Review: The Bruins had a season to remember, for better and worse. They finished with a 65-12-5 record, shattering the previous wins record of 62, held by Detroit (95-96) and Tampa Bay (18-19). The Bruins’ 135 points also broke the 1976-77 Canadiens’ record of 132. Boston’s historic season was thanks in no small part to David Pastrnak, who scored 61 goals and 113 points, but he had the backing of an amazing forward cast that included Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, Pavel Zacha, David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk – each of which hit the 50-point milestone. Speaking of that mark, Boston had the luxury of icing two defensemen who recorded over 50 points in Hampus Lindholm and Charlie McAvoy. To ice the cake, Linus Ullmark put forth a Vezina Trophy-winning season. However, all those amazing accomplishments merely led to a first-round exit against Florida, despite the Bruins having taken a 3-1 series lead.
What’s Changed? Making that exit playoff worse is that it was the last hurrah for Bergeron and Krejci, who both retired over the summer. The Bruins also watched midseason acquisition Tyler Bertuzzi sign with the division rival Maple Leafs while Taylor Hall was dealt to Chicago. Up against the cap, Boston couldn’t make any major signings to fill those holes, though they did sign forwards James van Riemsdyk and Milan Lucic as well as defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk to one-year, $1 million contracts in the hopes that they might be worthwhile depth pieces.
What would success look like? A lot of people will be quick to dismiss the Bruins after their difficult summer, but Boston still has an elite defense and an amazing goaltending tandem in Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman. That alone could make them competitive, but when you combine that with one of the league’s top forwards in Pastrnak and complement him with the likes of Zacha, DeBrusk, Charlie Coyle and especially Marchand, this is a team that could still potentially win 50 games and maybe even turn some heads in the playoffs.
What could go wrong? Then again, Boston is looking awfully thin up the middle without Bergeron and Krejci while their bottom-six is arguably the worst it’s been in years. Marchand is tough, but he’s also 35 and has something of an injury history, which puts even more pressure on Pastrnak. Additionally, while Ullmark has been a great goaltender for years, his 2022-23 campaign was far and away the best we’ve ever seen him, so there’s some risk there of moderate regression, which combined with the anticipated decline in Boston’s offense, could be enough to push the Bruins into mediocrity.
Top Breakout Candidate: That’s part of the problem: Boston is short on promising young players to help fill the void. Jakub Lauko is at least worth keeping an eye on because he might get a chance to serve as one of Boston’s top-two centers, which would be a golden opportunity, but he might lack the offensive upside to get that role or take advantage of it if he’s put in that position. Fabian Lysell will have a comparatively harder time cracking the lineup, but his offensive potential is significantly higher.
Forwards
David Pastrnak- RW
When Auston Matthews scored his 60th goal of the season in April of 2022, he was the first to join the 60-Goal Club since Steven Stamkos in 2012. Last season, we had two new members of the club, one being David Pastrnak. The Czech entered the 73rd game of the season with 49 goals before going on a run of 12 goals in 10 games. Add 52 assists to his goal total and he sat third in the NHL in points last season. As with most great goal scorers, Pastrnak is particularly lethal on the powerplay. While earlier in his career he relied on his finishing to score powerplay goals, Pastrnak now has a quantity over quality approach to scoring. His 45.3 total shot attempts per 60 rate has a sizeable gap to the next most frequent powerplay shooter in Patrik Laine at 37.6. Pastrnak was also fed the benefit of playing with more passive players last season, giving him the space to possess and make plays. He resumed his chemistry with now retired David Krejci, and made new connections with Pavel Zacha and Tyler Bertuzzi. The Perfection Line is no longer, as David Pastrnak is carving out his new chapter of legacy in Boston.
