With training camp on the horizon, we’re taking a look ahead at the 2024-25 NHL calendar to highlight matchups to watch this coming season.

The Boston Bruins saw a handful of key players leave the club in free agency this summer, and when the 2024-25 season rolls around, fans won’t have to wait too long to see the former Bruins with their new teams.

After looking at October’s slate, here are some matchups to watch for the month of November, with each marking a return to TD Garden for several key players.

Nov. 9 vs. Ottawa Senators

I can see the social media fan edits now. After three seasons of the Linus Ullmark-Jeremy Swayman tandem in Boston, Nov. 9 will mark the first time Boston and Ottawa – Ullmark’s new team – face each other since the Bruins traded Ullmark on June 24.

We won’t know each team’s goalie rotation schedule this far in advance, but it would be shocking if the two former teammates aren’t facing each other in net for this one.

It will also be the first matchup for the two Senators players that were part of the return for Ullmark: Joonas Korpisalo and Mark Kastelic. Of course, if Swayman is playing then Korpisalo wouldn’t be on the ice, but Kastelic is expected to earn a bottom-six role and therefore would be on the ice to face his former team as well.

It should be an emotional night for players on both sides, which should lend to high-energy action when the puck drops.

Nov. 26 vs. Vancouver Canucks

Boston’s first matchup against the Canucks will serve as a potential return for not just one, but three former Bruins players.

Most notably, after seven up-and-down seasons in Boston, Jake DeBrusk signed a seven-year, $38.5 million contract with Vancouver when free agency opened on July 1. The move ended months-worth of speculation surrounding whether or not the 27-year-old forward would re-sign with the team that drafted him 14th overall in 2015.

DeBrusk had a down year in terms of production, scoring just 40 points in 80 games, but he turned it back up in the playoffs to lead the Bruins with 11 points in 13 games. Now DeBrusk will get a fresh start with the reigning Pacific Division champions.

The Canucks also signed Danton Heinen and Derek Forbort to short-term contracts. The Bruins originally selected Heinen in the fourth-round of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, and the forward worked his way onto the Bruins roster in a full-time capacity by 2017-18. He was dealt at the 2020 Trade Deadline, but returned to Boston last offseason on a Professional Tryout Agreement (PTO).

After spending a couple months in PTO purgatory, Heinen earned a one-year, minimum salary contract by the end of October and turned in one of the most cost-productive seasons in the league, scoring 36 points in 74 games. Rather than run it back with the team he regained form with, Heinen, a Langley, B.C. native, is now with his hometown team looking to make a deep playoff run.

Forbort, meanwhile, spent three seasons in Boston as a shutdown, third-pairing defenseman. A combination of injuries and declining play diminished his impact as time went on, but the 32-year-old will get recognized for his contributions alongside DeBrusk and Heinen.

Nov. 29 vs. Pittsburgh Penguins

Three days after the Vancouver visit, another longtime Bruin will make his return to TD Garden.

Matt Grzelcyk, the Charlestown native who had spent the first 30 years of his life living and playing in Boston, signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins this offseason. He is reunited with David Quinn, his former coach at Boston University who joined the Penguins coaching staff following head coaching stints with the New York Rangers and San Jose Sharks.

Grzelcyk never wanted to leave Boston; his father, John, has worked in the TD Garden ‘bull gang’ for more than 50 years. However, after another postseason in which he fell out of the lineup entirely, the Bruins are opting for a different look on the back end, especially with the emergence of Mason Lohrei.

Of all the players returning to face their former team for the first time in November, Grzelcyk will probably be hit the hardest on the emotional side, and if there’s any pregame ceremony or a ‘Welcome Back’ video during the first media timeout, it will be must-watch.