Bruins’ youth playing a significant role in team success

When determining which team has been the most pleasant surprise so far this NHL season, the nod has to go to the New York Rangers, who have overcome the loss of star goaltender Igor Shesterkin to achieve a 7-3-1 record through 11 games. Right behind them, however, are the Boston Bruins, who sit atop the competitive Atlantic Division with 15 points in 10 games.

The names you’d expect are still playing starring roles for the Bruins, as forward David Pastrnak leads them in scoring and defenseman Charlie McAvoy leads them in average ice time. But for a team that hasn’t made a habit of picking high in the draft, Boston has a prosiming crop of young players, including forwards Fraser Minten and James Hagens, among others, that are contributing to these early-season wins.

On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton were joined by Pete Blackburn from the What Chaos! podcast to discuss the youth stepping up for the Bruins.

Tyler Yaremchuk: What’s been the most suprising part of these first 10 games from a Bruins perspective?

Pete Blackburn: Well, the wins, number one. But I would say the second part, and the reason that I’m so excited about this team to start is the young players. The contributions from the young players is really what gets you going as a Bruins fan, because it’s one thing to get a bunch of wins at the beginning of the season and have it be the same old story and know that the outlook still isn’t really that great for this team because they don’t have that infusion of youth or that clarity with a bigger picture. So to see guys like James Hagens, Fraser Minten, you’ve got Mason Lohrei who had a good stretch, Matthew Poitras, all of these guys who are coming out of the gate really strong and making very, very strong contributions to this team, it gets you really excited.

Do I believe in this team being a contender right now? Even after their hot start, probably not, but at least you’ve got some guys who are now factoring into your longer-term picture if they’re able to keep this up. That does change what they’ve been missing over the past few years.

You can catch the full discussion and the rest of Thursday’s episode here…