Bruins Opening Night lineup projection 1.0: Blue line in great shape

Bruins Opening Night lineup projection 1.0: Blue line in great shape originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Bruins have built a tall, big and strong roster entering the 2024-25 NHL season, and nowhere is that more evident than the blue line.

Here are the listed heights and weights for the seven defensemen projected to be in the mix for an Opening Night roster spot:

• Charlie McAvoy: 6-foot-1, 209 pounds

• Nikita Zadorov: 6-foot-6, 248 pounds

• Brandon Carlo: 6-foot-5, 217 pounds

• Hampus Lindholm: 6-foot-4, 224 pounds

• Mason Lohrei: 6-foot-5, 211 pounds

• Andrew Peeke: 6-foot-3, 214 pounds

• Parker Wotherspoon: 6-foot-1, 195 pounds

“I think any time you can have a defense that’s big but also can skate — I think that’s our biggest strength. We have guys that can really move out there,” Hampus Lindholm told reporters Tuesday.

“I think if you want to be good in this league as a d-man, you have to be mobile and good on your skates. Luckily, we have a lot of strength on our defensive corps right now.”

The Bruins’ impressive combination of size, strength and skating ability on the back end should make them a tougher team to play against, particularly in the playoffs. The addition of Zadorov in free agency added plenty of truculence to the group. He’s not afraid to showcase his toughness, whether it’s dishing out a huge hit, blocking a shot or clearing traffic from the front of the net.

Here’s my first projection for the Bruins’ Opening Night lineup, with the caveat that a lot could change between now and the Oct. 8 opener versus the Florida Panthers.

Forwards

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Also in the mix: Max Jones, Tyler Johnson, Georgii Merkulov, Riley Tufte, among others

The first line of Pavel Zacha, Elias Lindholm and David Pastrnak has a lot of potential. Lindholm has been unavailable over the last few days with an undisclosed injury. Head coach Jim Montgomery told reporters Tuesday that Lindholm is considered “day to day.”

“I don’t think they’ll be any problem finding chemistry with Lindy. He’s very smart. He has a high hockey IQ,” Pastrnak told reporters after practice last Friday.

The rest of the lines could go in a several different directions. We know Brad Marchand and Charlie Coyle will be reunited on the second line, but who will play right wing with them? It’s one of the most fascinating roster battles in camp.

Matthew Poitras played well in the Black and Gold game in Providence last week. Ideally, he would play center, but his ability to score and set up scoring chances for linemates make him a right wing candidate, too.

Top prospects Fabian Lysell and Georgii Merkulov both struggled in the preseason opener versus the Rangers. Lysell had zero points, zero shots and two turnovers. He made almost no impact. Merkulov also was pretty quiet, but he did pick up a secondary assist.

Both players performed much better Tuesday night against the Washington Capitals. Lysell scored a power-play goal, drew two penalties, was much more engaged physically and tallied three scoring chances in 17:34 of ice time. Merkulov played well, too, tallying another assist and two shots. It was a strong bounce-back effort from both players.

“I felt way more smooth out there,” Lysell told reporters postgame Tuesday. “Better timing. Made better decisions with the puck. So, all around a better game.”

Morgan Geekie is another potential candidate for second-line right wing. He plays the kind of hard-nosed, physical game that Marchand and Coyle excel at. Geekie produced a career-high 17 goals last season and could hit the 20-goal mark if given an extended run with Marchand and Coyle in a top-six role.

It’s still early to make strong predictions for this second-line right wing spot. There are too many preseason games and practices left before Opening Night. But Lysell definitely took a positive step with his performance versus the Capitals. The key for him is playing at that level (or close to it) on a consistent basis.

The bottom-six is very much a work in progress. A lot of these players –including Johnny Beecher, Mark Kastelic, Tyler Johnson and Trent Frederic, among others — can all play center or on the wing. This level of versatility is a huge plus for Montgomery. He has many different potential combos to consider as a result. Max Jones could be in the mix, too, but he’s currently out of the lineup with an undisclosed injury.

Defensemen

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While there are still plenty of questions up front, the blue line should be pretty set, barring an injury.

Newcomer Nikita Zadorov should be a good fit with Charlie McAvoy. They’ve had plenty of reps together in practice, but building chemistry between two guys with zero previous experience playing together takes time.

“Just got to make a couple adjustments to play with a defenseman at the level of a skater he is, you have to know what you’re doing in situations to create more opportunities for him to jump up in the rush and make something (happen) offensively, and then stay behind him to help him defensively,” Zadorov told NESN’s Judd Sirott last weekend.

“You go through the reps and you’ll get used to it. Obviously, it takes some time to build some chemistry, but we’re trying. We’re talking a lot about the plays we’re doing and about the system. I think so far, so good.”

The second pairing is self-explanatory. Hampus Lindholm and Brandon Carlo have played a whopping 1382:49 of even-strength ice time together since the Swedish defenseman was acquired by the B’s before the 2022 trade deadline, per Natural Stat Trick. During those minutes, the Bruins have outscored opponents 71-46 with a plus-27 edge in scoring chances.

“We are two big guys who can both skate. I don’t think guys like to play against us because of those two aspects,” Lindholm told reporters Tuesday. “Carlo, you know what you get out of him — he’s a big, strong, sturdy guy. That’s where I can lean on him and try to create even more offense because I always know where he is.”

The Bruins need more offensive production from their blue line this season. Lindholm, in particular, has to play a role in that improvement. He tallied a career-high 53 points in the 2022-23 campaign, but that total dropped to just 26 points last season. Lindholm should be a 40-point player, at least, if he’s healthy.

The third pairing likely will be Mason Lohrei and Andrew Peeke. Lohrei had a good rookie season, including a couple impressive moments in the playoffs where he scored goals and looked very confident with the puck on his stick. He still has plenty of room to grow defensively, but the team should be happy with the trajectory of his development so far. Peeke has exceeded expectations to this point after being a trade deadline acquisition last season. He’s a good penalty killer, plays physical and has an underrated offensive skill set. Peeke looked more comfortable in Boston than he did in Columbus, and he’s still only 26 years old.

Goaltenders

• Joonas Korpisalo

• Brandon Bussi

It goes without saying that Jeremy Swayman will be the No. 1 goalie when he and the Bruins finalize a contract. But since he’s currently unsigned, we’ll leave him out of this projection.

Who would be the best option to start between the pipes if Swayman isn’t available to begin the regular season?

Korpisalo makes the most sense. The Finnish netminder made his NHL debut in 2015 and has started 250 games over nine years. He made a career-high 49 starts for the Senators last season. Korpisalo’s stats were pretty bad for the Senators — 21-26-4, .890 save percentage, 3.27 GAA — but he has been a competent goalie at times in his career, most recently in the 2022-23 campaign when he posted a .916 save percentage between stints with the Blue Jackets and Kings.

Korpisalo also played well Tuesday against the Capitals, stopping all seven shots sent his way in just under 30 minutes of action.

Bussi is an exciting prospect with impressive size and athleticism. He also has zero NHL experience, and it would be asking a lot of him to open the season against the defending Stanley Cup champs on the road. Bussi didn’t play well in the preseason opener versus the New York Rangers. He gave up two goals on 12 shots, as well as a couple juicy rebounds.

There are still five more preseason matchups and several practices left for Bruins goalie coach Bob Essensa and the rest of the staff to evaluate these netminders. But right now, Korpisalo should have the edge in the No. 1 spot while Swayman isn’t signed.