Boston Bruins: Top 3 impact players to watch against Dallas

As the NHL regular season officially begins for Boston Bruins fans tonight, let’s take a look at three players we expect to make a big impact for the Black and Gold.

The short summer’s over, and we Bruins fans can start to really put the disappointing end to the 2018-19 season behind us starting tonight. The Boston Bruins will kick off the new season tonight, Oct. 3, in a Western Conference showdown against the Dallas Stars.

Boston will start out with a very familiar roster this season, having retained most of the players from last years’ Stanley Cup Final team. We were very lucky to lock down both Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo to respectable contract extensions, and in more good news, reports are abound that negotiations between the club and Torey Krug are in motion.

While there is legitimacy in doubting whether the Bruins will have the stamina to make the Cup Final once again this year, much less win it, we know better than to believe anything definitively this early in the season.

Let’s step away from the big picture, though, and focus on tonight. The Bruins face off against old friend Tyler Seguin, and recent acquisition Brett Ritchie will be playing for the other team in an arena he called home for five years.

The storylines are already starting to swirl around this year’s crop of Black and Gold, and much of those topics will have to do with which players deliver in key situations.

Here are three Bruins players I expect will make an impact in tonight’s game against Dallas. If it turns out I’m wrong, keep this in mind: I have not yet mastered time travel.

Patrice Bergeron

As I think we all expected, Patrice Bergeron was playing hurt during last season’s playoffs. While it wasn’t quite at the caliber of the infamous collapsed lung of a few years ago, a groin injury is no fun at all.

Bergeron didn’t quite get a long and relaxing summer to rest and recover, and I was happy to see him suit up for only one preseason game, so he could maximize his break time. Because if all Bruins fans agree on one thing, it’s that an injured Bergeron is very, very bad.

Patrice, Patrice, Patrice. One day dirges will be written about him for his sophisticated style of play (if hockey can be categorized as that, but I’d argue that Bergeron brings polish onto the ice), his status as the league’s best defensive forward (the Selke Trophy should be renamed for him), and his tireless devotion to the Boston Bruins.

Look for him to make a big impact tonight against the Stars. As someone who’s uber-competitive and quite “ferda boys,” Bergeron will likely take the regular-season debut to make his mark and silence any doubts as to his injury status.

After all, that is what we happen to expect from him.

Charlie McAvoy

With the ink on his contract extension freshly dried, Charlie McAvoy will be looking to convince Bruins fans (as if they need more persuading) that the Bruins did good by retaining him for $4.9 million per season for the next three years.

McAvoy’s endeared himself to Bruins fans for his passionate performance on the ice and his easy transition to top-pair play in the NHL. It’s pretty rare to see defensemen play at such an elite level this early in their career, but hey, I’m not complaining. Having him on the roster is a big win all around.

In three games this preseason, McAvoy put in some serious minutes with an average total of 22:54. While going pointless, he happened to tally 11 shots on goal, and what we really like at Causeway Crowd is effort.

He’s likely to continue that momentum into the regular season, starting tonight in Dallas. The practice lines at today’s morning rush had him paired with Zdeno Chara once again, and we saw that pair to be an important one for the Bruins last season.