2022-23 Bruins Preview: Boston looking for a fresh start with no regrets

When the puck drops at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Washington (TNT, 98.5 FM), the executive branch of the Boston Bruins will be looking for signs that it deemed unforgivably absent from Game 7 of their opening-round playoff ouster on May 14 in Raleigh.

Perhaps, had Carolina toppled defending champion Tampa Bay in the second round and made the conference final or even won two more series and played for the Stanley Cup, losing in seven to the Hurricanes would have left a better taste in Boston mouths.

"I do feel we left some opportunity on the table last year in the playoffs," said Charlie Jacobs, representing ownership on Monday at the team's media day at Warrior Arena in Brighton. "It stinks when you lose Game 7 by a goal and you may have watched the game and felt the outcome might have been (decided) differently.

"But it was time for us to turn the page, and I expect that when speaking with Monty and with others here that we have a very competitive team that I think, frankly, a lot of people don’t expect (to contend). We have a more offensive team than perhaps maybe in years past, and that’s saying a lot considering we won 51 games last year."

There is no way to sugarcoat this: While the vast majority of Bruins Nation credits former coach Bruce Cassidy for those 51 wins and blames General Manager Don Sweeney for shorter and shorter postseasons, the executive branch is backing management.

Thusly, the page has been turned to Jim Montgomery, whose job it now is to somehow improve on what Cassidy accomplished over six seasons behind the Boston bench. Cassidy never got the Bruins over the top, but he averaged a Scotty Bowman-like 50 wins over every 82 games played.

Once invalidated by a brief postseason, last season's 51 wins rang hollow, especially as juxtaposed among an Eastern Conference playoff field entirely comprised of 100-point teams, six of which had won 50 or more.

The 2021-22 season unfolded as an aberration from the NHL's traditional, three-piece power structure typically dominated by a 22-team middle class. Instead, the east ended up a dichotomy of winners and losers.

Resultant playoff parity within the conference hobbled eventual finalist Tampa Bay. On pride alone, the valiant Lightning took the high-flying Colorado Avalanche to six games before surrendering the crown.

Built around a combined 33 years of NHL experience in veteran centermen Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, can the Bruins compete in a copycat league eager to emulate a champion that relays the puck like an arcade game of air hockey?

Krejci was only partially tongue in cheek when he told a media scrum last week that the players got faster while he spent last season playing before family and friends in his native Czech Republic. Bergeron never left and he notices the game speeding up before his very eyes.

"It is pretty impressive to see the pace of the game increasing from one year to the next," said Bergeron on Monday. "It's very impressive to see those young guys with the motor they have and the skills they have. Obviously, going forward it's great for fans, it's great for the league."

But speed in hockey is not only about the legs.

"I think if that would have been the case, I would have been out of the league a long time ago," said Bergeron. "I don't think my skating is an issue, but I don't think it's been one of my attributes obviously, so the way you think the game is important. You can run laps on guys, but if you don't really know where you're going or where the puck is going, I think the anticipation of things is really important."

Inasmuch as Bergeron and Krejci can impart their hockey smarts to younger lions, the Bruins should not be sold short with elite skaters like Charlie McAvoy, Matt Grzelcyk, Hampus Lindholm, Taylor Hall, Charlie Coyle, Pavel Zacha and Brad Marchand.

Injuries that will at least keep McAvoy and Marchand, two of Boston's most impactful players, out of the opening-night lineup, open doors for young players and those looking to prove something.

One thing that team president Cam Neely thinks every Bruin can prove is a resolution to leave nothing on the table this time around. He thinks, especially given the year-by-year basis upon which Bergeron and Krejci are negotiating the twilight of their playing careers, every Bruin should play every game like it's his last.

“Well from my perspective, I want us to compete every night, that’s first and foremost," he said. "I think from a skill perspective throughout the lineup, especially in the forward group, I think we’re pretty deep, but for me it’s really just about competing every night.

"I say this to our players all the time, 'You may not play well every night, but you can sure as hell compete every night.' So that’s what I expect, and, with the core group we have and have had for quite some time, the expectations of that are in that locker room. So, for me it’s really about not seeing any nights off. Like I said, 'You may not play well, but you can certainly compete.'”

5 SO LONG'S

Bruce Cassidy: The coaching change is the big one, as few could follow in Claude Julien's footsteps as did Cassidy for five-plus seasons. Cassidy got the Bruins to a Game 7 for the Stanley Cup; unfortunately his team was too young and otherwise banged up to win it. Since then, the Bruins have done less in the playoffs, and the prospects have not eclipsed aging veterans. Case study in a results business.

