3 Reasons to Be Optimistic About the 2024-25 Boston Bruins

3 Reasons to Be Optimistic About the 2024-25 Boston Bruins

get hyped Bruins fans we’re talking about some reasons to be optimistic about the 22425 version of our favorite hockey team let’s get into it shall we you’re locked on Bruins your daily podcast on the Boston Bruins part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day what is up Bruins fans and welcome back to the locked on Boston Bruins podcast I’m your host Ian McLaren and this is a Daily Show where we discuss all things spoke to be today is Friday J July January Friday July 12th and I want to thank you so much for making lockdown Bruins part of your daily routine free and available on your favorite podcast app and on YouTube part of the locked on podcast Network your favorite team every single day and today’s episode is brought to you by G Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase terms do apply we are at the end of another week you can tell it’s been a long one since I just confused July for January but here we are talking about three reasons why we should be optimistic about the 2024 25 Boston Bruins before we get into that a quick reminder you can find the podcast on social media at locked NHL Brew RS you can find me by hockey thoughts and dad jokes ianc McLaren apologies to the YouTube commentor who said they didn’t want me wearing a hat on the podcast it’s a Bruins hat this hat is sick why would I not wear this any chance I can get anyways let’s jump into it yesterday we discussed three reasons why you might be pessimistic about the Bruins this upcoming season and one of the biggies for me was the end of an elite goalie tandem with lenus Omar having been traded to the Ottawa Senators with Unis cor pasalo coming in uh to back up Jeremy San now key in that scenario is the fact that as of right now Jeremy Swan remains a Boston Bruin he’s yet to be signed but all indications are that the Bruins and Jeremy Swan will reach a deal at some point over the next couple days weeks who knows but it will get done before training camp and he’s one of the best goalies in the NHL full stop the Bruins are lucky to have him and they will build around him for the foreseeable future you look at his numbers from last season he was straight up one of the best goalies in the NHL and he upped his game significantly in uh in the postseason he has developed into a legitimate top goal tender in the NHL he ranked third in safe percentage last season among goalies with at least 30 starts owner Conor only Connor heluk at 921 and Thatcher Demco at 918 had better save percentage through the regular season than Jeremy Swan he came in at 9916 through 44 games played tied with joeyy dord of the Seattle Kraken and 01 ahead of counterpart lenus olar he was a better regular season goalie as well over Sergey barosi who had a 9915 save percentage in the regular season if you look at uh the playoffs again he only appeared in two rounds but among goalies with at least 10 appearances in the playoffs he was the best a 933 save percentage he went six- six overall but through 12 games a 933 save percentage only Joseph wall was a bit better at 964 and he played in three games against the Bruins uh pretty remarkable that he put up those numbers but not really considering some of the Bruin scoring deficiencies that we disc discussed um yesterday now Stanley Cup winner Ser bosi down at 906 in the postseason so one of the reasons why the Bruins were so successful in the regular season the primary reason I would argue was the goal tending tandem of lenus alar and Jeremy Swan part of the argument in trading lenus allmark was that obviously as much as you may discuss the possibility of a rotation in the playoffs you typically only go with one guy and that’s Jeremy Swan he played unbelievable in the playoffs gave this team a chance to win to even beat the Florida Panthers they took them to a game six um very tight in that one you want to be able to allocate your backup goalie resources elsewhere ultimately they only freed up 1.1 something million dollars in cap space by taking on Corpus Salo and Castell but the signal was clear that Jeremy Swan is the man in net moving forward um and based on his play in the regular season where he was one of the top goalies by way of safe percentage he’ll get increased number of starts you can pencil him in for at least 50 5 perhaps even 60 can he handle that workload well yes we he’s excuse me he displayed that unbelievably in a high pressure situation like the postseason and there’s also reason to be somewhat optimistic about Unis cor Bello because goalie Bob essensa Boston’s goalie coach is one of the best at his role around the NHL just look at the performance by Bruins goenda uh Jeremy Swan Lena Sark even guys in between like Yos slav hak um he gets the most out of his goenda Salo who should be a decent enough backup uh not a guy that you want to split starts with Jeremy Swan per se but a guy that can play maybe once a week and hopefully give you a chance to win and not setting You Back by allowing first goals on first shots like he did quite often last season in Ottawa but as far as one number one goalies go around the NHL the Bruins have one of the best at his position in Jeremy Swan he’s still young he’s entering his Prime and if the Bruins win a Stanley the cup in the next five six years it will no doubt be due to the fine netminding of this young stud and I’m excited to see him uh carry the load here for the foreseeable future let’s please just get him signed speaking of signings breaking news today as the Bruins signed uh Alec regula and uh who was the other guy Michael Callahan to oneway no sorry oneye two-way contracts so they’re Shoring up some of the depth on the AHL roster and they could be callup candidates uh in the event of injury but the Bruins do have a formidable top six defenseman top seven even we’ll discuss that later on