Bruins Prepare for 23-24 Season

The Boston Bruins ended a roller coaster 2022-23 season just outside of the playoffs, despite having entered it with aspirations of contending for a Stanley Cup.

During the tumultuous campaign, the Bruins saw two players traded away that GM Trevor Cook had, at one point, envisioned building around: Jack Eichel was moved to Columbus and Jakob Chychrun to the New York Rangers. The Bruins also moved stalwart defenseman John Carlson to Colorado over the off-season.

So the Bruins' core looks a little different heading into 2023-24, although *most* of the familiar names haven't gone anywhere. It could have been more different - the Bruins entered Free Agency this year with no goalies under contract - but they were able to quickly come to terms to re-sign both Jacob Markstrom and Pavel Francouz to two-year deals once Free Agency opened. But outside of Eichel, Chychrun, and Carlson gone - and Toews and Tomas Tatar in - even the new faces are familiar. Both Samuel Girard and Blake Coleman are back in Boston this year, having served previous stints with the Bruins during GM Cook's tenure.

Dylan Larkin has assumed the captaincy this year, joined by Evgeni Malkin and Coleman as the alternates.

The Bruins have a very strong top-nine up front, with Larkin, Malkin, Matthew Tkachuk, Jason Robertson, Filip Forsberg, Tatar, Coleman, Mikael Granlund, and Colton Sissons. They have a pretty deep blueline with a clear #1 d-man in Toews, and a strong netminder in Markstrom. Should they run into injury concerns, there might be a bit more of an issue. The Bruins are currently running with Tim Berni as their #7 defenseman (although it would likely be Dylan Samberg if anything happened - Samberg is currently playing for Providence as the Bruins want him to get ice time), and recent waiver claim Nic Petan is pencilled in as an everyday player on the 4th line.

In a season-opening 5-3 win over Washington, the Bruins best players played like their best players. Robertson, Larkin, Forsberg, Malkin, and Coleman each had two-point nights. Toews and Tkachuk both also found the scoreboard. For a team that does have quite a bit of star power, if their stars can be stars on a regular basis, they stand a good chance of avoiding the disappointment of 2022-23.