The Boston Bruins have long been one of the most consistent and successful teams in the NHL. In recent years, they have been dominant in the regular season and have been to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2019 and were favorites to win the championship in 2023.
However, the 2019 championship series ended with the Bruins losing at home in seven games to the St. Louis Blues and the record-setting team of the 2023 suffered a brutal defeat in the first round of the playoffs to the Florida Panthers.
Last year's version beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in the opening round when David Pastrnak scored the series-deciding goal in overtime of the seventh game. The Boston season came to an end in a six-game loss to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Panthers in the following round.
As head coach Jim Montgomery and the Bruins prepare for the upcoming season, they appear to be one of the strongest defensive teams in the league thanks to goaltender Jeremy Swayman and defensemen Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm, Brandon Carlo and youngster Mason Lohrei.
However, there may be questions about the team's ability to put the puck in the net. That was the case last year after star centers Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci retired, but the Bruins overcame those perceived issues and easily earned their spot in the postseason.
Nevertheless, general manager knew the Bruins had to upgrade at the center position. They addressed their need by signing free agent center Elias Lindholm to a seven-year, $54.25 million contract. Lindholm is penciled in as the team's front-line center and veteran Charlie Coyle will center the team's No. 2 line.
Second-year center Matthew Poitras appears to be headed for the third-line position, while defensive stalwart Johnny Beecher should nail down the fourth-line center position.
Bruins need to find scoring on the wings
In addition to building the center position by bringing in Elias Lindholm — who was traded from the Calgary Flames to the Vancouver Canucks last season the Bruins are planning to move Pavel Zacha from center to left wing on the team's top line. In addition to Lindholm, superstar David Pastrnak is on right wing and he is clearly the team's best goal-scoring threat.
Pastrnak scored 61 goals and 113 points in 2022-23 and he followed that up with 47 goals and 110 points last year. He should be good for at least 50 goals this season, and he might be able to give Auston Matthews of the Maple Leafs a run for his money when it comes to the NHL's goal-scoring title.
Captain Brad Marchand, Coyle and Morgan Geekie have an excellent chance to make up the No. 2 line. The 36-year-old Marchand is a four-time NHL All-Star, and he scored 29 goals and 38 assists last season. He is still productive and fully capable of antagonizing opponents
Geekie scored a career-best 17 goals and 22 assists in the regular season, and he scored four goals in the postseason. The Bruins are hoping he can continue to improve and demonstrate that he is worthy of a slot on the second line.
The Bruins will not have Jake DeBrusk after he signed a free-agent deal with the Vancouver Canucks. DeBrusk played seven seasons for the Bruins and he scored 25 goals or more three times. However, he ran hot and cold for in Boston and it seemed clear that the team was not going to bring him back when his contract ended.
The Bruins are hoping some of their younger players are going to come through in DeBrusk's absence this season.
Justin Brazeau and Fabian Lysell could play key roles for Bruins
The Bruins brought up power forward Justin Brazeau from their AHL team in Providence in the second half of last season. Brazeau cut an impressive figure on the ice at 6-5 and 220 pounds. He played 19 games for the Bruins and scored 5 goals and 2 assists, and he displayed excellent skating ability for a big man and is not afraid to use his size with some big hits.
Fabian Lysell could be the X-factor. While the Bruins have never brought him up to show what he can do at the NHL level, but he has been a highly thought of offensive prospect for several seasons.
Lysell scored 15 goals and 35 assists in 56 games last year, but his 2023-24 season came to a premature end due to an upper-body injury. Lysell, 21, checks in at 5-11 and 181 pounds and is a swift skater with some eye-opening moves.
Sweeney has high hopes for Lysell
The Bruins have urged him to add weight and strength, and he may be ready to play at the next level. General manager Don Sweeney said last year's injury cost him a chance to play for the Bruins.
“We were really excited about where he was tracking,” said Sweeney, “and had he continued along that path and stayed healthy, he would have gotten an opportunity up top like a lot of other guys did. Because he had played that well.
“So now he’s got to hit the reset button and have a really good offseason and come back with the intention that he knows how well he can play, he knows how we were proud of the steps he had taken.”
If he can step up, the Bruins may have a winger who can help drive the offense and score key goals against elite opponents.
In addition to Brazeau and Lysell, Georgii Merkulov, Riley Duran, Trevor Kuntar and Max Jones could all have a chance to make the Bruins this season.
The competition in training camp will be significant and it will be up to Sweeney and Montgomery to discern which of the young players deserve to come up to the varsity because they can upgrade the team and help the Bruins earn their way into the playoffs once again.
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