Well, that didn’t take long.

The season hasn’t even started yet and I’m already confused by general manager Peter Chiarelli and the Boston Bruins. Maybe it’s a new autumn tradition, like pumpkin coffee, muffins, beer, and literally anything else you think up. Or maybe it’s absolutely infuriating if you’ve watched the preseason and/or followed this club closely for the past two years.

Kicking it all off with some positivity, it appears that the third line right winger job has been decidedly won by Reilly Smith, an admittedly forgettable chip in the blockbuster Tyler Seguin for Loui Eriksson swap.

Skating with B’s center Chris Kelly throughout the preseason, the 22-year-old Smith tallied three assists and a plus-one rating in five contests this month, undoubtedly earning his spot to skate with Kelly and Swedish import Carl Soderberg.

It also doesn’t hurt that Smith, who had three goals and nine points in 37 games with the Dallas Stars last season, comes to the big league Bruins with a modest $900,000 hit against the club’s cap. In essence, Smith’s cheap, has experience and youth on his side, and most importantly developed some early chemistry with his projected linemates in a role that suits him.

That, in case you can’t tell, has been the theme of the Bruins’ preseason.

Tight against the cap in 2013-14, with $1.475 million in cap space following the expected/imminent placement of Marc Savard (concussion symptoms) and his $4.083 million cap hit onto the club’s long-term injury reserve, it’s been a desire to keep the Bruins out of an undeniable danger zone from a cap standpoint from Chiarelli that’s kept a talent like Niklas Svedberg in Providence.

That’s something that’s pissed a whole lot of B’s fans off, apparently.

Following a highly successful 2012-13 season with the P-Bruins, winning 37 of 48 games played and posting a .925 save percentage in the process, Svedberg’s solid preseason featuring two wins and 38 saves on 41 shots seemingly told us that yes, he’s ready for a mild dip into NHL waters. But with a $1 million cap hit compared to Chad Johnson’s $600,000 ultimately seemed to make the difference when it came to manning the pipes for 20 or so games for the Black-and-Gold in 2013-14.

And while I run the risk of irritating Sweden and goalie enthusiasts everywhere, it’s the right call.

When Tuukka Rask was signed to that mega-deal worth $56 million over the next eight years, it was with the intention to make the 26-year-old Rask the uncontested man in net for the Bruins. The second highest paid player on the roster next to captain Zdeno Chara, Rask is no longer in the situation where he’s a platoon guy for Claude Julien. No longer a ‘1B’ to Tim Thomas, Rask’s slated to shoulder the bulk of the Bruins’ goaltending load -- say anywhere from 55 to 65 games -- and that’s something that leaves Svedberg with little room to grow in 2013-14. At the end of the day, what’s better for the Bruins’ long term plans: Letting Svedberg ride the pine at the NHL level for most of the year or allowing him to continue to hone his craft at the North American level with an ever improving Providence squad? The answer is clearly the latter.

Also, let’s not throw Johnson to the wolves and act like he’s a garbage goaltender.

Sure, the 27-year-old was shaky in his Bruin debut (surrendering three goals on just eight shots), but you didn’t hear those same cries of agony from Boston fans after he put together an 18-save shutout against the Red Wings some five days later, now did you? And wasn’t it kind of obvious that the B’s were going cheap for their backup when they let Anton Khudobin walk to Carolina because he wanted $800,000 to remain with the B’s organization? Above all else, though, what does Johnson have to give him the edge over Svedberg in the Bruins’ eyes? NHL experience. Ten games of it, in fact. And in his most recent NHL tenure, a successful four-game stint with the Phoenix Coyotes in 2013, Johnson wowed to the tune of a .954 save percentage.

He’s not a world beater, but he slouch either, and seems more than adequate for the role of spot starter for say, 15 to 20 times in 2013-14.

The $400,000 in savings is merely a bonus, really.

It’s the same rationale that can be applied to the Ryan Spooner situation.

