If Zacha did what he did last season again, he's one of the better-value contracts in the league. His 57 points makes almost any team in the league stronger

He won’t. Imagine when he has to face top line centres. He’s gonna get destroyed by the Aho, Hughes, Hischier, Stutzle, Point, Etc. Boston is done for

Better than Haula

Playing next to Pasta has helped rejuvenate his career. Based on how he played last year, I’m very comfortable with him

Lucky for BOS this is not the NBA. I doubt they lose 28 more games than last year. They're still aggressive, deep, great defensively. Nice trolling...

Zacha won’t be deployed against other 1st lines that will be Coyle’s job and considering most of his usage over the past two seasons has been against those elite top lines I’m not especially worried he’s done a great job in a shutdown role and he took most of the “heavy lifting” shifts off Bergeron’s workload

Not only did they lose their best 2 centres , their goaltending played at a historic rate that won’t be duplicated, Hampus Lindholm played better than he ever could in his career and they made big additions at the deadline. They won’t be anywhere close to as good .

Their centre depth will not keep up with Buffalo, Florida or Ottawa

Boston can get him away from players like that on home ice. And not every team has a guy of that quality. He could very easily break 20 goals and 50 points again, especially because he's now going to get more ice time and PP1 opportunities.

Boston's defense and goaltending is better than Buffalo, Ottawa and Florida. Florida is the only team here with a player that compares in skill to Pasta, and even though the other two have some dangerous top six weapons, both have MAJOR defensive and goaltending holes. Korpisalo and Levi compared to Swayman and Ullmark? It's not close. They're going to make the playoffs, even if they pick up 40 points less. Bergeron and Krejci would cost them 20 wins, they'd still comfortably make the postseason.

I know this is the hope of a lot of Eastern teams, but I expect Lindholm and others to continue at the level they played at. Before his broken foot, he gave no indication of decline.

The defensive structure is sound. The question is whether they are going to score enough goals and whether they are deep enough.

I’d pay attention to Fabian Lysell. He’s being slept on and the talent level is high with some adjustments. I liked how he looked before he ran out of gas after playing the delayed WJC, the season, and then the WJC again. In many ways, playing him opposite Marchand could open up some lineups

Is it ?
Dahlin, Power, Samuelsson, Clifton, Johnson, Jokiharju
McAvoy, Lindholm, Grcelzyk, Carlo, Shattenkirk, Forbort
Chabot, Sanderson, Chychrun, Zub, Brannstrom, Hamonic/JBD

It’s not that much better if at all. And I’d take the offence of Buffalo and Ottawa over Boston very easily

I’m just not sure having Coyle, Zacha and one of Frederic/JVR in the top 6 is a recipe for success

McAvoy over Dahlin or Chabot, Lindholm over Power or Sanderson, probably Chychrun over Gryz or Samuelsson, Carlo over Zub or Clifton, Shattenkirk over Johnson or Brannstrom, but Joki over Hamonic (LMAO) or Forbort. Boston's defense is still worlds better.

You’re overrating Lindholm and Carlo. Carlo, Samuelsson and Zub are all pretty much equal.

Grcelzyk is worse than Chychrun

I like both Power and Sanderson over Lindholm this year. Both those guys are gonna have massive breakout years.

McAvoy is the best one on the list but I bet Dahlin probably equals him this year or passes him. Chabot won’t be equal to either but I bet he rebounds from his down year and has a massive year

Still mad Boston fleeced you?

Coyle makes half a million more to be a 3C and you’re fussing about Zacha? Lol

Samuelsson is 23 and unproven and while Zub is underrated he doesn’t compare to Carlo. IMO Rasmus Andersson is the only shutdown dman better than Carlo. It’s nice to think that the young and upcoming teams will breakout and give fans more variety in the playoffs but I don’t think this is the season it happens outside of possibly Buffalo if their goaltending is decent

Zub is literally like 93 percentile defensively and constantly faces top lines. Carlo plays behind McAvoy and isn’t even as good defensively. Same with Samuelsson who played on the top pair. Carlo does not

Ottawa and Buffalo are both making the playoffs . There’s no way they don’t

he's a "bum" that outscored all but 4 players on the NJD last year lol
plus a +47 difference from the NJD what a bum

Over who?

Carlo is in the 96th percentile for EV defense and Penalty Killing

Samuelsson was paired with Dahlin for most of the season

Zub has very good defensive analytics but he’s not as strong as Carlo on the PK and he isn’t as reliable of a player
If McAvoy were left handed Carlo would play on the top pairing he’s perfectly capable of it and on a team like Vancouver for example he’d be the perfect top pairing partner for an offensive dman like Quinn Hughes

He just cares about Zacha. Most Devils fans are triggered the second someone talks about him and hate him for no reason

The reality is this is the young player / prospect rating stuff we hear every year. I love young players, but I’m also going to say there is a reason why the same teams have high picks year after year. There is often a fatal flaw that prevents them from taking the next step. I can see Boston regressing, but ignoring their foundation and minimizing proven players is a mistake.

Yes...that's it!! Keep doubting the Bruins! Count them out every chance you get! Just like you probably did last year!!