Last fall, the Bruins went on the ultimate team-building trip, and by June, they'd had the ultimate season. This year featured no trip to Europe, but the B's hope that their team-building activities Sunday and Monday did the trick.

Instead of Belfast and the Czech Republic, the B's headed to Great Diamond Island, Maine, where they spent the past two days looking to grow closer as a team. One could argue that the team's 25 playoff games last season would have made the team a close enough group, but with the additions of Benoit Pouliot, Joe Corvo and presumably Chris Clark, the group was happy to spend the last two days enjoying Diamond Cove and getting everyone on the same page. 

"It was challenging, it was a lot of fun, and I think everybody enjoyed it," coach Claude Julien said late Monday afternoon on a conference call. "We just feel combing back from there that our group really enjoyed it, but also got a lot of things accomplished as far as what we need to this year to be competitive again and put ourselves in a contending spot for hopefully a Stanley Cup at the end of the year. … It was a great opportunity to go through some activities and also some good discussions." 

That's a far cry from Shawn Thornton bringing his mother to Belfast, David Krejci taking his teammates out for goulash or Daniel Paille getting a jaywalking ticket in Prague, but after a hectic season and short offseason, a regular training camp without the hoopla of a trip to Europe might not exactly be the worst thing in the world. In fact, there are probably some Bruins who could be just fine without opening the season overseas. Guys like Dennis Seidenberg, Gregory Campbell and Nathan Horton have began the last two seasons in Europe, so the lack of travel and jet lag could be welcomed at this point.

That isn't to say travel is a bad thing, as last season's Europe trip wasn't the only excursion that received credit for strengthening the makeup of the Bruins. The six-game road trip on which the B's went 6-0-0 was viewed as one of the strongest statements that the Bruins, with their new additions of Tomas Kaberle, Rich Peverley and Chris Kelly, were a serious contender. 

If there is a time for the Bruins to have strengthened bonds outside of Boston, it just happened, and another one isn't coming soon. Thirteen of the team's first 17 games will be played at TD Garden, with the team not playing more than two consecutive road games until Nov. 19, when they'll play games against the Islanders, Canadiens and Sabres over five days.

The lack of time on the road early might be a bad thing for some teams, but the Bruins benefit from having only three newcomers to the organization. 

"This year, we've got a lot of home games here in the first part of the season, so we're not going to get that much of a chance to spend time together as a group and get real comfortable," Julien said. "When you're at home, you go your own way. You have your family. You have your agenda and it's harder for guys to bond together, but this is a great opportunity to start off on the right foot."

Looking at some of the Bruins' early opponents, one great way of starting off on the right foot would be to pick up points against some of the better teams in the league, and the home-heavy first month of the season doesn't exactly lack in that area. The B's will open the season Thursday against the revamped Flyers before hosting the Lightning team that gave them so much trouble in the Eastern Conference finals. The Bruins will also host the Hurricanes, Sharks and Canadiens, among others, in the season's first month. It won’t be easy, but the Bruins have said throughout training camp that as defending champs, they aren’t expecting it to be easy. 

It’s for that reason that Julien offered an interesting take on the idea of potentially repeating as Stanley Cup champions. A team hasn’t done so since the 1997 and 1998 Red Wings, and while the Bruins’ roster looks like just as legitimate contender as it did a season ago, they won’t assume anything. 

"Some of our players have talked about how you dream of winning the Stanley Cup. You don't always see it happening, and when it does happen, one thing you've got to do is say, 'Hey, we can do this again.' Now, we have the tools and we've got the experience behind us of having won. We need to take advantage of that and use it, but we're certainly not a group that's overconfident. 

"We're certainly not a group that's just going to think that we've got it made or going to be a repeat season for us. We don't really want to use the word 'repeat,' because we know how hard it is. We just want to go about our business one step at a time like we've done every year. We've always approached our seasons like that."