As the puck drops to begin the 2014-15 NHL season, the Boston Bruins bring back the core of the team that delivered the Presidents’ Trophy and were the favorites heading into the playoffs. Despite the success of the team, they enter very unsatisfied after suffering a difficult Eastern Conference Semifinal loss to their hated rivals, the Montreal Canadiens. Despite bringing back the core, there are still questions about the Bruins going into this year.
Crunched by salary cap concerns, the team was not able to retain Jarome Iginla, who left in free agency to go to the Colorado Avalanche. The salary cap also claimed another victim in tough guy Shawn Thornton. The veteran left in free agency for the Florida Panthers as the team decided to move in another direction. Then in recent news, the team dealt defenseman Johnny Boychuk to the New York Islanders for two second round picks and a conditional third round pick. The salary cap concerns remain, but for now the Bruins are under the cap and ready to play some hockey.
Moving up to the first line in replacement of Iginla, is Loui Eriksson. Acquired in the Tyler Seguin trade, he had a below average year, but is returning to the top line which is something he has experience with in Dallas. He will be paired with the recently extended David Krejci (six-year/$43.5 million) and Milan Lucic. On the second line, it remains the same as last year with Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and Reilly Smith returning. Smith was recently re-signed to a one year, $1.4 million deal and will likely get a big raise next year if the Bruins can clear space.
After the first two lines, the picture is murky. The Bruins have to replace Thornton and Eriksson and could look to youth for production. Carl Soderberg and Gregory Campbell will likely lockdown the third and fourth line center positions respectively (although Campbell will be unavailable to start the year due to injury), but the wings are unclear. Daniel Paille and Chris Kelly return and could pair with Campbell on the fourth line. Paille may have a role on the third line but they could also call on talented young center Ryan Spooner to move to left wing where he has shown promise in the preseason. Matt Fraser is another youngster who could receive time with Soderberg on the right wing. Waiting in the wings are younger players like 2014 first round pick David Pastrnak who looks like the real deal.
The defense was a pretty clear picture going into the offseason and the only move expected was dealing an excess defenseman, which happened to be Boychuk. Zdeno Chara returns as captain and will pair with explosive youngster Dougie Hamilton. Dennis Seidenberg will return from his ACL tear suffered year and could pair with Matt Bartkowski who should complement Seidenberg nicely. Torey Krug is another exciting young defenseman who was re-signed to a one year, $1.4 million deal alongside Smith and he will likely pair with the veteran Adam McQuaid, who could take on more of an enforcer role now that Thornton is gone. The seventh defenseman will most likely be the physical Kevan Miller, who will have to hold off young David Warsofsky going into next year.
Back in goal is the Vezina winner, Tuukka Rask. Rask is looking to be the first goalie to win back to back Vezina’s since Martin Brodeur. Backing him up will be Niklas Svedberg, who got in a game last year and picked up a win. He replaces Chad Johnson who left in free agency for the New York Islanders.
The Bruins will have to compete against a younger Montreal Canadiens team, a depleted Stanley Cup runner up in the New York Rangers and a reloaded Tampa Bay Lightning team to make it out of the east but are still regarded as favorites. Only time will tell how much the losses of Iginla, Boychuk and Thornton hurt. The Bruins may also look to add some depth in veteran Simon Gagne who is still around after getting a camp tryout. Gagne has looked good after being away from the game last year and could be a fit on the wing should they need his services. We will know more shortly before the first game. The Bruins face off against the Philadelphia Flyers to begin the year on October 8.
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