What Don Sweeney said of Bruins’ playoff odds, timeline for captain

PLYMOUTH, Mass. — Bruins common supervisor Don Sweeney spoke to the media on Tuesday forward of the Bruins’ annual golf event at Pinehills Golf Membership in Plymouth.

With coaching camp set to start on Sept. 17, Sweeney touched on a number of subjects throughout his media scrum, together with the expectations for the 2025-26 season and the state Boston’s management corps. 

Listed here are three takeaways from his interview:

Setting excessive expectations

For the primary time in a very long time, the Bruins are getting into a brand new season with the postseason removed from a certainty. 

Earlier than the 2024-25 marketing campaign went off the rails, the Bruins have been seemingly poised to take one other step ahead after exceeding expectations the earlier 12 months by advancing to the second spherical of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

After all, that optimism dissipated briefly order.

Within the span of only a few months, the Bruins fired head coach Jim Montgomery, Jeremy Swayman regressed in internet, accidents to Hampus Lindholm and Charlie McAvoy decimated Boston’s blue line, and a trade-deadline firesale noticed stalwarts like Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle, Brandon Carlo, and others don new sweaters in March.

The Bruins nonetheless have some key cogs in place on their roster — headlined by David Pastrnak, McAvoy, Lindholm, and Swayman.

Nonetheless, it stays to be seen if the Bruins have the expertise in place on this present depth chart to orchestrate a fast turnaround and punch their ticket again to the playoffs after a one-year hiatus. 

However talking on Tuesday, Sweeney harassed that the Bruins must be a a lot tougher out this season, as long as the group can keep away from the identical missteps that sank them the earlier 12 months. 

“If we keep wholesome, I feel we’re going to be actually aggressive,” Sweeney mentioned. “Finally, we’re going to mix. As Marco [Sturm said] the opposite day, an ordinary needs to be [set] when it comes to how aggressive we’re going to be within the construction that he needs to play with. Youthful gamers, we’re going to search for them to shock us with taking lineup spots.

“However what we’ve performed is insulate our group of men with a aggressive group from the underside up, and permit a few of the youthful talent, hopefully now and shifting ahead, [to] emerge. However we’re going to be a way more aggressive group and held to the usual that Marco was speaking concerning the different day.”

As Sturm has noted on several occasions this summer, the blueprint for the Bruins to comply with this season revolves round re-establishing Boston’s defensive identification and making incremental positive factors on the facility play.

With each McAvoy and Lindholm again within the equation, the Bruins’ porous defensive construction (3.30 targets in opposition to per recreation final 12 months; twenty sixth within the NHL) from final 12 months is due for a rebound, particularly with Sturm set to reinforce Boston’s system in each the impartial and defensive zone. 

A standard offseason for Swayman is also set to benefit the young goalie after having a sizable set back in 2024-25, whereas a Bruins energy play that ranked twenty ninth within the NHL (15.2 %) final season can be due for a stronger exhibiting — given both the arrival of a power-play guru in Steve Spott and the personnel already in place with a prime sniper in Pastrnak.

However the Bruins nonetheless have loads of query marks surrounding the remainder of their ahead corps, particularly on the subject of how Boston’s middle-six ahead corps shakes out on a roster that might obtain an inflow of unproven, youthful expertise. 

Because the Bruins await to see which gamers can emerge with a number of beginning roles up for grabs, Sweeney believes that the Bruins nonetheless have a number of foundational strengths that will likely be poised to rebound in 2025-26. 

“We’ve to play to a sure normal right here and a construction that Marco goes to place in place,” Sweeney mentioned. “On a person degree, we’ve obtained guys that performed in conditions which may not have gone in addition to they needed to, and now they’re going to have their companions again, they usually’re going to have a full element of their group again.

“Jeremy is in a a lot better place, as he spoke concerning the different day. So I feel it’s each on the person and the collective degree that we are able to search for these markers.”

Preaching alternative 

Whereas the Bruins’ free-agent signings like Tanner Jeannot and Mikey Eyssimont paint the image of a group that needed so as to add extra sandpaper to their roster, Sweeney mentioned that the Bruins are banking on a number of youthful gamers to grab roles this season. 

Sturm shared a similar sentiment earlier this offseason when requested concerning the leeway afforded to extra unproven gamers throughout camp.

Prospects like Fraser Minten, Matt Poitras, and Fabian Lysell will look to safe key roles within the coming weeks, whereas the Bruins are additionally excessive on free-agent pickup Matej Blumel, a 25-year-old winger who scored an AHL-leading 39 targets final season. 

“I feel it’s actually vital for each participant to know right here — there are only a few spots which can be simply going to be taken” Sweeney mentioned. “You’ve obtained the incumbent gamers who really feel comfy with what they’ve performed within the Nationwide Hockey League. That’s apparent, however the remainder of the blokes actually need to know — like there’s going to be a contest for ice time and for roster spots.  

“And that was by design. All summer time lengthy, we made a large change in route final 12 months on the deadline and now we have to course right. We have to take steps ahead and be get again to the extent, as Marco talked concerning the degree of ordinary that all of us count on right here.”

No timeline for a brand new captain

The writing is on the wall that David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy are the 2 leaders within the clubhouse to take on the role as the next captain of the Bruins. 

However Sweeney confirmed on Tuesday that the group will open the season with no set captain — as an alternative choosing the method of appointing a brand new chief to come back extra organically because the season progresses. 

“Every thing’s on the desk proper now. We’ve been ahead with everyone, and sincere with everyone, that we’re going to start out with out it,” Sweeney mentioned of the captaincy. “We’ve obtained a management group that’s been assembly amongst themselves and and I feel finally anyone will emerge because the man that must be the following captain. It comes with lots of duty.

“So I’d prefer to see somewhat extra natural, pure, development of it. … I feel now we simply transfer ahead with the management group that’s going to be established and let Marco have his personal communication with them, and allow them to have communication with themselves when it comes to what route they wish to take this group and who emerges as the final word chief and the following captain of the Boston Bruins.”

 

Conor Ryan is a workers author overlaying the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Crimson Sox for Boston.com, a job he has held since 2023.