Boston Bruins Pre-Season Report

Our Take:

There are plenty of fresh faces at the Boston Bruins training camp this year.  Unlike other organizations the Bruins have grown organically. This season the Bruins will be showcasing some of the youngsters who were drafted former General Manager and current President of Hockey Operations, Valente.  The newly appointed GM, Ric Flair, will have to make some tough decisions in the coming weeks to fill out a limited number of roster spots.  The Bruins have the ability to be creative as many of their players have the ability to play multiple positions.  With the centre position likely to be filled by the front runners, Mikael Granlund and Mark Scheifele, it is expected that recently acquire Brayden Schenn will fill out the left wing.  Some of the hopefuls include, Nikita Kucherov, Morgan Reilly, Louis Leblanc and Max Reinhart.  

Both Ted Nolan and Ric Flair are likely to use the pre-season to tinker with lines to find the right chemistry. When asked about putting Claude Giroux along side of John Tavares Nolan simply said “ We will be using pre-season to explore all possible combinations, with such a young group of guys it’s going to be paramount to get them to gel early as possible.”  Newly anointed GM Ric Flair wasted little time wheelin’ and dealin’ Tyson Barrie and Brandon Saad for the Schenn brothers, Luke and Brayden.  When asked about the move Flair remarked, “This ain’t no garden party, brother, this is hockey, where only the strongest survive.” Flair might have been hinting previous season’s failure and criticism by many fans and media that Bruins had talent but not the character guys to get to the next level. With the recent addition of Cal Clutterbuck and Bryan Bickell, Bruins feel they have the right mix of tenacity and finesse required to reach the post season.