After a 50-20-12 season in 2017-18 and a second round playoff loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Boston Bruins gear up for the start of the new season Wednesday night at 7:30 pm when they face the reigning Stanley Cup Champion Capitals in Washington.
RETURNING- The ageless wonder, at 41 years of age, defenseman Zdeno Chara returns for another season with the black and gold. The health of Patrice Bergeron will be another key. Brad Marchand comes off a 34 goal, 51 assist season and no hint of slowing down. Other key players returning are David Pastrnak (35 G, 45 A), David Krejci, Jake Debrusk, Torey Krug, David Backes, Sean Kuraly, Noel Acciari, Ryan Donato, along with second year defenseman Charlie McAvoy who will start his second full NHL season, while Danato begins his first full year. Krug begins the year though on injured reserve but isn’t expected to miss much time. The loss of Krug at least at the beginning of season makes things way more important for the Bruins defense to step up with the likes of Kevan Miller, Brandon Carlo, and Matt Grzelcyk. Tuuka Rask expects to see most of the time in net, coming off a good season where he went 34-14-5, with a 2.36 goals against and a .917 save percentage. Head coach Bruce Cassidy is back as well. In his first full season back behind an NHL bench last season, Cassidy earned a coach of the year nomination. His record in two seasons with the Bruins is 68-27-13 (18-7-1 in 2017), for a .690 winning percentage.
KEY DEPARTURES– One of the key losses in the offseason in free agency was defensive forward Riley Nash who went to the Columbus Blue Jackets. The play of youngster Danton Heinen will become now more important with the loss of Nash. One of Bostons favorites along the defensive blue line also found a new home, as Adam McQuaid went to the New York Rangers in a trade. Also departing was backup goalie Anton Khudobin
KEY ADDITIONS- John Moore acquired from the Rangers helps Boston get a bit younger along the defense core. More importantly, Boston signed a more capable backup goaltender to Rask, inking Jaroslav Halak who spent the last four seasons with the New York Islanders. Halak has played 449 career NHL games and could take alot of pressure of Rask especially late in year if the B’s have a playoff spot wrapped up. Also joining the club in a second go around in Beantown are Lee Stempniak and Steven Kampfer. Bruins also added a 11 year veteran defenseman in Daniel Winnik.
BOTTOM LINE/PREDICTION- The importance of the health of this team is the same as all other clubs, but especially with the aging Chara and Bergeron. Scoring shouldn’t be an issue, but once again goaltending and special teams will be vital to their success. Boston is in need of one more splash in free agency before they can really compete with the top teams in the Eastern Conference that include Washington and Tampa Bay. 50 wins last season was more than expected by most. I have this years edition finishing 45-29-8, good for a third place finish in the Atlantic Division behind Tampa Bay and Toronto. With the current roster, look for Boston to be somewhere around a 5-7 seed in the playoffs. Unless GM Don Sweeney can get another piece in free agency it looks like another first or second round playoff loss for the 2018-19 Bruins. Another addition or two could catapult this team to their first Eastern Conference Finals apperance since 2011, but all is up to management to lay the foundation.
