In Year 1, Jim Montgomery took a deep Bruins squad to a record-breaking regular season only to fall short in a bitter first-round loss to the Florida Panthers.
The following year, Montgomery got the most of a transitional roster without Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci. But without as deep of a roster, the Bruins had their shortcomings exposed again by the same Panthers bunch in the second round.
So it came as no surprise when Don Sweeney tried to position Montgomery for success in Year 3 after adding a top-six center in Elias Lindholm and a rugged defenseman in Nikita Zadorov as part of their busy off-season.