We are about a month away from the time where players reporting for the Rookie tournament will be making their way into Canadian Tire Centre to prepare for the trip to London to face the Pens, Leafs and Habs rookies for actual game action.
This might be the dog days of summer, but with most of the rosters almost in place, we can turn our attention to the individual matchups, especially within the division. So with that in mind lets take a look at how the Senators match up with the Boston Bruins.
EXODUS FROM BOSTON
The Bruins traded or allowed to walk, 4 of their top 10 point-getters from last season - Milan Lucic (3), Carl Soderberg (4), Dougie Hamilton (6) and Reilly Smith (7). Also gone are Daniel Paille, Gregory Campbell who have been 4th line stalwarts for years, as well as defenseman Matt Bartowski. Backup goalie Niklas Svedberg headed to the KHL.
This is a significant changing of the guard, especially with the fact that Zdeno Chara isn't getting any younger and although still a quality NHL defenseman, his days of truly striking fear into opponents are behind him.
IN WITH THE NEW
Boston added Jimmy Hayes in a trade for Smith, signed Matt Beleskey to a large contract following a breakout playoff season. More minutes will be given to the likes of Kevin Miller, Adam McQuaid on the blue line as well as Ryan Spooner, Brett Connolly and David Pastrnak up front. Highly touted prospect Malcolm Subban looks to be in line for the backup job behind Rask and will push the veteran for playing time.
THE DEPTH CHART
From dailyfaceoff.com, here is what the Bruins' and Sens' Depth Charts looks like as of now (but not necessarily how they will line up):
UP FRONT
Bergeron is one of the best all around players in the game, and is the best forward on either team at the moment. At this point I would give the edge in depth up front to the Senators. Both teams have some young players they will be giving chances to, and how they fill the void will go a long way to determining how things turn out over the course of the season.
The Bruins took a big gamble on Beleskey, not because he isn't a good player but I don't know that he can do offensively what the Bruins seem to be expecting him to do. Krejci is coming off an injury plagued season that really hurt the Bruins' playoff chances last year, and needs a bounce-back year.
If you go man for man, line by line the teams are built pretty similarly. The key for the Senators will be the consistent production of the second line, a line on the rise and if Zibanejad can reach the level of what Krejci has been in his prime.
THE BLUE LINE
Aside from the decline of Chara, Seidenberg's regression is also pretty apparent. After an injury riddled 2013-14 season, he played all 82 games last year but was far off his 25-30 point pace the Bruins had become accustomed to (finished with 14). Torey Krug is a good player who came out of nowhere and can contribute offensively, but he is no Karlsson. Again, the Senators have a slightly deeper group, with Jared Cowen being the big wildcard factor.
As similar as the teams are up front, they are almost opposite on the back end. While the Sens have 3 pretty solid puck movers in their top 4, the Bruins will rely on being a more physical presence, with Krug being the only real threat to carry the puck more than occasionally. The Senators lack that top end stopper, which is what they want Cowen to be but he hasn't been able to assume that role as of yet.
THE LAST LINE
Ottawa dealt Lehner to make room for Hammond, a move that will be under a lot of scrutiny over the next few years. Right now, the duo of Rask and Subban probably has a slight edge over Anderson-Hammond, if for nothing more than Anderson's ability to run so hot and cold at times combined with his inability to stay healthy, and the questions that remain around what Hammond really is.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The Bruins are undergoing an organizational change, on and off the ice. In the long run they could be better off, but some of the moves (especially Hamilton) were head-scratchers. Ottawa has had their "changing of the guard", and the result was passing the Bruins at the finish line last season for a playoff spot. The Senators are a team on the rise, with a good young core that is establishing itself. Boston is looking for a new identity and is probably on the slide before they will rise again. You can count on 30+ wins from Rask, although his personal numbers dipped last season, whether it was a cause or effect of having a less dominant team in front of him.
All in all , this is a slightly favorable matchup for the Sens, and although it is close, the Bruins are a team that they should finish ahead of in the Atlantic Division standings, even if it comes down to the wire.