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It’s Boston Bruins day at PHT

Washington Capitals v Boston Bruins

BOSTON, MA - MARCH 05: Patrice Bergeron #37 of the Boston Bruins celebrates after scoring against the Washington Capitals during the first period at TD Garden on March 5, 2016 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

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The offseason started early for the Boston Bruins, as they faltered down the stretch and ultimately failed to make the playoffs for a second consecutive year.

Despite once again missing the post-season, Claude Julien retained his job, with general manager Don Sweeney giving his head coach a vote of confidence in their end-of-season press conference.

Free agency is where the Bruins made headlines this summer.

They bid farewell to Loui Eriksson, the 31-year-old right winger who cashed in with the Vancouver Canucks after scoring 30 goals and 63 points last season. Boston did add former St. Louis Blues captain and center David Backes to a five-year deal worth a total of $30 million.

They also had plenty of interest in college free agent forward Jimmy Vesey, who is from North Reading, Mass., and played four years at Harvard. It could’ve been the perfect story -- local Hobey Baker Award winner signs with the Bruins after opting to become a free agent following his college career -- but instead Vesey decided to take his talents to the New York Rangers.

Now, where the Bruins wanted to improve their team this summer was on the blue line by bringing in a puck-moving defenseman. However, such an addition has yet to materialize.

There is still time before training camp gets underway, but so far the biggest moves on defense for Boston have come from buying out Dennis Seidenberg and re-signing Torey Krug to a four-year, $21 million contract and veteran John-Michael Liles, who was acquired at the trade deadline.