Nick Foligno: Anytime Don Sweeney has gotten away from his wheelhouse of energetic, semi-fast, semi-skilled acquisitions in favor of a pure power forward, he either got the wrong player or got him too late in his career. Foligno was put on waivers.

Eric Haula: The Devils put the one-and-done Bruin and former Boston first-rounder Dougie Hamilton in their starting lineup for Saturday's preseason finale at TD Garden. Haula, when in the right frame of mind, is a handful, so it isn't as though Boston handed New Jersey a roll of tape for Pavel Zacha.

Mike Reilly: A skilled fifth wheel, Reilly was overpaid ($3M per) in that role, and his game did not successfully translate into the top four, even amidst injuries. The need to become cap compliant outweighed the need for this defenseman.

Chris Wagner: Along with Nick Foligno, Walpole's NHLer played preseason games in his trademark scrappy style. An underdog skater of modest size and skill, Wags only seems expendable until the higher-ceiling prospects fail to match his floor.

5 NEW FACES

David Krejci: At age 36, the veteran center is back from a sabbatical year spent playing pro hockey in his native Czech Republic before family and friends, all the while exposing his kids to his original culture and language. This time around, Krejci will finally play with his countryman David Pastrnak.

Jim Montgomery: The former University of Maine star who played in future Hall of Famer Paul Kariya's shadow now coaches in Bruce Cassidy's shadow. As a college coach, Monty won multiple NCAA titles with U. Denver and could have won in 2015 had the Pioneers been able to pry a puck past Providence goalie Jon Gillies. If he can get the Bruins to play the way Denver did, buckle up.

Pavel Zacha: Like Eric Haula, Zacha can become an unrestricted free agent at season's end. Unlike Haula, Zacha is a young center with a top-line upside that, given the career timetables of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, the Bruins find well worth the flight risk. If he pans out and sticks, Boston fans will have to think differently about the infamous 2015 draft.

AJ Greer: Another 2015 pick, the rangy winger won the favor of the coaching staff with his coachability and immediate response to what the new staff is looking for in the way of a strong forecheck.

Anton Stralman: At 36, the Swedish defenseman may have about as much hockey left as Krejci, but what he's got is also smooth like Krejci. Especially until Charlie McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk are back in the lineup and breaking out the puck, the Bruins could really use the veteran's savvy on the back end.

5 X-FACTORS

Rehab: Beginning with Brad Marchand's double-labrum surgery and continuing with McAvoy's and Grzelcyk's shoulder surgeries, how well the Bruins hold the fort for the opening 20 games could determine the trajectory of their season.

The Goalie Hug: That tradition that became a big hit on social media last season will be more hard fought as Montgomery depends on depth defensemen for heavy minutes and matchups. The honeymoon is over for Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman, who need to be at the very least solid.

The Need for Speed: Now that the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup, the copycat NHL will emulate Colorado's pace of play, especially early in the season. Krejci will have to keep his head on a swivel.

Rescinded Request: Winger Jake DeBrusk's midwinter healthy scratch and the subsequent revelation of a preseason trade request hung like a black cloud over the 2021-22 season, since mitigated by his resurgent production on the top line and the postseason coaching change. But what if Jake hits another rut? Assuming management backs Montgomery, what then?

2015: Cam Neely admitted he's tired of critics unearthing regrets of the 2015 draft, but how can he avoid the subject after GM Don Sweeney has added two more 2015 picks in Pavel Zacha and A.J. Greer? Including Jakub Zboril (13th overall), Jake DeBrusk (14th) and second-rounder Brandon Carlo, five 2015 draft picks may suit up for Boston on opening night.

FUN FACT

The Washington Capitals, the Bruins' opening night host, have added to their Massachusetts-based bench (head coach Peter Laviolette is from Franklin) by hiring Acushnet native Scotty Allen as an assistant. Allen will undoubtedly sharpen up the Caps' penalty kill. His lengthy, well-traveled resume also includes a stint with the N.Y. Islanders.

HOW THEY STACK UP

(A Bruins Line Chart)

LW - C - RW

10 Greer - 37 Bergeron - 74 DeBrusk

18 Zacha - 46 Krejci - 88 Pastrnak

11 Frederic - 13 Coyle - 12 Smith

94 Lauko - 92 Nosek - 23 Studnicka

LD - RD

27 Lindholm - 36 Stralman

67 Zboril - 25 Carlo

28 Forbort - 75 Clifton

G

35 Ullmark

1 Swayman

Injured: 48 Grzelcyk; 63 Marchand; 71 Hall; 73 McAvoy.

Extras: 6 Reilly; 14 Wagner; 17 Foligno.

First AHL recalls: G Kinkaid; D Ahcan; F McLaughlin.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: 2022-23 Boston Bruins Season Preview