Bruins Counting on Healthy Defense and Swayman Bounceback for Better Results?

Bruins Counting on Healthy Defense and Swayman Bounceback for Better Results?

Welcome back. All right, so as I continue to look at teams around the National Hockey League, uh, coming out of July the 1st, today we’re going to talk about Boston, a team that I had kind of thought might hold on to a bunch of cap space coming out of July the 1st, but they have not. Um, they have 2.08 million in cap space currently, according to Puckedia. Uh, this is a team that might envision themselves as getting back in the hunt. That seems to be the way they’re talking about it, that if their defense is healthy and Swayman has a bounceback year, they see themselves as a playoff team. I have concerns. My concerns are basically down the middle. This is not a team that I think has a firstline center. Teams don’t trade firstline centers. Uh they may have a firstline center of the future that they’ve just drafted. Do not put him in that position now, please, for the love of everything that’s holy. Uh, and so this is a team that I I I don’t foresee them improving very much. I think this is a team that should be in the mix for a top draft pick next year cuz I think they need that. They do have an extra draft pick in the first round next year and they have an extra first round or the year after. So maybe we see some more draft picks being added during this season. But either way, they have uh fortified their forward group a bit. Uh Morgan Geeki of course signed an extension. He had a career year. I don’t know if we get another 30 goal season from him, but Geeki had a ridiculous season. Uh Pavle Zaka. Zaka can play down the middle. Uh also can play on the wing. Zaka is a useful versatile forward. Uh but once again, I I would not see him as being a firstline center. He may get tried there at some point this season, but I I just don’t envision that. Tanner Jano bit of a headscratcher with Jano in terms of I could understand the cap hit or the term but both put together to me seem to be a little bit expensive. Jano 67 games this past season, seven goals, six assists, 13 points. So Boston is kind of kind of gambling that that Jano is going to get his game back to where it was uh some years back in Nashville. At least that seems to be the plan. Uh Johnny Beecher on that fourth line. I like Beecher as a fourth liner, but there’s not a lot of offense there, and I don’t know that that’s going to change this season either. And then you get to the middle and Elias Lindholm very likely to be the first line center by default. And as Homer said, the two greatest words in the English language. Uh 82 games, 17 goals, 30 assists, 47 points. And considering it’s a 7.75 million cap hit until 2031, it’s a contract that Boston’s kind of stuck with. So, they’re going to hope for Lyn Holmes numbers to go up this coming season. Maybe they do, maybe they don’t, but the chemistry between Han Postno wasn’t quite where I think they would have wanted it to be this past season. Uh Casey Middlestad, 18 games after the trade from Colorado, four goals, two assists, six points. Uh I liked Middlestad better a few years ago than I necessarily like him now as a second line center. And that’s to me the the biggest issue for this Boston team. Frasier Mitten, six games played with Boston after being acquired from Toronto. He had a single goal in those six games. Uh they are high on Frasier Mitten. We’ll see if he can emerge as as a you know top forward maybe. And Sean Carley returns. Uh he played 82 games this past season with Columbus. Six goals, 11 assists, 17 points. I like Carelli as a a third/4th liner. I’m glad he’s back with Boston. So that’s one addition that I do like quite a bit. And then on the right side you’ve got Posterno. Posternach is basically the offense for Boston. 82 games, 43 goals, 63 assists, 106 points. Uh that’s why to me he deserves a lot of consideration for heart trophy because he does this kind of by himself. Uh you look at this forward group and it is again going to be Posterno being counted on to do a lot of it himself. This is why when Boston fans complain about Posterno and he’s not doing enough, all I think to myself is he kind of has to do it by himself. And if you’re playing against Boston, you just key on PostnO and you’ve shut down a lot of their attack if you can get that accomplished. Arvdson, of course, acquired and trade. He has a $4 million cap hit for one more year. Uh he had six 67 games played with Edmonton this past season. 15 goals, 12 assists for 27 points. So they may be counting on a bit of a bounce back from Arvidson this year. Uh and and as somebody who at at at certain points in his career, I’ve been a big fan of Arbertson’s, I I don’t know if that bounce back happens this year. I don’t know if it does. Uh who might be a wild card here. 33 games this past season, one goal, 10 assists, 11 points. He’s a restricted free agent next summer. Maybe being in a contract year, we see something big from um did they rush him to the NHL initially? Probably. And so maybe this is the year that really gets his game into gear because initially when he came up it looked like was going to be not necessarily Berseron but think like what Lundell is compared to Barkov. The thought was maybe could be that to Berseron’s uh former two-way glory. Uh but at this point’s stock seems to have dropped a little bit right and then you got Acimont 77 games this past season, nine goals, seven assists, 16 points. he has been added. And then you got the depth Husnov who after joining Boston 18 games, three goals, two assists, five points. Uh Fabian Lel, there is still some hope that Lel is going to emerge as a top six forward at some point soon. 12 games, one goal, two assists, three points this past season. Uh they’ve got Castellic up front. They signed Blumel. Uh Merculov is there. And then the depth on the blue line we’ll talk about in a minute, but Jordan Harris has been added for depth there. and Callahan resigned a a two-way contract. So, there is some depth on the blue line, but the blue line, the issue is staying healthy. Hampus Lindholm only played 17 games this past season, had three goals, four assists, seven points. He has a $6.5 million cap hit until the year 2030. Getting him back and getting him healthy is a key thing for Boston to see things turn around for them, as is getting Makavoy back in the lineup. 