Brad Marchand- LW
The 2022-23 season began with Brad Marchand out of the Bruins lineup with a hip injury. With an initial timeline of a late November return, Marchand was declared ready to play on November 1st when the Bruins took on the Penguins in Pittsburgh. The Nova Scotian would finish the season without missing much extra time, playing 73 games for the black and gold. However, he wasn’t quite the Marchand we’ve become accustomed to. In a season when scoring was up, Marchand recorded less than a point per game for the first time since 2015-16. And his 21 goals were tied for the fewest he’s scored since becoming a regular NHL player. Now thirty-five years of age, this feels like a key moment in the last part of Marchand’s career. Was this last season an unlucky season, or has he declined to a lower level – perhaps explained by the hip injury. Despite having a down year, the Bruins coaching staff did not reduce his role. He still played a similar number of even strength, powerplay, and shorthanded minutes as the year before. Maybe that means the Bruins feel he was a bit unlucky. Plus, Marchand’s bad year was still very good. But given his age, any sign of regression should be a warning of what may be to come.
Pavel Zacha - LW
Last summer, the New Jersey Devils traded the rights to Pavel Zacha to Boston in exchange for Erik Haula. The two parties came to an agreement on a one-year contract extension. The 2015 sixth overall pick hadn’t found the success he wanted yet, with a career-high of 36 points and bouncing between center and wing. At 6’ 4”, Zacha has the size and strength to be a rugged center, but he’s in fact more of a gentle giant. With Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, and Charlie Coyle taking on the center duties in the top nine, Zacha was able to ease his way into his chapter in Boston. As the least known member of the Czech Mates, Zacha was able to play to the left of fellow countrymen David Krejci and David Pastrnak. While the Bruins wanted Zacha to shoot more often in a Bruins uniform, it didn’t work out as such. He ranked 321st of 371 skaters who played 500 minutes or more at 5-on-5 last season. But a career-high shooting percentage, along with a high on-ice shooting percentage, led to career-highs in both goals and assists. A large portion of his even strength assists were secondary, something that carries significantly more variance year-to-year. The Bruins extended Zacha to a four-year contract in January in hopes that he can fill the role of Patrice Bergeron. While he’s not expected to come close to the Hall of Fame level of the Bruins legend, he is expected to be the top offensive center, playing the bumper on the powerplay and killing off penalties as well.
Jake DeBrusk - RW
During the 2021-22 season, Jake DeBrusk requested a trade out of Boston. With the rights to the 2015 14th overall pick controlled by the Bruins, the two parties made a deal to come to an agreement on a contract that would take him to unrestricted free agency in 2024. With the coaching change in the summer of 2022, DeBrusk rescinded that request and focused on the upcoming season. While spending time in his earlier career bouncing in between the left and right wings on the second and third lines, DeBrusk found a home to the right of Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand in the latter half of the 2021-22 season, and Jim Montgomery continued down this path. His success in the role can partially be attributed to the talent he was playing with, but also his ability to play faster and be the dominant player in transition. DeBrusk is great at recovering pucks on the boards and playing in tight places, which is why he handles net front duties on the powerplay, but he is exemplary off the rush. Being able to pressure opposing defensemen with the surety that he had that his teammates would cover for him was the blessing that took him from good to great. DeBrusk would’ve likely scored 30 goals last season if it wasn’t for an injury that he endured during the Winter Classic where he scored both Bruins goals in their 2-1 win. DeBrusk was someone who has shown considerably more success with Bergeron than without him, so one should be cautious of his upcoming season alongside Charlie Coyle, Pavel Zacha, or another center.
Charlie Coyle- C
When he is not posting pictures of his golden retrievers online, Charlie Coyle can be found playing center for the Boston Bruins. Just like his dogs, he adds a nice bite to the middle of the Bruins lineup. At 6-foot-3, Coyle is hard to knock off the puck. When Jim Montgomery came in and installed some puck possession driven adjustments, Coyle was one to benefit from that. Spending much of his season alongside Trent Frederic, who had a breakout season in a new position, the pair would be a pain point for opposing defensemen, attacking off of turnovers created from textbook forechecking. And while he wasn’t one to create offense off the rush, Coyle used his skating abilities to be one of the better Bruins when it came to transitioning the puck. The Weymouth native is a dependable piece for Boston. He has played 82 games in each of the last two seasons, scoring 16 goals in each season as well. His one additional secondary assist in 2022-23 is what ruins the pattern. But beyond knowing what you are getting out of Coyle, the prospect of more being there is what excites the Bruins. With Bergeron and Krejci injured in their now infamous first round series against the Panthers, Coyle filled in as a dominant top-six center when it counted. With the role largely up for grabs this season, the Bruins are hoping that he takes it.
