Things have gone better than anticipated for the Bruins this season.

Look no further than the rumor mill. When things kicked off this season, the only big rumor involving the Bruins seemed to indicate a seller kind of move for the club, with Pavel Zacha attracting the interest of the Canucks. Now, the Bruins could be buyers, and with a circling back to a potential buy-low candidate perhaps on the board for Bruins general manager Don Sweeney this season.

Discussing the uncertain fate of Maple Leafs winger Matias Maccelli on the 32 Thoughts podcast last week, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman noted the Bruins’ interest in the player, as well as Boston’s search for additional help this season.

“I heard Boston had poked around on [Maccelli] last year when he was available,” Friedman told co-host Kyle Bukauskas. “I don’t know if that’s still the case now. But you always look and circle who were the other teams that were maybe interested in acquiring him [and] I know the Bruins were there. And I know they’re still looking for a scoring winger for as well as they’re going. But I’m not sure if Maccelli’s gonna be their guy still or if they’ll look for someone else.”

In his first season in Toronto, Maccelli has posted four goals and nine points in 22 games. It just hasn’t worked for Maccelli as a Leaf, and it’s only getting worse, with Maccelli scratched from their lineup for the last nine games. This is also the second straight year where Maccelli has been up and down for his team (and been involved in trade rumors), with the 25-year-old going through similar struggles in Utah a year ago as an in-and-out presence in the lineup.

The lefty-shooting Maccelli ultimately finished the 2024-25 season with just eight goals and 18 points in 55 games, and was later traded to Toronto in exchange for a conditional third-round pick ahead of the start of free agency. 

It was believed that the Mammoth were dangling Maccelli out there during last year’s deadline, though a deal did not come together until the offseason.

What’s interesting about Friedman’s reporting as well is that the Bruins quickly pivoted to a trade for Viktor Arvidsson less than 24 hours after Maccelli was shipped to Toronto. That alone may tell you that they’ve since moved on from the idea of adding him, and no longer view Maccelli as a sensible target for the club.

In addition to Arvidsson (14 points), the Bruins are also getting better-than-Maccelli production out of every single lineup regular of theirs, with Maccelli’s nine points tied with Marat Khusnutdinov and Alex Steeves. The only Bruins forwards Maccelli has outproduced this season? Johnny Beecher, Matej Blumel, Georgii Merkulov, Riley Tufte, and Jeffrey Viel. In other words, they really don’t need him.

That said, though, Friedman did note that Sweeney and the Bruins are still looking for a scoring winger on the trade market.

What’s interesting about that is that scoring has not been the issue that most envisioned it would be for this year’s Bruins, of course. Entering Friday’s NHL slate, the Bruins rank seventh in goals for per game (3.20), fourth in power-play percentage (25.7 percent), and teir 70 five-on-five goals scored this season are the 12th-most in the league. Of course, sustainability may be the question facing the Black and Gold, as they also possess the league’s fourth-best shooting percentage nearing the halfway mark of the season, at 11.91 percent.

Still, there’s no denying that as of right now, the Bruins have a much deeper attack than they envisioned themselves up front.

The backend, however, tells a much different story.

While the Bruins have been mostly pleased with their defensive structure, the B’s backend has been absolutely ravaged by injuries. Jonathan Aspirot is the latest defender on the shelf for Boston, joining Jordan Harris, Henri Jokiharju, and Michael Callahan. Things have gotten so thin back there that the Bruins claimed Vladislav Kolyachonok off waivers from the Stars to get another capable body back there. The Bruins have already had to play without Charlie McAvoy and/or Hampus Lindholm at various points this year, too, and the thought of losing either guy is a doomsday that lingers over this club. You could also make the case that the club still hasn’t replaced what they lost by trading Brandon Carlo to Toronto last deadline. While that deal was an obvious win for the Bruins, it did leave the club down a dependable, safe-and-steady option on their right side.

It feels like if the Bruins are to buy at all, defense should be the focus for the club.

Sweeney’s near-PTSD when it comes to defensive depth in multiple playoff runs (2017, ’21, and ’22 come to mind) would seemingly only reinforce that. Sweeney himself has repeatedly said that you can never have too many defensemen.

And whether or not they should buy at all remains a more than legitimate question.

But based on the early rumblings, it feels like the direction is clear for a Boston front office that’s always looking to “give their club a chance.”