With all the personal offensive records that fell or were challenged during the Boston Bruins’ march to the 2008-09 regular-season Eastern Conference title, this might’ve been the year Marco Sturm finally reached 30 goals. Three shy in his previous two seasons in black and gold, Sturm was just starting to get on pace when he suffered his first injury of the season.

That neck ailment, and then a serious knee injury that required Jan. 13 surgery, conspired to prevent Sturm from reaching his magic number or joining his teammates during most of their magical moments. Sturm’s speed and finishing ability — not to mention his crazy goal-celebration faces — were sorely missed despite Boston’s league-leading goals total.

Stats: 19 GP, 7-6-13, 8 PIM, plus-9 rating regular season; DNP playoffs.

Contract status: Signed through 2010-11 at a $3.5 million cap hit.

Season highlight: Sturm started slow, but in one of the Bruins’ most emotional early-season victories he began to heat up. Sturm’s power-play goals with seven seconds left in the first period and with 3:44 elapsed in the second expanded Boston’s lead to 4-0 en route to a 6-1 clobbering of the Montreal Canadiens at TD Banknorth Garden Nov. 13 — the Bruins’ first regular-season win over the Habs since 2007.

Season low light: In his first game back after a 12-game absence with a neck injury, Sturm scored a goal against Toronto Dec. 18. But at the 13:37 mark of the first period, he crashed awkwardly into the boards and had to be helped off the ice. He never returned to the lineup after that and had season-ending surgery a month later.

In summation … Sturm was his normal streaky self before the first major injury of his career held him back.

Grade: Incomplete. No one can be graded on a 19-game season, but Sturm seemed destined for a B or B-plus season based on his streakiness in the early going (and throughout his career).

The crystal ball says … Sturm was reportedly ahead of schedule in his rehab when the Bruins’ season ended, so there’s no reason to believe that he won’t be back at full strength by the time the 2009-10 campaign starts. And he’ll be a welcome addition to the top six forwards with the likes of Phil Kessel and David Krejci scheduled to start the season on the sidelines.