Boston Bruins' season hinges on decisions outside their control

When a team loses two guys in the same summer who ought to have their numbers retired, it opens up a lot of questions.

Some of that is being covered by wishful thinking for now; David Krejčí, by his own telling, isn’t coming back to the Bruins this season but that hasn’t stopped everyone in the greater Boston area from daydreaming about him riding over the hill in early spring to rescue the team. Tuukka Rask is a bit more of a question mark. He’s recovering from surgery right now but is already being treated at the Bruins’ facility and all indications are that, unlike Krejci, he will Gandalf-the-White his way into the lineup at some point in the middle of the season.

However, it’s difficult to confidently project the situation into which he will arrive. Krejčí spent well over a decade as the