50 games for Makavoy, seven goals, 16 assists, 23 points. uh he has a $9.5 million cap hit until 2030. And so if Lindholm and and Makavoy are both healthy to start this season, uh that could go a long way. Uh Mason Loai Loai had a decent year and he gets an extension from Boston, of course. Uh Peak on the Blue Line has a $2.75 million cap hit. He’s in the final year of his contract, so his expires next July. And Nikita Zadora, $5 million cap hit till 2030. Was better at the end of the season than at the start. I I still don’t know if with Zidorov if $5 million makes a lot of sense for Boston, but Zidorov’s there probably throughout his contract which has five more years left in it. Uh Yoki Haru of course signed an extension and the expectation would be Yoki Haru is going to be on that third pairing. I honestly think it’ll probably be with Lorai. I just I got the the chart from Daily Face Off because it’s July. It doesn’t matter. Uh, and so we’ll see how this defense um, settles out, how many games Harris gets into, etc. And a lot of eyeballs are going to be on Swayman, aren’t they? Uh, 2229 and seven record, 892 safe percentage. Swayman needs to be better. $8.25 million cap hit until 2032. He absolutely cannot afford to have those numbers again. Uh this is a team that that really needs better goalending from Swayman and Corposalo was mildly better at times but the overall numbers not encouraging 1110 and three 8.93 safe percentage and Corposalo is a $3 million cap hit until 2028. And then if you’re looking at depth Michael DPro right now is likely the number three in the Boston organization. Uh it is an area that I think they’re they’re probably going to look to add somebody else, but I I don’t know how you how you handle that. So my concern with Boston is outside of Pastron, I’m not sure where all the offense is going to come from. I don’t know that Geeky has another 30 goal season. Maybe uh Lind Holmes has struggles to get to that 50 point mark now in his career. So yeah, and then their power play last season was at 15.2%. I don’t see a huge improvement with what they’ve added here. and their penalty kill was at 76.3%. So they don’t score very well five on five. Their penalty kill wasn’t very good. Their power play wasn’t very good. It’s overall not a great picture. And this is what Marco Sterm’s walking into as a team that definitely looks like they need to go through the retool process. Uh James Haggins might end up being a really good player, but the debate is about is out there as well about whether he should sign and go pro or I believe it’s Boston College he’d go to uh report to the NCAA. Honestly, I’d prefer to see him go to the NCAA at least for a year. I don’t think there’s any reason to rush Hagens into the lineup for quatra reasons. I’d rather that they didn’t. And I hope that Hagens is given every opportunity to go to the NCAA and develop his game for a year, maybe even two years if that’s what it takes. Boston has to take that patient approach. They have to be adding young players, prospects, and I think they have to acquire more draft picks and work with that in mind. I do have some concern with with signing Jano to that contract, acquiring Arvidson, picking up AContali that there’s a belief that this team can uh turn things around in the short term and that does seem to be publicly at least what the team is saying. Just because they’re saying it publicly doesn’t necessarily mean that’s what they’re saying privately, but uh it is one of those concerns, one of those things that’s kind of needling at me a little bit in the back of my brain. But uh I I do think Boston will be struggling to score goals. I think they’re going to make it so that uh it’s it’s harder to score goals against them. So, they may very well be playing a lot of 2 to1, 3 to2 games, but uh it is a matter of trying to win those games, and I’m not sure that they have the guns to do so. But let me know your thoughts in the comment section below what you expect from the Boston Bruins. Uh my expectations are low at this point, and I’m okay with that. Boston was a top team for a very long time and every team when they’re a top team for a very long time will go through a down period where you know because they haven’t had those prospects because they haven’t got all the young players coming up that other teams do uh they’re going to go through this process but if they get the right young players like Hagens if that turns out to be a steal where they got him at number seven um who knows maybe maybe Boston can turn this around in say three years time I do have some concern that they’re they’re hoping to turn this around right away. And I I don’t know. I guess a lot of it’s going to depend on the health of Lindholm and Makavoy and Swayman’s ability to get back to who he was two seasons ago and to put last season out of his mind. But let me know your thoughts in the comment section below. As always, hit like and subscribe in the event you may not have done so already. Thank you guys so much for all your support. It’s greatly appreciated. I will talk to you again soon.

Boston finally fell in the standings this season, and it could be the first of a few years where Boston ends up outside the playoffs.

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