The Boston Bruins Season Preview - Saku Koivu

He's new to town. He doesn't even have a place to live yet - he's staying in Jochen Hecht's guest room - but he has managed to drop almost five large at the Aga's Highland Tap. God bless Saku Koivu... the Bruins fans will love him.

More over, he scored thirty-three goals (33-42-75) last year as the second offensive option on a balanced Flames roster that had seven twenty goal scorers, six of whom scored more than twenty-five. The Bruins, by comparison, had only two thirty goal scorers and a third with twenty-nine.

He'll be "The Man" in Boston, which he could not be in Calgary due to the presence of Markus Naslund. As the focal point of the offense, he is expected to erupt and, it is hoped, will contend for the scoring title. The team has penciled him in for the first center spot, but is uncertain.

"We have three extremely talented centers who possess the skills that every team would love to have in their main guys - speed, scoring ability, adept passing, and puck control. The way we see it, the three are almost interchangable," GM Joshua Anderson said when discussing the team. "That is why we feel extremely confident in our forward lines going forward - these three will elevate the overall play of their linemates and encertain a solid performance from the Boston hockey club!"

Asked how the team would determine the order of action, Anderson paused. "The way we see it right now, Saku will likely be our main guy, the first line center - as of now. He holds the edge over Tim Connolly, as he is probably the best pure scorer on our roster."

Anderson continued, "That being said, though, we're considering leaving Connolly, Hecht and Guerin on the front line to capitalize on their speed and their ability to work in sync, as they proved last year. That would let Saku play against the second line of the opponents, which would be a huge matchup edge in our favor. It will all sort of depend on how things go, and how the offense performs. The two lines will probably flip throughout the preseason to gauge what works best."

Projection - 82 games, 45-40-85