With the Boston Bruins set to open the 2015-16 regular season this Thursday, NESN.com is bringing you a position-by-position preview of this season’s squad. We begin up front with a Bruins forward group that will look very different than it has in years past.
Three.
That’s the number of current Bruins forwards who appeared in more than 50 games for the team last season. It’s also the number of top-six goal-scorers from 2014-15 who now are plying their trade elsewhere.
Milan Lucic, Reilly Smith, Carl Soderberg, Gregory Campbell and Daniel Paille were replaced by Matt Beleskey, Jimmy Hayes, Joonas Kemppainen, Zac Rinaldo and Tyler Randell as the Bruins underwent their most drastic makeover in years. That massive influx of new blood resulted in a full-scale shakeup of line combinations, all four of which have been changed since the end of Boston’s disappointing 2014-15 campaign.
Here are the lines you can expect to see on opening night:
First line: Matt Beleskey — David Krejci — David Pastrnak
Beleskey, a former Anaheim Duck, was the Bruins’ most notable offseason addition. The free-agent signee is coming off a career season — his 22 goals in just 65 games doubled his previous high — and he will fill the role vacated by Lucic’s departure. On the other wing, Pastrnak will look to avoid a sophomore slump after putting up 27 points (10 goals, 17 assists) in 47 games as an 18-year-old.
But the player who will set the tone for Boston’s entire offense is Krejci. The Bruins’ top playmaker lost nearly half of last season to a torn MCL, and the Bruins plummeted to 22nd in the NHL in goals per game (down from third in 2013-14). A strong bounce-back campaign will be crucial.
Second line: Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — Loui Eriksson
Longtime linemates Marchand and Bergeron welcomed Eriksson this preseason to a unit that features arguably the team’s three best two-way forwards. Eriksson, who’s in the final year of his contract, primarily skated on a line with Soderberg and Chris Kelly last season and showed significant improvement (22 goals, 47 points) over his concussion-plagued first Bruins campaign.
This very well could be Boston’s most consistent line during the early portion of the season.
Third line: Jimmy Hayes — Ryan Spooner — Brett Connolly
Spooner will receive his best chance yet to contribute at the NHL level after spending the last few seasons on the Providence-to-Boston shuttle. The 23-year-old will center the Bruins’ new-look third line and also should see plenty of power-play time. He potted three goals on the man advantage — good for sixth on the team — in 29 games with the big club last season.
At left wing, Hayes’ 6-foot-6, 225-pound frame will provide this line with a strong netfront presence not found on the first two units. He’ll be joined on the other side by Connolly, who fractured his hand mere days after being traded to the Bruins last March and appeared in just five games the rest of the way. The sixth overall draft pick in 2010, Connolly has plenty of potential but has yet to find NHL success after four underwhelming seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Fourth line: Chris Kelly — Joonas Kemppainen — Zac Rinaldo (13th forward: Tyler Randell)
Newcomers Kemppainen and Rinaldo and ex-Providence Bruin Randell appear to have beaten out trade-deadline acquisition Max Talbot and will compete for fourth-line spots previously occupied by Campbell and Paille. This preseason, Randell (three fights, one goal) showed he can scrap, Rinaldo (five drawn penalties) kept his head on straight, and Kemppainen, a nine-year veteran of the Finnish Elite League, looked more comfortable than expected in his first taste of NHL action.
Boston’s fourth line was a mess last season, though, and it remains to be seen whether this new unit can provide the added offensive “firepower” coach Claude Julien is seeking. If it can’t, Alexander Khokhlachev, Austin Cznarik and the currently injured Seth Griffith eventually could see time here, too.
Thumbnail photo via Jerome Miron/USA TODAY Sports Images
