dominizzo said:
Montreal is a better team than Boston IMO
Three months ago I would have agreed....not so much now.
The Bruins I look at now are a LOTTTTTTTTTTTT better. When the season ended I had zero hope for this upcoming season. All I could hang my hat on was the fact that they had some good youngsters coming up through the organization.
After free agency, I expect a playoff berth now...
The defense of Chara, Brad Stuart, Paul Mara, Mark Stuart, Milan Jurcina, Matt Lashoff and Andy Alberts is a great mix of young up and comers, young veterans and, arguably, the best defenseman in the World.
The Bruins have a top 5 defense in my opinion.
The forwards, while a little thin, have a good mixture.
The 1st line (Bergeron, Sturm, Boyes) is very young, fast and explosive. They can play with anyone.
The 2nd line looks like it could be alright. If Marc Savard can get Glen Murray to start scoring again they'll be fine. I don't expect a 90+ point season from Savard but 70 points will be fine if that means Murray scores 35+ goals.
The rest of the forwards are a decent mix of youth (Kolus, Stastny) and grit (Axelsson, Donovan, Primeau). I don't know where Alex Zhamnov fits in that picture. He might end up playing some wing with Murray and Savard if the B's can't pick up another skilled winger.
All the additions (Savard and Chara especially) will help the Bruins powerplay without a doubt. With how many penalties are called in the "new" NHL you have to do better then 25th in the NHL on the PP to be a playoff team.
Add to the improvements at forward the fact that Hannu Toivonen will only get better between the pipes and I think the Bruins might have found something...
I see the Habs and the B's as roughly the same type of team. Playoff contenders but not ready to push into the top 5 in the East.
If the Bruins first line scores, they get production from the 2nd line, the young defenseman continue to develop and the goaltending tandem of Thomas and Toivonen plays up to last years standard this is a playoff team.