Boston Bruins need to turn regular-season success into long playoff run

Last season: 47-20-15, lost to Florida in second round of playoffs.

COACH: Jim Montgomery (278-172-75 over 5 seasons with 2 teams).

SEASON OPENER: Oct. 8 at Florida.

DEPARTURES: G Linus Ullmark, F Jakub Lauko, F Oskar Steen, F Danton Heinen, D Derek Forbort, F Pat Maroon, F James van Riemsdyk, F Jake DeBrusk, D Kevin Shattenkirk.

ADDITIONS: G Joonas Korpisalo, F Elias Lindholm, D Nikita Zadorov, F Max Jones, F Riley Tufte.

GOALIES: Jeremy Swayman (25-10-8, 2.53 GAA, .916 save percentage), Korpisalo (21-26-4, 3.27, .890).

BetMGM STANLEY CUP ODDS: 20-1.

The Bruins followed their record-setting, 135-point season in 2022-23 with a more pedestrian 109 points last year and a second-round exit to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. After topping 100 points in six straight (non-pandemic shortened) seasons, the focus this year will be on an extended playoff run. That hasn’t happened since reaching the Stanley Cup Final in 2019. It will largely depend on whether the team re-signs Swayman, a restricted free agent. Having traded away 2023 Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark, the Bruins may have to rely on Korpisalo at least until Dec. 1.

The good: Swayman was an All-Star in 2024, finishing in the top five of GAA and save percentage. He was good enough to wrest the starting job away from Ullmark during the playoffs last year, which persuaded the Bruins to trade Ullmark in the summer. With the departures of Maroon, van Riemsdyk, Shattenkirk and Milan Lucic (who played in just four games last season), the Bruins shed four of their five oldest players. And the other, captain Brad Marchand, is still going strong.

The not-so-good: The Bruins' need to sign Swayman by Dec. 1 or he cannot play this season. With Korpisalo as a No. 1, goaltending turns from a strength to a weakness – especially with 26-year-old Brandon Bussi, who played 41 games for Providence of the AHL last season, as the backup.

F Fabian Lysell has a chance to make the team after tallying 50 points in 57 games for AHL Providence last season. F Matt Poitras made the team out of training camp last year at 19 years old, scoring five goals with 10 assists in 33 games before a season-ending shoulder injury in February.

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Boston Bruins president Cam Neely answers a reporter's question during a media availability, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery answers a reporter's question during a media availability, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Boston Bruins chief executive officer Charlie Jacobs listens to a reporter's question during a media availability, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery, right, arrives for a media availability with team president Cam Neely, left, and general manager Don Sweeney, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Boston Bruins forward David Pastrnak skates during a team practice, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, Pool)

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — An effort to expand Arkansas' medical marijuana program fell short of the required signatures and won't qualify for the November ballot, Secretary of State John Thurston said Monday.

Arkansans for Patient Access, the group behind the measure, said it planned to take legal action to appeal Thurston's decision.

Thurston said in a letter to the measure's sponsor that his office determined that only 88,040 of the signatures submitted by the group were valid, falling short of the 90,704 needed from registered voters to qualify for the ballot.

The medical marijuana proposal was aimed at expanding a measure that the state’s voters approved in 2016. It would have broadened the definition of medical professionals who can certify patients for medical cannabis, expanded qualifying conditions and made medical cannabis cards valid for three years.

Arkansans for Patient Access submitted more than 150,000 signatures in favor of the proposed amendment. The state told the group in July it had fallen short of the required number, but had qualified for an additional 30 days to circulate petitions.

The group said rejecting 20,000 of its signatures was due to an “arbitrary,” last-minute rule change.

“The overwhelming support shown through the petition process proves that Arkansans want the opportunity to vote on expanded medical marijuana access,” the group said in a statement. “Arkansans for Patient Access will continue to fight for their right to make that decision at the ballot box this November.”

The proposal’s rejection comes weeks after the state Supreme Court blocked a ballot measure that would have scaled back the state’s abortion ban.

The Family Council Action Committee, an opponent of the marijuana measure, praised Thurston for rejecting the signatures but said it expected the final decision would come from the state Supreme Court.

“A measure this bad simply has no business being on the ballot,” Family Council Executive Director Jerry Cox said in a statement.

About half of U.S. states allow recreational marijuana and a dozen more have legalized medical marijuana. Those numbers could grow after the November election. Voters in Florida, North Dakota and South Dakota will decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana for adults, and two medical marijuana proposals will be on Nebraska's ballot.

FILE - Boxes of petitions signed for a proposed ballot measure expanding Arkansas' medical marijuana program sit in a committee room at the Arkansas Capitol in Little Rock, Ark., July 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo, File)