Trent Frederic- RW
When the Bruins opened up the 2022-23 season in Washington, Trent Frederic was a healthy scratch. The former first round pick had only accumulated 23 points in 119 career games. After the Bruins took a win in their opening game, Frederic made his way back into the lineup for the home opener against the Arizona Coyotes. After recording an assist and a fight, Frederic would stay in the lineup for the next game against Florida, where he would go on to score his first goal of the season. From then on, Frederic was a regular in the Bruins lineup, ending the year with 17 goals and 14 assists – the latter two of which surpassed his career total heading into the season. Drafted as a center out of the USNDTP and spending some time as a left wing in his professional career, the 24-year-old took on the last available forward position as a right wing. Spending 73% of his 5-on-5 time to the right of Charlie Coyle, Frederic found his groove, particularly with attacking off of the forecheck. The question is, will he be able to build off of last season, or revert back to his old ways. He had an uncharacteristically high individual and on-ice shooting percentage, a caution flag for those expecting him to repeat his performance. Furthermore, the Bruins may need more special teams time out of him this season with the departures of Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, and Taylor Hall. He has not been a regular member of either the powerplay of penalty kill thus far in his career. Although excited, the Bruins will remain cautious of the 6’ 3” forward, and it will be up to him to prove to the world that he is the same player as last season.
Morgan Geekie- C
Just before the pandemic hit, Morgan Geekie made his debut for the Carolina Hurricanes, recording three goals and an assist in a pair of games before the stoppage. He returned to the Hurricanes for the shortened 2021 season, playing a depth role for Carolina. However, Carolina would leave him unprotected in the expansion draft where Ron Francis, the general manager who drafted him in 2017, would snatch him up. Geekie would work his way through a pair of one-year contracts in Seattle, playing in a depth role. The Kraken had opted to operate a unique fourth line, substituting the stereotypical grit with lower-end speed and skill with the likes of Ryan Donato, Daniel Sprong, and Morgan Geekie. In the Kraken’s disastrous inaugural season, Morgan Geekie saw some time on the second powerplay unit, but with a stronger roster last season, he saw that time slip away. He managed to record nine goals and 19 assists in 69 games in his depth role, but the 25-year-old has headed to Boston for a bigger role. He will likely slot in on the third line, either at center or on the right wing, and look to work his way up from
James van Riemsdyk- LW
When the clock ticked down to zero on trade deadline day in March, the rebuilding Flyers were left with pending unrestricted free agent James van Riemsdyk on their roster. The 14-year veteran is at an all-time low in popularity – something Chuck Fletcher potentially underestimated. Outside of shortened seasons due to injuries or outside circumstances, his 12 goals and 17 assists were career-lows. At 34 years of age, The 6’ 3” forward is trying to milk the last bit of hockey out of himself. Unable to match the speed of much younger players, JvR utilizes both a skilled set of hands and a high level of intelligence to make an impact. He should be able to make himself useful on the powerplay, likely as the net front player on the second unit with a healthy roster. With proper deployment at even strength, perhaps he could have a small revival in his last stage of his career. The New Jersey native spent the majority of his even strength time next to Morgan Frost last season. While Frost showed some positive signs in the closing stages of the season, he has largely struggled over the course of his professional career thus far. With a boost in the quality of his linemates, and with a more offensively focused coaching staff, van Riemsdyk could have a bounce back year in Boston. However, it is unlikely he will return to the production pace he had earlier in his career.
there. He may also earn a spot on the second powerplay unit and see some penalty killing time as well. The Bruins are excited to see what Geekie can do in a bigger role. They saw the two-year contract that they handed out as a low-risk opportunity to be the ones who will possess his rights when the world finds out. Geekie’s skating abilities are the limiting factor, but the Bruin coaches will look to help him over that hump.
