The Boston Bruins went on an incredible run last season to the 2019 Stanley Cup Final where they fell to the St Louis Blues in seven games. Optimism is higher compared to the previous two off-seasons, where they were coming off a second-round defeat in 2018 and a first-round defeat in 2017. In Boston, there is always the pressure to compete for championships, and some think Boston likely remains a contender because of the run they just went on, plus the talent they still possess. In my eyes, the Bruins will likely take a step backward in 2019-20 for several reasons.

The Bruins return most of their talent, outside of forward rental Marcus Johansson, who signed a deal with the Buffalo Sabres over the summer. Even with all of the talent coming back, such as Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak, Torey Krug, David Krejci, Charlie Coyle, Tuukka Rask, Jaroslav Halak, Jake DeBrusk, and Zdeno Chara, there are plenty of flaws with this roster. Marchand, Bergeron, Krejci, Rask, Halak, and Chara are all over 30 (Chara is over 40), meaning the risk of injury and productivity regression is much higher, and they all could regress beneath elite or serviceable levels.

David Backes is 35 and has a terrible contract worth $6 million per year for two more years, and he only had 20 points last year in 70 games. Having an immoveable contract for a player that produces such little value has really harnessed the Bruins' ability to sign current restricted free agents in defensemen Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo. McAvoy and Carlo are important top 4 defensemen on the Bruins' blue line, and with both of them still unsigned, not having them for any significant period of the regular season could cost Boston some games.

Rask had an incredible playoff run that nearly ended in a Stanley Cup victory, while Halak was outstanding for much of the regular season. With the aforementioned fact of their age being a factor to consider, I personally think that they will still be a good goaltending tandem in 2019-20, but probably not good enough to make the Bruins a 107 point team that they were in 2018-19.

The fact that the Bruins barely got past the heated rival Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round this past season in seven games is another red flag for me. Toronto had a 3-2 series lead going into Game 6 at home and was arguably the better team for most of the series before Boston pulled off the comeback. With another year of experience for their talented youth, the Leafs should be the better team in the regular season, meaning the Bruins would at least drop from second to the third in the Atlantic Division, as Tampa is still on paper the best team in said division.

Florida, who finished 5th in the Atlantic Division last year, made some nice moves to improve their team this summer by signing goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, defenseman Anton Stralman, and forward Brett Connolly. These additions should boost an already talented Florida team who struggled defensively, in net, and at times with their depth scoring. A fully healthy Vincent Trocheck will also help their scoring production. Florida is going to be putting pressure on Boston this year and I would not be surprised if the Panthers finish ahead of the Bruins in the standings.

While I expect the Bruins to remain a playoff team, I think a combination of factors will lead to their overall regression in the standings this upcoming NHL season.