It’s no secret that the Boston Bruins have been dominating the NHL this season. After many pundits predicted that the B’s would either be a wild card team or miss the playoffs entirely, The Bruins answered with quite possibly the greatest regular season in NHL history. On top of winning 65 games (breaking the old NHL record of 62) and registering 135 points (breaking the NHL record of 132), Boston has posted a goal differential of 128. For reference, the next closest team has 67. Ridiculous. 

The meteoric rise of the Bruins has been powered by a roster that is no doubt the best in the NHL. Czech megastar David Pastrnak scored 61 goals and 113 points in a brilliant season that would likely net him a Hart trophy had Connor McDavid of Edmonton Oilers fame not scored 153 points in a history-making season of his own. Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron had their typically great seasons too, recording 67 and 58 points, respectively. Former New Jersey Devil Pavel Zacha broke out and scored 57 points of his own. David Krejci returned to Boston and did his thing, scoring an impressive 56 points. Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm both had seasons that would put them in Norris trophy contention (Lindholm in particular had an incredible plus minus rating of 49 this season). On top of all that, Linus Ullmark had a season for the ages, with 40 wins in 49 games, a save percentage of .938, and a GAA of just 1.89. These players are just scratching the surface, too—Boston’s lineup is littered with talent galore. This is where Boston’s problem arises: they have too many good players. 

No, seriously, you read that right. Boston has too much talent. A hockey team can only roll out 18 skaters at once. Boston has 24 legitimate quality skaters. Today, I’d like to make my case for who should make the cut and who should ride the bench. 

Makes the cut: Trent Frederic 

Why he stays: Quite possibly the easiest decision to make in this article is keeping Frederic around. In 79 games, Frederic has scored 17 goals and 14 points for a grand total of 31 points, a very impressive mark for a guy who is essentially locked into the bottom-6 due to an abundance of talent. Frederic has everything Bruins fans could possibly want out of their bottom 6, with great two-way play and scoring touch, along with a nasty personality to boot. The only conceivable reason that Boston would sit Frederic out would be his age which, let’s be realistic, isn’t a big deal at all. He’s 25, and his play has matured to a point that I would consider him playoff level. Start the man any day of the week.

Just misses out: Nick Foligno 

I hate to do this to Foligno, who is one of the Bruins’ best leaders in the locker room, but he’s been usurped on the fourth line. That’s not to say he’s had a bad season—he’s had 26 points in 60 games—but I don’t see any reason for the Bruins to risk putting the recently injured Foligno out during the playoffs when all games are likely to be heavily contested slugfests. Granted, Foligno does have a role on this team as a leader and an energy guy, but he’s been doing that from the bench since he’s been hurt, and the team hasn’t missed a beat. It would be unwise for Boston to mess with a good thing, and Foligno is the odd man out on a talented fourth line. 

Makes the cut: Tomas Nosek 

Nosek has 18 points in 66 games this season, which isn’t a particularly high number, but it’s more than enough considering the two-way value he brings to the table. Nosek is arguably Boston’s secret weapon on defense, a gritty stud who finishes his checks and wins faceoffs at a remarkable 59% clip. More often than not, Nosek is the man responsible for the best defensive stands that Boston’s fourth line has. He’s the exact type of player that you want in the playoffs—a battle tested vet with great defensive stickhandling and solid offensive abilities. Nosek is an easy start despite his unremarkable statistical profile. 

Just misses out: A.J. Greer 

Greer is a solid-player, a Trent Frederic-like grinder who’s shown some offensive potential during his time with Boston, scoring 12 points in 61 games. My main concern with him isn’t his lack of scoring ability (Boston has this in spades), but rather his tendency to pick up penalties where he shouldn’t—often through fighting and roughing penalties. Greer is one of the players on this list who is relatively likely to get playing time despite not starting in most games (likely due to injuries), but I can’t start him over the other forwards on this list, and he’s likely behind Nick Foligno when it comes to getting minutes regardless. 

Makes the cut: Connor Clifton 

Clifton, despite looking like the odd man out in the Bruins defensive rotation coming into the season, has held onto his role as a bottom pairing defenseman despite not putting up big numbers. He has 5 goals and 23 points on the year, but his best stat must be his plus/minus rating of 20, which is quite the rare feat for a bottom-pairing defenseman. Clifton is the type of player that not every team wants, but every team needs in a playoff scenario. He’s a solid two-way player and he’s smart with the puck. Not making mistakes on the ice has been the name of the game for Clifton this season, and it’s what lifts him to make the cut here. 

Just misses out: Derek Forbort 

With all due respect to Forbort, who is a solid defensive defenseman, there isn’t really a place for him on the roster when Clifton is starting. Granted, the two could take the ice at the same time were the Bruins to scratch Matt Grzelcyk, but such a decision would be foolish considering Grzelcyk’s offensive prowess (26 points in 75 games as a bottom-pairing defenseman). Granted, Forbort could see some time if Boston decides to rotate him and Clifton, which could be a good move considering Forbort’s playoff experience and defensive abilities, so he’s not entirely ruled out. 

With that out of the way, here are my projected Bruins lines that I believe they should roll with this postseason. 

Forwards: 

Marchand-Bergeron-DeBrusk 

Zacha-Krejci-Pastrnak 

Hall-Coyle-Bertuzzi 

Frederic-Nosek-Hathaway 

Defense: 

Orlov-McAvoy 

Lindholm-Carlo 

Grzelcyk-Clifton 

Goalies: 

Ullmark 

Swayman 

Feel free to yell at me in the comments if you disagree, I’ll respond. Enjoy the playoffs this season!