@31brickwall "Les Habitants" is an old nickname for farmers in New France (specifically in the St Lawrence valley) and later Lower Canada once the English took over. Over time it came to mean "Québécois", and eventually Montréal's team took the name. Habs is a shortening of that :)
Immediate thoughts on the Bruins playoff elimination:
Obviously gutted for both the players and coaches. This team achieved a helluva lot more this season than most people expected, and there were plenty of bright spots.
Swayman returning to elite goaltender form. Geekie putting up another historic season. Zacha notching 30 goals, and Arvidsson with 25. Minten and Khusnutdinov broke out, each having a significant impact on the team this year. Team defense was solid with McAvoy, Lindholm, and Zadorov leading the charge, with good contributions from Aspirot, Lohrei, and Peeke.
Oh, and Pastrnak had 100+ points again.
Sturm had a clear message and vision for the team, and I would argue that it worked for the best. He got the best out of this team in just his first year on the job.
While it's unfortunate to lose in round one again, especially with some very unfortunate performances, I don't think we can be too upset given how we expected this team to perform at the beginning of the season.
There are players whom the Bruins should look to add (and move off from), but we have the cap space to do so and the young talent (Hagens, Minten, Khusy, and others) to have a strong youth movement going forward.
This year showed us a lot of good, and hopefully, we can build upon that next season.
2025/26 was a lot of fun, and I can't wait for next season.
#NHLBruins