The club’s budding playmaking wizard returns to Providence despite a preseason run featuring a goal and four assists in just six preseason games, and why exactly? Well, it’s clear that Spooner is a top-tier talent that gains little from logging bottom-six minutes on the wing of a checking line. Despite finishing with 17 goals and 57 points in just 59 games during his first full season in the American Hockey League, there’s no doubt that top-line minutes with Providence will only continue to make Spooner a stronger player down the road. And that’s where Spooner’s best utilized -- in the future.

I’ve personally found the National Hockey League to be an increasingly ‘younger’ league. You can by all means rattle off a plethora of players that go right from juniors or half a season in the A to the NHL off the top of your head in two minutes flat. It’s great for the game’s growth, absolutely, but it’s also put this emphasis on developing your talent at a breakneck speed.

In Boston, that’s simply not necessary.

Considering top talents such as Seguin and Dougie Hamilton to be the exceptions to the rule, the Bruins typically love to move their young guns along at a slow pace, and with guys like Marchand, Krejci, and Bartkowski morphing themselves into excellent, sound players under the guidance of multiple AHL years, and talents such as Svedberg and Spooner (along with countless others) are not going to be any different.

These move, in my opinion, make sense.

But like most of you, the Bruins did lose me at some point this past weekend.

Now, if we were to point out a definitive position of strength for the Bruins (besides center), where would we look? Probably towards their defense, which enters the 2013-14 campaign with seven viable candidates battling for just six spots in the lineup. Chara and defensemen Johnny Boychuk seem to set the table as your top pairing, while the chemistry between Torey Krug and Adam McQuaid, though sometimes lacking, is noticeable over the course of a 60-minute game. Then there’s the defense-first style of Dennis Seidenberg, which at times served as a protective blanket for youngsters such as Matt Bartkowski and Hamilton last season.

That’s seven. But the Bruins weren’t satisfied with just seven, as they also decided to hang on to Kevan Miller for the start of the year, leaving them with a 23-man roster featuring eight d-men. Why eight? Why in the world does a team loaded on the point need eight defensemen to begin the year?

With all due respect to Miller, who sticks with the Bruins after a rough-and-tough preseason including nine hits, eight blocked shots, and seven penalty minutes in four games, he’s not necessarily going to see ice time unless two injuries strike the Bruins’ blue-line from the get go. At $550,000, he’s not breaking the bank, but it’s certainly an odd move, considering his style of play perhaps matches that of McQuaid, a fixture in the Boston lineup.

Then came the move that just about everybody seemed to hate. Forward Jordan Caron, an underachieving first rounder from 2009, stuck with the club, and looks to be a lock for the role of ‘extra skater’ to start this season. Striking with a goal in his final preseason tilt of the month (his lone point), the 6-foot-3 winger’s presence in Boston meant that the club runs the risk of losing preseason star, Nick Johnson, who was placed on waivers early Sunday afternoon.

A 27-year-old winger signed over the offseason, Johnson’s preseason certainly came way out of left field, with four goals and five points in just six contests, and his ability to dig deep in the offensive zone to create plays without question stood out more than Caron’s efforts.

Now, I think for most it’s not the fact that Caron’s staying as much as it’s the fact that fans don’t really believe that he’s deserving of that spot. Skating with a one-way contract this year, you can’t help but feel as if Caron’s become the Bruins’ lame duck.

He has some value given his projected ceiling, making him a certain waiver risk for Boston, but without a niche carved out as he enters year four with the B’s, you can’t help but wonder where his story as a Bruin goes next. Is he a trade chip? Is he a component of Julien's bottom six plans if Smith falters, or is he just the backup plan at left wing if a reported leg injury does in fact sideline Soderberg for the start of the year?

It’s a conundrum and a half, really, but one that seems likely to unfold on its own.

And when your biggest issue is having too many extra skaters that don't seem to fit the mold of what you're looking for, I think you're safe to say that things could be worse.

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