BOSTON

For the first time since 2006, the Boston Bruins are entering the season with someone other than Claude Julien as their head coach.

After they decided to fire Julien and promote assistant coach Bruce Cassidy to the lead job in February, the Bruins went 18-8-1, increased their scoring by nearly a goal per game an earned their first berth in the Stanley Cup playoffs in three seasons.

The Bruins then lost a six-game Eastern Conference first round series to the Ottawa Senators – a series that featured each game decided by one goal.

In an effort to build off last season, the Bruins brought back Cassidy as the full-time coach to continue to implement his high-pace strategy emphasizing aggression, strong skating and conditioning. Cassidy’s skating drills in training camp sent a message to the Bruins players.

“The game’s a skating game and being able to outlast your opponent and skate well is certainly a necessity,” forward David Backes said. “So I think he trends toward that skating game, being in great shape.”

The Bruins will also look to continue their rebuild with more youth dotting their roster. General manager

Don Sweeney has continued to implement his rebuild plan and there could be as many as five or six first- or second-year NHL players in the lineup.

That should give the veteran core led by Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara, Brad Marchand, David Krejci and Tuukka Rask an extra jolt.

“We have some really good players that have come in and shown that they’re ready to play,” said Marchand.