Boston Bruins: 5 burning questions heading into 2018-19 season

Boston Bruins: 5 burning questions heading into the 2018-19 season

BOSTON, MA - APRIL 21: Boston's tip line of Boston Bruins center Patrice Bergeron (37), Boston Bruins right wing David Pastrnak (88) and Boston Bruins left wing Brad Marchand (63) skate out for a face off during Game 5 of the First Round for the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs between the Boston Bruins and the Toronto Maple Leafs on April 21, 2018, at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. The Maple Leafs defeated the Bruins 4-3. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

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BOSTON, MA – MAY 2: Torey Krug #47, David Pastrnak #88, Brad Marchand #63 and Patrice Bergeron #37 of the Boston Bruins celebrate the goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game Three of the Eastern Conference Second Round during the 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the TD Garden on May 2, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Steve Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images) /

3. Can the Bruins’ top line replicate what it did last year?

This ground won’t replicate its performance last year; they’ll improve upon it. If Marchand, Bergeron and Pastrnak stay healthy this season, the top line in hockey is only going to get better.

Let’s start with the most shocking stat. David Pastrnak is only 22 years old. Though it feels as though he’s been dominating the league for the better part of a decade, he’s only just entering his fifth season.

He’s also improving every season. Pastrnak went from 34 goals and 36 assists in his breakout 2016-17 campaign to 35 goals and 45 assists last year. At 22, he’s still coming into his prime. There’s nothing stopping this kid from scoring 40 this year.

Speaking of potential 40-goal scorers, Brad Marchand is one of the best players in the NHL. Whether you like him or not, there’s no longer any denying this. He finished last season 13th in the NHL in points (85) despite only playing in 68 games, which was 10 fewer games than 10 of the players ahead of him.

The only players with a higher points per game average than Marchand (1.25) were Evgeni Malkin (1.26), Nathan MacKinnon (1.31) and the lord and savior himself, Connor McDavid (1.32). Now that Brad Marchand is definitely done with all the extra-curricular stuff and focused solely on hockey, there’s no stopping him from improving upon his already incredible season.

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We’ve gone five paragraphs in this section without even mentioning the Bruins’ best player, Patrice Bergeron. The should-have-been-Selke winner had an incredible season last year and was going to be in the conversation for the Hart Trophy before an injury took him out for most of the month of March.

Bergeron had one of, if not his best season in 2017-18, scoring 30 goals and adding 33 assists in only 64 games. He remains the games best defensive forward and at 33, there’s no sign of him slowing down yet.

With Pastrnak and Marchand both poised for big seasons, look for Bergy to be right there with them on the points leaderboard. There’s no doubt this line is going to do big things once again in 2018-19.

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