Now NHL's heaviest team, what should we expect 2024-25 Bruins?

The average profile of Boston’s six-man defensive corps is 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds.

Trent Frederic is one of 13 skaters on the Bruins roster currently 6-foot-3 or higher. (Photo by Rich Gagnon/Getty Images)

PLYMOUTH — Trent Frederic, Charlie McAvoy, and the rest of the Bruins won’t hit the ice for a full-squad practice until next week.

But be it informal skates in Brighton, walking the halls at Warrior Ice Arena, or chatting on the golf course, one thing has already become apparent whenever the 2024-25 Bruins gather together. Size won’t be an issue on the frozen sheet this season.

“It’s crazy walking around. I feel like I’m pretty average size or smaller on our team now,” Frederic (6-foot-3, 220 pounds) noted.

“I think that’s something that stood out to me when I got traded here, is how big and heavy everybody is,” Mark Kastelic (6-foot-4, 226 pounds) said last week. “So, I fall into that category, and it’s definitely different not being one of the biggest guys around. I think I feel pretty average here.”

“I’m the smallest D on the team now,” McAvoy (6-foot-1, 209 pounds) added after captains practice.

The numbers back up the Bruins’ musings about the state of their beefed-up blue line and forward corps.

With an average weight of 207 pounds, the Bruins enter training camp as the heaviest team in the NHL — just ahead of the Vegas Golden Knights (205 pounds). Boston is also tied with Vegas for the top average height among NHL rosters at 6-foot-2, with the Bruins potentially set to open the new season with 13 of its skaters 6-foot-3 or taller.

Nikita Zadorov (6-foot-6)
Brandon Carlo (6-foot-5)
Mason Lohrei (6-foot-5)
Justin Brazeau (6-foot-5)
Mark Kastelic (6-foot-4)
Hampus Lindholm (6-foot-4)
Pavel Zacha (6-foot-4)
John Beecher (6-foot-3)
Charlie Coyle (6-foot-3)
Trent Frederic (6-foot-3)
Andrew Peeke (6-foot-3)
Morgan Geekie (6-foot-3)
Max Jones (6-foot-3)

In other words, Jim Montgomery and his staff have a whole lot of nasty to work with this season, regardless of how the final depth chart sorts itself out.

“Look at our D corps. A lot of horses there,” Zadorov said at the Boston Bruins Foundation’s annual golf tournament at Pinehills Golf Club in Plymouth. “So it’s exciting. … If you look at the Panthers, you look at any team in the Atlantic Division, they’re big, they’re hard to play against. So I think we’re just gonna match the conference.”

After the Panthers scratched, clawed, elbowed, and pummeled opponents into submission en route to a Cup this spring, it should come as little surprise that the Bruins — much like the rest of the Eastern Conference — added plenty of heft this summer.

Of course, hockey has changed a bit since the days of the “Big, Bad Bruins” of yesteryear. Don’t expect a player draped in a black-and-gold sweater to be challenging an entire bench in 2025, nor will Zadorov or one of the other Bruins’ bruisers be bopping fans in the stands with a pair of loafers.

But in a changing NHL where skill and speed has taken precedence over snarl, adding a bit more sandpaper to a roster’s DNA can go a long way — especially during the gauntlet that is the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

“You see in playoff time — when you have bigger, hard teams, kind of what Florida was last year, it’s really hard to play against that for four rounds, seven games,” Brad Marchand said Thursday. “And you just can lean on guys. …It’s great — the additions we’ve made. They’re big, but they can skate, they can make plays, they’re tough.”

While the Bruins might boast the most intimidating tale of the tape among all 32 teams in the NHL, measurables are far from the end-all, be-all when it comes to measuring the mettle and fight on a roster.

The Panthers are widely regarded as one of the more physical rosters in the league, but their average weight this season is 194 pounds. The only NHL team with a lighter lineup are the uber-skilled Avalanche at 192 pounds.

Of course, the difference between 194 pounds and 207 pounds doesn’t matter all that much if a team like the Panthers is relentlessly closing in on teams on the forecheck and doling out welts left and right.

If the Bruins want to establish themselves as one of the more feared (and most importantly, effective) teams in today’s game, they’ll need to blend that brawn with a commitment to high-motor, furious approach in Grade-A areas of the ice.

“I think last year, we became a little bit more of a forechecking team than we were two years ago,” Montgomery noted. “And I think we have to wait and see exactly what our strengths are. … But I do imagine us trying to be a heavy, down-low offensive, hockey team, and then also being heavy down low in our own end, killing plays, and getting out.”

Adhering to the same frantic, forechecking style as teams like the Panthers and Hurricanes stand as a solid blueprint to follow for the 2024-25 Bruins.

The lone difference? Opponents will need more ice bags at the ready if a bulked-up squad like the Bruins are routinely dishing out those same rate of hits along the boards.

“It’s good to have size,” McAvoy said. “I think you’re seeing a little bit of the makeup of a lot of the good teams in this league. The sizes help. Obviously, I think the skating ability – you’ve got to be big, but you’ve got to be able to move. And I think we have that.”