Boston Bruins: Best-Case Second-Half Scenario for Each Player on the Roster

Monday night’s 3-2 shootout triumph in Florida and its effect on the NHL standings underlined what is within the Boston Bruins’ range this regular season. With a league-best winning percentage of .702, the team’s best-case scenario is a President’s Trophy and home ice for the balance of their playoff run in defense of the Stanley Cup.

To fulfill that potentiality, the Bruins will need to be ready to withstand the most taxing second-half schedule of any NHL team, cramming their last 35 games into 68 days. They will advance their cause by getting the better of their fellow Eastern Conference titan, the New York Rangers, in their upcoming four-game season series.

And while it will not happen for every constituent, a sizeable number of key individuals need to live out their personal best-case scenarios to ensure Boston’s collective potential. Here now is an alphabetical presentation of each individual Bruin’s high mark to polish off the 2011-12 regular season.

Patrice Bergeron

Arguably the most consistent of all Boston skaters, Bergeron need not change a thing. If all goes according to plan, he will bag no fewer than 25 goals and 50 assists along with his first Selke Trophy.

Johnny Boychuk

Besides continuing to prove his worth as Zdeno Chara’s regular partner on the top unit, Boychuk’s 2011-12 regular season will be complete if he can revive his blistering twig for at least five or six more goals. He entered the halfway mark of the schedule stuck with three strikes on the year after 17 straight goalless outings.

Gregory Campbell

Last year, in his first campaign as a Bruin, Campbell approached the halfway mark of the regular season with a 4-9-13 scoring log. His firsthand output subsequently accelerated for a second-half total of nine goals along with seven helpers while playing 40 games in 88 days.

Up to this point in 2011-12, Campbell is paving a comparable path, having sprinkled a 4-6-10 transcript and brooked two goal-scoring droughts lasting at least 10 games apiece.

Going forward, he will have as many as 40 appearances in a span of 80 days. And his line might even see a slight increase in ice time to keep everyone’s collective legs fresh through the more rigorous portion of the schedule.

If he can once again defy the challenges and rerun his late-season upswing from 2010-11, Campbell is looking at a brush along the 10-goal and 25-point borderline.

Jordan Caron

For the common, long-term good, Caron will continue to whet his blades in the minors and fill in with the parent club as needed. But if enough opportunities to step up fall into place and if he makes enough of an impression each time, Caron has a chance to be the 13th forward rather than the top Black Ace come playoff time.

Zdeno Chara

It’s not quite Norris Trophy or bust. There would not be too much shame in losing that race to Michael Del Zotto, Nicklas Lidstrom or Shea Weber.

That said, stepping up his production at even strength and keeping up his performance in each zone just might be enough to cement Chara’s spot at the 2011-12 summit of NHL defensemen.

Joe Corvo

How about a radical upgrade in shooting accuracy to quadruple his goal count from two at the 41-game mark to eight at the 82-game mark?

To go with that, Corvo can bring savory closure to his first season in Boston by reaching 30 assists for the first time in his decade-old NHL tenure.

Andrew Ference

The seasoned blueliner went on a playmaking spree in December with seven assists in 10 games. That stretch evoked vague memories of his last full season as a Calgary Flame in 2005-06, when he collected 27 setups and 31 points, a height he has barely half-reached in seasons before or since.

But now he has collected 14 assists and 16 points―one more than half of his career highs in both columns―through his first 40 games-played this season.

Early disturbances of revised highs in every major scoring category, something along the lines of six goals and up to 30 assists, are on Ference’s horizon. Those winds may taper off before impact like the average tropical storm, but brace yourself just in case.

Zach Hamill

One of the few logical moves the Bruins could make before the Feb. 27 trading deadline would be to pursue a slightly more seasoned and more dependable forward to serve as the top spare part on the depth chart.

If they find an enticing commodity and a willing suitor for Hamill, it could work in his favor as well as Boston’s. The Bruins would have a stronger insurance policy for the homestretch and postseason while Hamill would have a smaller pond and thus a bigger opportunity to set a tone for his first full NHL campaign in 2012-13.

Nathan Horton

Since about mid-December, Horton appears to have finally corralled some consistency. Keeping a grip on that for the balance of the season is the nine-year NHL veteran’s sole prerequisite to eclipsing his previous career high of 31 goals and 62 points.

