I’ve seen plenty of Bruins fans say that, maybe not always reaching the playoff level but 9th/10th in the Conference.
Dahlin’s injury isn’t the sole reason we missed but certainly was part of it. Devaluing to that of a mere excuse is falling far short of the impact his injury from Training Camp to near January was in reducing his effectiveness when he played. Not to mention his 10 game IR stint coincides perfectly with our losing streak. Hell, the game he left in, we had a 5-1 lead and in the 20min he was gone they blew the game in regulation.
Dahlin’s injury can be both a large factor to missing without discounting the sheer ineptitude that was shown while he was gone. No player should be so important to a team that his injury leads to zero win effort in that time.
That streak soured me on Byram and made me start to genuinely question Power’s level of Dman. Both can play great offensively but with Dahlin out neither stepped up to fill the gap. I only give Power a small bit of a mulligan because he had stepped up as a rookie when Dahlin missed a game against Tampa and Power played one of his best games that year. But it does feel a tad worrying that Power’s willingness to make contact and his defensive IQ has cratered more each year. His shot has gotten better but otherwise he’s regressed in defensive situations.
As for Byram it all but made him a passenger; with Dahlin he’s great but otherwise he’s a liability. No matter how great your top pairing is, neither player should have such a dependence on their partner that if one goes down the other goes limp like a puppet without a puppeteer. Your #2 needs the ability to cover the #1 role for some time when the situation arises. Power already has the role of #3 Offensive D locked in and his play doesn’t falter regardless of partner. He’s good offensively, bad defensively. Byram while more physical seems more often than not incapable of playing with any other Dman aside from Dahlin.