Bruins End Year With Deep Playoff Run; 5 Predictions For 2024-25 Season

The moment we’ve all been waiting for is finally here. Tonight, the Boston Bruins open the 2024-25 regular season.

We spent the entire summer discussing how the 101st season in the franchise’s history will play out. Can the Bruins endure without Linus Ullmark? What do Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov add to the lineup? Do the Bruins have enough depth scoring? Will they win the Stanley Cup?

The time for debate is almost up. So, before the puck drops this evening, I’m locking in my predictions for the season ahead.

A Good, But Not Great Regular Season:

The Bruins expect to make the playoffs this year, and they absolutely should.

However, it won’t be as easy as in years past, as the field of postseason hopefuls within the Eastern Conference is as crowded as ever.

Of course, there are the usual Atlantic Division rivals. The Florida Panthers are the defending champions. The Toronto Maple Leafs are trying to prove they’re legitimate Stanley Cup contenders, and the Tampa Bay Lightning are trying to prove they still are.

But now the Bruins have to worry about a few teams who haven’t been part of the conversation in recent years.

The Detroit Red Wings barely missed out on the playoffs last season and are desperate to make it back into the dance. Then there’s the Ottawa Senators, who should only improve with Linus Ullmark in goal.

Over in the Metro Division, the Washington Capitals made several big acquisitions, the New Jersey Devils expect to bounce back, the New York Islanders will be as feisty as ever, and the Pittsburgh Penguins hope to show they have some gas left in the tank.

In the end, the Bruins will playoffs, just not as a heavy favorite.

They’ll finish the year third in the Atlantic with a respectable 100 points.

Bruins Feel Loss of DeBrusk:

As much attention has been paid to the loss of Ullmark, losing Jake DeBrusk will hurt the Bruins even more this year.

It’s hard to find a single word that encapsulates the entirety of DeBrusk’s seven years with the Bruins.

On the one hand, he never turned into the premiere offensive force many hoped he’d be when the Bruins drafted him. He was a streaky player, and his trade request a few years ago drew even more ire from an already volatile fanbase. But at the same time, when DeBrusk was at his best, he was a legitimate, top-six forward capable of contributing in every situation and a positive source of energy within the locker room.

DeBrusk’s time in Boston came to an end this offseason when he signed a seven-year deal in free agency with the Vancouver Canucks. Constrained by the salary cap, the Bruins opted not to bring in anyone from the outside to take his place as the right wing on the second line and left the spot up to internal competition.

Morgan Geekie will start the year next to Charlie Coyle and Brad Marchand. Although Geekie is a solid NHL player, he doesn’t possess the high offensive ceiling you’d want from a player in that role.

Bruins fans loved to hate Jake DeBrusk while he was here. They’ll miss him now that he’s gone.

Swayman Wins Vezina:

Generating goals will be a glaring issue for the Bruins, but they’ll have no problem stopping them.

The Bruins have always been a defensive-centric team and leaned into that identity even more with their two most significant offseason additions, defenseman Nikita Zadorov and two-way center Elias Lindholm.

Who stands to benefit most from that? None other than the new $66 million man, Jeremy Swayman, of course.

Swayman began to come into his own at the tail of last year and should only get better playing behind what projects to be one of the best defense units in the entire league. As a result, he will win the first Vezina Trophy of his career.

After the summer he put the Bruins through, Swayman can’t afford to do much less than that.

Deep Playoff Run Through Florida:

The road to the postseason won’t be easy for the Bruins. But once they get there, they’ll go on the type of run fans have clamored for since 2019. Every single one of Boston’s offseason moves was made with the intent of building the team to compete in the playoffs, and it will pay off in dividends.

Boston will begin the postseason, matched up against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Bruins will be hard-pressed to keep up with the Bolts but will come out on top in seven games by winning all three games at home and stealing a game on the road in Tampa.

From there, the Bruins will stay in Florida and once again meet the Panthers. The third installment of the Bruins-Panthers rivalry will be the best one yet, as the two teams are much more evenly matched than in years past and play a similar style of hockey.

However, this time, Florida will be fatigued after playing in back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals over the last couple of seasons, allowing Boston to finally exorcise its demons in seven games.

The Bruins’ run will ultimately end at the hands of the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference Final. In what will be a battle between the league’s top two goalies this season, Igor Shesterkin outduels Swayman in six games.

Montgomery Earns Extension:

The Bruins will fall short of their ultimate goal but will still show signs of progress.

As a result, the team’s first move of the 2025 offseason will be signing head coach Jim Montgomery to a multi-year extension.

There’s a lot of pressure on Montgomery entering the season in the final year of his current contract. He has a 164-112-32 overall record as the head coach of the Bruins but doesn’t have the playoff success to match.

Bruins general manager Don Sweeney is on the record, saying the team intends to sign Montgomery to a new contract but has yet to do so and is likely waiting to see how far Montgomery can take them.

Montgomery leading the Bruins on their deepest playoff run in six years should be enough to warrant a new deal.

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