Offseason Checklist: Boston Bruins

The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t taking part in the playoffs plus those eliminated already in the opening round. Accordingly, it’s now time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at Boston.

Last season, the Bruins relied on expert goaltending to mask their decline in 5-on-5 play and continue an eight-year streak of playoff appearances. But everything that could have gone wrong in 2024-25 did, pushing them out of a playoff spot and into their worst record in 18 years. Still led by general manager Don Sweeney, this front office remains an impatient one and got a head start on their retool by trading captain Brad Marchand, stalwart defenseman Brandon Carlo, and feisty bottom-six winger Trent Frederic out of town before the deadline. Now equipped with spending money and the No. 7 overall pick this summer, it’ll surely be an active summer in Boston with a quick return to playoff contention as the goal.

Wrap Up Coaching Search

Few thought that at the beginning of the season, the Bruins would be the first team to make a midseason coaching change. But after an 8-9-3 start to the campaign and a lack of productive extension talks with 2023 Jack Adams winner Jim Montgomery, that’s exactly what happened. Of course, Boston finished the season with a worse record under interim boss Joe Sacco (25-30-7), while Montgomery was scooped up by the Blues five days later and led them to a wild-card berth.

While Sacco will be interviewed as part of an expansive search, it’s hard to imagine the Bruins removing his interim tag with an unexpectedly strong wealth of candidates to choose from on a busy coaching carousel this offseason. Sweeney has been clear about improving their possession and scoring game as 2025-26’s top priority, so coaches with a propensity for low-event styles likely won’t be considered despite whatever interest they may have (looking at you, Greg Cronin).

There’s another thing to consider: unless a dream candidate emerges, don’t expect Boston to hand out a long-term coaching contract this cycle. They were already hesitant to pay one of the top names in the business in Montgomery, and it makes little sense to make a lengthy commitment to a bench boss with a roster that at least begins the offseason without much direction. That’s likely what quickly took them out of the running for Massachusetts native Mike Sullivan’s services – he received and accepted a rich five-year offer from the Rangers.

Those two factors will likely remain paramount over the amount of NHL experience when Boston assesses candidates in the coming weeks. With the Rangers as the only team to fill their vacancy so far, they’re not under a ton of pressure to make an immediate move. They’ll certainly want to have a name installed by sometime next month to help re-instill an organizational identity heading into free agency, though.

Find A Partner For Pasta

For years, the Bruins’ offense revolved around their top two centers, Patrice Bergeron and David Krejčí. They had to adjust to making wingers Marchand and David Pastrňák the cornerstone of their attack when Bergeron and Krejčí retired a few years ago, now just Pastrňák with no clear-cut No. 2 forward behind him. While Pastrňák has continued to produce at an MVP level despite the changes around him, the team’s overall production has yet to recover from the seismic identity shift.

The hope was that free-agent acquisition Elias Lindholm could help bandage that wound. Instead, the 30-year-old already looks like he has an anchor contract after producing just 17 goals and 47 points over a full 82-game schedule in his first season in Boston after inking a seven-year, $54.25MM deal. There’s hope for a rebound after Lindholm told reporters he played through a back injury all season, but he’s also topped the 60-point mark just three times in his career, and his aging curve isn’t conducive to a huge resurgence.

The center market this summer is on the thinner end as well. Aside from striking a trade for a younger, high-upside center, Boston will have to continue building from the wings out.

While someone like top UFA prize Mitch Marner will likely be out of their price range with an average of $2.4MM in cap space per open roster spot (per PuckPedia), the Bruins will presumably position themselves as top suitors for names like Brock Boeser and Nikolaj Ehlers to give Pastrňák some more legitimate secondary scoring and power-play support. If they’re looking to add a layer of depth down the middle, Sam Bennett could be an option as well if he reaches free agency – but, like the names they already have in-house, he’s a good second-line option at best, not a legitimate No. 1 center. Short-term veteran fits to help add depth could come from Dallas, with Jamie Benn, Matt Duchene, and Mikael Granlund all slated for UFA status.

Decide Forward Personnel

Further to that, Boston now has quite the mushy middle with Lindholm, Casey Mittelstadt, and Pavel Zacha as its top three centers. There was talk of Zacha being moved at the deadline, but the only move they made at center was flipping Charlie Coyle for Mittelstadt.

Therein lies the first question for the Bruins to answer: are all three of them back next year, and are all three of them playing center? Lindholm and Zacha both logged significant time on the wing earlier in their careers. Lindholm is likely too valuable now on faceoffs to entertain a move back to the wing, but Zacha could shift over if the Bruins bring in another depth center and reignite some chemistry with Pastrňák on his opposite flank.

Even if the Bruins re-sign all of their pending RFAs (a likely scenario) and have them all on the opening night roster in the fall, that only accounts for nine forwards. There are three to five open spots up front, leaving Boston to decide how to distribute them among internal up-and-comers (Fabian Lysell, Fraser Minten, Matthew Poitras) and external additions.  That’s also assuming no trades send a member of the current group out of town again.

Instill Goaltending Confidence

Boston’s biggest disappointment in 2024-25 was undoubtedly the play of goaltender Jeremy Swayman. After some testy contract negotiations throughout the summer, he signed an eight-year, $66MM deal days before the regular season but missed all of training camp in the process. He responded to the financial commitment with a 22-29-7 record, .892 SV%, and 3.11 GAA in 58 appearances. After starring with a gargantuan 55.2 goals saved above expected over his first four NHL seasons, he finished 10th-worst in the NHL with a -9.1 GSAx in 2024-25, per MoneyPuck.

Even during their last playoff contention window, the Bruins’ success relied on above-average goaltending. Regardless of what moves they make this summer, there’s little hope of them competing for a playoff spot next year if Swayman doesn’t rebound to at least league average, if not back into his usual top-10/top-15 performance relative to shot quality faced.

The good news – he’s 26 and the track record is there, so there’s plenty of time for him to rediscover his performance. There was very clearly a mental hurdle for Swayman, who faced hesitancy from his organization to commit to him despite finishing as high as seventh in Vezina Trophy voting in 2024 and grading out as one of the league’s best goalies in the early 2020s. A negotiationless offseason, a new coach, and some more positive messaging from the front office could all go a long way toward vaulting him back into consideration as one of the league’s better starters next year.

Image courtesy of Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images.