Officially, the Bruins hit the midway point of the season two weeks ago. Unofficially, they are there now, with Saturday’s 6-2 win over the Flyers marking their final game before the All-Star break.
Bruins hit All-Star break atop the Eastern Conference
The Bruins are now off until Feb. 6, so it’s a good time to take stock of where they’re at and how they’ve gotten here. We have decided to use a bunch of interesting numbers to help us do that, so let’s dive in.
71 – The Bruins’ point total, tied with the Vancouver Canucks for first in the NHL. The Bruins sit five points ahead of the Florida Panthers for first in both the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference. With a record of 31-9-9, they have the fewest regulation losses in the league.
+45 – The Bruins’ goal differential for the season, second only to the Canucks.
+34 – The Bruins’ 5-on-5 goal differential, which ranks third behind the Canucks (+43) and Winnipeg Jets (+41). After those three, no other team is better than +17.
4.29 – The Bruins’ goals per game in 17 games since Christmas, tops in the NHL. That has lifted them up to sixth for the season at 3.49 goals per game. Considering everything they lost up front over the summer, the Bruins emerging as one of the league’s best offenses has to be one of the biggest surprises so far.
.918 – The Bruins’ team save percentage, which ranks second only to Winnipeg.
.924 – Jeremy Swayman’s individual save percentage, which is tied with Winnipeg’s Hellebuyck and Detroit’s Alex Lyon for first in the NHL among goalies who have made at least 20 starts. Linus Ullmark isn’t far behind in eighth at .915.
.872 and .871 – Ullmark and Swayman’s 5-on-5 high-danger save percentages, which rank fourth and fifth in the NHL, respectively.
11.41 – The number of 5-on-5 high-danger chances the Bruins are allowing per 60 minutes, which is the 13th-most in the NHL. The Bruins have not been as stout defensively as previous seasons and have had to rely on Swayman and Ullmark more as a result. They have been up to the challenge and remain a major strength of this team.
120 – The number of points David Pastrnak is on pace for, which would surpass his career high of 113 set last season. Only three Bruins have ever hit that mark – Phil Esposito (6x), Bobby Orr (4x) and Adam Oates (1x). Oates is the only Bruin to do it in the last 49 years.
25 – The number of multi-point games Pastrnak has had through 49 games, one behind Nikita Kucherov and Nathan MacKinnon for the league lead. Pastrnak’s 72 points (33 goals, 39 assists) rank third in the league, also behind only Kucherov (85) and MacKinnon (84).
40 – The number of goals Brad Marchand is on pace for, which would be a new career high. He’s at 24 right now, which is already three more than he had all of last season. Since enduring a stretch of one goal in 11 games in December, Marchand has scored 11 in the last 13 games. It can’t be overstated how impressive it is that Marchand is doing this at age 35, in his first full season without Patrice Bergeron as his center.
42 – The number of points Charlie Coyle has through 49 games. That’s already just three off the most he’s had in five previous seasons as a Bruin, and 14 off his career high. Currently on a 70-point pace, Coyle is set to blow past that career high of 56, set back in 2016-17. His 18 goals are already the most he’s had as a Bruin and are just three off his career high.
2.83 – Coyle’s 5-on-5 points per 60 minutes, which is tied for fifth in the NHL with Kucherov and Elias Pettersson. The only four players ahead of him are MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, Tyler Seguin and Joel Farabee.
1.53 – The combined points per game from Coyle and Pavel Zacha, the Bruins’ new one-two center punch. Last year, Bergeron and David Krejci combined for 1.54 points per game. Neither Coyle nor Zacha is as dominant defensively as Bergeron, and Zacha’s production has slowed down a little since Christmas, but all things considered, the Bruins have to be thrilled with what they’re getting here, especially from Coyle.
29 – The number of points Trent Frederic has, which is already just two shy of his career high. His 15 assists are already a career high, while his 14 goals are three off. Frederic continues to improve every year, and this season has made the jump from complementary third-line wing to legitimate middle-six play-driver.
