Bruins coaching camp 2024: 4 key storylines to observe

Bruins training camp 2024: Four key storylines to watch initially appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The puck drops on the 2024-25 NHL season in just some weeks, which suggests coaching camps across the league are about to start.

The Boston Bruins will open their camp Wednesday at Warrior Ice Area in Brighton, Mass., as they put together for the upcoming marketing campaign.

Expectations stay excessive for the Bruins. They received a playoff collection final season for the primary time since 2021, however for the second straight 12 months, their postseason journey was ended by the Florida Panthers.

The B’s have been busy within the offseason. They made a splash in free company to herald top-six middle Elias Lindholm and top-four defenseman Nikita Zadorov. In addition they traded former Vezina Trophy-winning goalie Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators in a transfer that cleared wage cap area and introduced in two gamers.

This roster is among the many heaviest and tallest within the league, which might make the Bruins even more durable to play in opposition to, particularly when the calendar flips to April and Could.

However within the meantime, listed here are 4 key storylines to observe as Bruins coaching camp opens Wednesday.

Who will play second-line proper wing?

Maybe probably the most attention-grabbing roster battle in camp would be the competitors for the second-line proper wing spot. This participant will probably be enjoying alongside left wing Brad Marchand and middle Charlie Coyle.

The Bruins misplaced Jake DeBrusk and Danton Heinen within the offseason, giving them much less depth on the wings. Though DeBrusk and Heinen have been inconsistent at occasions, they did rating 19 and 17 targets, respectively, final season. It isn’t simple to switch 36 targets.

The highest candidates for the function seemingly are, in no explicit order, Morgan Geekie, Trent Frederic, Fabian Lysell, Matthew Poitras and Georgii Merkulov. Frederic performed 51 5-on-5 minutes with Marchand and Coyle final season, whereas Geekie logged 27:40 with the veteran duo. Merkulov has little or no expertise at proper wing and is finest suited at middle.

Lysell incomes this job in all probability is the best-case state of affairs for the Bruins. It is time for the 2021 first-round decide to indicate he could be a viable NHL participant. He has all of the offensive ability you need — nice shot, spectacular playmaking capacity, superb pace, and many others. — however it stays to be seen whether or not he can deal with the defensive tasks that enjoying with Marchand and Coyle would entail. This line typically performs in opposition to the opponent’s top-six forwards.

The competitors for this spot needs to be fairly entertaining over the subsequent few weeks.

How will new guys slot in?

Elias Lindholm was the biggest offseason addition for Boston. He is a legit top-six middle who ought to make a seamless transition to the highest line alongside Pavel Zacha at left wing and David Pastrnak at proper wing. Lindholm performs a Patrice Bergeron-esque all-around recreation, together with the power to excel on each particular groups models. Head coach Jim Montgomery ought to have the ability to use the Swedish middle in any type of scenario.

Mark Kastelic was acquired by the B’s as a part of the Linus Ullmark commerce with the Ottawa Senators again in June. He might rapidly turn out to be a fan favourite along with his hard-nosed, bodily model of play. He is a candidate for the fourth-line middle function.

The B’s signed ahead Max Jones in free company, and he is one other potential bottom-six candidate. The 2016 first-round decide tallied 19 factors for the Anaheim Ducks in 2022-23 and 15 factors in 2023-24.

The blue line will likely be slightly totally different because of Derek Forbort, Matt Grzelcyk and Kevin Shattenkirk all leaving in free company. However the staff does have a number of gamers who’re prepared for an elevated function, most notably Mason Lohrei and maybe Parker Wotherspoon, too. The one main addition to the group was the signing of free agent defenseman Nikita Zadorov.

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Zadorov is listed at 6-foot-6 and 248 kilos, and he isn’t afraid to make use of that dimension to dam pictures, clear visitors from the entrance of the online and dish out big hits. He’ll undoubtedly add slightly extra snarl to the blue line.

Zadorov might play up and down the lineup, however probably the most logical place for him to start out is the left side of the first pairing alongside Charlie McAvoy.

“I actually loved watching him from afar and the participant that he’s and the profession that he is had, and I am thrilled with the chance to have him right here, and he makes our d-corps actually, actually complete,” McAvoy told reporters after a captain’s observe earlier this month.

“We have slightly little bit of every little thing, and I am simply actually completely satisfied that he is right here, and if I get the prospect to play with him, I feel we’ll hit it off. I feel we’ll be actually good collectively.”

Jeremy Swayman‘s contract scenario, backup goalie competitors

The most important query mark surrounding the Bruins as the beginning of camp nears is the standing of No. 1 goalie Jeremy Swayman. The 25-year-old netminder stays unsigned as a restricted free agent.

Swayman deserves an enormous increase after making $3.475 million final season — the wage awarded to him in arbitration. Either side decided not to do arbitration again, which wasn’t stunning given how vocal Swayman has been about not having fun with the arbitration course of.

Swayman is a high 10 goalie, and he was probably the most excellent participant at his place by the primary two rounds of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Bruins would have been eradicated by the Toronto Maple Leafs within the first spherical if not for Swayman’s brilliance in net.

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There isn’t any exhausting deadline for the Bruins and Swayman to fulfill, however this case might turn out to be a distraction for the staff the longer it drags on.

It will be dangerous for the Bruins in the event that they needed to open the common season Oct. 8 in opposition to the Florida Panthers with Joonas Korpisalo and Brandon Bussi as their two accessible goalies. So it could behoove the Bruins, who’ve round $8.64 million in wage cap area (via PuckPedia), to get this carried out ASAP.

No matter what occurs with Swayman, the backup goalie job is one to regulate. Korpisalo was terrible final season, posting a 21-26-4 document with a .890 save share and a 3.27 GAA for the Senators. Nevertheless, he did play fairly nicely for the Los Angeles Kings and Columbus Blue Jackets in 2022-23. Bruins goalie coach Bob Essensa is the most effective at his place, so it would not be stunning if he makes the required corrections to Korpisalo’s recreation.

Bussi has performed nicely in Windfall during the last two seasons and is able to problem for a backup function on the NHL degree. He is an thrilling prospect with a vivid future.

Younger prospects aiming to make the roster

The Bruins have been in a position to combine rookie facilities Matthew Poitras and Johnny Beecher, in addition to defenseman Mason Lohrei, into the lineup early final season. Poitras and Beecher made the Opening Evening roster. Poitras was not anticipated to compete for a roster spot so quickly, however he performed so nicely in camp and the preseason that the Bruins needed to maintain him.

This 12 months’s group of prospects who could compete for a roster spot embody Fabian Lysell, Georgii Merkulov, Riley Duran, John Farinacci, Marc McLaughlin and goalie Brandon Bussi, amongst others.

After dropping Jake DeBrusk, Danton Heinen and James van Riemsdyk within the offseason, there will likely be a number of roster spots up for grabs in camp, particularly on the wings.