The Bruins are in the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2013, but their success this postseason is a step forward in general manager Don Sweeney's revitalization plan. The Bruins have now gone at least one round further than the previous season over the past three.
Sweeney didn't want any part of a question about Boston having accomplished any sort of a milestone or fulfilling his plan when he was asked Tuesday, one day after the Bruins defeated Columbus in a series-clinching Game 6 of the second round and two days before the start of the Eastern Conference finals against Carolina.
"Just looking for the finish line," he said, opting to look forward rather than backward.
That didn't even come close to answering the question, but you have to admire Sweeney's ability to concentrate on the message he wants to send to the rest of the organization. Part of the urgency of bearing down against the task at hand comes from the accelerated timeline the Bruins are facing because of all the upsets in the Eastern Conference.
Where once the Bruins were expected to challenge for the Stanley Cup and making it three rounds deep would've made this a successful season, the Bruins are now expected to win the Stanley Cup.
With the support of ownership and team president Cam Neely, Sweeney has executed his methodical plan to build the Bruins back into not just a winner, but a team that can contend every year. Although he said all the right things about being a championship contender when he took over for Peter Chiarelli in 2015, there's no way Sweeney realistically saw a path to June with a team that had just missed the playoffs in 2014-15.
Sweeney committed to drafting and developing, and he knew it would take time. The Bruins missed the postseason again in 2016. The 2016-17 season, though, was when his plan kicked into high gear. At times the Bruins were integrating as many as five rookies into their lineup and in February 2017 Sweeney had Bruce Cassidy replace Claude Julien behind the bench.
The Bruins made the playoffs, and if not for a rash of injuries to the blue line, might have defeated Ottawa in the first round. Still getting back into the postseason made that season a success. The Bruins took the next step last spring, when they defeated Toronto in seven games in the first round before losing to Tampa Bay in the second round.
When the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs opened up, the Maple Leafs were supposed to be a stiffer challenge this year than last. Then the Bruins were supposed to run into the Presidents' Trophy-winning, record-breaking Tampa Bay Lightning. If they could solve the Lightning, they'd then probably have to face the defending Cup champion Washington Capitals.
Surviving that Eastern Conference gauntlet, let alone having enough in the tank to win the Cup, didn't seem possible for a Bruins team that's still working in younger, inexperienced players and didn't go all-in like Vegas or Columbus at the NHL trade deadline.
Sweeney's plan got accelerated this spring, though, through no actions taken by the Bruins. The Columbus Blue Jackets took out the Lightning, and once Toronto proved it wasn't better than last year, Boston got the easier matchup in the second round this time around.
Over in the Metropolitan Division, the Hurricanes somehow overcame 2-0 and 3-2 deficits in its series with Washington to advance and to the second round, where they took down the New York Islanders.
Instead of three star-studded powerhouse teams, the Bruins road to the Stanley Cup final has now featured a flawed Maple Leafs team that invested too much money in one position and had its depth tested by the foolish actions of Nazem Kadri and his subsequent suspension, the second wild card team, and now the first wild card team.
A Bruins club that tied for the second-most points during the regular season and almost completely healthy (apologies to Kevan Miller), should have this. No offense to the Hurricanes or any of the teams still battling it out in the West, but you can't make an argument for anyone other than the Bruins being the last team standing when you go position by position, when you factor in the experience, and when you take health into account.
Whether Sweeney truly believed this was the year his team could win it all, fate has put the Bruins on the cusp of proving his theory that Boston could win and look toward the future at the same time. The Bruins might not have an opportunity this grand for a while, with the contenders of the East probably not going anywhere and also-rans improving. It could easily be the Bruins on the wrong end of a Columbus-Tampa Bay upset situation next April.
So another reason Sweeney might not want to consider that reaching the conference finals and going one round deeper than last season is a major accomplishment is because with the landscape what it is, it's not. The Bruins have to win the Stanley Cup for this season to be a success or they'll regret it for years to come.
They can thank fate for their predicament, but they can also avoid disappointment by continuing to play the way they did in the latter half of the Columbus series and plowing through the competition until captain Zdeno Chara lifts the Cup and lets out the type of primal scream he hasn't released since 2011.