Defense
Charlie McAvoy - D
The 16th overall pick in the 2016 NHL Draft entered the 2022-23 season on long-term injured reserve. Come November 10th, McAvoy was back in the Bruins lineup, scoring the game-winning goal in a 3-1 win over the Calgary Flames. He would go on to score six more goals and 45 assists, four points shy of his career-high in 11 fewer games. The departure of Torey Krug in 2020 and addition of Hampus Lindholm in the spring of 2022 had led to a change in allocation of Charlie McAvoy’s minutes. Last season, McAvoy played 2.3 fewer 5-on-5 minutes per game than in 2019-20 but played 1.3 more powerplay minutes per game. He recorded 20 more points last season than in 2019-20, 17 of that 20-point difference coming from the powerplay. With another number one defenseman playing on another pair, and a new coach that preaches puck possession and active defensemen, we are seeing Charlie McAvoy’s offense blossom in front of our eyes. He was 12th among defensemen with at least 500 minutes in points per 60 last season, and there’s no reason to believe we shouldn’t expect more of the same this season.
Hampus Lindholm - D
The Swedish defenseman lost market value in Anaheim after injuries and a few underwhelming seasons left some uncertainty over which Hampus Lindholm one should expect to see. The Bruins had no doubt in their mind, signing him to a long-term extension immediately after acquiring him at the 2022 deadline. When the 2022-23 season opened up, Lindholm got his chance to be the star on the back end with McAvoy sitting in the press box. He shined in that first month and beyond, racking up Norris Trophy votes by the end of the season. With defensive-defenseman Brandon Carlo as his anchor, and a new system that encourages defensemen to join the rush, Lindholm excelled beyond even the Bruins expectations. He has the size and skating of a top pairing defenseman, but the comfort in close spaces and offensive vision of a centerman. That combination not only helped Lindholm notch 53 points last season, but log 179 minutes on the penalty kill as well. With the Bruins playing very little from behind last season, we didn’t get to see how much the Bruins may utilize Lindholm and McAvoy playing together. But with the Bruins being worse this season, the two could find a way to juice their box score stats when playing from behind even more.
Kevin Shattenkirk - D
After winning a Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020, Kevin Shattenkirk signed with the Anaheim Ducks. Over the course of his three seasons there, he only missed eight of 220 games despite his age. Now thirty-four, Shattenkirk is returning to the city where he played his college hockey on a one-year deal. When playing on such a poor hockey team, it can be tough to grasp how much of his poor performance is due to external factors and how much may be an aging player. Shattenkirk’s 27 points in 75 games strikes the disappointment of his last season prior to being bought out by the New York Rangers where he had 28 points in 73 games. Last season he spent 40% of his 5-on-5 time with Simon Benoit, an undrafted 24-year-old defenseman who has had unremarkable results to start his professional career. In Boston, Shattenkirk will have far less responsibility, and will have a reliable pro as a partner in Derek Forbort. With a healthy lineup, he’ll be expected to fill a small role on the third pair, waiting for a spot to open up in front of him.
Matt Grzelcyk - D
The undersized defenseman from Charlestown finished his sixth full season with the Boston Bruins with a career-high in points at 26. Grzelcyk has been part of a small group of defensemen creating their own mold in the NHL. Perhaps best described as a transition defenseman, Grzelcyk is strong at breaking out the puck, keeping the puck alive in the offensive zone, and defending zone entries. This style helps tilt the ice in his team’s favor. However, he doesn’t have the individual offensive skills like his partner Charlie McAvoy to find himself on the score sheet more often. When Torey Krug left, Matt Grzelcyk was the man who got the call for the first powerplay unit. But after a failed experiment in 2021 and 2022, Grzlecyk saw his special teams time disappear last season. Following the acquisition of Dmitry Orlov at the trade deadline, Grzelcyk and Connor Clifton were the rotating healthy scratches in the playoffs. The risk of Grzelcyk getting his time cut towards the end of the season is likely very low this year as the Bruins don’t expect to be as strong again.
