The Boston Bruins overachieved by a wide margin in the 2023-24 season. The team aimed to keep the fans happy by signing some aging veterans to compete for a playoff spot. The Bruins had some well-needed cap relief on the horizon and knew they could sign some big fish in the 2024 offseason.
The plan worked, as their salary cap space allowed them to sign Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov. However, Boston didn’t expect was their run through the regular season. The Bruins had some strong players, and they expect some more breakout candidates in the 2024-25 season.
The Bruins were coming off the best statistical regular season in 2022-23 but were upset by the Florida Panthers in Round 1 of the postseason. Their two franchise pillars, Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci retired, so they were left to plug gaping holes at the center position.
However, the team found a way to step up in their absence and hold first place in the Atlantic Division for most of the season. The Panthers eventually took the top spot in the season’s dying moments, but the Bruins were set up to play their rival Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round.
The Bruins beat the Maple Leafs in seven games, thanks to two players we’ll mention on this list. They fell short to the Panthers again in the second round, but the future looked much brighter than it did when Bergeron and Krejci retired.
The Bruins now hope that last postseason’s surprising stars will continue their growth this upcoming season.
Mason Lohrei played like a No. 1 defenseman
The one thing the Bruins didn’t have to worry about last season was their defensemen. They felt comfortable with a core of Charlie McAvoy, Brandon Carlo, Hampus Lindholm, Matt Grzelcyk, and various depth pieces. Grzelcyk had been a good player for years for Boston, but he was undersized and had trouble staying healthy. The Bruins didn’t expect the early emergence of 2020 second-round draft pick Mason Lohrei.
Lohrei made his Bruins debut during the regular season, tallying four goals and nine assists over 41 games. He didn’t hurt the team when he was out there, but some parts of his game didn’t fit the Bruins’ system. Boston decided to send him back to the American Hockey League for growth purposes after he was a healthy scratch for a few games.
Most people expected Lohrei to spend the rest of the year in Providence and re-emerge in 2024-25. However, when Matt Gryzleck and Derek Forbort faltered in Games 1 and 2 of the postseason, Lohrei returned to the lineup. Lohrei’s confidence stood out, as he didn’t look like a player in his first NHL postseason game. The superb play continued for the remainder of the series, and he stayed in the lineup for all six games in the Panthers.
There’s a good chance that Lohrei will never ride the buses in Providence again. He will get a sheltered spot on the third defense pairing after the signing of Zadorov, but it may not be long before he’s riding shotgun with McAvoy on the first pair. It’s hard to believe, but the Bruins have another defenseman who looks like he will be a franchise player.
Trent Frederic’s continued growth
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The Bruins were in a difficult spot when Bergeron and Krejci retired. They had Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha left to fill their shoes on the top two lines. The consensus was they wouldn’t be able to do it, and the front office likely felt the same. The pair shone, but the front office signed Lindholm in the offseason to offset some of their responsibilities.
A lot of the load was taken off their shoulders because of the emergence of Trent Frederic as a valuable third-line center. The narrative for Frederic was that he was a slow center destined for life as a fourth-line winger. He didn’t mind dropping the gloves and mixing it up, but his offensive play didn’t have a high ceiling.
Frederic proved the doubters wrong by recording a new career-high with 40 points in 82 games last season. The Lindholm signing makes it seem like Coyle and Zacha will shift down to have those three centers. However, that may not be the case. It seems more likely that Zacha will shift to the wing with Lindholm and David Pastrnak. That will open up Frederic to keep his third-line role and continue growing as a checking-line center.
If the Bruins overachieve again in the 2024-25 season, they’ll need Trent Frederic and Mason Lohrei’s games to explode.
