The Boston Bruins’ Path Forward is GRIM

The Boston Bruins’ Path Forward is GRIM

I don’t know what the Boston Bruins should do next, but what’s most concerning is that I don’t think they know what they should do next either. After a decade plus streak of making the playoffs and being a competitive team, the Boston Bruins finally fell off a cliff in 2024-25, missing the playoffs and finishing with the fifth worst record in the NHL with only 76 points on the year, tied with Philadelphia Flyers and Seattle Kraken below teams like the Sabres, Ducks, Penguins, and Islanders. But with that aura of being a perennial contender around the Bruins, their fallout this year was more surprising than just about any other team in the NHL as they went from persistent playoff bully to now a lottery team in just the span of one year. So what happened and what is the path forward for the Boston Bruins? And we should start there with what the Boston Bruins should be looking to do this off season. With teams I covered previously in this series, there were very clearly defined paths forward for the Sharks and Blackhawks. It was continue the rebuild, load up on young assets, and identify the window to go all in and add. For the Nashville Predators, they were just kind of locked into a lot of older contracts, so they kind of had to retool on the fly. For the Boston Bruins, though, it’s a very different situation cuz they are locked into a lot of big contracts, including the likes of Charlie Makavoy and David Posrock that were already on their books, but they also made big additions in the offseason last year with guys like Elias Lindholm and Nikki Desidora, who are only one year into their big deal. Throw in that big resigning of Jeremy Swayman and the other contracts they already have and the Bruins are projected to have about $66 million committed to five forwards, four defenseman, and two goalenders. They have $29 million in cap space projected, but they have to resign a bunch of RFAS including guys like Mason Lurai, Jacob Lalco, and Morgan Geeki among many others. This team needs to add depth in this off seasonason, and they do not have a ton of cap space to do so. But on the other hand, while they did trade away some assets at the deadline, they’re not in a position to really jump start a rebuild this year, they only have one first round pick, two second round picks, and a third round pick this year. Compare that to a team like Pittsburgh who has been more committed to the rebuild. They have two first rounds this year, a second rounder, and three third rounders. The Bruins just do not have enough ammunition to get a rebuild started in earnest. And in addition, the players who have the most value, if the Bruins were to commit to a rebuild, are guys that they probably don’t want to trade. Players like Jeremy Swayman who’s 26, Charlie Mackeno is 27, and David Posternok 28. They’re just not going to be able to get good value for trading guys like Hampus Lindholm, Nikita Dorov, or Elias Lindholm. The Bruins are quite frankly caught in a quagmire, which makes them a very unappealing destination for any potential head coaching candidate or GM candidate. At least that’s what I would have said if they hadn’t committed to bringing back Don Sweeney and Cam Neely, the two guys who got them into this terrible situation. Now, in an ideal world, I would be recommended that they move on from both of those guys given their horrible mismanagement of the cap and their lackluster drafting record, shall we say? And bringing them back is just kind of foolish cuz I don’t think that they’re going to full commit to a rebuild and instead do that competitive retool that’s going to kind of leave them in the exact same situation. Maybe they’ll pray that they hit the lottery on this pick and a guy like Misa Hagens or Schaefer can elevate them, but honestly, Bruins kind of just need to blow up the whole structure, bring in some new people, and just admit that they’re going to be bad for the next two or three years. You want to hold on to Pasta, Makavoy, and Swayman. That’s fine. But you’re going to be burning off some of their prime years until you’re able to unload some of these terrible contracts and restock the farm system, which by the way is currently considered to be the second worst in the entire NHL by the hockey writers. So again, not like there are many reinforcements that are going to be coming in to help this team next year. But okay, let’s say that the Bruins are committed to being a competitive rebuilder the next few years with Neie and Sweeney at the helm, even though I think that’s just ridiculous. Who are they going to have behind the bench to lead this group next year? Well, obviously they got rid of Jim Montgomery, who has gone on to massive success in St. Louis and replaced him with Joe Sacka, who shocker of all shocker was no good. Who can they hire? Well, I did a video breaking down all of the potential coaching prospects out there for NHL teams. And if the Bruins are not committed to rebuilding, I think that they should go with somebody who has some upside but has coaching experience. And the guys I would love to see them target are either Rick Tocket who was just recently let go of Vancouver, Jay Woodcraftoft, the former Edmonton Oilers head coach, or in this one’s wishful thinking, Mike Sullivan, former head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins. However, I think all of those guys could have other more attractive options