Theres been some talk about what to call a first liner, a second line player, and so on. I thought I would look at it a few different ways just using points. My criteria was the top 390 forwards (13 per team) in time on ice at each situation, and the top 210 defensemen (7 per team) with the same time on ice restrictions. I looked at their raw point totals, all situations points as a rate stat, and then narrowed that even further to just their even strength points per 60.

Just looking at the raw point totals were not friendly to the Bruins at all, with only Bergeron performing at a first line level. Eriksson was the closest, just two spots away from being classified as a first liner using this way of looking at points.

Looking at the points as a factor of time on ice helped the Bruins considerably - giving them 8 top 6 options, and lending credence to the balanced attack that the Bruins go for. David Pastrnak joins Patrice Bergeron as a first liner using this method of looking at points.

Pastrnak is legendary. Better than Kessel and Seguin rookie year good. This gives roughly the same split between the lines for the Bruins however, with Soderberg being dropped down to a third liner and Connolly jumping up to a second line role (Im really excited to see what he can do next year). Smith and Eriksson just miss out on being top 6 players, missing by 3 and 4 spots respectively.

Who do you think will step up next year? Will Krejci and Chara return to their normal selves after recovering from their knee injuries? Will that help Lucic perform better?