Boston Bruins rookie camp is less than a month away as the NHL world finishes up their summer vacations and get ready for the task at hand with training camps looming around the league in September. That makes it a perfect time of year to answer a number of burning Bruins questions that the franchise faces headed into camp, and the storylines we expect to play out prior to Boston’s opening night against the New York Rangers on Sept. 29 at TD Garden.
Here are the top five questions facing the Black and Gold as we turn toward training camp sooner rather than later:
1. How much impact will 19-year-old James Hagens make at the NHL level next season?
The teenager doesn’t turn 20 years old until November and will be well into his first full NHL campaign before he leaves his teen years behind, and that’s probably an important perspective to keep with a player that will enter with a ton of expectations. Hagens played for five different teams at five different levels last season, with Boston College, the IIHF World Juniors, the Providence Bruins, the Boston Bruins, and the IIHF World Championships all on his resume, making for a busy season of development. He finished with one goal and five points in eight pro games between the AHL and NHL level, and he was fairly quiet during his stint for Team USA at the World Championships, so the biggest task for him this season is going to be making a major impact offensively while very likely starting out on the wing. The big question is what line is he going to end up on and who is he going to play with, as it’s a foregone conclusion at this point that he’s locked up an NHL roster spot ahead of first training camp. Will he be good enough off the drop to secure a top 6 spot and replace the offensive production that Viktor Arvidsson took with him to Detroit? Certainly, he’ll be doing it in a different way than Arvidsson, but the bet here is that JJ Peterka and Hagens are going to provide an offensive bump to a group that’s looking to score more goals and create more offense next season.
2. Who will Charlie McAvoy’s defense partner be this season?
This will be one of the key factors for the Bruins season, and the most frustrating part is that we won’t really have an answer over the season’s first few weeks since McAvoy will be missing that time frame serving out a six-game suspension for his stick-swinging incident with Zach Benson at the end of the Buffalo playoff series. The obvious choice is Jonathan Aspirot after the two worked well together for long stretches of last season, but Aspirot did understandably show some cracks in his game down the stretch when the game pressure got amped up, and when the opponent level rose significantly during the postseason. Still, there should also be consideration set aside for Aspirot being even better in his second NHL go-around, though it feels like it’s asking a lot of him to serve out top-4 minutes on the back end after being an excellent AHL success story last season. It feels like Hampus Lindholm would be the best fit in terms of getting the most out of McAvoy as a player, but that might be loading up a little too much with both players on the same defense pairing. Nikita Zadorov is also an option, but it feels like that is way too much risk as a defense pair given both of their games at this point in their respective careers.
3. Will the young Bruins players continue to ascend after big forward steps last season?
Don Sweeney identified Fraser Minten and Marat Khusnutdinov as players who could be looking at contract extensions this summer, but that has obviously not materialized yet. But it’s based on both players cementing themselves as core B’s players moving forward that will be important parts of the franchise. Minten has moved himself into a position where he could be a top-6 center if he keeps improving, and Khusnutdinov has become a versatile, talented player who can move in any number of roles while showing the ability to play with David Pastrnak in a top-line spot. But both Minten (17 goals and 35 points) and Khusnutdinov (15 goals and 33 points) have created baseline expectations for themselves for this season, and it will be important to Boston’s success that they reach, and hopefully improve, that production headed into their second full seasons in Black and Gold. Minten, in particular, is a player that could really expand how he’s viewed around the NHL based on the skill set, his strengths as a player, and the ceiling to his game at this young point in his career.
4. How will Michael DiPietro adjust to a backup role for the first time in his pro career?
The 26-year-old netminder has never played less than 30 games in any of his pro seasons and it would be a surprise if he plays that many in his first season in Boston backing up Jeremy Swayman. So there will be some question as to how the young netminder is going to adjust to the sporadic life of a backup goalie where he could go a week or two without playing during stretches this season and will undoubtedly have an increased workload during practices when Swayman is resting at points this season. Given that DiPietro has been highly successful at the AHL the last couple of seasons and that he’s worked his way up to the NHL from playing a full season in the ECHL a few years ago, he will be ready for the challenge. But it’s still an adjustment for a young goalie and is likely the reason that the B’s brought in Jiri Patera as an experienced minor league free agent just in case injuries or underperformance occur at the NHL level. Still, there is very little to doubt that DiPietro will be an upgrade over Joonas Korpisalo once he gets the hang of being a backup goalie at the NHL level.
5. How will the competition at the NHL level shake out during training camp with an overabundance of roster candidates?
There are going to be some fierce camp battles next month as with as many as 16 forwards and 10 defensemen with legit claims to an NHL roster spot in Boston. It remains to be seen if D-men like Mason Lohrei or Henri Jokiharju are moved during training camp, or if veteran forwards like Sean Kuraly or Mikey Eyssimont might be traded at some point prior to the season. But it feels like there are too many players for not enough spots given the current combination of players and contracts, and that will leave some really unhappy campers at the AHL level in Providence – or players lost in waivers for nothing – if there are not some more shoes to drop for the Bruins prior to opening night.