A late-season slump kept the Boston Bruins out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for a second straight season. Boston lost six of seven games at the end of March, lost at home on the final day of the season, and lost a tiebreaker to the Detroit Red Wings for third place in the Atlantic Division.
The Bruins don't want to make it three straight seasons out of the playoffs. But they have some obstacles to overcome to get back into the postseason.
The problems start with a defense that did not add any major pieces despite showing weaknesses in 2015-16. The maturation of young defensemen, including Colin Miller and Joe Morrow, along with the eventual readiness of Brandon Carlo and Rob O'Gara, will be key in the present and future.
The offense will come from the top of the lineup, where Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand will try to build off an impressive run with Team Canada at the World Cup of Hockey 2016. Marchand had 37 goals last season and could top 40 this season.
The biggest addition is forward David Backes, the former captain of the St. Louis Blues, who signed a five-year, $30 million contract on July 1.
The talk around the Bruins for the past two seasons has been about pushing the pace, though they're not entirely blessed with speed. Integrating young players David Pastrnak and Danton Heinen could help, but increasing the tempo will be a team-wide effort.
After using goalies Niklas Svedberg and Jonas Gustavsson as backups for Tuukka Rask during the past two seasons, the Bruins brought back Anton Khudobin (who was on the team from 2011-13) as a free agent on a two-year contract.
This could be a crucial season for the Bruins, who soon will decide how to structure their future. They have young talent after having nine first- and second-round draft choices in the past two years. The question is whether the current core and future core will line up to propel the Bruins on a Stanley Cup run any time in the near future.
