The Boston Bruins have a ton of promising players and are looking to build off a solid foundation that they built last season. The sky is the limit for this years team.
The Boston Bruins season ended in disappointing fashion back in May. The Tampa Bay Lightning advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals while the Bruins went home.
The Bruins weren’t expected to even be in the playoffs. Since they were filled with young talent, last season was supposed to be a rebuilding year, but players exceeded expectations and the Bruins had a great season.
Now expectations are rather high in Boston. After such a great season, fans are expecting to make it back to the playoffs and hopefully make it to the Stanley Cup Finals.
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With that in mind let’s make some bold predictions for the Bruins this season.
Tuukka Rask will win the Vezina
Tuukka Rask is coming off a mediocre season. He started off awful and ended up rather well.
There is no doubt that the Boston Bruins success depends on Rask’s play. If Rask is letting up easy goals the Bruins can’t win.
Last season Rask ended up with a 34-14-5 record with a 2.36 goals against average and a .917 save percentage. Rask had a stretch of great play and came up big in some major moments.
This season Rask will need to have a much more consistent effort. He can’t be giving up easy goals and needs to win games for the Bruins.
Rask won the 2013-2014 Vezina trophy and I think he could win it again this season. Rask will need to bring his save percentage closer to .930 and a GAA closer to 2.
If Tuukka Rask can perform this well it will set the Bruins up for a lot of success.
Brad Marchand will win the Hart
Brad Marchand is one of the best goal scorers in the league. He continues to top the Boston Bruins stat sheet and there are no signs of him stopping. I think Marchand will continue to score at an amazing pace.
Marchand is such a quick skater and can dangle his way through any defenseman. He scores goals that other players wish they could.
Marchand has scored 85 points in two straight seasons. If he does want to win the Hart Trophy he needs to score a bit more. Taylor Hall won the award last year and he had 93 points.
A key for Marchand will be staying on the ice. Marchand doesn’t have issues staying healthy, he just has issues being an idiot. Sometimes Marchand makes stupid decisions like spearing players and delivering dirty hits.
If Marchand wants to win the Hart he needs to stay out of trouble. I think I have a better chance of making the Bruins. You might as well pencil in Marchand for at least one 5 game suspension.
This season should be the year that Brad Marchand proves that he is one of the best players in the NHL.
Ryan Donato will win the Calder
Ryan Donato didn’t get the opportunity that Charlie McAvoy got when he first signed with the team, but Donato proved that he has the skills to be a great player.
Donato looks like he could become an amazing scorer. He is such a smart player and can make some magic in the offensive zone.
Donato played 12 games in the regular season and had 5 goals and 4 assists.
This season I think Donato will prove to the hockey world that just like McAvoy he is here to stay. Donato should be on the Bruins opening day roster and I think he will succeed this season.
This is probably my boldest prediction because Donato would have to be close to one of the Bruins top scorers. Donato will have plenty of assists, but he will need to score a ton of goals.
The Bruins should have a great season, but it will be interesting to see who are the team’s top performers. Hopefully at least one of these predictions ends up happening.