Bruins
Jeremy Swayman’s contract uncertainty still looms large over this roster.
The start of the Bruins’ 2024-25 season is just days away.
On paper, this Bruins roster should be better equipped for the postseason — especially after adding top targets in free agency like Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov.
But be it Jeremy Swayman’s contract impasse or several new faces sprinkled across the depth chart, there are still questions about this team’s viability as a true Stanley Cup contender.
Here are 10 questions that will determine just how fruitful another season of hockey on Causeway Street will be.
1. Will the Bruins get a deal done with Jeremy Swayman?
Here’s the million-dollar (or should it be $64 million?) question facing a win-now Bruins roster.
The Bruins, as currently constituted, are a strong team. But their ceiling as a true Cup contender is severely stunted for however long Jeremy Swayman isn’t in a black-and-gold sweater.
A contentious arbitration hearing last summer, a desire to reset the goalie market, and the frustrations sparked by stagnant contract talks reached a boiling point on Monday.
Hours after Cam Neely suggested the Bruins put a $64 million offer on the table, Swayman’s agent — Lewis Gross — doled out a strongly worded retort, stating that $64 million was not originally presented before Boston’s season-opening presser.
“We are extremely disappointed,” Gross noted in his statement. “This was not fair to Jeremy. We will take a few days to discuss where we go from here.”
It remains to be seen what “go from here” entails regarding this contractual stalemate.
Boston has until Dec. 1 to get Swayman to put pen to paper on a new contract — otherwise, the 25-year-old goalie will be ineligible for the remainder of the 2024-25 regular season and playoffs.
Things could further escalate if Swayman requests a trade — a crushing doomsday scenario for a Bruins team that boasted the best goalie tandem in the league for years.
The Bruins might be at odds with Swayman’s camp as far as his current value.
But Boston should hope the bridges linking Swayman to the Original Six franchise haven’t been scorched by the recent salvos fired by Gross and Neely.
Swayman’s limited workload might raise concerns, but his potential isn’t in question.
His 18.4 goals saved above expected rate last season ranked fourth in the NHL (per MoneyPuck) — bailing out a Bruins defense prone to coughing up quality chances. His first legitimate run as a No. 1 goalie in the playoffs this spring ended with a .933 save percentage over 12 starts.
If this team plans on orchestrating another deep run in 2025, it’s going to need No. 1 between the pipes.
2. Can Elias Lindholm bounce back as Boston’s No. 1 center?
The Bruins handed Elias Lindholm a seven-year, $54.25 million contract in July with the hope the 29-year-old forward would step into the top-line pivot spot vacated by the retirement of Patrice Bergeron in July 2023.
On paper, a free-agent target like Lindholm made plenty of sense for a Bruins team that needed a sizable upgrade up the middle after Bergeron and David Krejci hung up their skates.
His presence alone should bolster Boston’s power play, push forwards like Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha either down the lineup or on the wing, and shore up the team’s D-zone coverage and faceoff deficiencies (a career-best 56.4 percent for Lindholm in 2023-24).
But Lindholm is also coming off of a down season offensively in 2023-24. He finished with just 44 points (15 goals, 29 assists) over 75 games with both the Flames and Canucks.
Some of that might have been a byproduct of being a square peg in a round hole with the Canucks — with the presence of two other top-six centers in Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller forcing him to the wing or a third-line center spot.
Lindholm may not replicate the 42-goal, 82-point season he posted with Calgary in 2021-22. But a season stapled next to David Pastrnak and heavy reps at the “bumper” spot on the power play should allow him to be a consistent 65-plus-point player in Boston.
3. Can Joonas Korpisalo right the ship in Boston?
The Bruins and longtime goalie coach Bob Essensa have an extensive track record of getting journeymen goalies to reach new heights in a black-and-gold sweater.
But Korpisalo might be Essensa’s most daunting (and consequential) project yet.
