After making a few additions and letting some memorable faces go, the Boston Bruins have a very different forward group going into the 2015-16 season. Whether it be Jimmy Hayes and Matt Beleskey making a new home on the Bruins roster, or Brett Connolly, Max Talbot, David Pastrnak and Ryan Spooner playing their first full seasons with the group, their are a lot of questions on what this Boston offense can do.
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When comparing them to the rest of the Atlantic Division, I see them in the middle of the pack. The Tampa Bay Lightning, Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens all have a great mix of veterans, high scoring and depth players. The Bruins have the veterans and the depth, but the high scoring is still to be determined.
The Ottawa Senators and the Florida Panthers also have decent forward lineups, but I do not believe that they stack up to the other aforementioned teams. The Buffalo Sabres remain in their rebuild mode, but their young forward group is improving and could show signs of great potential this year. With the loss of Phil Kessel, the Toronto Maple Leafs find themselves at the bottom of the list with a forward group full of players who will be playing roles way over their heads.
Puck Prose
Forward Ranking
1. Tampa Bay Lightning
2. Detroit Red Wings
3. Montreal Canadiens
4. Boston Bruins
5. Ottawa Senators
6. Florida Panthers
7. Buffalo Sabres
8. Toronto Maple Leafs
The Boston Bruins have a great chance to surpass some of the teams ahead of them this season, if everyone puts in the effort and results that Bruins management expects. However, with so many questions surrounding this forward group, they are also quite capable of underperforming and letting teams like Ottawa and Florida have better offensive years than them.
Stay tuned for the Atlantic Division Rankings on defense, goalies and overall performance. For more access to the Boston Bruins, follow 29Bruins on Twitter.