Cam Neely knows the Bruins organization has some tough decisions ahead.
The team went to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final last year and won the Presidents’ Trophy as the team with the best record in the regular season this year, but then it got knocked out in the second round of the playoffs by the Lightning in five games.
The veteran core that the team has relied on for so long isn’t getting any younger. Zdeno Chara is 43 and a free agent after a postseason that featured a notable reduction in his minutes. Patrice Bergeron is 35 and continues to be plagued by a lingering groin issue.
David Krejci is 34 and entering the final year of his contract. Tuukka Rask is 33, entering the final year of his contract, and facing continuing questions from critics about his dependability after opting out of the playoffs. Brad Marchand is still playing like a player in his prime, but even he is now 32.
The Bruins front office needs to decide if they can still build a serious Cup contender around this core or if it’s time to start turning the roster over and getting younger, even if that means taking a short-term step back. If they think there’s still another Cup run or two in this group, then they need to figure out what complementary pieces they need to add to help take them further than they went this summer.
It’s a reality that Neely acknowledged on a Zoom call with reporters on Thursday, when he said the team is going to have to be “brutally honest” with itself about its future.
“We’ve got some guys that have played a lot of good hockey for us, a lot of years for us,” Neely said. “Their careers are somewhat winding down and we have to really take a hard look at where we are as an organization. Can we compete for a Stanley Cup? And if we can, what do we have to do to our roster to do that?
“So, we have to really be honest with ourselves in assessing our team and assessing our players in the organization. See where we’re going to, where we think we really are going to be. I mean, we have to be as honest, as brutally honest as possible about where we think we’re going to be in the next couple years, and we have to react accordingly to that.”
One of those first brutally honest assessments could be of Chara. The longtime Bruins captain has made it clear he wants to keep playing, and keep playing for the Bruins. But the Bruins are clearly putting more thought into whether they want to bring Chara back than they have in the past.
The last two years, the Bruins and Chara were able to agree to one-year extensions late in the regular season in relatively painless negotiations. This year, no such deal was made -- not during the regular season, nor the months-long pause, nor the postseason. For the first time since joining the Bruins 14 years ago, Chara finished a season without a contract in hand for the next.
Since Chara’s comments last week about wanting to return, Neely and general manager Don Sweeney have heaped deserved praise on Chara, but they haven’t committed to bringing him back, with Neely saying Thursday just that the team would “look at” it.
“Well from day one since he came here, he brought a lot of stability back on the blue line, in the locker room,” Neely said of Chara. “The leadership goes without saying. He's mentored a lot of defensemen over the years and he’s continued to do that. He has a great quality about him, his work ethic is second to none, and I think it's important for our players over the years to see what it takes to play in the National Hockey League with someone that really had to get to a point to be one of the top defensemen in the league, where when he first broke in no one was thinking that. No one was thinking he's going to play until he’s 43 or 44, so that's a testament on his commitment and desire.
“We have to look at where we're headed, what we need, and what role Zdeno can play for us.”
Another part of the evaluation process will be looking at how much the organization believes in the young players they already have and whether that group can step up enough to provide the support the veterans need, or if they need to find that help elsewhere via free agency or trade.
“Well I mean we're going to take a look (at free agents) for sure,” Neely said, “but I think we have to figure out who in our organization that's maybe playing in Providence, are they ready to take a step? Can they take a step? We need to find out if they can take that step. First and foremost, I think we have to really assess that, and then at the same time we can look and see who's available and does it fit for us.”
Add in the probable departure of Torey Krug, whom Neely said he doesn’t “begrudge” for looking for a better deal than the Bruins can offer, and building a team better than this year’s becomes even more challenging.
There’s still a path to another Cup here -- if the veteran core continues to perform at a high level, if the younger guys behind them step up, and if the front office finds the right complementary pieces in free agency or trades.
But if those brutally honest assessments result in Neely, Sweeney and Co. thinking that many “ifs” make such a run unlikely, then major changes may be coming sooner than later.