Hilarious to think that teams with losing cultures like Ottawa, Buffalo and Detroit are going to finish ahead of Boston. The Bruins are clearly better then last year when fully healthy with Krejci and Lindholm and they were light years ahead of those teams. The Bruins may get off to a semi slow start but when healthy they are going to be right up their with TB, Florida and TO, there is a considerable gap between the top 4 and the rest.
1. Well Marchand is 34 and is going to miss a few months to injury. Missing your top point-getter from last year is no doubt going to hurt, and missing him for that long and hoping at his age that he can rebound quickly and get in mid-season form by December is optimistic.
2. Then, you're missing your #1 defense for a few months as well. Ask Montreal how it felt to lose their #1 defense last year. I know it won't be for a full season, but losing a #1D is a massive blow, and your right side on defense looks incredibly shallow without him. You also had offseason surgeries to Grzelcyk and Reilly, further hampering the defense to start the year.
3. Finally, you look at your top two centers: 37 years old and 36 years old, one of whom didn't even play in the league last season. They're fantastic players, but they are older and I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a decline from either of them, if not both of them.
...These are the three factors I'm looking at when I make a "bold" prediction that Boston falls to 7th in the division. It is a known rule of thumb in the NHL that your position by American Thanksgiving is almost always representative of whether or not you'll make the playoffs, with a few exceptions. I don't think Boston is in a playoff spot by American Thanksgiving, so can they be an exception? Personally, with the age of their top 6 centers and injuries to key players, I don't think they will be an exception to that rule, and won't be able to catch the rest of the pack.
Of course I could easily be wrong, this is just a prediction and just for fun, so don't let it bother you too much.