Boston Bruins: Four players to watch out for next season

BOSTON, MA - JANUARY 17: David Pastrnak #88 and Torey Krug #47 of the Boston Bruins warm up before the game against the St. Louis Blues at the TD Garden on January 17, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Steve Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - JANUARY 17: David Pastrnak #88 and Torey Krug #47 of the Boston Bruins warm up before the game against the St. Louis Blues at the TD Garden on January 17, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Steve Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images)
4 of 5
ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI - JUNE 09: Zdeno Chara #33 of the Boston Bruins and goaltender Tuukka Rask #40 celebrate after Game Six of the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Final at Enterprise Center on June 09, 2019 in St Louis, Missouri. The Bruins defeated the Blues 5-1. (Photo by Brian Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images)
ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI – JUNE 09: Zdeno Chara #33 of the Boston Bruins and goaltender Tuukka Rask #40 celebrate after Game Six of the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Final at Enterprise Center on June 09, 2019 in St Louis, Missouri. The Bruins defeated the Blues 5-1. (Photo by Brian Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images)

Let’s hope nobody has a down year

It’s never easy looking at a team and saying that a player will have a down year. So finding potential disappointments is just as difficult as finding potential breakouts.

Tuukka Rask is coming off a career-worst season when playing in 20 or more games. Not to mention, he is 32 years old, making it less likely for a bounce back. It’s also a difficult pill to swallow for a team to go the distance in the playoffs and come up just short. That let down on a goalie has the potential to be catastrophic on his career.

While Rask has been in this situation before, having lost in the cup finals in 2013, he is 6 years separated from that experience. It’s also important to note that the Bruins failed to qualify for the playoffs in 2015-16 and 2016-17, although not to the fault of Rask.

I believe that Rask will continue to decline with age, although not enough to sink the team out of a potential playoff spot. Now, this isn’t a popular opinion by any means, especially after how well Rask played throughout the postseason, but he has the highest potential on the roster for a disappointing season.

Another option here would be Zdeno Chara. I get it, he is a staple to the Bruins defence core and took a fairly big pay cut for this season to stick around. But he is old and most definitely at the tail end of his career. However, it’s kind of expected at this point for Chara to fall behind in games, with the youth movement and the way the game has evolved. That’s why he was not the top choice for potential disappointment for next season.