Season Preview: 3 players to watch on the Bruins

theScore is previewing each team leading up to the 2016-17 season.

To say that the 2016-17 season will be an important one for the Boston Bruins, would be a massive understatement.

The team is coming off a second-straight playoff absence, but still remain competitive enough to be a legitimate contender for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

That being said, their window for success appears to be closing.

A playoff berth will likely come down to how three key players perform this season:

Zdeno Chara

Bruins fans may soon have to come to grips with a harsh reality that Chara's career is winding down.

While his offensive numbers remain solid - nine goals and 37 points in 80 games last season - it's the opposite end of the ice that's seen the most regression.

The primary culprit? Chara's foot speed is quickly evading him.

Those who saw the 39-year-old during his first World Cup pre-tournament game with Team Europe against Team North America, can attest that on several occasions, Chara's much younger opponents had a fairly easy time blowing past him.

What is evermore frightening for the Bruins, is they lack high-end replacement options behind Chara, other than stud Torey Krug.

Chara has one more year left on his contract after the upcoming season - don't be surprised if it's also his last.

David Backes

Few Bruins will enter the season under the same pressure as Backes.

The former St. Louis Blues captain signed a five-year, $30-million contract on July 1 in a quasi-swap for Loui Eriksson, who inked a six-year, $36-million deal with the Vancouver Canucks.

Backes should fit perfectly into the Bruins' mold of talented, punishing forwards, but will also be looked upon to fill the void left by Eriksson, who finished second in team scoring with 30 goals and 63 points last season.

Backes has remained consistent over the years, but his career highs in goals and points came in 2010-11 when he notched 31 and 62, respectively.

Playing on the top line alongside Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand, Backes should get every chance to succeed, but after the club said goodbye to one of its more consistent producers, Backes will be walking into a scenario with very high expectations.

Brad Marchand

Marchand is coming off one of last season's more unexpected breakouts, as the 28-year-old finished sixth in the NHL with 37 goals - a career high that helped him put up a career best 60 points in 77 games.

Though the numbers aren't that out of character, as he hit the 28-goal and 55-point plateaus before, 13-goal and 18-point bumps from the season prior is quite something.

Unfortunately for Marchand, the pressure will be on the chippy forward to either replicate or build on that success.

Marchand can attribute his increased production to two things: averaging a career-high 18:36 of ice time, and, taking 70 more shots than his previous career mark of 180 the year prior.

Maybe all he ever needed was a larger opportunity.