The Boston Bruins begin their 2024-25 campaign tonight when they get an up-close look at the Florida Panthers raising their Stanley Cup banner.  The Bruins made a lot of moves in the offseason.  Have they improved?  Have they done enough to make a legit run at the Cup?  Let’s dig in and find out. 

The biggest question going into this season is have the Bruins solved their biggest issue from last season, goal scoring.  I talked last season and in the off season about how the Bruins only have one real goal scorer on their team, David Pastrnak.  Brad Marchand was a legit goal scorer but he is 36 now and has been dealing with injuries for a few years now.  He is no longer a number two goal scorer but that is his role on the Bruins.  They need a guy between him and Pastrnak.  They failed to get that guy in the offseason.  I think this is still going to be the biggest issue for the team this year.  Look at the preseason, they scored 4 goals in 2 of 7 games, both wins.  In the other 5 games, all losses, they scored 2,2,2,1,0.  And one of those goals was an own goal by the Rangers goaltender.  Now, in their defense, there wasn’t a game where the Bruin iced their opening day lineup.  Each game included lots of minor leaguers and Pastrnak and Marchand didn’t even play a game together except for 1 game where Marchand played 5 shifts before exiting due to illness.  Now, why they went this route and did not have even 1 “dress rehearsal” game, I don’t know. It seemed they were more interested in seeing who should be on the team than getting ready for the season. A better offseason would have made that unnecessary but oh well.  What we did see was not in any way encouraging for the offense being improved this season. 

Now that is not to say that the Bruins didn’t make improvements this year.  The Bs made two big free agent signings and I believe them both to be improvements, possibly big improvements, to the roster.  Elias Lindholm fills a big position of need by being a legit two-way top line center.  Him playing between Pastrnak and Zacha, who moves back to the wing where he played better for the Bruins than he had at center, should elevate the top line back to being one of the best lines in all of hockey.  Lindholm will also be a huge improvement on the faceoff dot, a place the Bruins struggle in last season.  This should help them hold onto leads at the end of games instead of giving up the 6 on 5 goals at the end of close game.  His defensive prowess should help that line become a dominate one rather than just trading goals with the other team’s top line.  However, even though he has an outlier season of 42 goals, Lindholm is not a big goal scorer.  And it’s going to be interesting to see just how much he can improve Pastrnak and Zacha’s goal output.  I feel Pastrnak is going to get his goals no matter what.  Is Zacha going to break the 21 goals he has scored in both of his seasons in Black and Gold?  I feel getting more production from this line is asking a lot.

Even if the number one line blows up, it’s still only one line.  The second line is most likely to be Marchand, Coyle, and Geekie.   I would love to see Poitras center this line but I think the Bruins don’t want to put him and Marchand on the same line as they are both small players.  I already mentioned Marchand and Geekie is a player I really like. He blew up with a career high 17 goals and 22 assists last season coming over from the Kraken.  I think the 26-year-old has more in him.  This is one of the few places where I think the Bruins can see an increase in goal scoring this year.  I think he should get to 25 goals at least this season.  Can he get to 30?  Well, one issue I think he has is his center.  I am not a Charlie Coyle fan.  I think he is a 3^rd line center.  I just don’t like his offensive abilities.  He scored 25 goals last season and I was surprised after ever one of them.  I feel like a really good player with his opportunities would have had 35 or more goals.  Hopefully I am wrong about him and that line becomes a true threat that other teams have to worry about.  Or maybe the Bruins will give Poitras a chance at some point. 

The third line is a bit up in the air.  Poitras is injured to start the season so Frederick is centering Brazeau and Jones.  I am a big fan of Trent Frederick.  I think he is good on both sides of the ice and he is a big boy who can and will throw his weight around.  I feel he is better as a wing than a center but he is a natural center.  Brazeau is someone I have high hopes for.  He scored 5 goals in only 19 games last season, a 20-goal pace.  He is someone the Bruins really need to reach his potential and score 25 to 30 goals if they want to be the best they can be.  You have to remember the Bruins lost Debrusk’s 19 goals and Heinen’s 17. Guys have to score more than that for it to be an improvement. I am glad he is getting the opportunity to be on the third line and prove himself.  Plus he is gigantic for a forward and is fun to watch.  Max Jones does nothing for me.  He is a 4^th liner.  He certainly isn’t a goal scorer or point getter.  The Bruins can’t afford to have bruisers on their third line.  They need guys who put up points.  Hopefully, once he is healthy, Poitras will fill in the 3^rd spot on that line at either center or wing.  The Bruins rather Frederick play center over Poitras due to the defensive responsibilities and I am OK with that.  But get him on the ice.  I will also point out that I thought Frederick and Coyle had some nice chemistry last season.  Would add to my argument that Poitras should center the second line and Coyle the third.   