$31,250 – James van Riemsdyk’s cost per point, which makes him the third-best value in the NHL excluding players on their entry-level contracts, according to CapFriendly. The Bruins signed the 34-year-old van Riemsdyk for just $1 million over the summer, and he now has 32 points (8 goals, 24 assists) in 45 games, which is already more than he had all of last season. Only Carolina’s Stefan Noesen and Colorado’s Jonathan Drouin have been better values on a cost-per-point basis.
1.44 – Van Riemsdyk’s 5-on-5 primary assists per 60 minutes, which is tied with Mathew Barzal for first in the NHL. Van Riemsdyk has always been known more as a goal-scorer than a playmaker, but his setup skills have been impressive this season. Van Riemsdyk is on pace to cruise past his career-high assist mark of 33.
$43,055 – Danton Heinen’s cost per point, which ranks 12th among players signed to standard contracts. The Bruins invited Heinen to camp on a professional tryout and didn’t sign him to an actual contract until nine games into the season. He has 18 points (9 goals, 9 assists) in 41 games while making the league minimum of $775,000. That production and his Swiss Army knife versatility has made him an ideal depth forward.
14 – Jake DeBrusk’s point total in 16 games since Christmas, compared to 11 points in 31 games before the holiday break. DeBrusk’s individual turnaround in terms of production has been a major factor in the Bruins’ team-wide offensive improvement.
+19 – The 5-on-5 on-ice goal differential for both Brandon Carlo and Hampus Lindholm, which ties them for first on the Bruins and seventh in the NHL. Carlo has been rock-solid all season and arguably Boston’s best pure defender. Lindholm, his usual partner, came under fire for a slow start offensively, but has undeniably made a lot more good things happen than bad when he’s on the ice, especially since Christmas.
12 – The number of assists Lindholm has in 15 games since Dec. 31, the fourth-most among defensemen behind only Noah Dobson, Quinn Hughes and Cale Makar. So much for that slow start offensively.
13 – The number of points Charlie McAvoy has over that same stretch, tied for fifth-most among defensemen behind only Dobson, Hughes, Makar and Victor Hedman.
+14 – McAvoy’s 5-on-5 goal differential during that stretch, the best mark in the NHL. McAvoy has been good all season, but wasn’t quite playing at his usual top-five Norris level earlier in the year. He has certainly been at that level over the last month, though.
30.3% - The Bruins’ power-play success rate in 22 games since Dec. 15, which ranks fifth in the NHL. They’re up to 26% on the season, which also ranks fifth.
73.4% - The Bruins’ penalty-kill success rate over that same stretch, which is tied for 27th in the NHL. They’re still seventh for the season at 82.8%, but this is one area that clearly needs to be tightened up. It’s probably not a coincidence that they’ve been without Derek Forbort, one of their top two killers, for much of this stretch. After returning for four games, Forbort missed Saturday’s game and may have re-aggravated his lingering lower-body injury.
-28 – Boston’s penalty differential this season, which is third-worst in the NHL behind only the Ducks and Sharks, two of the worst teams in the league. The Bruins have taken the third-most minor penalties, which is something they have to find a way to clean up down the stretch, especially if they can’t get their PK back to elite status.
48.0% - The Bruins’ Corsi-for percentage (5-on-5 shot attempts), which ranks 22nd in the NHL. The Bruins have not finished under 50% Corsi in a season since 2015-16.
11.5% - The Bruins’ team shooting percentage, which ranks fifth in the NHL. If that holds, it would be their best shooting percentage for a season since 1992-93. The combination of elite finishing and elite goaltending has allowed the Bruins to mask the subpar possession numbers.
$862,500 – The Bruins’ cap space as of Monday morning. They will need to free up a lot more if general manager Don Sweeney wants to acquire anyone before the NHL’s March 8 trade deadline. If Forbort’s re-injury turns out to be serious and lands him on long-term injured reserve again, that could free up $3 million until he returns.
0 – The number of picks the Bruins currently own in the first three rounds of the 2024 NHL Draft. This will be another complicating factor in any trades Sweeney tries to make.