in the podcast but coming up after the break another reason to be optimistic about this team we have a youth movement going on that if it hits could be pretty exciting to watch we’ll discuss that here as the podcast continues summertime is here and one of my favorite things to do is grab some tickets to a major league baseball game I love going to baseball games it’s so fun it’s so chill and the last few times I’ve gone it’s been via game time and authorized ticket Marketplace of Major League Baseball they make getting tickets faster and easier prices on the game time app actually go down the closer it gets the first pitch they have amazing last minute deals Allin prices panoramic views from your seat and their lowest price guarantee so they take all the guesswork out of buying MLB tickets all you have to do is download the game time app create an account and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase terms do apply but again create an account redeem code locked on NHL for $20 off head down to fedway check out the socks today using Game Time last minute tickets at the lowest price guaranteed thank you so much once again for making locked on Bruins part of your daily routine free and available on your favorite podcast app and on YouTube and while you’re on YouTube check out locked on sports today a free 247 sports streaming Channel programmed for you every day to bring you the latest news and analysis and opinions from across the lockon universe streaming 247 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day I was scrolling uh through my Bruins list today and saw that Scott mcglaflin who’s been on the show quite a bit had an uh article up today on uh the Bruins kind of on the-fly youth movement and if you can believe it the Bruins will will be one of the youngest teams in the NHL this coming season last year they added with cheap mid-30s veterans like James Van rezik Kevin shattenkirk later they added Patrick maroon of course they ex tried to bring Milan Luchi back we all know that went off the rails um technically van Reams DIY and shaton Kirk are still free agents and maybe could return but the Bruins will be getting younger this upcoming season they added Elias Lindholm and Nikita Z dorov both are 29 years old uh so below 30 which is great the only mid-30s player on the roster is Captain Brad Marshon who we talked about yesterday as perhaps a guy who could be slowing down but he did play all 82 games for the Bruins last season still had 67 points uh Charlie Coy’s 32 hampus lindol and Unis Corpus Salo are both 30 and that’s it everybody else projected to be on the roster is under 30 uh alternate captains David poock and Charlie McAvoy are 28 and 26 respectively the franchise goalie is Jeremy Swan he’s 25 that is your core and that I mean a lot of teams would envy those three as your core three players an elite Winger all World defenseman franchise gouie all in their mid to late 20s now after that instead of plugging the roster with um some veterans and kind of a transition season you’re going to be seeing some younger guys given a chance to thrive uh last year the Bruins had the seventh oldest opening day roster right now they’re projected to be the seventh the youngest and La it kind of started last year with the arrivals of Matt ptra Johnny beer Mason lorai Justin brazzo now this season with those guys in the mix you’re gonna see Fabian lysel and Georgie merkulov given every opportunity to grab a roster spot or two as they’re clearly one forward short at the moment Danton Heinen Jake debrusk left there’s a whole in the middle six at least whether you put lysel or merkulov on the second or third line remains to be seen but those guys specifically will get opportunities to uh to thrive and there’s also some more recent additions who are proving to be good fits in Boston guys that had came on in their mid 20s pav zaka of course Morgan geki uh they took a flyer on Andrew Peak at the trade deadline he still signed for a couple years he fit in seamlessly with the Boston Bruins even Parker Witherspoon uh they added Max Jones Mark Castell righ tufty uh the former two Jones and Castell will also be given every opportunity to jump into the bottom six and make some some noise there uh so it’s a pretty cool thing to see the Bruins getting younger uh they’re also getting more physical uh the Bruins according to Scott mcglaflin via Elite prospects their average height and weight will be 6’2 208 pounds that’s the Bruins biggest roster since 0203 where they had the 700 pound line in Joe Thorton Glenn Murray and Mike Canal um so the Bruins getting younger and bigger at the same time which you don’t see very often um I’m excited to see next steps taken by Matt ra Johnny beer Mason lay Justin barzo even Tre Frederick I think has the opportunity to take some steps forward here with uh Jake debrusk having moved on he’s a guy that could take another step in his development here at age 26 18 goals 22 assists last season for 40 points could easily see him add to those totals this coming season ptra you know I’m a huge fan of can’t wait to see him emerge Johnny beer the Bruins have some maybe not a high-end Prospect pool but their best guys are getting an opportunity to um to hit at the moment with ptra lorai and giving them time to kind of replenish the pool beginning with the selection of Dean lerno here in 2024 so that youth movement a huge reason to be excited about this team and uh you know it’s a bummer to see de Brusco Heinen go uh obviously it’s a bummer to have seen Patrice berson and David C retire last summer but there’s always a new wave of guys coming up and uh I’m really excited to watch these guys coming to their own as Boston Bruins so that’s another reason to be optimistic the third is the additions of Elias lindome and Nita Zord dorov and we’ll discuss that here as the podcast continues all right the third and final reason to get excited about the Bruins