Boston Bruins: Midseason Player-by-Player Report Cards

When assessing the first half of the Boston Bruins’ 2011-12 season, the struggle not to sound hyperbolic is so futile, it is outright agonizing.

Now at the halfway mark of the regular season schedule, the Bruins boast the NHL’s best offense with 3.58 goals per game and best defense with a nightly median of 1.98 goals-against. They are running away with a cumulative scoring differential of plus-69 and have enough games in hand to build upon that advantage.

Boston is the only team in the league fostering a five-on-five scoring ratio of 2.00 or better.

No other team has a better winning percentage at the faceoff dot than Boston’s 55.9 percent success rate. Only the Los Angeles Kings have a better record when leading after the first period, and only the New York Rangers have a better record overall or when scoring the first goal.

Accordingly, it cannot be helped when the vast bulk of the Bruins regulars receive an above-average first-half evaluation. They are simply a mass conglomeration of individuals who are either playing up to their respective standards, tinkering on a revised standard or promising to do so in the second half of the season.

With that, here is a capsule summing up the midseason posture of each of Boston’s 20 regulars.

Tuukka Rask: A+

Since October, Rask has gone 10-1-1 in 11 full-length appearances and one relief outing. His total crease time in that span has amounted to approximately 11 and one half games, during which he has authorized a mere 15 goals.

You could make a case that he has generally faced softer competition than colleague Tim Thomas, but there have been plenty of nights where Rask has bailed out a complacent band of skaters. In addition, he has stood his ground admirably against certified powers like Detroit.

Tim Thomas: A+

The blemishes on his game log are, by all accounts, negligible. The fact is that Thomas continues to be one half of a stellar and stable goaltending tandem that gives the Bruins a chance to win the vast majority of the time.

If his second half performance equates that of the first half, he should fall nowhere short of another nomination for the Vezina.

Patrice Bergeron: A/A+

Imagine a statistical category where a full-time pivot is awarded a win for claiming the majority of his face-offs in a single game, a loss for conceding the majority and a tie for going 50-50.

If that existed, then Bergeron’s record at the dot would be a sound 28-8-5, even better than his team’s 28-12-1 transcript on the scoreboard.

In addition, Bergeron has yet to fall into any protracted scoring slumps, never going more than two straight games without appearing on the score sheet. If he stays on his present pace throughout the second half, he should match or exceed his total goals, assists, power-play points, hits and blocked shots from both 2009-10 and 2010-11.

Johnny Boychuk: A-

His playmaking in the offensive zone is still on a bit of a downturn from last year. But in his day job, the third-year NHL defenseman is arguably Boston’s picture of all-around toughness between 68 hits, 76 blocked shots (second only to Dennis Seidenberg) and a plus-23 rating.

Zdeno Chara: A-

The towering captain has been inexplicably invisible on a couple of occasions, and his stick has had its share of cold spells. But far more often than not, Chara is still doing his part in each zone to chip in on a winning cause.

Tyler Seguin: A-

Save for a few lost points due to occasional lack of dedication, Seguin is still one of the most commendable Bruins.

Like his center, Bergeron, he has made it through the first half of the schedule without a single scoreless skid lasting longer than two games. And Seguin still leads the NHL with a plus-34 rating, followed by none other than Bergeron, Chara and Brad Marchand (plus-27 apiece).

Brad Marchand: B+

Marchand cannot be faulted too much when he is in such an easy position to add a sophomore surge to his resume. With as many as 39 games yet to come, the grinder-turned-striker is already five goals and four assists away from equating his rookie totals.

That said, compared to his two linemates, Marchand’s scoring has stalled for longer periods, particularly when it comes to firsthand output. Since the start of December, Marchand has collected seven goals in 14 appearances, but tuned the opposing mesh in only four individual games.

Adam McQuaid: B+

While playing roughly 16 minutes per night, McQuaid has been on the ice for only three of the last 31 opposing goals. And in up to three fewer total appearances on the year, he has landed more hits and blocked shots than his defensive partner, Andrew Ference.

