Marchand might miss as few as 5 games, pasta will be back in Feb, that goaltending tandem might be the best in the league, and the Smith signing sures up their middle six.
Letting Krug walk is definitely going to sting, but I still don't think that puts them in SJ territory.
I'm not suggesting that their decline is inevitable; they certainly have good, young players on that team. But aside from losing Krug, Chara is turning 44 in March and he played 21 minutes a game for them last year. My point is that there are three or four things that can break against them this year, and
if that happens, they could be a San Jose. If anyone should know how quickly a top goaltender can decline in his 30s, how ineffective an elite player can be when returning from a major injury, and how quickly a defense can collapse when one or two top-4 options declines or leaves, it should be us.
In any case, I see a team in Boston that is almost certain to be worse than last year's version, which doesn't say a whole lot since they were one of the best teams in the league. But I believe that anytime a team is in decline, there's some risk for that decline to be far steeper than anticipated.