Boston Bruins: 3 storylines to watch

theScore's NHL editors take a look at three storylines to watch for each NHL team heading into the regular season.

The Big, Bad, Presidents' Trophy-winning Boston Bruins spent the offseason licking their wounds.

After their bid for a second Stanley Cup in four seasons was razed by the arch-rival Montreal Canadiens, general manager Peter Chiarelli's back has been forced up against the salary wall.

Here are three storylines to watch for as they attempt to wriggle free and exact revenge:

Lucic - Krejci - ???

In order to alleviate the cap pressures brought on by last season's recruitment of arms, Boston was forced to renounce its leading goal scorer on the open market. Not only are they tasked with replacing Jarome Iginla's 30 goals from within, but the Bruins will also have to find a suitable right winger to flank Milan Lucic and David Krejci on the team's top line.

Claude Julien indicated that perennial Lady Byng contender Loui Eriksson is the front-runner for the position, but the former 36-goal man hardly meets the criterion established by his predecessors.

Iginla served as a seamless replacement for Nathan Horton. He kept the highly-skilled Krejci sandwiched between both proven goal scorers and capable protectors, fortifying a peerless top line set apart by its physicality. 

The emerging Reilly Smith is another option for the Bruins, but the 23-year-old -  who remains without a contract - also falls short of the combative.

Repeatin' Rask

Tuukka Rask wasn't the unequivocal choice to take home last season's Vezina Trophy, but the netminder was irrefutably the key cog in the Bruins' totalling a league-best 117 points. 

One of the few constants in their defensive scheme - which had eight defenseman skate in at least 30 games - Rask managed to rank in the top five of each major statistical goaltending category and spearheaded a league-best .940 team save percentage. 

Rask was heroic last season, but he didn't do it alone. The Bruins' turnstile defensive unit remained resolute, allowing the sixth-fewest shot attempts per game.

With Dennis Seidenberg rounding into health and youngsters Dougie Hamilton and Torey Krug primed to take another step, a duplicate season from Rask could mean much of the same for Boston: wins, points, and trophies.

Benevolent Bruins

When the Bruins cut ties with Shawn Thornton at the end of last season, it meant that hockey's most glamorized fourth line had poured over the boards with intent for the final time. 

But the long-time enforcer's absence is also consistent with a trend the Bruins have shown in recent seasons - they're either softening, or merely adapting (depending on where your allegiances lie).

Since averaging 0.89 fights per game in their Stanley Cup season, the club has seen a progressive decline in - for lack of a better term - mitt droppage. After averaging 0.79 in 2011-12 and 0.66 the season after, Boston was reduced to 0.56 fights per game last season.

Zdeno Chara, the team's long-time physical leader, registered his lowest time-on-ice average and penalty minutes total in his seven seasons with Boston, and doled out 60 hits fewer than his franchise-best total in 2007-08. 

Milan Lucic is still banging bodies 240 times per season, but with Iginla's departure, Chara's fade, and an abolished enforcer role, it's hard to imagine the Bruins being any harder to play against this year. 

Unless you're Dale Weise.