The 2024–25 season is only a few months away, with the Boston Bruins’ training camp opening a week later on September 18 and rookie camp beginning on September 11. Before the season begins, the squad still has a few major tasks to complete, chief among them being the signing of goaltender Jeremy Swaymans’ contract extension, which is still pending as August approaches.
The anticipation for the 2024–25 season is already high, and there is much room for speculation regarding the performance of the Bruins individually and as a team. They had several players enjoy career seasons last season, including Charlie Coyle and Morgan Geekie. A number of players have the ability to excel this season and record career-high numbers in points and/or goals.
Morgan Geekie
As previously said, 2023–24 was Geekie’s strongest season to date. The previous season, 2022–23, saw him record career highs in goals and points with nine goals and 28 points in 69 games for the Seattle Kraken. With the Bruins the previous season, he far outperformed that, tallying 17 goals and 39 points in 76 games. However, I believe he hasn’t yet peaked and will be able to raise his numbers for the third consecutive season.
In 2023–24, Geekie was a versatile player who saw time at center, on the wings, on the third line, and even on the first. He demonstrated his versatility, but there’s a strong likelihood that he will consistently be among the top six players by season’s end, which will enable him to truly establish a rapport with the best players on the Bruins’ roster. As of right now, some really preliminary forecasts see him playing with Brad Marchand and Coyle on the second line. That’s not a horrible mix at all.
It seems extremely realistic, in my opinion, to start the 2024–25 season with the expectation that Geekie will score 20 goals for the first time. With greater minutes and maintaining his health for all 82 games, he is very much within reach of hitting it, considering he was only three games away from doing it the previous season. If he could score between 40 and 50 points, it would also be outstanding.
Not to mention, Geekie will be playing for a new contract in 2024–2025 as he enters the second year of a two-year contract he signed with the Bruins last summer. Even if some athletes falter during a contract year, many others respond to the challenge and produce their best performances. It will be interesting to watch how he handles the increased demands.
Carlo Brandon Carlo Throughout the 2024 Playoffs, Carlo proved to be the Bruins’ most outstanding defenceman. Whether it was his newfound fatherhood or simply a fantastic run of games, he made an impression in each of the team’s 13 postseason games. He finished with four total points, three goals, and a plus-4 rating. While three goals might not seem like much, they represent a considerable amount for a player like Carlo, whose career high in a regular season is six.
Being a stay-at-home defenseman, Carlo’s game will never be particularly noteworthy. Nonetheless, he has grown to be an essential member of the blue line throughout his eight years in Boston. The Bruins are a far poorer club when he is off the ice, and his value to the team only grows.
Although he will never be a major point scorer for the Bruins, it would be amazing to see him score more than 20 points in a season in 2024–2025 for the first time in his career. He only scored 14 points in the previous campaign, but he might easily surpass that with a strong 2024–25 season that builds on his outstanding scoring performance in the playoffs.
Matthew Poitras
Considering that Matthew Poitras is just starting his second season in the NHL, this one may be a bit of a cheat, but there are plenty of reasons to be interested to watch how he develops. His first season had its highs and lows, with the most obvious being that it was cut short in February due to shoulder surgery.
Poitras, who turned 20 in March, is no longer an adolescent when she begins the 2024–25 season. In addition to being bigger and stronger, he has 33 games of experience. He scored five goals and had fifteen points during that span, which is somewhat less than 0.5 points per game for a teenage player in the NHL.
One of the most intriguing parts of the Bruins’ 2023–24 campaign was Poitras, and I believe the buzz around him will only intensify in 2024–25. Last season, he had a few truly outstanding games and performances. More significantly, though, he showed that he could bounce back from poor performances. He will continue to benefit greatly from that mindset as he establishes himself in the NHL. Hopefully, he will make even more progress in his profession in his sophomore season. Fans of the Bruins should be thrilled, in my opinion, if he ends up with about 15 goals and 40 points in 2024–25.
The Stanley Cup Window Remains Open
All things considered, the Bruins will be a club to watch in 2024–25. In addition to youthful up-and-comers Poitras and Mason Lohrei, they have superstars David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy, and Swayman, as well as some fascinating new faces in Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov who address the team’s shortcomings from the previous season. The only thing that could improve this skilled and competitive group is if some unexpected players come up, as several did last season.
Despite several dubious summer selections made by general manager Don Sweeney, this squad still has a chance to win the Stanley Cup. Of course, it will be difficult, especially with the Bruins’ division hosting the defending Stanley Cup champions, but when the puck drops and the 2024–25 season kicks off in October, there will be plenty to be happy about.
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