5 Bruins Who Will Have Biggest Impact in 2024-25 – Hockey Writers – Boston Bruins

The 2024-25 NHL season is getting closer as training camp begins next month. The Boston Bruins made a number of changes this offseason. Although the core group of players remains the same, this season’s roster will have some noticeable differences. Longtime starters Matt Grzelcyk and Jake DeBrusk left early in free agency, goaltender Linus Ullmark was traded to the Ottawa Senators, and Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov were brought in to address weak spots.

Related: 3 Bruins Who Need to Improve in 2024-25

The Bruins should once again be the top team in the Atlantic Division and make the playoffs, barring any disasters or bugs. While the team has benefited from guys stepping up and playing better than expected, if they are going to make a real run at the Stanley Cup this season, there are a few guys that will have a big impact in determining their success.

5. Brad Marchand

Bruins captain Brad Marchand may not be a point-per-game guy, but he’s still a big part of this team. He turned 36 in May and is the last remaining member of the franchise to see the honor with three appearances in the Stanley Cup Finals, including a victory, in 2010. Fortunately, he appears to be following in the footsteps of his longtime teammates, Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara, David Krejci, and Tuukka Rask, by finding success on the ice well into their 30s.

Marchand finished second on the team in points last season with 67 in 82 games, including 29 goals. The team will be counting on him to get back into the 60-plus point range this season to be successful in 2024-25. Hopefully someone will emerge as another option for the Bruins to aim for 25-plus goals in a season, but for now, they only have him, David Pastrnak, Lindholm, and Charlie Coyle, who hit the mark for the first time. the season.

Fortunately, Marchand’s hip surgery in 2022 didn’t seem to slow him down as much as some had worried. Despite the injury, he should continue to contribute a lot to this team, and don’t let others overtake him.

4. Charlie McAvoy

Charlie McAvoy enters the 2024-25 season coming off a disappointing playoff run last season. He had a ton of turnovers and couldn’t clear the puck from his position like he usually does. Then it turns out he’s been dealing with injuries for most of the season, so hopefully he’ll be back in shape when the regular season starts in October. The Bruins really need it.

McAvoy has been the Bruins’ top defenseman for a few seasons now and it’s not really close. Yes, Brandon Carlo doesn’t get enough recognition as the best stay-at-home defenseman in the league, but McAvoy is the star of the blue line. He plays monster minutes and is generally someone who can be looked to for a sound play in his position as well as his ability to move the puck and help create offense on offense.

The blue line got a boost this offseason with the signing of Zadorov and speculation that Mason Lohrei, who was one of the best defensemen in the postseason, will be a full-time NHLer in 2024-25. But the overall performance of the Bruins’ defense will still depend heavily on McAvoy’s play. His impact on this team and its success cannot be overstated.

3. Jeremy Swayman

Scoring can be the difference between a Stanley Cup winner and loser. If the Bruins’ 2024 playoff run is remembered for anything, it should be the arrival of Jeremy Swayman as the league’s legitimate top goaltender. He was the best player on the team and it wasn’t really close. Without him, they wouldn’t have made it out of the first round.

This upcoming season will be a very important one for Swayman as he transitions to a traditional goalkeeper. Since entering the league, he has split the most each season in a tie with Ullmark. With him gone, Swayman will likely see his career increase from 40 games a season to 60 or more. She should be more than ready to expand, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t chances of growing pains in the process.

How quickly Swayman adjusts to being out of the rotation will be a big factor in the 2024-25 season. There may be no time to adjust and Swayman is 100 percent ready to go as shown in the playoffs. But the postseason and the regular season are different animals. There are also questions about how Joonas Korpisalo will fare as a backup. Will he be the guy he had with the Columbus Blue Jackets or the one from Ottawa?

Swayman is a restricted free agent this summer and is not signed through the 2024-25 season as he and the team continue to work on a new deal. But once that is fixed, fans should be excited to see what he does this season. If he can continue to play at the heights he reached in 2023-24 and last season, he will be one of the most exciting parts of the Bruins’ season.

There is a potential argument that Swayman will be the most impactful player for the Bruins in 2024-25. But as shown in the playoffs, spectacular scoring can’t win a championship if nobody can run the offense, which leads to numbers two and one on this list.

2. Elias Lindholm

The center position has been a weak spot for the Bruins for several seasons now. The problems have boiled down to the point where they lack depth. They had Bergeron as their number one and Krejci as their number two for over a decade and had no real solutions or plan for when they retired. Last season, Coyle and Pavel Zacha both stepped up and did a good job, but now with the addition of Lindholm, they have a prototypical center, having a great season.

Lindholm’s game will have the biggest impact in the 2024-25 season. He had his biggest career year in 2021-22 when he had 42 goals and 82 points in 82 games for the Calgary Flames. But that was three seasons ago and he’s coming off a regular season where he struggled with both the Flames and the Vancouver Canucks after being part of a big trade in February. He put things back together in the postseason, but it wasn’t enough to help the team reach the Stanley Cup Finals.

Lindholm will be a big part of the Bruins’ 2024-25 season and for many beyond thanks to the seven-year deal he signed. He and the entire Bruins organization will want to start those seven years off right because if not, it will be a very long time for him in Boston. If he returns to the player he is fully capable of being, he will certainly help give the team a valuable edge in a difficult phase.

1. David Pastrnak

I’m sure no one is surprised by this. Pastrnak is the best player on the Bruins and it’s not much of a controversy right now. If he is there, the team is there. When he’s out, the team shuts down. He was the team’s leading scorer last season with 40. He is a very influential player in the team and is an important part of their success.

Pastrnak just turned 28. He’s no longer one of the little guys in the league and he aspires to the Stanley Cup. He’s entering the second season of his eight-year, $90 million contract, and the last thing the Bruins want is to see that contract expire without a championship. It’s safe to say he’s the best player in the franchise in 2020, even as we approach the halfway mark of the decade. He certainly did his best to help the team win the cup, now they have to put it all together.

Fortunately, the Bruins have made moves this offseason to fix their issues from last season. As long as Pastrnak plays the way he came into the league, this team will be competitive. But if he takes a step back or gets injured, the team will struggle.

Honorable Mentions

While these five players could have the biggest impact in the 2024-25 season, hockey is clearly a team sport. One of the reasons why the Bruins have been so successful in the past two seasons is that they were able to get help from unexpected players who were on the rise.

Related: Bruins’ Beecher’s Realistic Expectations for Second NHL Season

In 2024-25, Lohrei, Carlo, and Coyle are the ones to look out for on the roster. There is excitement in what many think will be Lohrei’s first full season in the NHL. Carlo was arguably the Bruins’ best defenseman in the 2024 playoffs and it will be interesting to see how that momentum translates this coming season. Coyle hit 60 points for the first time in his career last season and was on a high following the retirements of Bergeron and Krejci, but the question now is whether he can match that.

While Marchand, McAvoy, Swayman, Lindholm, and Pastrnak may be the most impactful players for the Bruins, they cannot win the Stanley Cup by themselves. General manager (GM) Don Sweeney has done a fair amount in recent seasons to try to build a complete team, and hopefully, it will all come together in 2024-25.