MIDDLETON – If roster turnover is healthy, would that make a lack of turnover unhealthy? 

It’s a question that should be followed closely as the season begins (hopefully) in October. After all, when the Bruins jumped out to an Eastern Conference-worst 3-7-0 start last year, there were just as many questions about complacency as there were about hockey’s ultimate cliché, the Stanley Cup hangover. 

The talk of complacency was warranted. When guys know they have their jobs, it’s easier to get comfortable. Last year, with the exception of Jordan Caron and Benoit Pouliot battling for third-line minutes, there wasn’t any competition for jobs. With Pouliot gone and Nathan Horton (again, hopefully) healthy, there will be even less competition. 

Of course, potentially having no new veteran faces does suggest a situation most teams would want. It means the team has kept its core together and believes it has a winning chemistry. Still, if the Bruins struggle out of the gate next season, it will be too easy to point to the lack of veteran acquisitions.

So what can the Bruins do to fight getting comfortable? Rely on its leaders, for one. With no new older guys to keep things fresh (19-year-old Dougie Hamilton is expected to make the team), some of the more vocal guys might need to make sure the room doesn’t become too content. 

“I think everyone in that room's pretty smart,” Shawn Thornton said Monday. “I think we've been around each other long enough to know each other. There's not a whole lot of complacency in the room anyways. 

“As an older guy, as a leader, you always have to try and lead by example first and foremost. If you have to say some things, you say some things, but I think most of the guys in our room get it and they have for a while now. There shouldn't be too many problems.”

The Bruins have brought in Chris Bourque, Aaron Johnson and Christian Hanson, but of the three only Johnson skated on NHL ice last season. The 29-year-old defenseman, who played 56 games with the Blue Jackets last season, could compete for the seventh defense spot.

Though the Bruins didn’t add any big names, Peter Chiarelli has had a busy offseason. After extending Thornton, David Krejci, Johnny Boychuk and Rich Peverley during the season, the general manager re-signed Tuukka Rask, Chris Kelly and both of Thornton’s fellow Merlot-liners in Daniel Paille and Gregory Campbell. 

“I like the guys we have,” Thornton said. “Selfishly I'm very happy we have my two linies back. We've definitely created a chemistry over the last couple of years on the ice. We just know where we are and we know certain things. The communication doesn't have to be verbal all the time. We can kind of read off each other, so it takes a bit of the learning curve out of camp, which is nice. I'm excited once we get things going that we have this group.”

Rask taking over for Tim Thomas figures to be the biggest change to Boston’s roster. He’ll go from getting less than half the starts in his first three NHL seasons to getting the vast majority of playing time between the pipes.

“I've talked to Tuuks,” Thornton said. “He's excited. He's ready to go. He's been waiting for this opportunity. We've seen what he can do. His numbers kind of speak for themselves as far as save percentage and goals against. He's always right up there with the tops in the league. He was fortunate and unfortunate enough to be behind Timmy, but I think he's been quite capable of being a starter on a lot of other teams before this, so we're lucky to have him.”

While the Bruins have kept quiet this summer, other teams in the Northeast division have tinkered with their rosterst to make them better suited to handle the B’s. Both the Canadiens and Sabres have added tough guys to handle the likes of Thornton, with Montreal inking Brandon Prust and Buffalo acquiring Steve Ott and John Scott. After signing with the Sabres, Scott said there would be a “different outcome” if someone trucked Ryan Miller the way Milan Lucic did last November.

“Whatever,” Thornton said of the Bruins’ rivals toughening up. “I guess we've kind of created that being the big, bad Bruins. Teams want to compete with that, so I guess it's a compliment at the end of the day. I'm not too worried about it. We kind of play the way we play. What's going on over the on the other side doesn't really affect us. We just go about our thing. I'm sure it will continue to go that way this year.”

There's no doubt that the Bruins will have more in-division enforcers to fight next season. The real question is whether their roster will fight complacency.