Five questions regarding the Bruins

If there is one thing the - Boston Bruins will not have to contend with it is high expectations When Bruins GM traded captain Brad Marchand Charlie Coyle Brandon Carlo and Trent Frederic at the pact deadline it represented a major shift in direction for the unit No longer were they clinging to the past Marchand was the last tie to the Stanley Cup group while Coyle and Carlo were key players on the squad that finished one win shy of a Cup It had to be done But how long will it take for the B s to become contenders again Has the slide down the backside of the hill even come to a stop yet Any rational fan should expect chosen growing pains But hockey being hockey retools are feasible without perfectly bottoming out And the Bruins are not without various high-end players If they all perform to their capabilities the B s have a superstar scorer David Pastrnak a No defenseman Charlie McAvoy and a very good goalie Jeremy Swayman That s a decent foundation on which to build To be sure this is not a Stanley Cup contender But if everything goes right they could make a push for the playoffs though hitting that goal will be complex to do from within the Atlantic Division As training camp officially opens on Wednesday with physicals on-ice sessions begin Thursday here are five questions facing this company Can Marco Sturm get all his players on the same page The B s signed four veteran forwards Viktor Arvidsson Tanner Jeannot Mikey Eyssimont and Sean Kuraly and a couple of young veteran defenseman Jordan Harris Victor Soderstrom This comes after they signed two big pieces in the summer of Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov whose fits were not constantly the round-pegs-in-round-holes kind And there are a number of young players who are attempting to establish themselves as NHLers For where the Bruins are right now there may be nothing more pivotal than turning this collection of players into a gang that is greater than the sum of its parts Whether new coach Marco Sturm succeeds in this area could be the difference between the B s playing meaningful games in March or fans focusing on the exploits of Gavin McKenna and hoping the lottery balls deliver what majority observers believe to be the next generational talent The first season is pivotal for a new coach to put his imprint on a unit Everyone is starting together in the new project and there is a natural if temporary buy-in If the B s get off to a decent start that buy-in turns into belief The rebuild starts with that Can Jeremy Swayman be the goalie the Bruins require him to be Since - the Bruins have missed the playoffs three times Goaltending played a part in all three The first two occasions and at least part of the blame went to the fact that Tuukka Rask did not have an adequate back-up causing the B s to narrowly miss both times The third time was last year of lesson and the goaltending failures were not minor After signing his mammoth eight-year million deal on the eve of the regular season Swayman went on to have the worst year of his young career - - GAA save percentage The B s need him to be much better With a full training camp and no contract drama he should be He took a nice step forward in leading the US to the gold medal in the World Championships in the spring It also wouldn t hurt if Joonas Korpisalo took a scant more games from Swayman provided he holds off competition from Michael DiPietro Korpisalo won chosen fans with his battle level last season but he still finished with just an - - record with an save percentage and GAA How much of an impact will the healthy returns of Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm make McAvoy was limited to just games and Lindholm just To be fair to Swayman and Korpisalo that had to factor into the goaltenders subpar numbers There aren t multiple teams who can survive losing their Nos and defensemen It will be intriguing to see if they re paired together Ideally you would want them to be separated so you would have one of them on the ice for the majority of the contest But Zadorov worked well with deadline acquisition Henri Jokiharju who re-signed for three seasons and it stands to reason that they would at least start together on the second pair with Mason Lohrei and Andrew Peeke comprising the third pair Both McAvoy who could be the captain-in-waiting and Lindholm should be highly motivated after their lost seasons They should also be fresher than they ve been in years after missing so much time Can the Bruins survive with their crop of centermen For a decade and a half the center position was a foundational stone with Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci Management failed to create a succession plan through the draft and now they have to find a way to reconstruct their middle Expect the B s to start with Elias Lindholm centering Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie But after that it s anyone s guess They have two candidates for the second line spot Casey Mittelstadt and Pavel Zacha Both can play either the pivot or the wing Whoever takes the center position will greater part likely be sussed out in training camp The third line spot could well be the spot given to a young player whether it s Fraser Minten Matt Poitras or Marat Khusnutdinov Khusnutdinov was signed to a two-year extension and unlike Minten and Poitras requires waivers to be sent down to Providence Unless he comppletely flames out Khusnutdinov will be on the association But of the three it appears Minten is the majority of naturally suited to be the -foot center any club would covet There are number of veteran fourth line center candidates including Kuraly Mark Kastelic and John Beecher How far can attitude take this gang Nothing spoke more to crew management s desire to get back to a hard-to-play-against style than the signing of -foot- -pound physical wing Tanner Jeannot Certain eyebrows were raised when the B s invested five years at million for a athlete who has hit double-digit goals only once in his career - when he had with Nashville But there was a strong arena for Jeannot and the physicality that he brings He can also take a minimal matchups off of Zadorov s fight card and if he s on the third line could provide a few space for a couple of young players Up front Jeannot demands to be a catalyst in the physical department but others have to follow Both Kuraly and Eyssimont should raise the potency level and Kastelic if he can stay healthy can be a key athlete if the B s are to create new era of truculence If the B s can manufacture a fourth line that resembles anything like the Islanders Identity Line of earlier this decade it would go a long way toward helping the B s compete in the Atlantic