Think back to right around the trade deadline in 2020.
The Bruins were good. Very good. They were looking for a boost at the trade deadline, and found it by acquiring Ondrej Kase, a play-driving forward, and Nick Ritchie, a winger with some size.
They even got out from underneath most of the David Backes contract, and COVID-19 was a far-off concern.
And then...yeah. We all know what happened globally, but things went south for the B’s too.
Kase got concussed, Ritchie struggled to find his rhythm, the season got derailed, and the B’s were never really able to get a consistent run of play with their full squad plus the two new additions.