doesn't, they still will be pressed against the cap ceiling incredibly tightly. In the case that the Bruins need to dump salary, or decide to make a mid-season move to push for the Cup, expect Blake Wheeler to be on his way out quickly. He would be a second liner on a lot of team's in the league, and he's a fourth liner on the Bruins getting paid $2.5 million dollars a year. Or, if both Rask and Thomas prove to be good this season, you could see Thomas shipped out to a team in need of a veteran goaltender to push for the cup *cough, Washington, San Jose, cough*.