A final, 82-game point total in the upper 60s is a reach, but within Horton’s reach nonetheless.

Steven Kampfer

The only way the seventh defenseman is seeing any more game action in The Show this year is if one of the six regulars is sidelined with an injury or illness.

If that opportunity does not arise, Kampfer can look forward to a conditioning assignment in Providence, where he played his last game at any level Dec. 18.

Chris Kelly

The wait continues for Kelly to replenish his November form and sustain it for the balance of the season.

If he were to do that, especially without fail, the third-line center could still be looking at a final count of goals in the upper 20s and roughly 25 assists.

David Krejci

With each set of about a dozen games, Krejci’s productivity rate has steadily ascended throughout the first half.

Provided he keeps that up, or at least does not let himself taper off, and puts the stamp on his first-line label, his final 2011-12 numbers will be all but identical to his 22-51-73 transcript from 2008-09.

Milan Lucic

Anything short of a second-straight 30-goal campaign will be a disappointment. Something resembling or identical to Lucic’s 30-32-62 scoring log from last season is realistic, but sustained energy through a rigorous homestretch could have him looking at as many as 35 goals and up to 70 points.

The fulfillment of that scenario will partially depend on how reliable Lucic can remain on the power play. He has already matched last year’s total of five man-advantage strikes, though he has not tallied any in his last nine outings.

Brad Marchand

Even with up to six missed games due to illness and suspension, a 65-point campaign still sounds about right for Marchand. But who says he can’t set foot on the 70-point plateau by April 7?

Adam McQuaid

The stay-at-home blueliner can hope to bake himself a few brownie biscuits with one or two more goals and possibly 10 total points by season’s end.

Daniel Paille

Like his fellow fourth-liners, particularly Campbell, Paille will have Boston buffs waiting to see if he can once again accelerate his production in the waning phases of the regular season.

And having already scraped out seven goals and 10 points through the first 41 games (four of which he missed), Paille is in a position to tally a season total of up to 15 goals and a point total in the mid-20s.

Rich Peverley

With more of his recently increasing output on the power play and more proficient cooperation from Kelly and his fellow third-line winger (Caron, Hamill or Benoit Pouliot), Peverley should finish an ice-shattering playmaking campaign. Do not be too startled if he finishes his first full season as a Bruin tinkering on 50 helpers with about 15 goals on the side.

Benoit Pouliot

Since he settled into Boston and the Bruins’ ecosystem started to flaunt his most ideal colors post-Thanksgiving, Pouliot has shown that he is good for at least a goal and an assist every three or four games. A 35-point finish in as many as 77 appearances is hardly out of the question, especially if he does not go numb during the busier clusters of the homestretch.

Tuukka Rask

With 40 regular season games yet to come, the most Rask could ask for is to see action in 20 and win about 14 or 15 of them. But regardless of quantity, the quality of Rask’s work combined with that of Tim Thomas is naturally reserving a spot for the William Jennings Trophy.

Tyler Seguin

Can the top gun return to the same scoring rate of the first five weeks of the season, when he amassed 11 goals and 20 points in 15 games?

That scenario is only one rung shy of impossible, especially with the imminent increase in frequency of games. But there is no cause to believe that Seguin will not have at least one last hot streak at some point within the last two-plus months and 40 games of his sophomore season.

A final goal count in the upper 30s, maybe even stopping at 40, and somewhere between 45 and 50 assists is the right bar for Seguin. It’s a slight stretch, but it’s attainable for someone of his skill and youthful energy.

Dennis Seidenberg

Not unlike Boychuk and Corvo, Seidenberg has yet to show his best precision with his point shot. The sooner he reverses that, the better his chances of tripling his 2011-12 season total from two goals at midseason to six at season’s end.

Tim Thomas

If Rask’s best-case scenario fails to materialize, there will be more room for his colleague’s.

For Thomas, that entails getting the nod in about 30 of the remaining regular-season games, raising his win total to 35 or higher while keeping his regulation losses at 15 or lower and retaining his radiant goals-against average and save percentage. With all of that in place, a third Vezina Trophy in four seasons would doubtlessly be in order.

Shawn Thornton

As much as the Bruins value his physicality and feistiness, Thornton could stand to cut down a little on his penalty minutes. Doing so will amount to a modest increase in ice time and, in turn, ensure his odds of hitting double digits in the goal and assist columns for the second consecutive season.