Mike Milbury has been one of the biggest skeptics when it comes to this Bruins team. In February, he said the Bruins are “smoking dope” if they think they can make a serious Stanley Cup run. Just a couple weeks ago, he said he wouldn’t make “a major deal” before the trade deadline because he didn’t think it would make enough of a difference.
Well, the Bruins might be starting to win over even Milbury. While he’s still not calling them a Cup favorite or anything, Milbury did change his tune a bit during his weekly appearance on The Greg Hill Show on Friday.
Milbury liked the trade for defenseman Hampus Lindholm, especially since it helps them for the future and not just this season. Combined with Jeremy Swayman’s strong play in net, Milbury now sees two key boxes on the contender check list checked off.
“Swayman has come on to be a legitimate, number one-looking goaltender,” Milbury said. “Are there questions about him in the playoffs? Absolutely. He has not been there before. But everything about him looks like he’s going to be just fine in the playoffs. So yes, check that box. Are they ready to make a run in the postseason with a goaltender? Yes. Now I think that they are. I didn’t think they were a few months ago, or I didn’t know if they were.
“Check the box on defense now that they’ve made this trade, which is not just a trade for now. They gave him an eight-year contract, so you can clearly see that it’s a trade for the future. … They have top-four defensemen. Matt Grzelcyk, can he make it through the season healthy? Question mark, but if he can, he’s a top-four defenseman. So is [Brandon] Carlo. So check the box, goaltender and defense.”
Milbury still has doubts about the forward group, specifically the No. 2 center spot -- despite Erik Haula recording five assists in the last two games, including on all three of David Pastrnak’s goals in Thursday’s 3-2 win over the Lightning.
“That was one of the boxes that I wasn’t gonna check off,” Milbury said. “Then all of a sudden he’s got three assists in the game. Of course, he’s dumping it off to one of the great goal-scorers in the business. So is the second-line center situation resolved? No, I don’t think it is.
“I don’t think Erik Haula’s a second-line center. I didn’t think Charlie Coyle was. He’s [Coyle] maybe the best third-line center in the game, but he’s not a classic distribute-the-puck kind of centerman. I was hoping that the Bruins would do something at that position with [Jake] DeBrusk and maybe get a second-line center. They didn’t, and now they have to work around it.”
That said, Milbury is still encouraged by the Bruins’ improved play overall, as they’ve gone 13-2-1 in their last 16 games.
“They’ve checked off a lot of boxes, and the biggest thing they’re doing now is they’re skating so much better. Their checking is so much better than it was prior to [Jan. 1],” he said. “So, am I making them odds-on favorite to win the Stanley Cup? No. But I guess there’s much more reason to believe than I thought there would be three months ago.”
Listen to the full interview with Milbury below (it begins at the 18:30 mark):
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