Team Outlook: Boston Bruins

Heading into the 2022-23 NHL season, I’m going to look at every team to see how they are looking going into the season.

From: nhl.com

2021-22:

The Bruins went 51-26-5 to finish with 107 points and were able to get the 1st wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. Boston was able to bring Carolina to 7 games before losing at Carolina to be eliminated from the playoffs.

Draft:

The Bruins did not have a 1st round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. But, they were able to get OHLer, Matthew Poitras who got 50 points in 68 games during his first season in the OHL. They also got Cole Spicer, a forward from the USHL. He got 55 points in the 74 total games he played with the USNTDP and he also got 5 points in 6 games with the US 18U team at the WJC-18 tournament.

Additions:

The Bruins didn’t get much over the offseason, but they were able to get Pavel Zacha in a trade with the New Jersey Devils. Zacha got 36 points in 70 games last season, a career high. They also got a couple AHLers who have played a couple NHL games. Also, they hired a new coach, Jim Montgomery. Montgomery went 60-43-10 in the 1.5 seasons he spent as a head coach of the Stars in 2018-20. He spent the last 2 seasons as an assistant coach of the Blues until he was hired by the Bruins this offseason.

Losses:

They lost Erik Haula in the trade to get Zacha. Zacha had 44 points in 78 games last season with the Bruins. They also lost Curtis Lazar who had 16 points in 70 games with the Bruins. They still haven’t signed Patrice Bergeron, which technically counts as a loss if they are unable to re-sign him. Both Matt Grzelcyk and Brad Marchand underwent surgery over the offseason, and both aren’t expected to return until at least November.

Who to look for: Forward Fabian Lysell was drafted in the first round by the Bruins last draft. He had his first OHL season after being in Sweden all his life last season, registering 62 points in 53 games.

John Beecher has been playing for the University of Michigan the past 3 seasons. The forward got 39 points in the 81 games he played over the past 3 seasons. After the end of the NCAA season last season, he finished the season with the Bruins AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins, and got 5 points in 9 games.

Defenseman Jack Ahcan got 23 points in 46 games with Providence last season. The 25 year old signed with the Bruins and has played 9 games the past 2 seasons and got 1 point.

Prediction:

The Bruins are on the right track if they play the right cards. They were able to get rookie goalie Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark into swing. Their first move is to be able to sign Bergeron to have some depth until Marchand and Grzelcyk come back. However, if they are unable to do that, they will have to play that little bit harder to be able to get back to the playoffs once again.

Stats from: eliteprospects.com, capfriendly.com, hockey-reference.com