By Alex Hobson
2014-15 LEADING SCORERS
Patrice Bergeron (23 G, 32 A, 55 P)
Loui Eriksson (22 G, 25 A, 47 P)
Carl Soderberg (13 G, 31 A, 44 P)
LAST SEASON
The 2014-15 Bruins season did not go as planned. A regular playoff team, something just didn't click this year in Beantown, and resulted in the Bruins missing the playoffs for the first time since the 2006-07 season. They lost one of their better defensive defensemen in Johnny Boychuk before the season began, in a trade with the New York Islanders that saw two second round picks and a third round pick head back the other way. In a last-ditch effort to improve their roster, they made two trades on deadline day, sending two second rounders to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for Brett Connolly, and sending young forward Jordan Caron to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for Maxime Talbot. They also completed a depth deal with the Minnesota Wild, sending Jared Knight in exchange for Zack Phillips. Unfortunately for the Bruins, this wasn't enough to help them reach the playoffs, and they ended up finishing fifth in the Atlantic Division.
OFFSEASON
IN
Colin Miller
Zac Rinaldo
Sean Kuraly
Jimmy Hayes
Matt Beleskey
Matt Irwin
OUT
Milan Lucic
Martin Jones
Dougie Hamilton
Justin Florek
Paul Carey
Chris Breen
Bobby Robins
Daniel Paille
Niklas Svedberg
Gregory Campbell
Matt Bartkowski
Rielly Smith
The Boston Bruins had the most wild start to the 2015 offseason than any other team. Beginning at the draft, where most of the action took place. Following the firing of former GM Peter Chiarelli and the hiring of new GM Don Sweeney, tons of moves happened in Beantown, beginning shortly before the draft when the Bruins sent forward Carl Soderberg to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for a sixth round pick. They also made a further trade, sending Rielly Smith along with the contract of Marc Savard to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Jimmy Hayes. Then came the most hectic part of the moves, the draft. The Bruins already owned the 14th overall pick in the draft, but immediately added another when they traded defenseman Dougie Hamilton to the Calgary Flames in exchange for their 15th overall pick, and then proceeded to trade fan favourite Milan Lucic to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for goaltender Martin Jones and the Kings' 13th overall pick. And just like that, the Bruins owned picks #13, #14, and #15.
The Bruins then used those picks to select defenseman Jakub Zboril, forward Jake DeBrusk, and forward Zachary Senyshyn respectively. Many were blown away by these picks, given that DeBrusk was a projected late first round pick and Senyshyn was a projected third round pick, but eventually trusted that Sweeney knew what he was doing. Come free agency, the Bruins got rid of several players that had served for a while, such as Daniel Paille and Greg Campbell, and parted ways with players such as Lucic and Hamilton via trade. They brought in Matt Beleskey to provide the grit and scoring touch left by Lucic, along with a young forward in Jimmy Hayes to replace Rielly Smith, and brought in a few more depth players such as Zac Rinaldo and Matt Irvin.
NEXT SEASON PT 1. OFFENSE
The Bruins offense is very questionable heading into next year, given that they gave up several pieces of their scoring front such as Lucic and Smith, and also got rid of veteran forwards in Campbell and Paille. Nevertheless, look for Matt Beleskey to step in and try to fill the void left by Lucic to provide grit and offense. The offense will continue to be lead by David Krejci, Patrice Bergeron, and Brad Marchand, with secondary scoring coming from Hayes, Beleskey, and Loui Eriksson. Look for youngsters such as Alexander Khokhlachev and Ryan Spooner to solidify themselves spots on the forward core, as well as young sniper David Pastrnak to step into a bigger role on the team.
NEXT SEASON PT 2. DEFENSE
The Bruins have an aging defensive core, with their top two defensemen being the 38 year old Zdeno Chara and the 34 year old Dennis Seidenberg. They got rid of their most promising young defenseman in Dougie Hamilton, so look for players such as Torey Krug and new acquisition Matt Irwin to step into bigger roles.
NEXT SEASON PT 3. GOALTENDING
Here is another interesting part to the Bruins' team, their goaltending. Tuukka Rask will without question be their starter this year, but their trusty backup in Niklas Svedberg left the team, so this leaves the Bruins three options in Malcolm Subban, Jeremy Smith, and Zane McIntyre. For the first little bit, it looks like the Bruins could give Subban the call behind Rask given his amount of experience compared to Smith and McIntyre, but anything could happen throughout the year. It's likely that all three see some NHL time this year.
POSSIBLE 2015-16 OPENING NIGHT LINEUP:
Matt Beleskey - David Krejci - Loui Eriksson
Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - David Pastrnak
Max Talbot - Ryan Spooner - Jimmy Hayes
Zac Rinaldo - Chris Kelly - Brett Connolly
Zdeno Chara - Torey Krug
Dennis Seidenberg - Adam McQuaid
Kevan Miller - Matt Irwin
Tuukka Rask
Malcolm Subban
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