The 30-year-old goalie — acquired in the Linus Ullmark trade in June — was arguably the worst starting goalie in the NHL last season. He sported an .890 save percentage over 55 games in Ottawa, ranking 97th out of 98 eligible goalies in goals saved above expected last season at -16.7, per MoneyPuck.
Now, he’s scheduled to earn the lion’s share of reps in net for however long Swayman remains out.
The Bruins and Essensa believe that in Boston’s system, Korpisalo can revert back to the netminder he was during his short (but impressive) stint with the Kings (.921 save percentage over 11 starts) in 2023.
But Boston is now banking on him being far more than just a backup netminder and reclamation project, especially with the team’s goalie grouping currently in a state of flux.
4. Can younger players take steps forward?
The Bruins’ success this season will be rooted in the play of veteran regulars and franchise stalwarts like Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy, and (ideally) Swayman.
But an already talented roster can receive another shot in the arm if several younger skaters take major strides in their respective games.
One of several surprises last season, Mason Lohrei accelerated his developmental timeline by at least a year in 2023-24. The 6-foot-5 defenseman seemingly improved with every new call-up to the NHL ranks — culminating in an impressive showing during the playoffs.
The 23-year-old Lohrei is expected to be a regular in 2024-25, and is in line to quarterback Boston’s second power-play unit right out of the gate.
As Lohrei provides more playmaking from the blue line, the Bruins are also hoping for a strong sophomore season from 20-year-old forward Matthew Poitras.
Fully recovered from shoulder surgery, the poised Poitras has shifted to wing so far during camp. He’s been stronger on the puck during preseason action, although he was banged up following a hit from Philadelphia’s Rasmus Ristolainen last week. Poitras could be a candidate for top-six reps on the wing, or could shift back to the pivot spot on the third line this season.
Further down the lineup, the fleet-footed Johnny Beecher is expected to be one of the regulars on Boston’s checking unit given his size (6-foot-3, 216 pounds), forechecking ability and faceoff acumen (54.6 percent).
Justin Brazeau, 26, could also be a much-needed remedy to Boston’s inconsistent scoring output. The 6-foot-5 winger has a nose for the net and is a presence near the crease — potting five goals and seven points over 19 games last year.
The Bruins will also hold out hope that players currently marinating in Providence like Fabian Lysell, Georgii Merkulov, Riley Duran, and Trevor Kuntar earn looks at various stages of a long NHL campaign.
5. Will Boston’s beefed-up D corps serve as the team’s foundation?
As intriguing as Boston’s revamped forward grouping might be, the Bruins are relying on a mix of middle-six regulars, unproven young talent and veterans placed in elevated roles to shoulder a good portion of the team’s scoring output.
As Jim Montgomery and the Bruins’ coaching staff try to put the right pieces into place up front, Boston will need to rely on its defense to serve as the bedrock of the team’s identity.
Boston’s projected six-man grouping on the blue line in Charlie McAvoy, Nikita Zadorov, Hampus Lindholm, Brandon Carlo, Mason Lohrei, and Andrew Peeke have plenty of heft in place. The average profile of that defensive corps is 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds.
But each of those three pairs feature at least one dynamic, puck-moving presence — with Montgomery stressing that Boston’s blueliners will need to be shot-ready and aggressive in transition in order to add a second layer of attack in the offensive zone.
Tuesday’s win over the Flyers was a step in the right direction, with Boston’s D corps accounting for 31 of the team’s 66 total shot attempts.
Beyond the added offensive spark, the Bruins need to prove that last year was an aberration as far as relinquishing Grade-A looks. Last season, Boston ranked 22nd in the league in high-danger scoring chances allowed per 60 minutes of even-strength play at 11.54.
Those D-zone lapses put the onus of Swayman and Ullmark to routinely bail Boston out last winter. They might not have that same luxury this year between the pipes.
6. How much does Brad Marchand have left in the tank?
The Bruins captain has forged a Hall-of-Fame resume out of proving doubters wrong. But the 36-year-old winger has tacked on plenty of mileage over 15 seasons in the NHL.
