The Bruins had quite the offseason. Each of their new additions have had their good moments, but it hasn’t always been peachy. It’s early and a lot can change, but that change needs to happen sooner rather than later if the team wants to string together some more wins, ideally.
I think it’s safe to say Linus Ullmark has had the most success of the bunch so far. Overall, he has provided pretty solid goaltending equating to a 3-2-0 record with a 2.59 GAA and a .918 save percentage. Jeremy Swayman has also played pretty well, so I think the team has got to be satisfied with their goaltending as a whole.
Nick Foligno has had a tough start outside the one assist he collected on opening night against the Dallas Stars. He has only played two games thanks to an upper-body injury and just recently started skating in a non-contact jersey.
Tomas Nosek has provided depth on all of lines two to four so far, proving to be excellent value for the team so far as a depth scorer and on the dot. He has won 53.66% of faceoffs so far this season. The addition of Nosek is looking like one of the better depth additions of the offseason.
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The two newcomers they could use more from are Derek Forbort and Erik Haula. Outside of a two-point effort against the San Jose Sharks, things have been tough for Forbort. The game against the Maple Leafs on Saturday night sticks out the most. He was on the ice for three Toronto goals and it just wasn’t his night.
On a team that relied on youth on the back end last season, the Bruins really need their new-look left side of the blue line to be formidable on a consistent basis. The Toronto game really highlighted what has been a rough start to his Bruins career for Forbort.
https://twitter.com/bruins_stats/status/1457152361739210763?s=20
Erik Haula has struggled to find his footing as well. I think having Nick Foligno back will help him, whenever he returns. They will most likely play on the same line a lot this season, so perhaps getting Foligno back will help him. The third line of him and Foligno and Jake DeBrusk looked solid before Foligno got hurt.
Just one assist in nine games isn’t going to cut it. Puck luck just hasn’t been there, highlighted by the time he beat Sergei Bobrovsky on the five-hole on a breakaway, but the puck somehow missed the net. For Haula, I think it could be a situation where he has a productive game on the score sheet and it gets him going. It’s not a terrible situation for the Bruins, but things could certainly get dicey if some better performances aren’t had in the coming weeks.