By: Danielle DuBois | Follow Me on Twitter @DanielleDuBois
We know that the 2022-2023 Boston Bruins were an incredible team. Every line was full of great talent, making it hard to win against the Bruins. With all this talent on the team, let’s look at some players and grade them on their season with the B’s.
David Pastrnak: A+
Starting us off is David Pastrnak. It was no secret that Pastrnak had an insane season. With 61 goals and 52 assists, Pastrnak was always finding ways to score a point. Not to mention the 13 game-winning goals and four overtime goals he had. In the playoffs, Pastrnak started off pretty quiet. All fans were hoping he would step it up. In game 6 of the first round, Pastrnak ended up scoring two goals and looked like his normal self. Even though Pastrnak led the league in giveaways, that’s not enough to lower my grade for him.
Hampus Lindholm: A-
The first defender we are gonna look at is Hampus Lindholm. Lindholm was a great asset on our team this season. His defense was terrific, and he scored a good amount. Withten0 goals and 43 assists, Lindholm made himself known on this team. However, I had to rate him an A- because of his postseason. While the Bruins only played seven games in the playoffs, Lindholm didn’t look great in any of those games. Lindholm received two penalties during the Bruins’ playoffs. One for tripping and one for a delay of game. Those are two easily avoidable penalties that could have been prevented with a little discipline. Lindholm looked slow and forgot how to play defense during the postseason. With such a great regular season, I expected more from Lindholm.
Connor Clifton: B
I will be honest; I have been a Connor Clifton fan for a while. I think he is a strong defender that is very beneficial to the Bruins team. Clifton is a very feisty player who never shies away from the puck. He had 208 hits and 120 blocked shots in the regular season alone. However, my view on Clifton changed after the playoffs. When Clifton entered the lineup, he had terrible giveaways that led to scoring opportunities for Florida. As a fan of Clifton, this was very upsetting to see and very troubling for the future. I am unsure if the Bruins will keep Clifton for a long time, but I think they will heavily consider this off-season in that decision. Sorry Clifton, your regular season wasn’t enough for me, so you get a B.
Brad Marchand: A
Brad Marchand is always a standout player because of a controversial play or a great goal. However, this season it seems like he slid under the radar. Marchand still had a good season with 21 goals and 46 assists, and only 74 penalty minutes. Yes, I said only 74 minutes. While that number is high, for Marchand, it’s quite low. Usually, it’s closer to 100. Marchand followed right behind Pastrnak in points scored this season and played very well. He was a consistent player throughout the season, so he got an A.
Matt Grzelcyk: B+
The third defender I want to bring up is Matt Grzelcyk. Grzelcyk had the best season in his career, scoring 26 points during the regular season. While offensively, he did well; he could have been more attentive on defense. There were many times during the regular season when a puck was turned over in the defensive zone, and it was Grzelcyk’s fault. I believed he was just an average player on a team who is overpaid. While I still believe that to some extent, I have more respect for him after the playoffs. Grzelcyk had a solid postseason, and after seeing Clifton play, I realized that Grzelcyk was better. With an overall average season, I rated Grzelcyk a B+.
A.J. Greer: B-
While Greer is extremely feisty and likes to start a fight, I had to rate him a B-. Greer has a lot of passion which I love; however, he doesn’t produce as much offense as I would like. Obviously, he is on the fourth line, so scoring all the points’s not his job, but I would like to see more scoring from the 26-year-old. This regular season he had five goals and seven assists. It’s not a bad start; let’s hope we see more next season.
Leave a Reply