One of the finer things about the start of the hockey season has always been its subtle return.

There’s no incredibly lame truck day (Thank the heavens for that), no press tour across the local radio and television circuit. You just wake up one day and, well, it’s here. And hey, wouldn’t you know, two and a half months after the Chicago Blackhawks sent the Bruins home for the summer with two goals in 17 seconds, the Black-and-Gold are back and set to put their skates to the ice for the first formal practice of a highly anticipated 2013-14 campaign.

Say it with me here-- Finally.

Perhaps it’s the return of an 82-game schedule, the realignment that’s given the Eastern Conference an incredibly unpredictable dynamic, or completely based on the Bruins’ offseason moves, but there’s certainly a different buzz about the Hub’s bunch this time around. The Bruins, fresh off their second Cup Final appearance in three years, are bonafide contenders for the Cup once again. With a solid core of veterans and a dash of young stars thrown into the equation, the B’s are interesting.

That’s just one way to put it though, really.

What’s made Boston interesting in 2013-14 -- even from an inside scope -- has been the mystery surrounding the team this year. In one summer, the B’s completely refigured the right side of their forward core, committed huge money to a goaltender for eight years (eight years!), and have a number of spots completely open for rookies or novice NHLers to step in and contribute.

When’s the last time you could say that? Throughout the Peter Chiarelli/Claude Julien, the trust has been placed on veteran nomads and in-house leaders, but with the changing of the guard undoubtedly underway in Boston, it’s time to take a look at what’s going to be on tap throughout the Bruins’ always-interesting September camp.

Wingin’ it: Bigger paydays put pressure to perform on Lucic, Marchand

Despite not skating anywhere during the NHL lockout, Boston sparkplug Brad Marchand came into the 48-game season like a bat outta hell.

Striking with 10 goals and 13 points in the first 16 games of the season, and with a shooting percentage of 30% over that stretch, the fast start was by all means the driving force of a year that saw the 5-foot-9 winger tally 18 goals and 36 points in just 45 contests. Equate it on out over an 82-game year and Marchand paced himself for a 33-goal, 66-point year.

Obviously that kind of shooting percentage (Marchand finished 2013 with a .198 shooting percentage, sixth best in the entire league) isn’t the norm, nor is it sustainable, but Marchand was money in 2013. There was really no other way to say it. Heck, you can even go back to 2011-12 and you’ll see that Marchand, who nearly potted 30 goals despite a five-game ban in Jan. for a clip on the Canucks’ Sami Salo, was money then too.

Marchand, in essence, gets it. A proven performer in the Bruins’ system, there’s little to worry about when it comes to the offensive upside of Marchand, who’s simply thrived since becoming a fixture on Patrice Bergeron’s wing, even if there’s more pressure on his back with a cap-hit that goes from $2.5 million up to $4.5 million in 2013-14.
The same, however, cannot be said for fellow top-six winger, Milan Lucic.

Now, I love Milan Lucic and I think any Bruin fan that tells you that they’re not a huge fan of his style is a horrible liar and somebody you shouldn’t associate with. They’re probably the same people that still wear the fluorescent yellow alternates from the 90s to games. These people need help.

At the end of the day, and at 6-foot-4, Lucic is the closest thing you’ll get to Cam Neely in today’s NHL, and for the love of Orr, that’s only somethin’ this city’s cried for since Neely’s retirement.

Lucic is a player that’s downright terrifying on the ice, and one that 29 NHL teams would kill for. Just look at a team like the Canucks for example, who traded projected top-liner Cody Hodgson to Buffalo in exchange for Zack Kassian, a player they hope to mold into the next Lucic. And for a fanbase that drooled over Rick Nash for nearly 10 years, the barbs and criticisms that prompt “I’d trade Lucic for _____” roundtable BSing in the Hub will forever mystify me. You don’t want to trade this player, and you’d be stupid to even entertain the thought of it. He is B’s hockey.

