The 2013-14 Boston Bruins had a really good season. In fact, they had the best regular season of any team in the NHL and captured the President’s Trophy for the first time since 1990. While that was nice, hockey is a sport where anything less than the Stanley Cup leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth all summer. Winning is important in all sports, but it’s something about that trophy and the fact that the winners get their names engraved on it and the obsessive and addicting nature of the sport to its fans that makes the summertime withdrawal that much more empty. The Bruins are a good team, and will be again next season, but it feels like a waste until they drop the puck again in the fall.
If there’s anything to feel good about, it’s the individual awards won by Bruins players. This week, Tuukka Rask won the Vezina Trophy, as the NHL’s best goaltender in the regular season, for the first time in his career. It was also announced that Patrice Bergeron won the Selke Trophy, as the NHL’s best defensive forward for the second time in three years, and will be featured on the cover of the upcoming video game NHL 15. It’s not the Cup, but it’s validation for those players and for Bruins fans.
Bergeron and Rask are the most important players for the Boston Bruins who are not named Zdeno Chara (who was a finalist for the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best regular season defenseman, but did not win), and are expected to contribute to the Bruins for many years to come. It’s fitting that the three players for the B’s who were finalists for major awards were recognized for their defense. Every great Bruins team was predicated on defense. From Eddie Shore (who won Hart Trophies before the Norris Trophy’s existence) to Bobby Orr to Brad Park to Ray Bourque to Big Z, locking down the defensive zone has always been a priority. Goaltending has been key, too, and 2013-14 was the third time in the Claude Julien Era that a Bruins goalie has won the Vezina (Tim Thomas won the award in 2009 and 2011, when he also won the Conn Smythe Trophy and the Stanley Cup). Tuukka began his NHL career in Timmy’s shadow, and got his name on the Cup in 2011 without playing a single minute in the playoffs, but he’s making a name for himself now.
Hopefully the Bruins learn from the disappointing end to the season and they turn it around in the fall, but in the meantime, it’s good to see great players get the recognition they deserve. With Bergeron, Rask, and Captain Chara, the team is in good hands. Now all they need is players who can find the back of the net.
Dave's Words 