Head coach Bruce Cassidy and the rest of the Bruins front office and coaching staff have a lot to think about this summer.
After losing Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, the Bruins have more questions than answers heading into the offseason. What do you do with David Backes? Can Brad Marchand replicate his 100-point regular season? Sell high on Torey Krug?
Arguably the most pressing question that arose at various points in the season and into the playoffs: Is the "Perfection Line" worth keeping together? On Monday afternoon, Cassidy addressed whether David Pastrnak's spot next to Marchand and Patrice Bergeron is safe:
"Yeah, we had a lot of discussions this year about Pasta staying there," Cassidy said. "Going forward, to me it always depends (on) what are the options. Who’s going to go there and make us the best team? At times, Danton Heinen did a good job. I felt at the end of the day, could he sustain it every night? Wasn’t convinced. Not saying he could or couldn’t, but that was my decision to put Pasta back there.
"After that, I don’t know if we tried a whole lot of other guys. At the deadline we had some ideas. Unfortunately, the injury to Johansson, that’s the hand you’re dealt, so he could’ve been a good fit up there too. Going forward, next year I will talk about that. I think, geez, we went back to Anders Bjork we thought at a time would be – so, there could be a younger guy that steps up in camp. For me to say right now that this guy is going to go there, I don’t think you do that. You have to let the player earn it and see what they’ve got.
"So, that’s it, or maybe someone else will surface elsewhere. That’s internal stuff that we’ll have discussions about, but that’s the game plan for next year. They’ve been an excellent line. They want to grow as well. They want to keep getting better, so certainly a possibility they’ll stay together."
By no means did Cassidy shut the door on the Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak line. However, Pastrnak's poor playoff performance amid some self-described mental battles led some to suggest he should be moved down to David Krejci's second line.
In the playoffs, Pastrnak finished with nine goals, 19 points and an even plus/minus in 24 games. But in the Stanley Cup Final against St. Louis, Pastrnak was a -7. In total, the Perfection Line scored two goals and had 19 goals against during five-on-five play against the Blues.
The Bruins shuffled Pastrnak between the first and second lines during both the regular season and their playoff run, so shifting him permanently wouldn't be that extreme of an adjustment. To maximize the Bruins' ceiling, they need to get the most out of Pastrnak, whatever line he plays on.
Click here to download the new MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the Celtics easily on your device.