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Boston Bruins Have A Lot Of Questions Heading Into The Upcoming Season

By Tanner Rebelo |
Mar 5, 2016; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara (33) stands on the blue line prior to the national anthem before a game against the Washington Capitals at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 5, 2016; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara (33) stands on the blue line prior to the national anthem before a game against the Washington Capitals at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

Boston Bruins Face More Questions Than Answers

The Boston Bruins have had quite the off-season with signing free agent David Backes as their marque addition, but GM Don Sweeney did not stop there. Here is the list of moves the Bruins have made so far this off-season to catch everyone up.

  1. Signed Center David Backes to a 5-year contract
  2. Signed Forward Riley Nash to a 2-year contract
  3. Re-signed Forward Seth Griffith to a 1-year two-way contract
  4. Signed back-up goaltender Anton-Khudobin to a 2-year contract
  5. Re-signed Defense-man John-Michael Liles to a one-year deal
  6. Re-signed Defense-man Torey Krug to a four-year contract
  7. Re-signed Defense-man Kevan Miller to a four-year contract
  8. Bought out Defense-man Dennis Seidenberg‘s contract

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With all of these transactions the Bruins declined to re-sign forwards Loui Eriksson and Chris Kelly, along with back-up net-minder Jonas Gustavsson. The black and gold look to be done with both free agency and the trade market for now, so it is time to look at the roster and determine weather or not this team has what it takes to make the NHL playoffs this upcoming season.

Last season the Bruins defense let the team down and was their Achilles Heal, the reason why the defense has progressively gotten worse over the years is the lack of top 4 talent on the roster. After trading away Johnny Boychuck and Dougie Hamilton over the last couple of seasons and the aging of Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg have crippled the teams ability to hold their own defensively. Issue is management has failed to bring in top talent and instead has relied heavily on average defenders such as Adam McQuaid and John-Michael Liles. Going into this off-season the Bruins number 1 priority should have been rejuvenating the d-core with a high level player. But the team failed to do so just by looking at the potential d-pairings.

  • Chara- K. Miller
  • Krug- McQuaid
  • Morrow- Liles

Betting on these players to play better is something that head coach Claude Julian cannot afford after missing the playoffs in the last two seasons.pullquote]

With the defense looking pretty much the same as last season it is OK to question weather or not the B’s will be better in their own zone next season. With no improvements and Chara being a year older, the Bruins will have to rely on players like Krug and Morrow to continue to take steps forward in their game to help improve the d-core. Betting on these players to play better is something that head coach Claude Julian cannot afford after missing the playoffs in the last two seasons. If the team wishes to make the playoffs they still need to go out and acquire a top pairing defense-man no matter what the cost.

With the defense not seeing any major improvements the offense will need to step up and win games for the Bruins. But looking at the offense I can’t help but also question the success they will have this season.

  • Marchand-Bergeron-Vatrano
  • Beleskey-Krejci-Pastrnak
  • Spooner-Backes-Hayes
  • Randall-Nash-Griffith

With the addition of Backes it looks like Spooner will move to the wing, a position he is more suited for and hopefully he will score more goals in that role being centered by Backes. After the David Backes signing in several interviews the team talked about the potential for a super line with Marchand-Bergeron-Backes all together in an effort to help generate offense in key game situations. While losing Loui Eriksson will hurt the goal totals, if Spooner plays wing he will likely recoup some of the lost goals along with Backes who can score 20-25 goals in a season. Backes would likely be north of 25 goals if he sees increased playing time at wing with Bergeron at the center.

The offense still generates some question marks, one of which being if second-line center David Krejci can remain healthy and return to his elite form that he hasn’t shown in three seasons due to re-occurring injuries. The Bruins are also banking on the idea of Hayes having a bounce back season along with Pastrnak, Vatrano, and Spooner having break out years offensively. Betting on all of these things happening seems unlikely but it is completely plausible that two-to-three of these things could easily happen this upcoming season.

Next: Bruins Should Give Marchand An A

Overall the Bruins offense looks like a force to be reckoned with if all goes according to plan. Defensively the team looks set to struggle unless Chara sets the standard and regains his elite form while other players step up around him. Goal-tending success will rely heavily on the ability to play well in their own zone, Tuukka Rask should be good if that happens. Odds are this years Boston Bruins team will be competing for a playoff spot until the very end just like the last two seasons. If they fail to make the post-season for the third season in a row it is likely that the team will move on from Claude Julien and potentially Cam Neely.  For us Bruins fans I hope this upcoming season is a good one.

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