The Boston Bruins know they’ll have to make changes this season. With one of the biggest overhauls to the roster in recent memory, they know things will certainly be different. They’ve talked about it after practices and in the locker room.
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While the Black and Gold do not want to have a repeat performance of last season, they certainly don’t believe in scrapping the Claude Julien system of defensive-minded hockey. The Bruins are still sorting out their roster, and are busy incorporating new players into the Bruins organization. The players acknowledge an evolution in the locker room, but don’t believe that there will be an overhaul of how they play the game on the ice.
“I don’t know if it’s the biggest change,” offered head coach Claude Julien. “It’s an adjustment. I’m not going to say ‘change,’ because again, I mentioned that the other day that you have to evolve with this game. This game changes.”
Bruins alternate captain David Krejci agreed with Julien’s assessment. The Czech center believes there is too much hype from the media on how the Bruins are going to change their style of play this season.
“It’s just little tweaks here and there,” said Krejci after yesterday’s on-ice practice. “There’s not much to it. It’s just a little quicker pace to our game and use our hockey sense. Be smart out there. Don’t just go running up and down the ice.”
“I think, yeah, we make some adjustments, but I don’t think we’ll be making some major changes,” captain Zdeno Chara said. “I think we’re still going to be taking a lot of pride in our defensive side of the (ice). We want to include the pace of the game and having a four-man attack and so on, but I don’t think we’re going into huge, major changes.”
The Bruins are going to want to bring more speed into their game. It’s part of the reason why they traded Milan Lucic to the Los Angeles Kings. It’s why the B’s are seeing a minor revolution with all the young players coming into the squad this season. Still, the Bruins want to remind the fans that it’s an adjustment, not an overhaul.
Puck Prose
A faster Bruins team certainly would excite the fan base. It was the biggest missing element in their game last season. As the Bruins move towards a faster-paced game, players who have played to that particular system in the past should adapt quickly. Loui Eriksson played in Dallas for seven seasons, and was used to a speed-based system.
“For sure, we’re going to get more speed into our game,” Eriksson said. “Honestly, that’s how I played all my years in Dallas. I think it’s a good system, and hopefully we can figure it out and play good as a team with it. It’s going to be a bit more fun for the forwards to get some more speed, and for the defensemen, if they can join with us, it will be hard to defend us.”
If the Bruins can make themselves a team that’s hard to defend against, then there will be plenty of goals and wins for them in the 2015-16 season.