Rich Peverley: B+

The nominal third-line’s playmaking connoisseur has yet to hit a prolonged slump dating back to the team’s turnaround at the outset of November. Only once has he gone through straight three appearances without a point despite two separate stints on the sideline due to injury.

Peverley’s consistency has amounted to 20 assists in a span of 25 games between Nov. 1 and Jan. 10.

Dennis Seidenberg: B+

After a lull in both zones spanning the first week-plus of December, Seidenberg got back to hitting and blocking shots with no shame or reservation. He has even splashed his otherwise barren 2011-12 scoring transcript with two goals and nine points in 10 games between Dec. 10 and Jan. 5.

Gregory Campbell: B

His production rate is still not quite up to his standard, though some of that can be attributed to his hung-over, scoreless, 10-game October.

Other than that, Campbell’s defensive efficiency is right about where one should expect it to be. And of the Bruins’ four regular centers, only Bergeron has won a higher percentage of his faceoffs.

Andrew Ference: B

Time will test this trend, but Ference has already eclipsed his 2010-11 point total, chiefly owing to nine assists collected over 14 games between the full breadth of December and the first week of January.

The Bruins would not have much cause to complain if Ference could rigidly establish himself as a reckonable point-based playmaker as well as the gritty home-front defender that he already is.

Nathan Horton: B

Horton still has some performance points to make up after a slew of early cold spells, but he is heading in the right direction to match his output from last season and the better part of his Florida years.

Horton is also fostering a career high in the accuracy department with 17.9 percent of his shots going in. But for that reason, maybe the starting winger could be asked to unleash the biscuit a little more often.

Chris Kelly: B

Kelly entered Saturday’s visit to the Carolina Hurricanes with an impressive 21 percent shooting accuracy. The kicker is that, since the end of November, he has neither shot nor scored with as much frequency as he had in that month.

After tallying seven goals on 27 shots in 12 games, Kelly scored four on 23 shots in the subsequent 19 ventures. Of those 19 games, he has been confined to one shot on net in 10 and held to zero in another four.

Daniel Paille: B

Despite a shoddy October and four missed games due to injury, Paille is having arguably the best defensive season of his NHL career and is on pace to crack the 20-point plateau for the first time as a Bruin.

Benoit Pouliot: B

At this point, it is still his unspectacular first quarter that is keeping Pouliot away from the A-range.

With that being said, there is still another half of a season for him to build upon his last seven weeks. In that time, he has grittily cultivated 13 points, primarily from the third line, and proven himself a worthy top-six substitute when and if someone else is out of service.

Shawn Thornton: B

Up to this point, Thornton’s nightly average allotment of ice time (8:57) is the lowest it has been since his first season with the Bruins in 2007-08.

Part of that may be happenstance, but it likely has more to do with the fact that he is spending more time than usual in the penalty box. And yes, that is possible. In fact, if Thornton stays on pace, he could set a new career high with a season total of 148 penalty minutes.

On the other hand, if he exercises just an extra sliver of discipline (no need to get excessive, of course), the resident enforcer still has a shot to crack double digits in both the goal and assist column.

David Krejci: B-

An active 11-game scoring streak has upped Krejci’s season totals from 5-13-18 to 10-23-33. His face-off proficiency has concomitantly improved as well.

A few more months like this one and the first-line center’s worst-case scenario should be the B+/A- borderline by season’s end.

Milan Lucic: B-

Lately, Lucic has cultivated six goals and five assists in his last 10 outings. But that stretch was preceded by a spotty spell of 16 games that saw him nail only two goals (on the same night, no less) and seven helpers while going pointless on 11 occasions.

Quite plainly, Lucic and his starting linemates have something to build upon in the second half.

Joe Corvo: C+

There is nothing spectacular, though also nothing egregious to be said about his day job on defense, and he does chip in his share of assists. But Corvo’s point shot has done little to instill conviction to the Bruins and their fans.

He has landed 98 of his countless attempted stabs on net, but put only two in the net. Both of those strikes came in a drought-splashing performance Dec. 10 against Columbus, a game he has yet to build upon a month-plus after the fact.