Haggs: Dark Days Are Directly Ahead For the Boston Bruins | BHN+

At this point, things are looking pretty darn dire for the Boston Bruins to start the 2022-23 NHL season for a potpourri of crappy reasons.

There is still no certainty at all that 36-year-old captain Patrice Bergeron is coming back for next season as he’s remained tight-lipped about his NHL playing plans for the coming year and beyond. The more the silence lingers on in the postseason the more it feels like Bergeron may be leaning toward retirement with rough waters ahead for Boston.

The Bruins are also going to be missing a number of high impact players for the first few months to start next season as well. We already knew Brad Marchand would be out until Thanksgiving-time after getting surgery done for both of his hips a couple of weeks ago, and that Matt Grzelcyk wouldn’t be ready to begin next season due to right shoulder surgery as well.

Grzelcyk went under the knife on Friday and will be out until early November following the shoulder stabilization procedure. The surprise surgery was for perennial Norris Trophy candidate Charlie McAvoy, a left shoulder arthroscopic stabilization procedure done at Mass General Hospital that’s also going to be a six-month recovery timetable keeping Boston’s No. 1 defenseman out until early December.

Add it all up and the Boston Bruins will essentially be missing Marchand and McAvoy, arguably their two best players, for the first two months of next season.

Gulp.