Toucher & Rich: Will Bruins' Lack Of Team Speed Prevent Them From Winning Stanley Cup?
BOSTON (CBS) - NHL analyst Mike Milbury thinks the Bruins are one or two players away, therefore they are not legitimate Stanley Cup contenders, whereas the Hockey Night In Canada panel recently said the Bruins have no weaknesses.
Both are untrue, according to CSNNE's Joe Haggerty.
The Bruins can get back to and win another Stanley Cup, but their one weakness is their lack of team speed.
"Because they traded away Tyler Seguin and Rich Peverely, two very fast guys, their team speed is not what it was. They're a slower team, a very average skating team," said Haggerty Monday morning on Toucher & Rich.
Haggs referenced the Montreal game on 1/30, a game in which the Bruins lost 4-1 at home in embarrassing fashion to a quicker team that forced them to make mistakes. Teams with speed that know how to attack the Bruins can give them problems, as we saw with the Maple Leafs in the first round of last year's playoffs.
But not all is lost. Even if they don't make any trade deadline moves there's still a way to improve upon their speed.
"Lack of speed is their biggest weakness. And a way to combat that is have their young, offensive-minded defensemen core move the puck quickly up the ice and use that transition game to attack the other team. They can become a faster team if they make that quick first pass and really hurry it up the offensive zone. That's one of the advantages of the [Dennis] Seidenberg injury is that you did get a little faster in the back end."
Listen below for the full discussion:
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