As the calendar turns to September in two days, that means the 2023-24 NHL season is right around the corner. The Boston Bruins will gather at Warrior Ice Arena in the middle of the month for training camp with a different-looking roster than the one that ended the season in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Florida Panthers.
It will be challenging for the Bruins to come close to doing what they did last season in winning the Presidents’ Trophy and setting a new NHL record for wins and points in a season. With that said, here are three bold predictions for the upcoming season.
Bruins Trade for Top-Six Center During the Season
Losing Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci are two losses that are going to be tough to overcome as there is not really an option already within the organization. Entering training camp, Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle are the two most likely options to fill those roles, but can either of them be able to handle the responsibilities for an 82-game schedule? There certainly are no prospects ready to make the jump to the NHL to fill a void.
With no answers available currently in the organization, help will have to come through a trade for either Mark Scheifele of the Winnipeg Jets to Elias Lindholm of the Calgary Flames. Acquiring either of those players is going to include players off of the current roster, prospects, or draft picks. How they would go about putting a package together would be interesting, but it’s going to be likely they will need to trade for a center. Waiting until either one of those players reach free agency is unrealistic. If they get traded, they are more than likely going to sign with that team long-term, if not with their current team. In the big picture, a trade is going to the route that general manager (GM) Don Sweeney will need to go to get his future top center.
Bruins Power Play Will Finish in Top 5
Despite all of the success the Black and Gold had last season, their power play actually got worse as the season went along. Both units struggled and even at times, their zone entries were as bad as they had been in a long time. Turnovers at the offensive bluelines led to shorthanded goals down the other end.
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Now Bergeron is gone on the top unit and Krejci is gone from the second unit and you would think that they would take a step further back. I’m going in the opposite direction and think they will find their groove again, be a big part of their offense this season, and return to a top-five unit in 2023-24. There is still too much talent on the roster to continue their slide into a new season.
Brad Marchand, Jake DeBrusk, Charlie McAvoy, and David Pastrnak return while Zacha is more than capable of sliding onto the top unit as he played well on the second unit last season. James van Riemsdyk, Jesper Boqvist, and Morgan Geekie are additions this offseason in free agency that could see some time on the man advantage as well. Again, there is too much talent to see this unit fall off again.
Bruins Will Miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs
Some might think is not a bold prediction, but there are multiple reasons why the seven straight seasons of making the postseason come to an end in 2023-24. First of all, their lack of center depth, unless a trade is made (hello prediction No. 1) is going to catch up with them over a long season, nevermind if there is an injury to two up the middle.
Second, the rest of the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference got better and three teams, the Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, and Pittsburgh Penguins all got better this offseason after missing out on a wild-card spot last season. Connor Clifton is a nice addition to the Sabres’ defense, while the Red Wings adding Alex DeBrincat, and the Penguins trading for Norris Trophy-winner Erik Karlsson are big additions to teams that were close last season. Scoring depth is a big question mark for the Bruins entering the season and placing a lot of pressure on their defense and goaltending to win a lot of 2-1, 3-2 games is a tall ask in the NHL.
The Centennial Season for the Bruins will be one that seems to be a transition year ahead of the 2024 summer where they will have a lot more cap space for free agency. Lacking a top-six center is not something that they can survive through an 82-game schedule and with other teams in the division and conference getting better, it’s easy to see them taking some steps back in 2023-24.