The 4^th line should be a classic 4^th line that doesn’t play much and is best when they are throwing their weight around, keeping the puck out of the net and making the other team work.  And hopefully getting offensive zone faceoffs or drawing penalties.  There really isn’t any offense on the Beecher, Kastelic, Koepke line.  Though, maybe Koepke can show some skills after being buried in Tampa’s system up until this point. 

The second big signing the Bruins had this offseason was to add Nikita Zadorov to their defense.  Zadorov is a big hitting defenseman that may have a little more offensive ability in him than is advertised.  He got off to a terrible start in the first preseason game but seemed better as the preseason went on. I assume he will play up to his usual level once the season starts.  The Bruins needed some muscle on their back end and Zadorov should definitely supply it.  Their defensive core should be very good.  Lidholm and McAvoy are a very good pairing (in the regular season at least), Zadorov and Peeke, whom I liked since he came over at the deadline, should be very solid at least, and Lohrei and Carlo are a classic puck mover/stay at home pairing. 

One way the Bruins could increase their scoring is if the Defense actually got involved.  Their defense did very little scoring last season.  They need guys to start putting the puck in the net a bit.  Or at least racking up helpers.  McAvoy had 12 goals last season which ranked him 16^th in the league.  Not terrible.  However, the rest of their defense, whom are still on the team, combined for 11 goals.  The main guy to watch here is Lohrie.  He has the skills to become a very good offensive defenseman.  With a season now under his belt, we have to help he is ready to take a step forward towards reaching his potential.  Last season Shattenkirk scored 6 goals for second on the back end.  Lohrie has to beat that.  The Bruins failed to bring in a big-time goal scorer in the off season.  It’s going to take a full team effort to raise the scoring this season and getting more from the defense would be a great way for it to improve. 

As for the goaltending, the Bruins should be pretty well off this season again.  Swayman is really good and hopefully he is happy now and will play to the best of his abilities.  Yes, he played in a platoon last season but he did play 44 games.  I feel he will be fine stepping up to 55 or so games of a full-time starter.  Korpisalo is not Ullmark.  But most teams don’t have two great goaltenders.  Korpisalo has a few really good seasons in his past.  If anyone can get the best out of him, it’s Goalie Bob.  Working with Essensa and only being the back up on a very good defensive team should see Korpisalo succeed this season.  They also have Bussi in Providence if he does look like he did in Ottawa last season. 

Ok, now for my thoughts on the Swayman contract.  I am very good with it.  Trading Ullmark and signing Swayman long term was always the right move.  Swayman made it a lot harder than it probably should have been but in the long run I think 8×8 was where this was always going to end up.  I do think they could have saved .25mil a year if Neely had not said the 64-mil comment at the presser.  At that point Swayman had to have them go up a little so that he would “win” the deal.  Is Swayman a little over paid this season?  Probably.  But he will not be in 8 years.  I think that is the big issue with these negotiations.  The 8 years.  There is no way anyone would sign for 6.5 or even 7 mil for 8 years.  By the time the contract was over, he’d be the lowest paid starter in the league.  A 6 to 7 mil deal would have had to have been a one- or two-year pact.  I do not know if something like this was ever discussed or if either side was 8 years or nothing. So, if it’s going to be 8 years, it has to be an over pay to start and will be an underpayment at the end.  Look, would I have loved to have signed him for 6 mil for 8 years?  Of course.  But you have to be realistic.  Swayman is a very good goalie and even better, he played great in the play-offs.  Having him in net for the next 8 years should be something the Bruins will not have to think about when worrying about putting the roster together.  Unless, of course, he is one of these guys who gets paid and stops trying.   He doesn’t seem like that kind of guy but who knows.  It’s a risk you take when you sign anyone. And to put it in perspective, reports are Shesterkin just turned down 8 years 11mil per. What are top goalies going to be making 5 years from now? 6 years? Swayman is going to look like a bargin.

The 2024-25 Boston Bruins are full of talent.  Talent up front, on the back end, and in net.  Plenty of talent to make the playoffs.  How good they will be and how far they can go in those playoffs will be determined by how their young guys like Geekie, Poitras, and Lohrie step up their game.  If the new guys and young guys can add the scoring punch they need, the sky is the limit for this team.  If not, I feel it will be a rerun of last season’s first round exit.  And of course, this all depends on everyone staying mostly healthy.