Here Are Three Burning Questions For Bruins In 2018-19 Campaign

The Boston Bruins will begin their 2018-19 season Wednesday night when they take on the defending Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals. With much of the team is returning, they’ll look to improve upon their 112-point 2017-18 season.

Boston certainly will have its work cut out as the already-deep Atlantic Division got even tougher with John Tavares signing with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

With that in mind, here are three burning questions to be answered over the course of the season.

How will the Bruins fare against the rest of the Atlantic Division?
The Leafs’ signing of Tavares in the offseason now has them pegged as the favorites to win the Atlantic Division. The Leafs took the B’s to seven games in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs last season without the star center. Though Boston got past Toronto, it fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round, so it’s clear the B’s still have their work cut out for them to make a deep run.

Two notable moves Boston made was signing defenseman John Moore to a five-year deal and trading Adam McQuaid to the New York Rangers. Moore seems ready to make an impact for his new team, but will it be enough to help the B’s keep up with the Leafs and Lightning?

Will the young players hit a sophomore slump?
The likes Charlie McAvoy, Jake DeBrusk and Ryan Donato were impressive last season. DeBrusk tallied 16 goals and and 27 assists, while Donato put up nine points in 12 games. Meanwhile, McAvoy proved his game was fit for the NHL level, especially with the help of defensive partner Zdeno Chara.

McAvoy seems confident that there will be no slowdown of the young studs, and he may take on a larger role on the power play with Torey Krug sidelined with an ankle injury. However, if McAvoy’s confidence in the young core rings true, the rest of the league will be faced with the difficult task of trying to contain them.

What kind of year will Tuukka Rask have?

With Anton Khudobin bolting for the Dallas Stars, the Bruins had to search for an adept backup that will keep Rask from getting overworked. They got that in inking Jaroslav Halak to a two-year deal, setting them up to be one the NHL’s best goaltending tandems. If both can perform to the best of their abilities, opposing teams may have to be more clever with how they score.

Rask appeared in 54 games during the 2017-18 campaign, going 34-14-5 with a .917 save percentage, and he only will look to improve off of that in the upcoming campaign.