Boston Bruins roster, lines, and storylines heading into 2024-25 season
BOSTON -- The new Bruins season gets underway Tuesday night against a familiar foe, as Boston will take on the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. It was the Panthers who sent the Bruins packing in the second round of the playoffs last season -- after eliminating them in the first round two years ago -- so the B's will look to spoil their banner night by handing Florida an L when the puck drops on their 2024-25 season.
The Bruins had a pretty eventful offseason after losing Game 6 to the Panthers on TD Garden ice back on May 17. They signed a top-line center in Elias Lindholm -- bringing him aboard with a seven-year contract worth $7.75 million annually -- and added some more bulk to their D corps in signing the 6-foot-6 Nikita Zadorov. Meanwhile, Jake DeBrusk departed for Vancouver, which will leave a void on Boston's second line.
The biggest storyline from the summer is that goalie hugs are no more in Boston, after Linus Ullmark was traded away to Ottawa. That leaves Jeremy Swayman to take over as Boston's No. 1 goalie, with the 25-year-old fresh off signing an eight-year, $66 million extension on Sunday following a summer-long holdout.
Mainstays David Pastrnak, captain Brad Marchand, and Charlie McAvoy are all back to lead Jim Montgomery's team, and the Bruins should have no problem making the playoffs for a ninth straight season.
Bruins Opening Night Roster for 2024-25 season
Forwards (13): Johnny Beecher, Justin Brazeau, Charlie Coyle, Trent Frederic, Morgan Geekie, Max Jones, Mark Kastelic, Cole Koepke, Elias Lindholm, Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak, Riley Tufte, Pavel Zacha
Defensemen (7): Brandon Carlo, Hampus Lindholm, Mason Lohrei, Charlie McAvoy, Andrew Peeke, Parker Wotherspoon, Nikita Zadorov
Goalies (2): Joonas Korpisalo, Jeremy Swayman
Montgomery said last week while Swayman and the Bruins were engaged in that contract rift that Korpisalo -- acquired from Ottawa in the Ullmark swap -- would be the team's starting netminder in their first game of the season. The head coach walked that back Monday in Florida, saying there's a chance that Swayman could be in net on Opening Night. We likely won't find out until just before game time Tuesday night.
Notably missing from Boston's Opening Night roster is 20-year-old forward Matt Poitras, who along with defensemen Ian Mitchell and Alec Regula will begin the year on the Injured Non-Roster list. Poitras is considered day-to-day with an undisclosed injury, but practiced in a non-contact jersey Monday in Florida.
Forward Tyler Johnson is also not part of the mix, and isn't even with the team after going through training camp on a professional tryout deal.
Expected Bruins lines for Opening Night
Here's how the Bruins' lines are expected to look when they take the ice at
Pavel Zacha - Elias Lindholm - David Pastrnak
Brad Marchand - Charlie Coyle - Morgan Geekie
Max Jones - Trent Frederic - Justin Brazeau
Johnny Beecher - Mark Kastelic - Cole Koepke
Hampus Lindholm - Charlie McAvoy
Mason Lohrei - Brandon Carlo
Nikita Zadorov - Andrew Peeke
Again, we'll wait to see if it's Swayman or Korpisalo in net for Boston.
Bruins storylines to follow during 2024-25 season
Lindholm should bring out the best in Pastrnak on Bruins' top line
Pastrnak had 110 points last season despite not having David Krejci or Patrice Bergeron as his centerman. This year, he'll have the newly signed Lindholm setting him up, with the 29-year-old looking to bounce back from a down season.
Lindholm had just 15 goals and 29 assists (and was a minus-14) last year in his 75 games split between Calgary and Ottawa, which where his lowest full-season totals since the 2017-18 campaign. With Pasta and Pavel Zacha (whom Pastrnak had solid chemistry with as his center last season) on his wing, Lindholm should get back to his usual level of production in his first season with the Bruins. Zacha moving back to the wing should also help his own production.
Lindholm's presence will alleviate some of the pressure on Pastrnak and potentially elevate his game even more. Lindholm is a skilled setup man and scorer, and he's also solid on the dot, winning 56.4 percent of his faceoffs last season. That will be a huge boost for a Bruins team that ranked 21st in faceoff wins last season.
No. 1 goalie Jeremy Swayman
Swayman got his bag, and now he has to live up to all the pressure that comes with such a rich contract. He has to prove that he can be a true No. 1 goalie who can handle the majority of the regular season (he's never made more than 43 starts) and a playoff run.
But let's not forget that Swayman is flirting with elite status in net. He owns a 2.34 goals-against-average for his career and is coming off a postseason run where he led all goaltenders with a .933 save percentage.
The high paycheck with bring high expectations for Swayman, but there is little doubt he'll be able to live up to them and stop a lot of pucks for the Bruins.
Can the Bruins find some secondary scoring?
Boston's offense was incredibly top-heavy last season and the Bruins struggled to score goals in the playoffs. They scored just eight times in their final five games against the Panthers.
Overall, the Bruins ranked 28th in 5-on-5 scoring last season. In addition to DeBrusk, Boston also lost Danton Heinen and James van Riemsdyk in free agency.
The Bruins will need Morgan Geekie (17 goals, 22 assists last season) to step up even more on their second line alongside Coyle (coming off a career-high 60 points last season) and Marchand. It will be up to Trent Frederick (40 points last season) and Justin Brazeau to give Boston something from the third line. Hopefully the youngster Poitras can make some noise when he returns as well.
Have the Bruins fixed their power-play issues of last year?
The Bruins were a middling power player team during the regular season, capitalizing on 22.2 percent of their chances. But it completely disappeared in the playoffs against the Panthers, with Boston scoring just one power play goal on 16 chances.
The addition of Lindholm should help, and we'll see how much 23-year-old Mason Lohrei will bring to Boston's second PP unit.
Can the Bruins make a deep playoff run?
Outside of the team's run to the Cup Final in 2019-19, the Bruins haven't made it out of the second round in the last 11 years. With a bigger and much more physical team this year -- especially on the blue line -- Boston appears to be built to make a deep playoff run this summer.
Bruins president Cam Neely said last week that he believes this team is a Cup contender if everyone is healthy, and he doesn't think he's alone in that department.
"I think our players believe that, I know our coaching staff believes that, it's just a matter of are we going to -- I think we're going to defend extremely well," Neely said on Sept. 30.
The Bruins might be a little worse in the regular season, but they should be better in the playoffs. But to go on a deep run they'll likely have to get by the Panthers and the Toronto Maple Leafs. One of those teams has been no issue for Boston, while the other has been a thorn in their side the last two postseasons.
But anything can happen in the NHL playoffs, and with a heavy, physical team, the Bruins could be a team no one wants to face on the road to the Cup.