At the start of each NHL season everyone always makes their early predictions on who will win the Stanley Cup. They go with teams such as the Washington Capitals, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Detroit Red Wings, among others. Well this season feel free to throw in the Boston Bruins into that mix.
Over the season the Bruins have been becoming stronger and stronger. This upcoming season could be the climax of the Bruins rise to the top.
Boston has got plenty of talent on their squad for the upcoming season and could prove a serious threat in the Eastern Conference. Although most will still have their bets on Pittsburgh or Washington to climb out of the Eastern Conference and to the Cup Final, Boston should not be forgotten about either.
Boston has got a starting goalie that is still getting better between the pipes. Rask will bring the Bruins success for years to come and should mold into one of the goaltending elite in the National Hockey League.
Plus think of this, guys like Martin Brodeur and Miikka Kiprusoff are nearing the end of their careers and they are two of the NHL’s best goalies. Rask is still a relatively young star. While veteran goalies like Kiprusoff and Brodeur are still filled with plenty of talent, they’re NHL run is nearing its end. Rask has still got plenty of years in him.
Let’s not forget that the Bruins have Tim Thomas for a backup. Thomas lost his starting job to Rask last season and is now rumored to be on the trading block for Boston. Even if he is not dealt, it still leaves Boston with a capable backup who has plenty experience and could teach Rask a thing or two about the NHL.
Moving onto the defense, Boston isn’t built too weak here either. They’ve got their captain Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg who are two great defenders to have on their squad. There is still plenty of time for Boston to fill the void of another top 3 defenseman on their team. Plenty of trading options too. Thomas or Savard would be more than fair of a trade for a Top 3 defenseman.
Last, but definitely not least is the offense. In this year’s NHL Draft Boston got themselves a very dangerous threat on the offense end. They drafted Tyler Seguin second overall who could develop into one of the best centers in the league.
With Seguin coming into the mix in Boston, it seems that Savard is out. Marc Savard will most likely be used as trade bait to bring in that Top 3 defenseman that the Bruins are looking for. Savard who seems in the prime of his career should be able to bring in a very talented player.
Boston has many very dangerous offensive tools like Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, newly acquired, Nathan Horton and others. They’ve also have a great adgetator in Milan Lucic who can drive opponents wild with his antics, while still occasionally contributing on the ice. Kind of reminds me of Sean Avery.
With all these great attributes plus some good coaching from the Bruins staff expect that Boston fans will have a lot to cheer about this upcoming season.
The Bruins looked like serious contenders this season as well, but they ended up on the wrong end of a 4 game comeback and ended up out of the playoffs. Hopefully history will not repeat itself and this time the Bruins will manage to close off a series.
Teams like Washington, Pittsburgh, New Jersey, etc. better take the Bruins seriously when the 2010/2011 season kicks off or they might be in for an unexpected surprise. Boston’s time is coming and who knows, it could come sooner than we expect it to.
Rob
July 29, 2010
Great post its about time the Bruins can be taken seriously. I understand they “choked” last year but if you look close at that series every game couldve gone either way. I can only hope they take that crushing defeat and use it as a motivator. Watch out NHL the Bruins are coming!
Svyato Rovenchuk
July 31, 2010
Yeah, Boston is looking like a serious contender and should not be taken lightly.