Bruins Opening Night lineup projection 2.0: Roster coming into focus

Bruins Opening Night lineup projection 2.0: Roster coming into focus originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

There’s still time, but right now, it looks like the Boston Bruins might go into the 2024-25 NHL regular season without one of their best players — starting goalie Jeremy Swayman.

Swayman remains unsigned with Opening Night scheduled for Oct. 8 — when the B’s play the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on the road.

Swayman is the only restricted free agent left in the league, and the team suggested earlier this week that it made a $64 million offer to the 25-year-old netminder. Swayman’s agent, Lewis Gross, had a strong response to those comments.

It’s not a great situation for either side, but soon there will be real games to play, and the players have to focus on that.

There are still some question marks about a few spots in the lineup, and those should be sorted out over the next few days when the Bruins wrap up their preseason schedule with games against the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday (in Quebec City) and at the Washington Capitals on Saturday.

Here’s my second lineup projection for the Bruins’ Opening Night roster.

Forwards

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Also in the mix: Max Jones, Cole Koepke

The first line is pretty straightforward. David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha have tremendous chemistry, and Elias Lindholm should make a seamless transition to this line with his impressive two-way skill set. Lindholm will be an all-situations player for head coach Jim Montgomery.

“Well, Elias, I mean, his 200-foot game is remarkable,” Bruins president Cam Neely said at a press conference earlier this week. “I mean, I don’t want to put him at the Patrice (Bergeron) category, but he’s, you know, Patrice-like.”

Lindholm’s goal scoring declined to 15 tallies in 75 games between the Canucks and Flames last season. That number should go up — and maybe by a substantial amount — if he plays alongside Pastrnak and Zacha full time this season. He could potentially hit the 30-goal mark, if healthy.

The second-line right wing competition has been a popular storyline over the last few weeks. It doesn’t appear Fabian Lysell is going to start the season there. After all, he was among the cuts made from the camp roster last Sunday. Morgan Geekie is the most likely — and probably best — candidate right now. He played in this spot Tuesday against the Philadelphia Flyers and the results were strong. The B’s had a 15-7 edge in shot attempts, a 9-4 advantage in scoring chances and a 4-2 lead in shots on net in the 9:49 of 5-on-5 ice time that Geekie played with Coyle, per Natural Stat Trick.

Geekie played 108:36 with Marchand and 51:43 with Coyle at 5-on-5 last season. So even though Geekie’s tough, two-way skill set makes him a good fit with these two veterans, their chemistry remains a work in progress. This trio would make a dependable line capable of taking on and winning tough defensive assignments and generating puck possession.

The bottom six is still a work in progress. Matthew Poitras could play center or wing, but his play in camp and the preseason has been encouraging, especially after he missed most of his rookie season due to shoulder surgery. Tyler Johnson has played well enough to earn a regular season contract after coming to camp on a PTO. He’s an experienced (two Stanley Cup titles) and versatile forward who could fill several different roles for this team, including a spot on the power play.

It shouldn’t take long for Mark Kastelic to become a fan favorite. He plays a physical style of hockey and isn’t afraid to get involved in post-whistle scrums with opponents. He’s also very good on faceoffs. The Bruins ranked 21st in faceoff win percentage last season after being the No. 2 team the year before.

The additions of Lindholm (57.3 percent last season) and Kastelic (54.3 percent last season) should make the Bruins much better in the faceoff dot this year.

Defensemen

Extra: Parker Wotherspoon

The blue line has been set for a while now.

Zadorov will start with McAvoy, the Lindholm-Carlo pairing will remain intact for a third consecutive season, and Lohrei will be paired with Peeke. Wotherspoon was a nice surprise last season and should get chances to earn more ice time throughout the regular season.

Every player in this group is 6-foot-1 or taller and only one, Wotherspoon, weighs less than 200 pounds. Boston’s blue line is not going to be fun to play against this season.

“Our back end is big, and they got some beef to them, which I think bodes well in the playoffs,” Neely said Monday. “I mean, you got to get to the playoffs, but I think we’re built a little bit stronger for the playoffs.”

Goaltenders

Joonas Korpisalo
Brandon Bussi

Korpisalo has played well in camp and the preseason, which is very encouraging for the Bruins because he’s going to be the No. 1 goalie for as long as Jeremy Swayman remains unsigned.

In fact, Montgomery revealed earlier this week that Korpisalo would start the opener even if Swayman re-signed before Oct. 8. Korpisalo has a .936 save percentage and a 1.91 GAA in two preseason appearances. He should get more ice time in one of the final two matchups. Korpisalo was awful for the Senators last season, but he has shown the ability to be a competent goalie in the past (most recently in 2022-23), and he does have 250 starts in his career. He’s got plenty of experience.

Bussi didn’t have the best start to camp and the preseason, but he played fantastic in Tuesday’s win over the Flyers, including a breakaway save. He stopped 13 of the 14 shots he faced.

The Bruins claimed goalie Jiri Patera off waivers from the Canucks on Wednesday. It’s unclear how he might fit into their goalie depth chart, but right now, Korpisalo and Bussi are the team’s two-best options at the position as the regular season nears.

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