Bruins coach Jim Montgomery has not officially announced his opening night lineup, but we can connect some dots and get a pretty good idea of what it might be.
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Here's what we would expect to see Wednesday in Washington, with an explanation below.
Taylor Hall - Patrice Bergeron - Jake DeBrusk
Pavel Zacha - David Krejci - David Pastrnak
A.J. Greer - Charlie Coyle - Craig Smith
Nick Foligno - Tomas Nosek - Jakub Lauko
Hampus Lindholm - Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort - Jakub Zboril
Mike Reilly - Connor Clifton
The biggest reason to think this will be the lineup is that these have been the lines and pairings in practice for the last two days, minus Bergeron getting a maintenance day on Tuesday. Hall has been out of a non-contact jersey for two days now and said on Monday that he is "on track" to play Wednesday after suffering some sort of upper-body injury last week.
Jack Studnicka and Trent Frederic skated on the fifth line with Chris Wagner on Monday. Wagner is now in Providence, and Studnicka and Frederic filled in for Bergeron on Tuesday. Not being in a regular lineup spot either day would suggest they'll be healthy scratches for at least Game 1.
Foligno, Lauko and Reilly were all temporarily sent to Providence (on paper, not physically) as part of some salary cap gymnastics Monday evening, but all three are back now and appear set to play opening night.
On the back end, Matt Grzelcyk is getting close to game-ready as he recovers from offseason shoulder surgery, but is not expected to play Wednesday.
The biggest wild card is Anton Stralman. The veteran defenseman continues to practice with the Bruins after signing a PTO (professional tryout) for training camp, but still hasn't signed an actual contract. Matt Porter of the Boston Globe reported on Tuesday that the two sides are still discussing a contract.
Even if Stralman does sign before Wednesday night, Montgomery could hold him out and opt to stick with the pairings that have practiced together for a couple days now.
(UPDATE: The Bruins have indeed now signed Stralman to a one-year, $1 million deal.)
In goal, Montgomery has not yet announced whether Jeremy Swayman or Linus Ullmark will get the opening night start. (UPDATE: Ullmark was first off the ice at Wednesday's morning skate, which indicates he'll get the start.)
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