NHL Season Preview: Boston Bruins

While other sites are previewing "30 teams in 30 days," we decided to take advantage of the extra time off before the start of the season to bring you all 30 previews over the next three weeks. We're counting down in reverse order of finish from last season in each conference every weekday from now until October 3. Look for an Eastern Conference preview every morning and a Western Conference preview every afternoon. Click here to read them all.

Who's In: Michael Ryder, RW (UFA, Mon); Blake Wheeler, RW (UFA, Phx)

Who's Out: Alex Auld, G (UFA, Ott); Glen Metropolit, F (UFA, Phi); Glen Murray, RW (buyout)

What's Changed: Not at ton. For the first time in a while, the Bruins will have quite a bit of stability on the roster, with the most obvious change being that Ryder will slip into a scoring-line role on the right wing where Murray played last season.

A bigger boost to the offense, however, will come from a healthy Patrice Bergeron (pictured). He missed all but 10 games last season after taking a blindside hit from Philadelphia's Randy Jones, but is a solid 70-point man if he can make it back into the lineup full time. (Bergeron impressed already in preseason, racking up four points in the Bruins' first exhibition game against Montreal on Monday night.)

Elsewhere up front, there should be some solid progression from within for players like David Krejci, Milan Lucic and Vladimir Sobotka, who may not be household names but are ready for more minutes than they played as rookies last season.
Improvement from that trio, and a bounce back season from Ryder, will go a long way toward Boston scoring some more goals. The Bruins were 25th in the league last season in the category, and if there's any movement up the standings, it'll because they find the back of the net more often.

The blueline, too, will be remarkably unchanged - and that's a good thing. Expect captain Zdeno Chara and Dennis Wideman to get many of the tough assignemnts, with a solid cast that includes Aaron Ward, Mark Stuart, Andrew Alberts (who played just 35 games last season due to injury) and Andrew Ference filling in the gaps.

Also back from injury is netminder Manny Fernandez, who could battle Tim Thomas for the starter's role if he wobbles.

Who's On The Hook: Thomas is going to be a real key. A 34-year-old veteran of just 165 career games played, he had a career year last season en route to being named to the all-star team, and any backslide could prove troublesome.

The good news is that coach Claude Julien's stultifying defensive system isn't going anywhere, which makes life easy for the netminder, whoever it is. Fernandez has had a ton of time off, however, and will need to reprove himself should Thomas falter.

Also expected to be big-time contributers are Chara and Marc Savard, who together make up more than 20 per cent of the team's salary base and need to be on for the Bruins to win.

Where They'll Finish: They're an Eastern Conference bubble team again, and in that role, they'll have plenty of company. Boston's in a tough division, where outside of Toronto, every team is playoff worthy, and they play a defense-first style that relies heavily on players like Chara remaining healthy.

Anywhere from sixth to 10th in the conference seems reasonable, with an outside shot at a division title is Montreal slips up unexpectedly.

Blogs To Watch: Wicked Bruins Fan, Bruins Blog

NHL Preview 2008

Washington Capitals
Alex Ovechkin will need to be a valuable franchise asset on and off the ice to get the season going for the Capitals.

Bruce Bennett, Getty Images

Tampa Bay Lightning
The Lighting have Barry Melrose as their coach, the No. 1 pick from the summer's entry draft, and countless other boosts to their franchise.

Doug Benc, Getty Images

Carolina Hurricanes
Injuries have plagued this team last season and it looks like the story will be the same this season. The Hurricanes luck will have to improve for them to have a successful season.

Gerry Broome, AP

Atlanta Thrashers
Atlanta finished the 2007-08 season 22nd in the league in goals scored and also gave up the most goals in the NHL. Obviously, things have to change for this struggling team.

Dave Reginek, Getty Images

Florida Panthers
Armed with a new coach, the Panthers will have to improve from last season, as they allowed the second-most shots on goal and finished 20th in goals scored.

Eliot J. Schechter, Getty Images

Buffalo Sabres
The Sabres have missed the playoffs the last two seasons despite being in the Conference Finals for two straight years prior, the biggest challenge for this team is re-building the chemistry that they had a few years ago.

Dave Reginek, Getty Images

Montreal Canadiens
The Canadiens are hoping that a couple minor tweaks and the experience of last year's run will combine to make this year's team all the more dangerous.

Richard Wolowicz, Getty Images

Boston Bruins
A big boost for this team will be a healthy Patrice Bergeron..

Andre Ringuette, Getty Images

Toronto Maple Leafs
If they can get a few goals to go in, Toronto is probably not nearly as bad as advertised. Making the playoffs is quite unlikely, but they certainly have bad company in the Eastern Conference.

Dave Sandford, Getty Images

Ottowa Senators
The Senators have a big question mark at defense and Jason Smith is wearing the target on his back.

Bjorn Larsson Rosvall, SCANPIX / AP