If there may be one factor the 2025-26 Boston Bruins is not going to need to cope with, it’s excessive expectations.
When Bruins GM traded captain Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle, Brandon Carlo and Trent Frederic on the commerce deadline, it represented a serious shift in course for the staff. Now not had been they clinging to the previous. Marchand was the final tie to the 2011 Stanley Cup staff whereas Coyle and Carlo had been key gamers on the ‘19 staff that completed one win shy of a Cup.
It needed to be carried out. However how lengthy will it take for the B’s to grow to be contenders once more? Has the slide down the bottom of the hill even come to a cease but?
Any rational fan ought to count on some rising pains. However hockey being hockey, retools are doable with out utterly bottoming out. And the Bruins will not be with out some high-end gamers. If all of them carry out to their capabilities, the B’s have a celebrity scorer (David Pastrnak), a No. 1 defenseman (Charlie McAvoy) and an excellent goalie (Jeremy Swayman). That’s a good basis on which to construct.
To make sure, this isn’t a Stanley Cup contender. But when every little thing goes proper, they may make a push for the playoffs, although hitting that aim will likely be tough to do from inside the Atlantic Division.
As coaching camp formally opens on Wednesday with physicals (on-ice classes start Thursday), listed here are 5 questions going through this staff:
1. Can Marco Sturm get all his gamers on the identical web page?
The B’s signed 4 veteran forwards (Viktor Arvidsson, Tanner Jeannot, Mikey Eyssimont and Sean Kuraly) and a few younger veteran defenseman (Jordan Harris, Victor Soderstrom). This comes after they signed two massive items in the summertime of 2024 (Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov) whose matches weren’t at all times the round-pegs-in-round-holes type. And there are a selection of younger gamers who’re trying to ascertain themselves as NHLers. For the place the Bruins are proper now, there could also be nothing extra vital than turning this assortment of gamers right into a staff that’s larger than the sum of its components. Whether or not new coach Marco Sturm succeeds on this space may very well be the distinction between the B’s enjoying significant video games in March or followers specializing in the exploits of Gavin McKenna and hoping the lottery balls ship what most observers consider to be the subsequent generational expertise. The primary season is pivotal for a brand new coach to place his imprint on a staff. Everyone seems to be beginning collectively within the new program and there’s a pure – if short-term – buy-in. If the B’s get off to a good begin, that buy-in turns into perception. The rebuild begins with that.
2. Can Jeremy Swayman be the goalie the Bruins require him to be?
Since 2007-08, the Bruins have missed the playoffs thrice. Goaltending performed an element in all three. The primary two events, 2015 and ‘16, no less than a part of the blame went to the truth that Tuukka Rask didn’t have an satisfactory back-up, inflicting the B’s to narrowly miss each instances. The third time was final yr, in fact, and the goaltending failures weren’t minor. After signing his mammoth eight-year, $66 million deal on the eve of the common season, Swayman went on to have the worst yr of his younger profession (22-29-7, 3.11 GAA, .892 save share). The B’s want him to be a lot better. With a full coaching camp and no contract drama, he needs to be. He took a pleasant step ahead in main the US to the gold medal within the World Championships within the spring. It additionally wouldn’t harm if Joonas Korpisalo took just a few extra video games from Swayman, supplied he holds off competitors from Michael DiPietro. Korpisalo received some followers along with his battle stage final season however he nonetheless completed with simply an 11-10-3 document with an .893 save share and a couple of.90 GAA.
3. How a lot of an impression will the wholesome returns of Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm make?
McAvoy was restricted to simply 50 video games and Lindholm simply 17. To be truthful to Swayman and Korpisalo, that needed to issue into the goaltenders’ subpar numbers. There aren’t many groups who can survive dropping their Nos. 1 and a couple of defensemen. Will probably be attention-grabbing to see in the event that they’re paired collectively. Ideally, you’ll need them to be separated so you’ll have one in every of them on the ice for almost all of the sport. However Zadorov labored effectively with deadline acquisition Henri Jokiharju, who re-signed for 3 seasons, and it stands to motive that they might no less than begin collectively on the second pair with Mason Lohrei and Andrew Peeke comprising the third pair. Each McAvoy, who may very well be the captain-in-waiting, and Lindholm needs to be extremely motivated after their misplaced seasons. They need to even be more energizing than they’ve been in years after lacking a lot time.
4. Can the Bruins survive with their crop of centermen?
For a decade and a half, the middle place was a foundational stone with Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci. Administration did not create a succession plan by means of the draft and now they need to discover a strategy to reconstruct their center. Anticipate the B’s to start out with Elias Lindholm centering Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie. However after that, it’s anybody’s guess. They’ve two candidates for the second line spot, Casey Mittelstadt and Pavel Zacha. Each can play both the pivot or the wing. Whoever takes the middle place will probably be sussed out in coaching camp. The third line spot might effectively be the spot given to a younger participant, whether or not it’s Fraser Minten, Matt Poitras or Marat Khusnutdinov. Khusnutdinov was signed to a two-year extension and, in contrast to Minten and Poitras, requires waivers to be despatched right down to Windfall. Except he comppletely flames out, Khusnutdinov will likely be on the staff. However of the three, it seems Minten is essentially the most naturally suited to be the 200-foot middle any staff would covet. There are variety of veteran fourth line middle candidates, together with Kuraly, Mark Kastelic and John Beecher.
5. How far can angle take this staff?
Nothing spoke extra to staff administration’s want to get again to a hard-to-play-against fashion than the signing of 6-foot-2, 220-pound bodily wing Tanner Jeannot. Some eyebrows had been raised when the B’s invested 5 years at $3.4 million for a participant who has hit double-digit targets solely as soon as in his profession (2021-22 when he had 24 with Nashville). However there was a robust marketplace for Jeannot and the physicality that he brings. He may take just a few matchups off of Zadorov’s struggle card and, if he’s on the third line, might present some area for a few younger gamers. Up entrance, Jeannot must be a catalyst within the bodily division, however others need to observe. Each Kuraly and Eyssimont ought to increase the power stage and Kastelic, if he can keep wholesome, could be a key participant if the B’s are to create new period of truculence. If the B’s can manufacture a fourth line that resembles something just like the Islanders’ Id Line of earlier this decade, it might go a good distance towards serving to the B’s compete within the Atlantic.
