It doesn’t take a committed hockey fan to know that the 2024-25 season was a disappointment for the Boston Bruins. After finishing as one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference during the 2023-24 campaign with 109 points, Boston fell well short of the postseason last year with a 33-point difference in the standings.
The reset button was first hit at last year’s trade deadline, when the Bruins traded Trent Frederic, Max Jones, Justin Brazeau, Charlie Coyle, Brad Marchand, and Brandon Carlo for a collection of prospects and draft capital. By trading away several role players and their captain, Boston opened itself up to a change in leadership and culture.
To some, there hasn’t been enough change to the Bruins’ identity with Cam Neely and Don Sweeney remaining in their leadership positions after a disastrous campaign. Still, we already know that David Pastrňák and Charlie McAvoy will lead the changes, and hopefully a renaissance, on the ice.
Marco Sturm, the new head coach, understands the changes needed for the Bruins to return to contention, as he mentioned in his introductory press conference. Sturm plans to draw inspiration from Boston’s culture during his playing days in the organization in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
When asked about the transition from the old guard, Sturm was quoted as saying, “We’ve got to reestablish the whole thing because these guys are not here anymore. So, now it’s going to be up to us and the new group to lead this group to a new era.”
Similarly, Sweeney spoke about Boston’s ability to be harder to play against this season, saying, “I think we’ve always been a team, since I’ve been here, that prides ourself in that. That’s the defensive structure I talked about. At times last year, even when we had our group, we were an easy out. I can’t stand for that. So, we are going to reestablish that.”
Unfortunately, Sturm won’t have the most talented locker room at his disposal. Boston largely added around the fringes this offseason, adding Tanner Jeannot, Sean Kuraly, Viktor Arvidsson, Michael Eyssimont, and Jordan Harris. The summer additions have made the Bruins a more complete team, though they are not necessarily better.
There’s no doubting that Boston has plenty of work to do in their quest back toward contention. It likely won’t come this year in arguably the toughest division in the league. Still, it’ll be interesting to see how Sturm’s new system and cultural influence is received in the locker room throughout the regular season.
Without reading the article they’re hoping Lindholm Lindholm Swayman and Mcavoy have bounce back seasons. Well even if they do at best their the 4th best team in the Atlantic with 1 prospect
500 club at best that continually fail la to draft quality hockey players!! We all know the Jacobs family will only hire yes men, Sweeney, Neely, Sinden etc etc etc but at least hire yes men that can draft quality!!
Why not read the article?
Sweeney hasn’t been a complete failure. He did hire Monty.
Don Sweeney has built a forward group that looks alot like an expansion team, Neely is also unqualified at his position.
The Bruins won’t be the most talented team by design. The Teflon Donny decided to spend $11.5+ million on the likes of Jeannot, Kuraly, Arvidsson, Eyssimont and Harris instead of actual impact players. These acquisitions have left the team with just over $2 million in cap space. I have to think if you really want to be competitive and build a talented team there has to be a better way to spend this amount of money by using common sense and analytics in acquiring players and managing cap space. But the arrogant GM thinks he is the smartest person in the room and the fans will still turn out and pay to watch a bottom 5 team. Instead be honest with the fans that you are tanking the season to get a top 5 pick to pair with Hagens.
We are kidding ourselves if we think Lysell and Poitras are considered young prospects. They will never have an impact on this team and should be moved for additional draft capital.
Also, they still need scoring help with Victor Olofsson available and at this point can be signed for the same $1.0 million salary as last year but no interest shown by the Teflon Donny.
Ownership needs to move on and hire a new GM like B. Lawton who will use common sense and analytics in acquiring assets to rebuild this once proud club.
Sturm needs to address the issue with the team playing 60 minute hockey. Then work on the powerplay as a powerplay and not constant turnovers. Look back at last season nobody had confidence in their shooting the puck,so far for what the bruins have picked up still think they are a last place team. No trade that will put them in a playoff spot, to many players that are lost on the ice of what they are suppose to do.