out there. So, I can see them falling to the next tier of experienced head coaches. Guys like John Tordella, Peter Lavlet, Joel Quenville, Boob Budro, or even guys like Don Granado, Dan Bilesma, or Lane Lambert. None of these guys should be particularly exciting to Boston Bruins players or fans, but I absolutely see a world where Peter Lavlet is announced as the next head coach of the Boston Bruins and this team is just mediocrity embodied for the next 2 to three years. If the Bruins want to be aggressive and maybe commit to a rebuild and get a guy with upside, go local and go to Boston University and hire Jay Pandalfo, their current head coach, who’s led the Terriers to some success in his tenure as their head coach. He would be a great ad as head coach of the Bruins. But now, let’s turn to the roster. And as I mentioned, the Bruins really don’t have a lot of avenues to make big additions in the off season because of the salary cap constraints they’re going to be running into. They have so many guys that they have to resign and they have to fill out their depth chart. But taking a look at their current depth chart, they were definitely hurt later in the year by not having their set of defenseman with guys like Hoas Lindholm and Charlie Makavoy being out at the end of the year. With those guys back, in my opinion, they have two top four defensemen in their midst already. And in my opinion, Charlie Makavoy, when healthy, is still a legitimate number one defenseman. Jason Lurai, in my opinion, is developing nicely, but hasn’t yet earned himself to being called a legitimate top four defenseman in the NHL. And on the forward core, you have a couple of guys who I think you could call top six wingers in Morgan Geeki and Pavle Zaka. But the only legitimate first line player that you have on your roster is David Posternok. And what’s worse is that the Bruins are extremely thin down the middle. Guys like Elias Lindome and Casey Milstat are not top six centers in the NHL on a competitive team. Unfortunately, the Bruins just do not have the ammunition or cap space to go after a first line center in the offseason. So, that’s going to still be. And in goal, I think Jeremy Swayman is definitely a legitimate number one goalender, but I don’t think he’s a workhorse type guy. I think you still have to have a very solid backup behind him if you want to be effective. So, all in all, for the Boston Bruins to be very competitive next year, they need at least a number one center, number two center, probably at least one more top four defenseman and a good backup goalender. That is a tall task for a team that is very thin already in terms of depth and doesn’t have players in their system who can backfill those roles that they would leave open if they were to free up cap space to go after those big time names. So, in all honesty, I don’t see a world where the Boston Bruins are competitive at all next year, which is why I went with the blow it up path when designing their offseason. This offseason, if I was the Boston Bruins, the name of the game would be keep your young RFAS and trade away whatever bloated contracts other than the big three, Pastron, Makavoy, and Swayman that you possibly can. The guys I would focus on trading would be Pavlov Zaka and Casey Middlestat. I know losing Zaka would really hurt Bruins fans, but he’s on a very reasonable contract and you could probably get at least a second round plus to move him. And Casey Middlestat will probably fetch you maybe a second or a third rounder. I would also explore trading away Hompas Lindholm just because he’s older and like I said a legitimate top four defenseman. Somebody would be interested in him. You could get a pick for him as well. And then let UFAs like Henry Yoki Haru and Parker Wtherspoon leave in free agency. Try and backfill their spots with younger talent. Give guys like Mason Lurai for your role on the defense. And up front do the same. Let guys like Matt Platra, Fabian Lysel, Dean Lorno take that next step and try and get them big minutes and experience while you’re rebuilding. Depending on who you draft in the first round, they’ll probably take a spot. Maybe you’ll get lucky and it’ll be Schaefer who can play on your back end with the Sephora like Higgins or Misa. You can put them up front. Maybe bring in a young backup for cheap. See if they can develop. And I know on here I have guys like Nikita Zidorov, Andrew Peak, and Theus Lindhome on here. Those are just under the assumption that you cannot trade those guys. But if the Bruins somehow managed to find a taker for them, absolutely trade away those contracts. And if you’re a Bruins fan and you’re looking at the depth chart saying, “How the hell are we supposed to win with this group?” Well, that’s the neat thing. You don’t Yeah. Ultimately, I think next year the Burns are just going to be bad. They have to swallow their medicine for a year or two just to restock the prospect pool, flush out those bad contracts, like I said, and rebuild the culture with the exact same guys who got you into this quagmire. But hey, that’s just what I would do. Unfortunately, with Cam Neely and Don Sweeney behind the helm, get ready for the Bruins to take a run at Brock Nelson and run it back with a pretty mediocre top six, an atrocious bottom six, and a shaky back end as they continue spin their wheels for another year.

Do the Bruins have any hope entering next season?

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