Boston Bruins All-2010s Team

By: Nathan Anderson | Follow me on Twitter @nathandrsn

I had a lot of fun looking at the 2000s and building the best Bruins team of the decade, so let’s do it again, but this time for the 2010s. For this article, the 2010s will be the season starting with 2010-2011 and ending with 2019-2020. This list is a little bit easier for me to come up with because I was a huge fan for every season that falls in this range as opposed to the 2000s when I was barely alive for the first few seasons.

As a reminder, I will pick a center, two wingers, two defensemen, and a goalie. The criteria for this list is primarily on-ice performance, but there will also be an aspect of fan opinion that I take into consideration. I will probably have a more challenging time picking a right and left side for the wing and defense for this decade, but without further ado, let me present the Boston Bruins all-2010s team.

Center – Patrice Bergeron

This should be an absolute no-brainer for every single fan of the Boston Bruins that lived through the 2010s. Bergeron will be in the same conversation as Bobby Orr, Ray Bourque, and Cam Neely as the most iconic players to ever wear the spoked B. Not only was he a great player during this era, but he was also a great leader. The two-pronged leadership tandem of Chara and Bergeron was a significant factor in the Bruins’ three Stanley Cup Finals appearances.

He scored over 200 goals and added over 300 assists for a total of over 500 points during the ten seasons in this period, making him the Bruins’ most productive center. He also was a +211 during those seasons, second amongst all players. While he played in the 2000s and will continue playing in the 2020s, the 2010s are the era I think Bergeron will be most remembered for.

Winger – Brad Marchand

The only player to outscore Patrice Bergeron in a Bruins uniform in the 2010s, Brad Marchand, claims our first winger spot on this team. It seems fitting that Bergeron and his favorite winger stick together. Marchand burst onto the scene in 2010-2011 and finished the season with the empty-net goal that sealed the 2011 Stanley Cup Championship.

While he is aggravating for other teams and downright disgusting according to some fanbases, no one can deny that Marchand is a fantastic player. In addition to overall points, Marchand leads the Bruins in goals, plus-minus, and games played in the 2010s and is second in assists. Much like Bergeron, his career bleeds over into the 2020s, but the 2010s is when Marchand made his name in the league.

Winger – Milan Lucic

The second wing spot was really tough. The biggest problem the Bruins had for a long time was that they lacked a scoring winger on the right. Mark Recchi and Nathan Horton played vital roles, and Tyler Seguin was dealt before he hit his prime, but for this position, I really wanted to give it to someone who will forever be an iconic Bruin, and I disregarded the left or right part of the position.

For that reason, I feel very good about naming Milan Lucic the second winger on the all-2010s team. Despite not being the most skilled player, Lucic was one of the most beloved players in Boston for his physical presence and the emotion he brought every night. In fact, he was so beloved that when Spittin’ Chiclets host Rear Admiral tweeted a mysterious GIF of Lucic in a Bruins’ uniform, the fanbase got a bit of a jolt thinking of the possibility of a comeback.

He also produced in the points department, scoring over 250 points between 2010/2011 and his departure in the summer of 2015. Combining Lucic on the left with David Krejci down the middle was the perfect balance of brute strength and pure finesse. He is responsible for some of the most memorable moments in recent Bruins’ history and will likely never be forgotten by this generation. I can understand arguments for other players here, but I think what Lucic meant to fans of the Bruins is enough to earn him a spot on the all-2010s team.

Defenseman – Zdeno Chara

Another no-brainer here, Zdeno Chara, takes the first defenseman spot and becomes the only player on the all-2000s and all-2010s teams. How could I leave off the man who captained the Bruins every season in this range and was the best defenseman on the team for almost every year? It is hard to know what to say about the 6’9” Slovakian because his case is pretty much made by itself.

Despite being known as a stay-at-home defenseman, Chara still put up almost 300 points for the Bruins while also maintaining a +205 plus-minus. The other important note when talking about Zdeno Chara in the 2010s is that he lifted the Stanley Cup over his head as the captain of the Bruins, the first time anyone did that since Dit Clapper (the team was without a captain for the 1970 and 1972 Cups).

Defenseman – Torey Krug

The second defenseman making the all-2010s team is a guy that I must set my biases aside to include. While Torey Krug was on the Bruins, I was always a critic of his. I certainly recognized his talent, but I also recognized his shortcomings on the defensive side of the puck, especially in the corners. I loved his partnership with Brandon Carlo, though, and after seeing the Bruins try to replace him with Matt Grzelcyk the past few seasons, I can see just how important Krug was.

Krug racked up 337 points in the 2010s, fifth among all Bruins at that time. He was the quarterback on the power-play, the Bruins’ best offensive defenseman, and, while I took a while to see it, he bled black and gold just as much as any player on the team. He broke out in the 2013 playoffs and was a significant piece of the team from that point until leaving for the Blues after the 2020 season. He is also the only guy that makes this list despite not being on the 2011 championship team.

Goaltender – Tuukka Rask

The goaltender is another position I do not think there can be any debate about. Tuukka Rask easily takes the goaltender spot on this team. While Tim Thomas was the starting goalie on the Stanley Cup championship team, Tuukka took over not long after and established himself as one of the best goalies on the planet. He catapulted himself to the top of the Bruins’ all-time wins leaderboard, staking a claim in the argument for best Bruins goalie of all-time.

He also collected a Vezina Trophy in 2014 as the best goalie in the NHL and led the Bruins to two Stanley Cup Finals in 2013 and 2019. While many fans criticize him as a playoff choke artist, I cannot agree with that sentiment and believe he is more than deserving of this position. Much like Thomas in the 2000s, Tuukka wins this position almost by default, with three times as many wins as any other goalie for the Bruins from 2010-2019.