5 pressing questions for Bruins as 2021 training camp opens

At long last, hockey is back. The Bruins will start to set the foundations for a promising 2021-22 campaign on Wednesday — with off-ice testing on the docket for Day 1 of training camp. 

For a look at Boston’s camp roster, click here:

For as much as Boston’s veteran core is still fixated on a deep Cup run once again this spring, a couple of key departures — and a subsequent offseason spending spree — should give us one of the more intriguing rosters that the Original Six franchise has assembled in years, with a slew of newcomers looking to supplement the assured production put forth by the usual suspects like Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and others. 

With Day 1 of camp set to get underway shortly, here are five pressing questions for Boston entering a new campaign:

1. How do Bruins fill the void left by David Krejci?

The winds of change first swept through the Bruins’ dressing room during the 2020 offseason - with Torey Krug securing a major pay day from the Blues and Zdeno Chara departing the franchise he captained for the previous 14 seasons. 

But if the fall of 2020 represented the inevitable gale brought upon by an aging captain and a pending UFA due for a lofty raise, the subsequent summer was an unpredictable maelstrom of roster turnover. 

First came the revelation that Tuukka Rask would need offseason hip surgery — putting him on the shelf until at least January 2022 and placing his future with Boston in doubt. 

And then, after Boston doled out close to $80 million in contracts to both bolster depth and retain talent like Taylor Hall and Mike Reilly – the B’s got word that David Krejci was heading back home to the Czech Republic. 

And even though the Bruins have managed to at least address Rask’s uncertain status by inking Linus Ullmark to a four-year deal as part of an intriguing tandem with Jeremy Swayman, that same optimism doesn’t exactly translate over to Boston’s pipeline of pivots in the post-Krejci era. 

Sure, the Bruins might have options when it comes to filling the void left by Krejci’s sojourn back overseas — but it remains to be seen if there’s a proper solution among this crop of centers arriving at Warrior Ice Arena on Wednesday. 

Expectations remain high for the 2021-22 Bruins despite all this roster upheaval, and no B’s player might be feeling the pressure more than Charlie Coyle — who is the odds-on favorite to assume the role of Boston’s 2C and be tasked with driving a line featuring plenty of firepower in Hall and Craig Smith. 

Coyle is due for a bounce-back campaign after his numbers plummeted on a largely rudderless third line last year (6 goals, 16 points in 51 games) — with the 29-year-old center on track to receive a clean bill of health after offseason surgery corrected both an avulsion fracture in his left kneecap and a small tear of the patellar tendon. 

Boston’s free-agent pickups in Erik Haula, Nick Foligno and Tomas Nosek are all comfortable playing down the middle — although their effectiveness is likely best utilized on Lines 3 and 4. 

A bulked-up Jack Studnicka (tacking on 15 pounds over the span on the summer) might be Boston’s top wild card this preseason — with a strong camp lifting him from the no-man’s land he currently finds himself in between AHL stalwart and uncertain NHL contributor. 

Coyle still has the inside track for the 2C gig once the regular season finally commences, but it remains to be seen if the big-bodied pivot (even if healthy) is the right fit to gel on a line with Hall and Smith. 

We might not get our answer for at least a few months — and it might be the ultimate determinant in just how lofty this team’s Cup aspirations are in 2021-22. 

2. Will youngsters push for regular roles?

The Bruins’ embrace of a youth movement in 2021 was an ambitious role of the dice, one that ultimately proved to be their undoing last spring against the Islanders. 

Perhaps having learned their lesson after a number of AHL regulars couldn’t seize regular roles up in the NHL ranks, the Bruins reversed course in some respects this offseason — bringing aboard veterans in free agency like Haula, Foligno, Nosek, Derek Forbort and Ullmark in an attempt to round out the roster with more surefire contributors. 

But even if Boston may not be placing its hopes squarely on its next wave of young talent to support the veteran core already in place — there are a number of fresh faces arriving in Brighton that could push for roles up at the NHL level with a strong camp and preseason. 

