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

By Bruin Belisle

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)
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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TORONTO, ON – APRIL 16: Charlie McAvoy #73 of the Boston Bruins looks on against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game Three of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Air Canada Centre on April 16, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images) /

2. Are the Bruins’ defensemen good enough to contend?

One of the Bruins’ best offseason moves was signing New Jersey Devils defenseman John Moore to a five-year deal. Moore adds size, toughness and, maybe most importantly, veteran experience to this young defensive core.

The Bruins have a solid top four in Zdeno Chara and Charlie McAvoy and Torey Krug and one of Brandon Carlo/John Moore. Kevan Miller and Matt Grzelcyk are both developing into fine players and Adam “Darth Quaider” McQuaid can be played situationally when then they to crack some skulls.

The Bruins have run into problems in the past with injuries to key defensemen at key times. Brandon Carlo, for example, was injured in both of the past two seasons just before the team entered the playoffs.

McAvoy missed time during the home stretch of last season and Krug was injured in the Bruins’ playoff run, rendering them without one of their better offensive players in what ended up being their last game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Adding John Moore to this line-up adds depth, toughness, grit, whatever cliché word you want to use. It was an important signing, especially if any of these young Bruins defensemen gets hurt at any point.

The Bruins are currently holding on to eight ready-to-play defensemen, so there’s also a chance one of them moves before next season begins to help address other areas of the team.

The Bruins D now has the depth and experience to take this team further in the playoffs. They were good last season and they’ll be better in this one. If you are concerned about Big Z being old, know that he only took three days off after the end of last season and is working harder than ever in the gym, where he’s apparently a monster.

By my count, that’s 450 lbs stacked on the sled in the above video. If telling you about how hard he trains doesn’t convince you that he has another season in him then I’ll simply leave you with this: Chara was great at 40. He’s going to at least be good at 41.

The Bruins also have a slew of young first round draft picks on the defensive side of the puck as well. There’s a good chance we won’t see much of them this season, but moving forward, any of Axel Andersson, Jakub Zboril or Urho Vaakanainen could become household names among Bruins fans.

Looking solely at next season though, the Bruins are in good shape (barring multiple catastrophic injuries at the most inopportune times, of course).

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