But that’s not to suggest that he’s a perfect player. In fact, throughout the 2013 season, Lucic stunk. He was god awful! Obvious frustration from fans in Boston came with Lucic’s seven-goal, 27-point campaign in 2013, and justifiably so. And while his abysmal year was by all means redeemed with a strong playoff run featuring seven goals and 19 points in 22 contests, the pressure will be back when the puck drops for Lucic’s seventh season as a Bruin.

With a contract that jumps from $4.083 million up to $6 million in 2013-14, how Lucic comes into camp from a conditioning standpoint will be huge for the Vancouver-born winger.

As much was made about Lucic’s “game-shape” following the end of the lockout, and drawing pretty unwarranted criticism for opting not to play overseas during the lockout due to the expected birth of his first child, arriving to the ice ready to go after last year’s up-and-down nightmarish year can only mean good things for the highest-paid Bruin forward.

Tuukka-Time: Sharpness key for No. 1 goaltender

Opting for a ‘show me’ contract in 2012-13, signing the dotted line on a one-year deal worth $3.5 million dollars following a confirmed Tim Thomas leave of absence, goaltender Tuukka Rask proved himself capable of being the undisputed No. 1 goaltender for the Black-and-Gold.

The only detractor? It was in a 48-game season. By no means his fault, but with a $7 million cap-hit for the next eight years, Rask is going to have to prove himself capable of withstanding the grind of an 82-game schedule as a legitimate ace goaltender.

Sure, the Bruins’ backup (still to be determined) will provide Rask with the occasional breather, but let’s make this abundantly clear: Tim Thomas is not walking through that door. Manny Fernandez is not walking through that door. And my goodness, I sure as hell hope that Marty Turco or Andrew “I Had A Losing Record in the Italian League Last Year” Raycroft is not walking through that door.

This is now Rask’s team. Period.

When it comes to the B’s goaltending situation, there are undeniably more pluses than minuses when it comes to Rask and his projected performance in 2013-14, with an obvious maturation noticeable throughout Boston’s improbable run to the Stanley Cup Final. Without Rask and his .985 save percentage in a four-game sweep of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference Final, the B’s don’t even come close to sniffing their second Cup Finals appearance in three years.

At the same time however, this year will be different for Tuukka from a few different standpoints.

The first? His workload. Playoffs included, Rask started 56 games in 2013. That’s probably going to be at least his benchmark for starts in 2013-14. Can Rask, who enters this year without more than 39 starts in a season to his name, can play say 60 games and remain fresh for the postseason? Boston fans would have to hope, no-- pray, that it’s in his makeup.

The second? The Bruins’ need for consistency in net. While I think that the 26-year-old did a great job of addressing this in 2013 (Rask never had a losing skid longer than three games), this year will present Rask with a new set of challenges as novice defensemen such as Dougie Hamilton, Torey Krug, and Matt Bartkowski continue to learn the ropes of life as a big league defensemen. They’re coming in and replacing stay-at-home d-man Andrew Ference and looking to take ice-time for Adam McQuaid. And sure, the youth movement on defense is great for the Bruins’ pipeline, but it’s not as stable in its own zone (yet) as Ference nor McQuaid, putting more focus on Rask to be the Bruins’ pure stopper when pressurized.

How can Tuukka handle these changes in a camp? Well, I’m no goalie coach (and I’m pretty terrible when called upon in street hockey shootarounds), but this is a camp that’s gotta be based all around Rask maintaining the mental sharpness that made him so damn dangerous in 2013.

The good news is that Rask, even with a whole lotta money in his pocket and on the heels of a Stanley Cup loss on home ice, is perhaps the most motivated and competitive goaltender in the entire division -- and perhaps the conference.

Wonder who he picked that attitude up from? Just sayin’.

Boys to Men: Rookies vying for NHL gigs show promise

By now, you’ve heard about the promise of Bruins draft picks such as Jared Knight, Ryan Spooner, and Anthony Camara. These three, along with 2009 first rounder Jordan Caron, are expected to battle for an open spot on the Bruins’ bottom-six.

