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 who have already been eliminated.  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 summer, the Bruins doubled down on the idea of bringing in more grit in the hopes of reestablishing an identity.  It worked out for them as they bounced back into a playoff spot while Jeremy Swayman returned to high-level form in goal.  However, they were ousted in the opening round by Buffalo, showing that GM Don Sweeney still has some work to do with this group, including trying to knock some items off their checklist.

Add Speed

There was a clear game plan for Boston this season.  Try to wear the other team down with a heavy style of play and slow the pace down.  From there, the grind-it-out approach coupled with strong goaltending would help lead them to victory.  They put up 100 points during the regular season so it’s fair to say it worked.

That is, until the playoffs.  The Sabres are more of the modern team, with lots of skill and lots of speed.  Boston struggled with that in the opening round which was a big part of their exit.  Sweeney even acknowledged in his end-of-season press conference that he understands that there’s a need to bring more speed into the organization.

That’s likely to come at the expense of some of the grit that has been amassed, particularly in the bottom six.  While a full season of James Hagens will help and could give the top six a boost at some point, that’s not going to be enough to turn around their fortunes.  With 14 forwards already under contract for next season (and possibly one more to come), if there is a move to be made to bring in more speed, someone’s going to have to be exiting as well.  Meanwhile, replacing Henri Jokiharju with someone who brings more mobility to the table could be considered.

Knowing that the Bruins have a certain identity they want to keep, it wouldn’t be shocking if any moves to add more fleetness of foot were more of the incremental variety.  But even that could be a bit of a difference-maker at some point next season.

Re-Sign Arvidsson

One of the moves that Boston made early in free agency was a trade, acquiring Viktor Arvidsson from Edmonton, taking full advantage of their need to open up salary.  With the Oilers looking to make other moves, Sweeney had plenty of leverage, meaning they only wound up trading away a 2027 fifth-round pick to get him.  Even if he didn’t rebound after a down year, it was a gamble worth taking.

But Arvidsson did rebound.  In a big way, no less.  A year after putting up his lowest point per game average since his rookie year nearly a decade earlier, Arvidsson bounced back with 25 goals and 29 assists in 69 games, tied for his best full-season point per game rate.  He followed that up with a pair of goals in four postseason appearances.  That has him poised to hit the open market slotting fifth among forwards in points.

While that’s partially an indictment about this year’s UFA class, it should also be noted that Arvidsson didn’t need big minutes to get there; he averaged under 15 minutes per game.  If the metric flips to points per 60 minutes, he’s the leader in the field among forwards.  Secondary scoring is crucial for any team to have and if you have a player who fits in the middle six and can still be a core contributor, that’s someone you want to keep in the mix.

AFP Analytics projects that Arvidsson’s market might not be too robust this summer, suggesting that a two-year deal just under $5MM per season could be the right fit.  A lot will depend on how much stock teams put into his one year with Edmonton; was that the blip or do they think his 2025-26 performance was the outlier?  Given the limited market, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the 33-year-old beat that projection and pick up an extra year or two as well.  With around $15MM in cap room per PuckPedia, that’s a price tag Boston can afford to keep him in the fold.

Add Top Center

This particular issue has been a problem for a while.  To be fair, the same can be said for a lot of teams.  The Bruins tried to solve it two summers ago when they signed Elias Lindholm to a seven-year deal worth $7.75MM per season but he hasn’t cracked the 50-point mark in three years.  He can certainly be a contributor but he’s a long way removed now from being the higher-end two-way pivot they hoped they were getting.

Pavel Zacha had a career year this season which was a big boost to their attack.  But he’s not a prototypical top center either and he often saw time on the second line.  Fraser Minten had a very promising first full NHL campaign but he doesn’t profile as a top liner down the road.  Between the three they have, the depth is decent (with Mark Kastelic and Sean Kuraly as more fourth-line types) and frankly, better than what quite a few teams have.  But none of them are solving the top-line need.

Yes, Hagens is in the mix as well and he could very well be the long-term solution to anchor the top line.  But while he showed some promise in his brief NHL action, between that and his time at the Worlds, he also showed that he’s not ready for that role yet and probably won’t be for a few years.  They need someone to bridge that gap at a minimum.

The problem is that the UFA market doesn’t have anyone remotely close to cutting the bill.  At this point, it looks like there could be an option or two in play (such as Detroit’s Dylan Larkin) but those players have no-trade clauses while the Bruins don’t boast particularly robust draft pick and prospect cupboards.  That will make it much tougher to win the bidding war for any who might become available.

With that in mind, there’s a case to be made to try to swing big on a top-line winger if the center search doesn’t go well.  There’s a decent enough floor down the middle that two impact wingers (David Pastrnak and someone else) with, say, Zacha, would make for a solid enough top line.  Again, the UFA market doesn’t have much beyond Alex Tuch in terms of legitimate top-line talent and the trade front could be tricky.  But if the Bruins want to find another level in a very tight Atlantic Division, this is a box that Sweeney needs to find a way to check off.

Defensive Tinkering

Jonathan Aspirot was one of the pleasant surprises for Boston this season.  A career minor leaguer heading into the season, the decision to sign with the Bruins as a Group Six unrestricted free agent worked out perfectly.  While he did technically start this season in the minors, he was brought up before the end of October and never looked back.  Along the way, he earned a two-year, one-way contract extension for his efforts.

Perhaps even more surprisingly, he established himself as Charlie McAvoy’s primary partner on the back end at five-on-five.  That’s a great outcome for him personally but ideally, an AHL defender isn’t the ideal long-term partner for your number one defender to play with.  In a perfect world, Hampus Lindholm, Mason Lohrei, or Nikita Zadorov would fill that role.

If they could add another impact left-shot defender to serve as McAvoy’s partner, their back end would get a big boost and allow them to further lean into their desired identity.  That would push Aspirot further down the depth chart but he signed his extension so early that his cap hit is barely above the minimum salary.  Even if he dropped all the way to being a reserve, they’d still be in good shape.  Failing that, a different addition that could move players around and perhaps send Lindholm to the top pairing could also work.

The other area they will want to look at is on the right side.  Jokiharju’s first full season with the Bruins was okay but he can certainly be upgraded on.  Meanwhile, Andrew Peeke is set to hit the open market and needs to be re-signed or replaced.  They also don’t have any in-house options in the minors that are ready to come up yet.  It could just be a depth addition or two or they could swing at one of the more prominent unrestricted free agents (Darren Raddysh, John Carlson, Jacob Trouba, and Rasmus Andersson headline the group) but there will be at least some tinkering if not more that needs to be done on the right side.

Photo courtesy of Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images.