for this upcoming season is the new additions I’ve mentioned Lind Holmes zorov Jones and talking about youth movement there’s still an opportunity for the Bruins to add youth once they signed Jeremy Swan they could still have some money left to add a Winger and there are some young guys available like Daniel spra Philip Zaden Kyer Yamamoto Alex neander guys that I think they could Target here um as some scoring options to at least generate competition in training camp uh with lysel and merkulov uh and as you know some scoring depth options there but the biggies of course were uh lysel oh sorry lindol and zadorov and um I was looking at Dober hockey as I do every day and they wrote about the moves made by certain teams over the summer and this was from Michael Clifford who wrote the two big additions Boston made were Elias lindhome and Nikita zorov which is kind of funny because my personal opinion this is Michael Clifford of Dober hockey is that they’re two of the more overrated players in offseason signing contention the term overrated however doesn’t mean bad it’s simp simply means not as proficient as their public perception not great but he goes on regardless they are clearly upgrades for Boston zorov effectively takes the roster spot of Matt grizzli and that’s a huge boost defensively for the team maybe they didn’t necessarily need to get better defensively but if they’re not going to be a high-powered offense which they won’t then tightening things up even more defensively is a good idea end quote my personal opinion you look at Boston’s top six at the moment and it is pretty darn good you have Lind or sorry zadorov McAvoy lindol Carlo loride Peak with Parker Witherspoon coming in as your seventh guy I really like that Witherspoon looked really good in the playoffs Peak again came in and fit in pretty well your top four uh is interchangeable with perhaps zadorov and lorai switching off at the top he gives lorai some time and space to develop his game at the NHL level uh and maybe be have a bit more freedom uh in a lesser defensive role uh I’m very excited about their top six and yeah they’re not going to be a lights out offensive team but they share as heck are going to be hard to score against and that comes back to Swan and the defensive core in in front of him now Clifford of dber hockey goes the same goes for lindol he’s not necessarily a high-end firstline Center but he’s a clear upgrade over Pavo zaka as the Topline Center and it allows the team to use Charlie Coyle in a third line role provides flexibility for how they want to use Matt ptra this is the team that really was one of the best in the East and whether they are good enough to surpass a team like Florida is fair to ask even while losing Jake debrus and lenus Omar they are better now than they were three months ago end quote I still have some issues with that contention because of the lack of scoring and the need to upgrade on the wings but they’re kind of upgrading on the wings via the addition of lindome as zaka goes to the left wing to play on a line with lindol and posto uh Coyle again can he had a great year last here but perhaps he is better suited in a third line role playing with Trent Frederick uh it allows perhaps Matt ptra to skate with Brad Marshon who could be a very uh beneficial teacher for him with Morgan geeki as a versatile forward skating on the right side there so those additions let’s okay let’s be honest they’re probably not uh maybe they’re not getting exactly what they’re paying for here they’re not necessarily getting an elite Center those cost you well over $10 million these days though if you look at you know Conor McDavid leand ridle Austin Matthews Nathan McKinnon uh they’re not getting a top pairing defenseman and if you look around the league a lot of middle pair or bottom pair defenseman are getting paid significant amounts of money um these aren’t the highest end guys but they were guys that the Bruins targeted and they believe will fit well within the structure that they have and there’s every reason to believe that based on their track records and what the Bruins are under head coach Jim Montgomery So Yesterday yeah I was a bit pessimistic today I’m feeling great bring on October I think this Bruins team is going to be very exciting to watch I don’t believe they will take the major step back I don’t believe they will not be a playoff team uh and I think they’ll be better than a lot of people think once again that’s just their MO people underrate underrate them write them off they always come back and are better than what we expect and I think that will be the case um with the big question mark being what drop off they might experience if Unis Corpus Salo is a net and does not find at least a League average form all right so that’s it for today’s episode of lockdown Boston Bruins my friends another week of episodes in the books thank you so much for taking the time to listen please do take care of yourselves and take care of each other have a fun weekend be back next week to bring you all the latest on the black and gold I will be taking one day off next week as I’ll be going camping with uh with the boys but otherwise we keep pressing on here on lockon Boston Bruins part of the locked on podcast Network your favorite team every single day

In this episode of Locked on Bruins, host Ian McLaren dives into three compelling reasons why Bruins fans should be excited about the upcoming season.

From stellar goaltending to promising new additions, there’s a lot to look forward to.

Tune in as Ian breaks down how Jeremy Swayman, the youth movement – led by Matt Poitras, Mason Lohrei, and hopefully Fabian Lysell – and the acquisitions of Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov could propel the Bruins to new heights.

Be sure to subscribe to get all the latest news, insights, and analysis on all things Bruins.

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