While Caron’s the obvious frontrunner given his wealth of NHL experience over his competitors, Camara comes with a ton of intrigue given the Lucic-lite comparisons over his developmental track. A clear standout at the Bruins’ annual rookie training and development camp in Wilmington, Mass., the 20-year-old forward comes into camp following an OHL year that included 36 goals in just 50 games, and a strong summer progression, one touched on in the first episode of NESN’s all-access ‘Behind the B’ series. Still a longshot considering how green he is to the demands of the professional game, the battle for ice-time in the Hub doesn’t just end with this fierce foursome of draftees.

Unbeknownst to many, the Tyler Seguin trade brought more to Boston than just dynamic forward Loui Eriksson. Joining Eriksson in the Hub are three promising youngsters, forwards Matt Fraser and Reilly Smith, and former first round pick (taken by the Pittsburgh Penguins with the 23rd overall pick in 2009), defensemen Joe Morrow.

These kids, the ‘spare parts’ of the blockbuster trade if you will, have potential to be something.

Fraser, an undrafted product of the Western Hockey League, comes to camp with 13 games of NHL experience to his name (all with Dallas), recording a goal and three points at the pro level. While more of a muck-it-up bottom-sixer, his competition for NHL ice-time will come largely from his former teammate in Dallas, Smith.

The 69th overall pick from the ‘09 class, Smith is a player that showed flashes of offensive brilliance in a limited role with the Stars, recording three goals and nine points in 40 games this season.

And then there’s Morrow, the main piece of the deal that sent Brenden Morrow to Pittsburgh, whose absolute bomb of a shot can give the Bruins’ ailing power-play yet another weapon from the point.

As cap problems complicate the likelihood of any of these guys sticking on as extra skater, don’t be surprised if they open your eyes enough to warrant feverish updates on their farm figures.

Center of it all: Health of Bergeron lone must-have for B’s offense

Under Julien, the Bruins have proved capable of a few things. They can live with a spotty offense that disappears at times. They can survive without an elite power-play. They can even live with a 4-1 deficit with 10 minutes to go in a Game 7, though I wouldn’t recommend more experiments with this situation, so long as it’s against the Toronto Maple Leafs. But what they can’t survive with is an unhealthy and subsequently shelved Patrice Bergeron. That’s a fact, really.

Winning the hearts of hockey fans all over the world (as if he hadn’t already), Bergeron simply stunned everybody by playing through the Stanley Cup Final against the Blackhawks with a separated shoulder, broken rib, torn rib cartilage and a hole in his damn lung. But months later, not even Bergeron can deny the fact that he’s still dealing with some obvious discomfort in those areas.

The plan? Gee, that’s not an easy one. Really, it’s not. Ideally, you get Bergeron back into some semblance of gameshape in preparation for the start of the year, Oct. 3 against the Tampa Bay Lightning. At the same time, you don’t want to rush him into the contact of preseason hockey if he’s not 100%. After all, it’s just preseason hockey. But the undeniably critical part of any plan involving Bergeron this month involves simply taking it easy and knowing the limitations in front of you.

I really don’t have to tell you the importance of Bergeron, nor should I. It’s apparent with each shift that No. 37 takes, and his value to the club is simply immeasurable. But what makes him even more valuable to Boston in 2013-14 is the club’s setback at the center position after a summer of retooling.

Trading natural centers Rich Peverley and Seguin to Dallas, the Bruins don’t have their typical wealth of pivots in their everyday lineup, with Carl Soderberg the lone center-turned-winger on the Bruins’ projected opening night roster. Names like Chris Kelly and Gregory Campbell provide adequate fill-in options for a brief bit, but they’re simply not players you want to thrust into roles beyond their skill-sets, such as centering the second line.

All in all, with nine more years committed to Bergeron, you have to assume that the Bruins will ease their superstar center through camp at a reasonable pace, but it’s not being afraid to pump the brakes every now and then that could make the difference for Bergeron’s 2013-14 start.

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