Brandon Carlo - D
The 6’ 6” defenseman was one of the few Bruins that didn’t have a breakout offensive season in their record-breaking President’s Trophy campaign. He stuck to the dependable defensive style that brought him into his second pairing role years ago. While his three goals and 13 assists didn’t light up the score sheet to say the least, the Bruins did get a bit more activation out of Carlo off the rush and in the offensive zone. He fit into the system enough to keep plays alive and in the offensive zone, helping to boost his defensive performance more than anything. As has been the case, he was a staple on the Bruins penalty kill, logging more than 200 shorthanded minutes for the fifth time in his career. He also started 14% of his shifts in the defensive zone at 5-on-5, more than any other Bruin defenseman. However, for a defenseman who takes on the hardest minutes, he blocks strikingly few shots, ranking just 85th in defensemen with 500 minutes in blocked shots per 60 last season. With limited options on the right side, and his steady defensive play, you can count on Carlo to log minutes for the Bruins next season. Just don’t expect him to record more than 25 points.
Goaltending
Jeremy Swayman - G
It’s probable there are few goaltenders heading into the 2023-24 season with bigger chips on their shoulders than Jeremy Swayman. After one of the league’s most impressive breakout seasons, Swayman was one-half of the most formidable goaltending tandem in the entire NHL during his 2022-23 campaign. Then, in the first round of the postseason, he had to sit on the sidelines and watch as the team doggedly left Vezina winner Linus Ullmark out to dry against a Florida Panthers roster that used a goaltending switch to revive their play and commit the upset of the playoffs. Swayman then entered an off-season that saw Boston take his contract negotiations all the way to arbitration; he’ll start this year on a one-year deal instead of with a contract that would lock him in as a part of the team for the foreseeable future.
The Bruins will struggle to be seen as a powerhouse this year with the departure of both captain Patrice Bergeron and second-line center David Krejci over the summer, so it will be even more crucial that the team get picture-perfect goaltending performances from both Ullmark and Swayman. In theory, that’s easy to feel confident in. Swayman in particular is still young, put up repeatedly good performances over both of his full NHL campaigns to date, and plays a game that demands shooters bring the game in close and show their hands before he comes to life. But he struggled to come back to form after an injury at the start of the season, which ultimately cost him the ability to put up a true tandem season with Ullmark; he’ll need to be even better this year if he wants to remain a member of the black and gold moving forward. It remains in Boston’s best interest to keep their elite tandem for as long as they can, but cap constraints could find them forced to sell one of their two talented netminders at the end of the year. After their first year working together, it was hard to imagine Boston choosing Swayman as the odd man out – but if both goaltenders put up the same numbers this year that they did in 2023, Ullmark seems like the more logical option to keep on hand. Swayman still needs to prove that he can dazzle when forced to pull out his most creative saves to prove that he’s got franchise cornerstone-level staying power.
Projected starts: 40-45
Linus Ullmark - G
Last season was a bittersweet performance for Linus Ullmark in Boston. During the regular season, he was a part of the best tandem in the NHL – and he was the better half of that tandem, earning him a Vezina trophy and the team’s full confidence during the postseason. But then the postseason hit, and Ullmark went from hot to cold seemingly every other night against the Florida Panthers. It may have been nerves, it could have been the fault of a nagging injury that was ultimately revealed following the team’s elimination in the first round – but whatever the reason, Ullmark looked skittish and a little slow on the recovery after first stops through the six-game series.
The real question for Ullmark this year likely won’t be whether or not he’s capable of repeating his stellar performance from the two years prior. Although he needed a quick learning curve following his departure from the Buffalo Sabres, the Swedish-born netminder has proven over his tenure in Boston that he’s a powerful skater who reads his opponents well and has stellar rebound control that can keep the puck in action and turn the play back up the ice. It’s impossible to debate, no matter how to try to spin it, that he’s a valuable asset for Boston to have on the ice. The question for Ullmark, rather, is going to be how he’ll be utilized during the year. There’s a non-zero chance that the Bruins will move Swayman out in hopes of recouping value after struggling to come to an agreement on his contract this summer, and it’s unlikely that anyone in the Bruins system currently would be able to tandem as seamlessly with Ullmark as Swayman has been able to. That would leave Ullmark playing a heavier workload if the team does try to change things up with their lineup – and while his technique is consistent and hard to rattle him out of, Ullmark’s style of play lends itself to fatigue more than Swayman’s. Boston’s current lineup doesn’t look as lethal as the one they set league records with last year, but the postseason could become an achilles heel for Ullmark if he enters it overworked.
Projected starts: 40-45