Boston Bruins 2009-10 Fantasy Hockey Preview

We are now less than a month away from the start of the 2009-10 NHL regular season, and I think it's a great time to start publishing my fantasy preview articles for each NHL team.

When looking at a player and predicting how he will fare offensively this season, there are a many things to consider. Is the player at an age where he will improve or decline? Is he playing with new linemates this year? Did his team acquire some players who may push them down the depth chart?

Those are just a few of the questions needed to be asked and I believe I can accurately predict a player's point totals for the upcoming season. Of course, things like injuries are impossible to predict, so these are best case scenarios.

2009-10 Depth Chart

Forwards

Marco Sturm-Marc Savard-Michael Ryder
Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Chuck Kobasew
Mark Recchi-Patrice Bergeron-Blake Wheeler
Shawn Thornton-Steve Begin-Byron Bitz

Defense

Zdeno Chara-Dennis Wideman
Andrew Ference-Mark Stuart
Matt Hunwick-Derek Morris

Goalies

Tim Thomas
Tuukka Rask

Sure Bet: Marc Savard

One of the best play-makers in the entire league, Savard has notched an amazing 63 assists in each of the past two seasons. He also showed people he has the ability to score goals by notching 25 last season.

Dark Horse: Patrice Bergeron

Did not perform very well offensively last season due to head injuries suffered both last year and the one prior. However, Bergeron is just 24 years of age and I still believe he has the ability to rebound.

2009-10 Scoring Projections

Player                      GP-G-A-P
1. Marc Savard         82-21-65-86
2. Michael Ryder       79-32-31-63
3. David Krejci         77-20-41-61
4. Milan Lucic          80-23-32-55
5. Patrice Bergeron   76-11-39-50
6. Zdene Chara        79-15-34-49
7. Marco Sturm        75-20-26-46
8. Dennis Wideman   80-11-33-44
9. Chuck Kobasew    74-18-24-42
10. Mark Recchi       75-21-20-41
11. Blake Wheeler     73-16-20-36
12. Matt Hunwick     77-7-27-34
13. Derek Morris       82-7-20-27
14. Andrew Ference  72-2-16-18
15. Byron Bitz          60-3-10-12
16. Mark Stuart        80-1-11-12
17. Shawn Thornton  77-2-8-10
18. Steve Begin        69-4-5-9

Goalies
1. Tim Thomas 37-19-7 .922 SVP 2.18 GAA
2. Tuukka Rask 10-6-3 .911 SVP 2.42 GAA