PROVIDENCE — Better to reload than to rebuild.

That could be the motto of rookie head coach Rob Murray’s Providence Bruins as the team opens its 17th AHL season tonight against Lowell at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.

While this season’s team isn’t likely to match last season’s 55 wins, don’t expect it to sink to the bottom of the Atlantic Division, either.

To start the season, the P-Bruins will have three of the league’s top players in goalie Tuukka Rask, defenseman Matt Lashoff and center Martin St. Pierre.

Sprinkle in late cuts from Boston, some key returnees from last season, and a few promising first-year pros –– especially center Zach Hamill and wing Brad Marchand –– and you have a young lineup with plenty of skill, speed and snarl.

The Hockey News picks Providence for fifth in the 14-team Eastern Conference, behind Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Hershey, Hartford and Norfolk.

Whether the P-Bruins reach that level or even higher will likely depend on the NHL call-ups, trades and injuries that are a fact of AHL life.

Wherever they land in the standings, the P-Bruins should be entertaining again this year.

Five keys to the 2008-09 season:

•Tuukka Rask. One question heading into training camp was whether Rask could get back on track after last spring’s subpar playoff performance against Portland? No problem. His superb play in Boston’s camp indicates that he’ll again be among the best in the AHL. If Manny Fernandez stumbles in Boston or if Peter Chiarelli can find a taker for Fernandez’s salary, look for Rask to move up. As long as Rask is in Providence, Murray shouldn’t have any worries in goal.

•Matt Lashoff. When the Bruins drafted Lashoff in the first round in 2005, they surely hoped he’d be NHL-ready by now. Instead, Lashoff’s back for a third season in Providence, and Matt Hunwick, a seventh-round pick in 2004, appears to have moved ahead of Lashoff on the depth chart. The Bruins would like to see more competitiveness from Lashoff in the defensive zone. In Providence, look for him to again be a fixture on the power play and to log bigtime minutes. A strong start by Lashoff and an injury or two in Boston could earn him another NHL audition.

•Martin St. Pierre. Hockey fans in these parts may not know much about St. Pierre, since the team he played for last season, the Rockford (Ill.) Ice Hogs, didn’t set foot in New England in 2007-08. The speedy center has been an elite AHL scorer and should be a more than adequate replacement for the player he was traded for, Pascal Pelletier. St. Pierre should be good for 80 to 90 points.

•Rob Murray. After five years as Scott Gordon’s assistant, no one knows the players and the league like Murray. Now he should be ready to put his own stamp on the team. Six of the eight previous head coaches for the P-Bruins have gone on to be head coaches in the NHL, which bodes well for Murray’s future if he succeeds here.

•Who’s the heavyweight? The P-Bruin who takes over for Steve MacIntyre, who’s now in Edmonton, will have even bigger skates to fill than Murray. The fearsome MacIntyre — see youtube.com for some of his best bouts –– created plenty of room for Providence’s skill players, and the Bruins never had to worry about being pushed around. Jeremy Reich should be back, but he doesn’t have the size of a true heavyweight. Ryan Stokes and Scott Fletcher are auditioning for the tough-guy role, but Murray says this year’s squad will rely more on “team toughness.”