The holiday season always gives us cause to look back and take stock of the year that was. And the calendar year of 2022 was quite eventful for your Boston Bruins, one that has produced high hopes for the spring of 2023. Here are 10 moments that mattered.
Jan. 1 – Coach Bruce Cassidy finally broke up the Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak line. Pastrnak is dropped down to play with Taylor Hall and Erik Haula and it creates much better scoring depth. The Bruins win 10 of their next 12 games, including a 4-3 victory over the Sabres on this day. Jake DeBrusk would eventually bump up to play with Marchand and Bergeron and find his game as a right wing. The B’s, a questionable playoff team at this point, would go on to win 51 regular season games.
March 19 – The Bruins acquired defenseman Hampus Lindholm for former first-rounder Urho Vaakanainen, John Moore, a first-round pick in 2022 and second-round picks in 2023 and 2024. Lindholm, who was a pending UFA at the time, quickly signed an eight-year deal for $6.5 million per season. With Charlie McAvoy already on board with a long-term deal, the Lindholm acquisition gives the Bruins a formidable 1-2 punch with two No. 1-caliber defensemen for the foreseeable future. A couple of injuries to Lindholm prevented him from flourishing down the stretch in 2021-22, but the move – and the contract – have looked like a steal so far in 2022-23. Much like GM Don Sweeney’s Taylor Hall deal the previous season, it was a terrific deadline trade that turned a rental piece into a major part of the team’s future.
