When the Boston Bruins begin training camp next week at Warrior Ice Arena, the expectations are that they will be fighting for an Eastern Conference playoff berth after a disappointing 2024-25 season that saw them finish tied for last place with the Philadelphia Flyers in the conference. Instead of a full rebuild, general manager Don Sweeney tried a retool on the fly this summer.
Is it going to be successful? The jury is still out on whether or not the front office has done enough to push the Black and Gold into the Top 8 of the conference. However, if they are going to come close to getting to where they want to be, they are going to need some players to have a bounce-back season.
With every new NHL season, there will always be some players who will likely regress from what they did in the previous season, and Boston has a couple of players who could fall into the category. Here are two players for the Black and Gold who a candidates to have a regression this season.
Morgan Geekie
Raise your hand if you saw Morgan Geekie having the season that he had? I didn't think so. In two seasons after signing as a free agent in the summer of 2023, after the Seattle Kraken let him walk, he's been a great signing for Sweeney.
He had 17 goals in his first season in Boston, then he had 33 goals and 24 assists, and 57 points last season in 77 games, all career highs. He had four power-play goals and five assists. This summer, he signed a big contract, six years with a cap hit of $5.5 million per season. After two career years with the Black and Gold, he is due for a regression, but just by how much? If he can have another career season, then this is a deal that will be a team-friendly one for Sweeney.
Joonas Korpisalo
When the Bruins traded Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators last summer, the biggest surprise in the return was goalie Joonas Korpisalo. Ottawa was doing everything it could to move after a bad year, but there were no takers until Sweeney came calling and agreed to add him and a $3 million cap hit.
He played in 27 games last season, going 11-10-3 with a 2.90 goals against average and a .893 save percentage. As the season was coming to an end and things were frustrating for everyone in the organization, he was upset with the amount of playing time he got. I'm not sure how much playing time he was going to get after Jermey Swayman signed a contract with a cap hit of $8.25 million.
It wouldn't be surprising that Korpisalo regresses this season after somewhat of a descent season last season with Boston. That's why a Korpisalo and Michael DiPietro camp battle with worth keeping an eye on.