• Can Studnicka prove that last year’s setback was just that … a setback that could be forecasted for an AHLer clocking in at 171 pounds at the start of last year? Leapfrogging Coyle at 2C might be a long shot, but Studnicka making good on his NHL-caliber promise would be a good problem to have for the Bruins. 
• Can a once-overlooked young defenseman like Brady Lyle help shore up the right side of the B’s defense and make a guy like Connor Clifton look over his shoulder this preseason?
• Can Trent Frederic emerge from the logjam of bottom-six hopefuls and carve out an entrenched spot on Boston’s checking unit?
• Maybe an AHLer like Jakub Lauko can surprise and put himself in the conversation for fourth-line duties? Or perhaps Oskar Steen? 
• Could Jack Ahcan leapfrog other names like Urho Vaakanainen and Jakub Zboril on the depth chart?

The development of these youngsters may not make or break the Bruins’ 2021-22 season — but their contributions will certainly make life easier for Bruce Cassidy and Co., even with the roster-related headaches that come with it. 

3. Who will skate with Charlie McAvoy on top D pairing?

The Bruins have a good problem on their hands when it comes to finding the right partner to pair with Charlie McAvoy on Boston’s top D pairing. Because, frankly, any red-blooded blueliner you roll out next to a player of McAvoy’s caliber is probably going to end up being an effective tandem. 

But for the Bruins, finding out how to best maximize the expected sterling play they get from their franchise D-man — and reaping the benefits of the subsequent domino effect further down the club’s defensive depth chart — stands as why the battle between Matt Grzelcyk and Derek Forbort for 1LD duties stands as such an intriguing camp storyline. 

Ultimately, it wouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the configuration of that top pairing is fluid — with Cassidy keeping the usual cohorts of McAvoy and Grzelcyk together when Boston is in need of a goal — and switching to a more traditional stay-at-home partner in Forbort when the B's are either clinging to a slim lead or matched up against a heftier foe. 

"We know Grizz and Charlie can play together,” Cassidy said. “Didn't work out as well in the playoffs as we'd like. It's a lot of demands on Grizz so we brought in a guy like a Forbort that's ... a bigger defender, a different type of defender (than Grzelcyk). So we want to see how that would look with Charlie. Now whether we do that every night or not remains to be seen. That's a big ask. 

“We know Grizz can slot in there at times, so I think you'll see some toggling. We did not see Riley with Charlie. Probably won't. I think he was a good fit with Carlo and both Clifton so I think we're gonna see those guys move up and down a little bit — Forbort and Grizz with Charlie. See how it best works.”

4. How does bottom-six corps sort itself out?

The Bruins have an abundance of options at their disposal when it comes to plugging in vacancies in their bottom-six corps. But finding where exactly those pieces fit will likely be an ongoing venture that lasts beyond the trial-and-error window afforded to teams during camp and exhibition play. A third line that far too often found itself on the ropes last year should receive a shot in the arm with the arrivals of Haula and Foligno — although the ceiling of that unit might be measured on whether or not Jake DeBrusk can put last year's woes in the rearview mirror and return to being a lock for 20 goals and 40+ points. 

The fourth line is an even more complicated matter — with Nosek standing as perhaps the only real lock at this point in terms of guaranteed reps. After that, it's expected to be a free-for-all for those coveted minutes on the checking unit, with names like Frederic, Curtis Lazar and Chris Wagner all in the mix and looking to fend off others knocking at the door like Lauko, Steen and Cameron Hughes. 

5. How will Ullmark/Swayman fare?

Enjoy this goalie discourse while you can, people. 

Because in a few months time, the days in which our top goalie discussion centered on Boston’s allocation of reps between Ullmark/Swayman will be missed. Sooner or later, Rask’s potential return will dominate all talk surrounding this team, whether you like it or not.

But not right now. Right now, the Bruins are forging ahead with the duo of Ullmark/Swayman — a pair teeming with potential, and a fair bit of uncertainty. 

Boston has good reason to be excited for the next generation of B's netminders. Despite being surrounded by a putrid supporting cast for most of his time in Buffalo, Ullmark's underlying numbers sure seem to paint the picture of a No. 1 goalie (and Boston paid him as such) — while Swayman's absurd run during the tail end of last year gave the B's hope for a fruitful future in net. 

But goaltending is often a fickle beast, and the Bruins will still likely be watching with bated breath when both Ullmark/Swayman first take to the ice in preseason play. Be it a potential regression to the mean for Swayman (Carter Hart, anyone?) or injuries/lofty expectations with Ullmark, there's still an awful lot that can go wrong with Boston's new goalie corps.