Marchand has had a slow ramp-up this preseason after undergoing three offseason procedures to correct a torn ligament in his elbow and both groin and sports hernia ailments. Even with his shooting form hindered as last year wore on, Marchand still tallied 29 goals and 67 points over 82 games.
He may not be the point-per-game regular he was during his prime years next to Bergeron, but Marchand is still a top-six stalwart and Boston’s trusty on-ice shot of epinephrine when the team is in need of a spark.
7. Who will shore up the top-six spot next to Marchand and Coyle?
The Bruins shouldn’t have to fret about their top forward trio of Lindholm, Pastrnak, and Zacha.
But after Jake DeBrusk left in free agency this summer, the Bruins do have a vacancy on their second line next to Coyle and Marchand. As divisive as DeBrusk was to some Bruins fans, he was a dependable two-way winger who played with plenty of pace and elevated his game in the playoffs.
For now, it looks as though the Bruins will assess their options at that spot on the wing. Morgan Geekie might be the early favorite in that spot as a dependable forward who can win puck battles, land some welts (137 hits), and build off the strides he made last year (career-high 17 goals, 39 points).
Other possible candidates include veteran Tyler Johnson (who should earn a spot as Montgomery’s Swiss Army Knife up front), Poitras, and even Lysell if he continues to build his game this fall.
8. Will Jim Montgomery get a new contract?
Swayman is far from the only Bruin looking to snag some security with a new deal.
Montgomery is currently coaching on the final year of the three-year deal he originally signed with the team in the summer of 2022. The former Jack Adams Award winner stressed last month that the unsteady ground he finds himself on isn’t a distraction from his day-to-day duties.
“I don’t think it would affect me, just being honest,” Montgomery said. “I love being a Bruin. I think I’m very fortunate to be the head coach of the Boston Bruins. My focus when I am with the Boston Bruins is staying in the present and getting better every day.
“I know it sounds cliché, but I can’t allow myself to think about the future because I’d be a little bit of a hypocrite asking our players to stay in the moment. I have to stay in the moment. That’s the way I look at things. It doesn’t matter if I had an eight-year contract or a one-day contract. That’s the way I proceed. That’s my process.”
Still, a new contract would give Montgomery and Boston’s coaching staff some reassurances in a season where focus seems to be fixated on the present.
9. Will the power play rebound?
Once a pillar of Boston’s offensive firepower, the Bruins’ potency on the man advantage has waned the last couple of seasons.
After ranking 12th overall on the power play (22.2 percent success rate) in 2022-23, Boston dipped again to 14th overall last year with the same 22.2 percent output. It regressed further during the playoffs, going 1-for-16 against the Panthers and landing just 14 shots on goal over 26:19 of power-play reps in that second-round series.
Some of that dip in production was a direct result of teams blanketing Pastrnak during 5-on-4 situations, especially when it came to taking away his howitzer of a one-timer.
The presence of Lindholm in the bumper this season should give Boston more options when moving the puck is moving in Grade-A ice, while the onus falls on McAvoy to get more pucks through from the point.
10. Are the Bruins better equipped for the playoffs?
After getting out-muscled and out-worked by the Panthers in back-to-back playoff exits, the Bruins clearly took notes this offseason.
Zadorov is one of the more feared skaters in the NHL, while a bottom-six grouping featuring the likes of Mark Kastelic, Max Jones, Trent Frederic, and others should dole out plenty of punishment.
In total, 13 skaters on Boston’s roster are 6-foot-3 or taller. But beyond the added heft, the Bruins feel as though they have the speed to pressure puck carriers and cause havoc down low — a strategy that Florida utilized to great success over the past two seasons.
“Our back end is big, and they got some beef to them, which I think bodes well in the playoffs,” Neely said. “I mean, you got to get to the playoffs, but I think we’re built a little bit stronger for the playoffs.”
Now it falls on the players to execute on the ice — and for a certain netminder to sign on the dotted line sooner rather than later.
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