Bruins Focused as 2022-23 Camp Opens

It was a quiet Free Agency period for the Boston Bruins, but over the course of the 2022 off-season, GM Trevor Cook took a team that was on the verge of the Eastern Conference finals last season and upgraded the roster further with the addition of Dylan Larkin in preparation for what they hope will be an even longer playoff run ahead in the 2022-23 EHE campaign.

The addition of Larkin headlines the off-season as the Bruins added primarily minor league pieces in the UFA period, signing Jakob Silfverberg and Lukas Sedlak to fill the holes left by the departing Blake Coleman and Sean Kuraly. A big step forward by Jason Robertson figures to be a difference maker, too.

This is a team that held a 3-1 lead in the second round of the playoffs last year, and while they blew that lead it wasn't like they just folded up and died - the Sabres team they played won those last three games by a total of four goals including an empty netter, and eventually went to the Stanley Cup Finals. When it comes to top-end talent, this squad has it: Forsberg, Tkachuk, Robertson on the wings. Eichel, Larkin, Malkin down the middle. Carlson, Chychrun, Pesce manning the blueline in front of Markstrom.

2022-23 will be a big season for the Bruins. There are a lot of expiring contracts: franchise-tagged Malkin, Jacob Markstrom, Brett Pesce, Brandon Tanev, and RFAs Eichel, Robertson, and Larkin - among some other depth players, too. The Bruins figure to have the ability keep most of the core together despite that, but there will definitely be some reshuffling in the cards based on financial considerations: a lot of players will be looking for raises and the Bruins are already up against the cap.

Last year, the sting of second-round defeat was eased slightly by a belief that they'd be better next year. Development from players like Matthew Tkachuk, Filip Forsberg, Cody Ceci, and Robertson would see to that. This year, the time to win is now.

Training camp is open now, though the Bruins don't expect a ton of surprises on the opening night roster. The door for players like Mackenzie Entwistle, Justin Barron and Dylan Samberg is more open when looking ahead to next season with roster turnover than it is for any of them to make a surprise move in this year's camp. The opening night roster figures to look something like this:

Jack Eichel - Filip Forsberg - Matthew Tkachuk
Dylan Larkin - Jason Robertson - Jakob Silfverberg
Evgeni Malkin - Brandon Tanev - Brendan Gallagher
Curtis Lazar - Lukas Sedlak - Mason Appleton

John Carlson - Cody Ceci
Brett Pesce - Jakob Chychrun
Carson Soucy - Luke Schenn
Mike Reilly

Jacob Markstrom - Pavel Francouz

It's about time to see what they've got as GM Cook's team has reached something resembling the final form they've been building towards since prior to the expansion draft. This year, the goal is simple and the expectations are high: the Bruins plan to be the one team left standing at the end.